The Cather in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

First impression and background book

My first impression? Well, I would describe the book as slow, depressing, boring and repetitive, but then I might sound a bit like the protagonist, superficial and recalcitrant, so I won’t. I really wanted to read this book, I heard about it in high school and I saw it reappear in every top-whatever-list on best youth literature. I did not have a clue what the book was about, so I dived into it open-minded. At the end of the first page I was already annoyed by his use of language. He swears a lot and uses expressions like ‘and all’ too often. The book is mostly about his thoughts and these are not go very deep and very much the same. He thinks everybody is phony and depressing, when actually, he himself is the one that is phony and depressing. He talks tough, but undertakes nothing when push comes to shove.

On the other hand, this book was written more than half a century ago and therefore is a kind of relic that also shows us the historical background of America in the 1950’s. Surprisingly, it stíll portraits issues relevant to today’s young boys (Levity, n.d.). Dr Graham of Leicester University says that before the 1950’s the teenager years were not seen as a particular kind of identity and that is why it also became very popular, it speaks to the moment when the teenager emerged as a sociable recognizable group (bbc, 2013)

Thát I did find interesting, to look into a teen boy’s thoughts. And maybe it is me being too old or a woman, or the combination. But I do not understand him and maybe that is just the thing I should remind myself of now and again; I can try, but I will not understand the thoughts and feelings of a sixteen year old boy. In the end I am glad that I have read the book though, because it is a classic and I can underpin my opinion about it.

In class / theory

In class we talked again about Erikson’s stage five ‘identity vs role confusion’ (Allpsych, 2011), but this time we discussed the different types of role confusions, which were new to me. There are four types (moratorium, foreclosure, negative identity, false identity), that we projected on this week’s books.

Moratorium: you keep on experimenting with roles but you do not commit to a certain type of identity. Our protagonist, Holden, was definitely experimenting. He tried to be cool by inviting the singer in the bar for a drink and drinking a lot himself (but he obviously could not hold his liquor). He tried to be a gentleman on his date with Sally (which failed). He was the comforting big brother to Phoebe, who said it was all going to be okay. He was the nonchalant student at college, who did not care, but he felt really bad about it and did not want to confront his parents, because he did not want to disappoint them again.

Foreclosure: The exact opposite of the above. You do not explore, but you immediately commit. Holden was still a long way from committing and getting mature.

Negative identity: you define yourself by what you are not. Holden points out all the negative things in others all the time, things he despises and he does not want to be associated with: ‘she is phony, he is depressing, he only talks about sex, he does not have any friends, he is not interesting, she is still a kid’. But what we realize, is that he is all those things himself. The story of Tracy Baker also had negative identity, but in a different way.  Tracy was not smart, not lovable, not popular and she was made to believe this by the outside world, whereas Holden determined this for himself.

False identity: you integrate all the different types of roles. Holden’s identity is not false, it just has not settled yet.

The Wasp Factory is a very strong example of foreclosure and false identity as it is about a girl being raised as a boy. This topic was the spark for a real interesting ‘discussion’ about baby boys and girls being treated differently from the day they are born and people undergoing sex changes. Like Annabel said: “children reading this book might think ‘I am not going to complain anymore because my life is not that bad after all”, and that is more or less what I felt like hearing about what people go through when trapped in the wrong body…

Furthermore we discussed narcissism, where secondary narcissism means that a person’s gratification comes from what they have achieved, so from the outside world (branded clothes, number of friends, etc.). We all agreed that these people are kind of annoying, but that we actually should feel for them because most of them are very insecure, as teenagers are, as our students are, as Holden is. In our group we concluded that Holden looks in the mirror a lot, he cares about what he looks like and what people think of him… although he pretends he does not give a goddamn thing.

Age suitability

No matter how much I disliked the book, the more I learn about it, the more I would recommend it to my students (16 year old boys). When I read the book, all I thought was ‘Holden: grow up!’ and that is exactly what this book is about, a young boy growing up! This book shows us what it is like to be a teenager. Holden feels isolated, lonely, confused, depressed, sarcastic, directionless, confused and scared. (bbc, 2013). And as I said before, it still reflects matters that are relevant to the youth of today (levity). It is exactly what teenagers go through when they are trying to find their identity, their own role in life.

Although the intended audience was not teenagers, adults still give it to teenagers hoping that it will make them see that the thoughts and feelings they have are normal, to reassure them. (bbc, 2013) Looking at feedback from readers, there are a lot of people who say they related to Holden and that they felt understood.

Thinking of my own students I especially recognize moratorium and negative identity. The experimenting I think is natural, the negative identity unfortunately in most cases are not, a lot of them are dyslectic and have heard they will never understand, they cannot study and mbo is the best they can do. Therefore I think many of them will feel the book, will like the book.

Nice to know

The book has been banned from libraries, stores and schools because of its profanity, sexual subject matters and because it rejects some traditional American ideals (Levity, n.d.).

Salinger did not want his book being made into a movie (Collider, 2013) 

Sources:

Allpsych. Retrieved the 11^th of October from http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/erikson.html

BBC. Retrieved the 11th of October from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8084931.stm

Collider. Retrieved the 11th of October from http://collider.com/catcher-in-the-rye-movie-rejection-jd-salinger/

Levity. Retrieved the 11^th of October from http://www.levity.com/corduroy/salinger1.htm

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/2/4795966/jd-salinger-didnt-hate-all-film