   #copyright

The Catcher in the Rye

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Novels

   CAPTION: Title The Catcher in the Rye

     Author    J. D. Salinger
     Country   United States
    Language   English
    Genre(s)   Bildungsroman, Novel,
    Publisher  Little, Brown
    Released   1951-07-16
   Media type  Print ( Hardback & Paperback)
      Pages    277 pp
      ISBN     ISBN 0-316-76953-3
   Preceded by --
   Followed by Nine Stories (1953)

   The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger. First published in
   the United States in 1951, the novel remains controversial to this day
   for its liberal profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst;
   it was the 13th most frequently challenged book of the 1990s according
   to the American Library Association. Despite this censorship, or
   perhaps due to it, the novel has become one of the most famous literary
   works of the 20th century, and a common part of high-school curricula
   in many English-speaking countries, such as the United States, Canada,
   Great Britain, and Australia. Around 250,000 copies are sold each year,
   with total sales over 10 million.

   The novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for
   teenage alienation and fear. Written in the first person, The Catcher
   in the Rye relates Holden's experiences in New York City in the days
   following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a university-preparatory
   school.

Plot summary

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   The novel covers a few important days in the life of the protagonist
   Holden Caulfield, a tall, lanky, highly-critical and depressed
   sixteen-year-old who decides one night to run away from Pencey Prep
   boarding school, just before Christmas vacation. Because he is so
   critical of others, and points out their faults only to exhibit them
   himself later, Holden is widely considered to be an unreliable
   narrator, and the details and events of his story are apt to be
   distorted by his point of view. Nonetheless, it is his story to tell.

   His story starts on Holden's last day at Pencey Prep. He is standing on
   the crest of a hill that overlooks the football stadium. It is the
   final game of the season, but Holden has never cared much for
   established tradition. He instead runs across the street to the
   residence of Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. It is revealed here that
   Holden has been expelled, and that he doesn't particularly care. Mr.
   Spencer is disappointed in Holden, and lectures to him about the
   importance of hard work and education. Holden lies about removing some
   equipment from the gym to get out of the discussion, says goodbye to
   Spencer and his wife, and goes to the school dorm.

   Back at the dorm, Holden talks to his roommate, Stradlater, a tall,
   good-looking ladies' man. Holden sees him very differently, describing
   him as a "phony" and the sort of person who shaves and grooms himself
   for women, but doesn't bother to clean the dirty, rusty razor he uses
   to do so. Stradlater returns home early from a date with Jane
   Gallagher, one of Holden's childhood friends with whom he has had a
   long-standing infatuation. During Stradlater's date, Holden had been
   told by Stradlater to write a composition for him on "a room or
   something." Holden finds inspiration in writing about his late brother
   Allie's baseball mitt. When Stradlater returns and finds what Holden
   has written, he is annoyed. Holden tears up the essay. A short while
   later, Stradlater insinuates that he had sex with Jane Gallagher in
   response to Holden's question. Holden snaps and tries to hit his
   unsuspecting roommate. Stradlater quickly wins the fight, as Holden
   considers himself a pacifist and is not particularly strong.

   His neighbour in the dorm, Robert Ackley, is also introduced. Ackley is
   a pimple-ridden outcast whose relationship with Holden is fairly
   complex: On the one hand, Holden criticizes Ackley by calling him a "
   phony", and expresses disgust at his hygiene, acne, and personality.
   But Holden spends time with him of his own free will; he is drawn to
   Ackley because there is nobody else, going to movies and having
   snowball fights with him even though he comments on how abrasive Ackley
   is.

   That night, considering everything, especially the fact that he will be
   leaving Pencey anyway, Holden packs a suitcase and takes the train to
   New York City. En route, Holden meets the mother of one of his
   schoolmates. This schoolmate is an antisocial bully, but Holden decides
   to lie to the mother. He tells her that her son is a terrific young man
   and very friendly, and that when other students wanted to nominate him
   for class president, he humbly refused the honour. Holden also notes
   many times that although the mother is middle-aged, she is seemingly
   attractive.

