Catcher In The Rye Controversial Classic

Professor English 101 14 April 2014 The Catcher in the Rye Controversial Classic The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger has been one of the biggest sources of contention in American literature since its first publication as a novel in 1951. The author himself has proven to be an elusive creature, not writing much of lasting value after the publication of his first novel, granting interviews extremely infrequently, and eventually allowing himself to fade away from the public eye. Yet the spirited debate over his first novel continues to this day. What is it about this novel that has provoked such visceral and wildly different reactions and opinions For one, it is difficult to pin down and define and many, many readers have offered various
interpretations of the material. As Harold Bloom ponders, Does The Catcher in the Rye promise to be of permanent eminence, or will it eventually be seen as an idealistic period piece (Bloom 1). Authors and critics for decades have argued both over the major themes of the novel as well as its literary value and artistic merit. The argument I am making is that The Catcher in the Rye does indeed have literary value, that Holden Caulfields perception of both himself and the world, as well as his misadventures after leaving Percey Prep, are a personal journey of a troubled, disillusioned young man, that his perceptions reflect the shared disenchantment of teenagers and young adults in general, as they are thrown out into the world and forced to grapple with what Holden frequently refers to as phoniness hypocrisy, betrayal, lies, corruption, and disheartening indecency. As cynical and foul-mouthed as he is, his cynicism reflects the constant weight of a society plagued by uncertainty and deceit and indeed, the weight of this society on someone who so desperately wants something to believe in, something to hold onto, something to trust. According to Arthur Heiserman and James E. Miller, Junior The phoniness of society forces Holden to leave it, but he is seeking nothing less than stability and love. He would like nothing better than a home, a life embosomed upon what is known and what can be trusted he is a very wise sheep forced into lone wolfs clothing he is Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom rolled into one crazy kid. And here is the point for poor Holden, there is no Ithaca. Ithaca has not merely been defiled by a horde of suitors it has sank beneath the waves of phoniness.
(Heiserman, Miller, Junior 5). In the above passage, the authors use T.S. Elliots long poem The Waste Land to make parallels to Holden and illustrate their point, which backs up my argument that Holden Caulfield is a young man eager to find and achieve stability, that he is a misunderstood hero who is held at bay by a cruel and often unfeeling world, and thus, offers a voice to the thousands of voiceless among the young. He is a compelling and largely sympathetic protagonist whose plight is shared and understood by many, who shines a light on the injustice and deep unfairness of the world. It is in this that The Catcher in the Rye displays its major literary value. To further illustrate my point, Id like to examine the symbolic structure of Salingers work, which is something that is often overlooked by reader and critic alike. Symbolism plays a large part in the novel, as the title itself indicates in the novel, during a conversation with his younger sister, Phoebe, for whom he has enormous affection, he tells her that if he could be anything in the world, he would be the catcher in the rye, after an idea he had of children playing on top of a cliff in a field of
rye. Holden says, What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliffI mean if theyre running and they dont look where theyre going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. (J.D. Salinger 173). The significance of the title pertains to the tragedy of his deceased younger brother, Allie, who died of leukemia when Allie was eleven and Holden was thirteen. The night of Allies death, Holden broke all of the windows in the garage and had to be hospitalized, and the tragedy continues to haunt Holden. His desire to be this imaginary catcher in the rye not only speaks to his deep sorrow over not being able to save his brother and his lingering survivors guilt, but his deep desire to be able to maintain innocence, for himself and every other young person who has yet to experience the phoniness of the world firsthand. More extremely important symbolism comes toward the end of the novel, when Holden is watching Phoebe ride the carousel at the zoo. Clinton W. Trowbridge analyzes the scene as such All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid shed fall off the horse, but I didnt say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall, they fall off, but its bad if you say anything to them. Understood in terms of its connection with the original catcher metaphor, what Holden is saying is something like this innocence and goodness, epitomized in the condition of the child, are not static conditions just as the child must grow up through adolescence into adulthood, so must innocence and goodness risk this passage through experience into evil (Trowbridge 29). Further examining this metaphor, we can come to realize that the gold ring represents the promise of life, the ideal that is the goal and the end. As Trowbridge goes on to explain, Some are defeated by experience and evilfall off the horse others never get the gold ringfail to attain the promise of life (Trowbridge 29). These are just a couple of the symbols and metaphors that enrich the novel upon close inspection, that beautifully illustrate its core themes and, I wholeheartedly believe, further prove my argument. Some of the biggest criticisms surrounding The Catcher in the Rye have been in regards to what James Bryan refers to as Holdens acute moral and esthetic perceptionshis eye for beauty as well as phoniness (Bryan 32) but, as Bryan rightfully points out, the significance of his immaturity in intensifying these perceptions has not been sufficiently stressed or explained. (Bryan 32). Indeed, while Holden is hypersensitive to both the exploitation and insensitivity of the world as well as how fragile the innocence of children is, no one has ever bothered to accept Salingers offer of psychoanalysis, opting instead to trivialize his state of mind and feelings as neuroses.
But it is my opinion that if critics were to delve deeper into psychoanalyzing Holden, they would find a number of troubling factors at play. After all, Holden tells us himself that the narrative is being written in a mental hospital under the care of a psychoanalyst guy. Even though Holden is