   Holden loiters around New York City, drinking heavily and meeting
   various people. He visits Club Ernie's, but he is disappointed by the
   "phonies" who visit the club. He becomes increasingly depressed as he
   spends more time there, observing those around him and judging their
   hypocrisy.

   Holden encounters an elevator boy, Maurice, who offers to send up a
   prostitute to Holden's room, and Holden claims to have said yes only
   because he was too depressed to say no. When the prostitute, a young
   girl named Sunny comes to his room, Holden cannot bring himself to have
   sex with her. He claims to be too depressed to have intercourse, and
   only wants someone to talk with and keep him company. He pays her,
   instead, to talk about life with him. Later, she leaves – but only to
   return with Maurice, who punches Holden in the stomach after he refuses
   to pay Maurice the extra five dollars. Sunny takes the money from
   Holden's wallet, and the two are never seen in the novel again.

   The next day, he has a date with one of his previous girlfriends, Sally
   Hayes. They attend a matinee perfomance of I Know My Love and later go
   ice skating at Rockefeller Centre, but retire indoors to talk once
   their ankles tire. The experience leaves him more depressed, as he
   realizes that they do not have much in common. Holden gets a sudden
   idea to leave and go Northeast, live off of the land and build a cabin,
   offering Sally a chance to go with him — get "married or something".
   Sally rejects him and his idea, especially after Holden plaintively
   blurts out that she's "a royal pain in the ass."

   Holden finally decides to surreptitiously return home to see his
   younger sister Phoebe, after he gets drunk and almost drowns looking
   for ducks in Central Park. During a short conversation with Phoebe,
   Holden reveals the meaning of the novel's title. The idea is based on a
   misreading of a line in the song "Comin' Thro' the Rye," by Robert
   Burns, which Holden heard a young boy singing. The young boy mistakenly
   substituted "When a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye" for "When
   a body meet a body, comin' thro' the rye." Holden interpreted the line
   literally, imagining a field of rye at the edge of a cliff, in which
   children constantly wandered, and that someone had the job of catching
   any who might fall. Thus, he says that he wants to be the catcher,
   because it serves a real purpose in a world that is otherwise so often
   phony/trivial.

   Holden goes to a former teacher's house, Mr Antolini, where his teacher
   gives him a speech about life and how, in order to live happily, Holden
   has to be prepared. Holden views Mr. Antolini as a father-figure and
   holds much respect for him. Mr. Antolini speaks as if he has been in
   Holden's situation before, hopelessly hating every person he ever sees.
   After preparing the pull out couch with Mr. Antolini, Holden awakes to
   find him stroking his head. Holden interprets this as a sexual advance,
   although the question of whether Antolini is homosexual, drunk, a
   caring man, or a combination of the three is never answered. Holden
   leaves confused and even more depressed after Antolini says he was just
   admiring him.

   Holden sleeps in Grand Central Station. In the morning, he decides to
   hitchhike West and build a cabin for himself away from the people he
   knows. He plans to pretend he is a deaf-mute, and get an ordinary job.
   However, he can't leave without saying goodbye to Phoebe and returning
   her Christmas money to her.

   Explaining the situation, Holden gives a message to a person at her
   school so it could get to her. He tells her to meet him at lunchtime
   outside the museum so he can give her back the money. At the same time,
   Holden witnesses a " Fuck You" message etched on the wall, and comments
   that if you had a million years, you couldn't get rid of half of the
   "Fuck You" messages on Earth.

   When Phoebe arrives at lunchtime, she is carrying one of Holden's old
   suitcases, full of clothes. Phoebe tells Holden that she no longer
   wants to be away from her brother, and is going with him. He refuses
   angrily, feeling that he has influenced her to want to go with him
   instead of staying in school. She cries and refuses to speak to him.
   Knowing that she will follow him, Holden walks to the zoo, letting her
   anger lift. After walking through the zoo, with a short distance
   between them, they visit a park across the street. Phoebe starts
   talking to Holden again, and Holden promises to go back home. He buys
   her a ticket for the carousel in the park and watches her ride an old
   horse on it. As Holden watches her ride the carousel, his own mood
   lifts. Soon he is nearly moved to tears with remorse, longing, and
   bittersweet happiness.

   At this point in the book, the reader is given several clues as to the
   possibility that Holden is narrating the book from a mental hospital in
   California. He explains that he will be going to another school in the
   fall again but doesn't know for sure if he will start applying himself.
   He then finishes talking with the words, "Don't ever tell anybody
   anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

Protagonist

     * Holden Caulfield. The protagonist and narrator of the story. Holden
       is a tall sixteen year old with half a head of white hair making
       him look more mature, who has just been expelled (for academic
       failure) from a school called Pencey Prep. Although he is
       intelligent and sensitive, Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded
       voice. He finds the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him
       almost unbearable, and through his cynicism he tries to protect
       himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world.
       However, the criticisms that Holden aims at people around him are
       also aimed at himself. He is uncomfortable with his own weaknesses,
       and at times displays the exact phoniness, meanness, and
       superficiality of the people he says he despises.

   The most profound aspect of Holden's character is his desire to protect
   children. Relatedly, Holden fails to view himself as the child that he
   is. A brief note about Holden’s name: "Caul", in Scottish, means "Rye",
   thus relating to a major symbol, and ultimately, the title of the book.

Holden's siblings

     * Allie Caulfield. Allie was Holden's brother, two years Holden's
       junior, who died of leukemia when Holden was thirteen. Allie was
       mild, considerate, and intelligent. Allie and Holden were very
       close, and Holden smashed all the windows in the family's garage
       with his fist the night he died, permanently damaging his hand.
       Allie's death reflects the underlying theme of the death of
       innocence and his death is presumably a major cause of Holden's
       turbulent maturation process.
     * Phoebe Caulfield. Phoebe is Holden's little sister, whom Holden
       adores. She is in the fourth grade at the time Holden leaves Pencey
       Prep. Holden holds her as a paragon of innocence, and gets furious
       at the sight of graffiti in her school that reads "Fuck you", for
       fear that she'd try and find out what it meant. In some ways, she
       can be even more mature than he, even criticizing him for
       childishness.
     * D.B. Caulfield. D.B. is Holden's older brother and lives in
       Hollywood. There he works as a writer. He also writes plots for
       films. Holden thinks that's like prostituting himself, which is why
       he hates films.

Major themes

   Given that J.D. Salinger has never commented on the work and its
   intended meanings, interpretations are fractured and vary from reader
   to reader. However, there are certainly a few themes which are
   discussed in the book — it is what Salinger actually meant that is
   under contention.

Phoniness

   A major theme is what Holden calls "phoniness." He feels surrounded by
   dishonesty and false pretenses, and throughout the book is frequently
   picking out the "phonies" he sees around him. There is evidence that
   Holden exhibits much of the same "phoniness" he denounces in others.
   Holden also puts on pretenses, lies, and makes irrational and
   contradictory assumptions to mask his feelings and actions from others,
   which further alienates him from society. However, many others say that
   this is a misinterpretation of Holden's use of "phoniness", and that
   while he lies and exhibits other flaws, he doesn't fall into his own
   category. Possibly, the "phoniness" is about not being honest with
   yourself about your feelings of pain and disappointment. Holden's
   "phonies" rarely give the impression of admitting their flaws and
   insecurities, and this could be what he has in mind when he labels them
   as such. In contrast, though Holden labels other people as "phonies,"
   Holden reveals much of his own carnality, showing himself to the
   readers as being self-righteous and judgmental. Either way, Holden
   believes that he is honest with himself, and the reader, throughout the
   book.

Loss of innocence

   One more significant theme, which may also tie in with the theme about
   "phoniness" is that the loss of innocence is unavoidable. Holden's idea
   of a "catcher in the rye" illustrates how he wishes to wipe out
   corruption from the world and protect children like his sister from
   becoming like the many "phonies" he hated, i.e adults. This is clearly
   illustrated by Holden's attack on Stradlater after the date with Jane
   Gallagher. The fact that Jane always kept her kings in the back row
   during a game of checkers was significant to Holden because he wanted
   her to protect her virginity. However, Holden finds it impossible to
   maintain innocence. After seeing some vulgar graffiti on the walls in
   his sister Phoebe's elementary school, a bastion of learning and
   culture, he realizes that he won't be able to erase it all and protect
   children from the world indefinitely. Also, in Holden's scheme of
   moving west and building a cabin, he mentions that he may have
   children, but hide them, probably to maintain their innocence.

   Throughout the story Holden tries to maintain the innocence of anything
   possible. One situation Holden finds himself in is when he is in his
   dorm in Pencey prep and is ready to leave for the movies and begins to
   "[pack] a snowball with [his] bare hands…," and then admits "I didn’t
   throw it at anything, though. I started to throw it. At a car that was
   parked across the street. But I changed my mind. The car looked so nice
   and white. Then I started to throw it at a hydrant, but that looked too
   nice and white, too. Finally I didn’t throw it at anything." When
   Holden talks about how nice and white the car and hydrant looks
   Salinger implies the presence of God in the world. The colour white is
   used as a symbol for chastity or continence. Holden decides not to
   throw it and puts the snowball down. Another situation where Holden is
   irritated by the ugliness of the adult world is when he notices a "Fuck
   You" on a wall. In disgust, after trying to rub it off the wall, he
   claims, "If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out
   even half the "Fuck You" signs in the world." To Holden, the "Fuck
   You"s represent the things that remove the innocence of people like his
   sister Phoebe. Holden believes that society will never get better, and
   it will always have some sort of flaw.

Adolescence

   Running contrary to the desire to maintain innocence is Holden's
   obviously strong desire to be an adult and live in the adult world, for
   which he is not prepared. He is immensely frustrated by his repeated
   attempts to fit into adult society, foiled by his saying something
   wrong, or simply being seen as an adolescent by the adults around him.
   He spends much of the novel pursuing women, attempting to lose his
   virginity. He also tries to drink alcohol in every bar he can, but is
   turned away because he is too young. Having been rejected, Holden's
   response is an even stronger rejection of the people with whom he was
   trying to fit in. This resentment, combined with his observations of
   "phoniness" in many of the people around him, cause him to be outcast
   by society and to sometimes view himself as a loner with outsider
   status. Holden also changes his mind at the end of the book when he
   lets Phoebe grow up.

Education

   Another theme in the book is whether or not Holden's education is
   important. Holden has failed out of quite a few schools in his career,
   and exhibits no signs of remorse or promise of change. In the final
   chapters of the book, his former teacher, Mr. Antolini, tells Holden
   that it is imperative to his future that he apply himself at school,
   that he believes that education helps to arrange the ideas of brilliant
   and creative people — a group to which he presumably believes Holden
   belongs. Whether this speech is intended to be considered true is
   convoluted by the ambiguous actions of Mr. Antolini shortly after
   Holden goes to sleep. At the end of the book, Holden states that he
   thinks he will apply himself in the next school he's going to, but that
   he isn't sure and that he won't be until he gets there.

Style

Stream of consciousness

   This style, used throughout the novel, refers to the use of seemingly
   disjointed ideas and episodes used in an apparently random medley, but
   in fact in a highly structured way, that is used to illustrate a theme.
   For example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events (such
   as picking up a book or looking at a table) unfold into long
   discussions about past experiences.

Controversy

   The Catcher in the Rye has been shrouded in controversy since its
   publication. Reasons for banning have been the use of offensive
   language, premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution.

   Mark David Chapman, murderer of musician John Lennon, was carrying the
   book when he was arrested immediately after the murder and referred to
   it in his statement to police shortly thereafter. John Hinckley, Jr.,
   who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was also
   reported to have been obsessed with the book.

   Critics see Holden as a disturbing influence on youths they consider to
   be "social outcasts." Holden is portrayed as a juvenile who rejects and
   is rejected by many peers and individuals. Critics hold that people
   like Chapman and Hinckley come to relate themselves to Holden, the
   person that nobody understands and that can't understand anybody else.

   Thirty years after its first publication in 1951, The Catcher in the
   Rye was both the most banned book in America as well as the second most
   taught book in public schools.

   It was number 13 on the American Library Association's list of most
   frequently challenged books from 1990-2000. It was one of the ten most
   challenged books in 2005.

   Notwithstanding the above, the story remains required reading in many
   U.S. public school English literature curricula.

Dating the story

   The Catcher in the Rye takes place in the late 1940s to the early
   1950s, which is about the time the novel was written. World War II was
   over and the atomic bomb, which was mentioned in the book, had already
   been invented. The death of Allie, Holden's younger brother, is given
   to be July 18, 1946, and it is stated Holden was 13 at that time. It
   follows, therefore, that the bulk of the story takes place in
   approximately December of 1949 and the story's "present" is the summer
   of 1950. Given that Christmas fell on a Sunday in 1949, the two days
   that consume most of the novel are most likely December 18 and 19; if
   it were one week later, the second day of Holden's romp would be
   Christmas, and if it were one week earlier, Pencey would be letting its
   students out two full weeks before Christmas.

Trivia

     * The novel is written in eye dialect
     * Holden Caulfield's middle name is Morrisey. Although it does not
       appear in this book, Salinger used it in a 1946 short story
       featuring Caulfield called " Slight Rebellion off Madison," which
       was published in the New Yorker.
     * An urban legend states that the name "Holden Caulfield" first came
       to Salinger when he saw a movie theatre's marquee advertising the
       1947 film Dear Ruth, which starred William Holden and Joan
       Caulfield. However, the character of Holden first appeared in the
       short story " I'm Crazy", published in Collier's on December 22,
       1945, a year and a half before Dear Ruth was released.
     * The word " fuck" appears in the book only six times and was
       sometimes given as reason for it being banned. (In some
       publications, the word was replaced with a "-".) However, in the
       context of the novel, Holden is trying to remove the word from the
       walls of a school and the Museum of Natural History to preserve the
       children's "innocence."
     * The word "goddamn" appears in the book 252 times.
     * While the novel would seem a natural for the big screen, Salinger
       has refused to license the film rights to any producer or director.
       The author, who, before Catcher's publication, had a series of
       disappointing encounters with Hollywood, said that the reason for
       his refusal to allow a film version of the novel is, "I would like
       to see it done, but Holden wouldn't approve"--a reference to
       Holden's dismissal of Hollywood and the entire motion picture
       industry as "phony."

Memorable and significant quotes

     * "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll
       probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy
       childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before
       they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I
       don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
     * "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those
       deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any goddamn stupid
       useless conversations with anybody."
     * "The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his
       parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to
       the curb and singing "If a body catch a body coming through the
       rye." It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any
       more."
     * "What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go
       over the cliff— I mean if they're running and they don't look where
       they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.
       That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and
       all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like
       to be. I know it's crazy."
     * "Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If
       there's ever another war I'm going to sit right the hell on top of
       it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will."
     * "I think, even, if I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and
       I have a tombstone and all, it'll say "Holden Caulfield" on it, and
       then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right
       under that it'll say "Fuck you." I'm positive, in fact."
     * "If you had a million years to do it, you couldn't rub out even
       half the "Fuck you" signs in the world."
     * "Did you ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row?"
     * Mr. Spencer: "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays
       according to the rules."
     * "Game, my ass. Some game. When you get to the side where all the
       hot-shots are, then it's a game alright - I'll admit that. But if
       you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then
       what's a game about it? Nothing. No game."
     * "Just because they're crazy about themself [ sic], they think
       you're crazy about them too, and that you're just dying to do them
       a favour."
     * "All morons hate it when you call them a moron."
     * "Then she introduced me to the Navy guy. His name was Commander
       Blop or something. He was one of those guys that think they're
       being a pansy if they don't break around forty of your fingers when
       they shake hands with you. God, I hate that stuff."
     * "Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell."
     * "That's something that annoys the hell out of me – I mean if
       somebody says the coffee's all ready and it isn't."
     * "But what I mean is, lots of times you don’t know what interests
       you most till you start talking about something that doesn’t
       interest you most."
     * "It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands
       and they'll do practically anything you want them to."
     * "Then just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of
       this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of
       course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I'm crazy. I
       swear to God I am."
     * "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing
       everybody."
     * "Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the
       goddamn curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other
       side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and
       nobody'd ever see me again."
     * "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done
       reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend
       of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt
       like it."

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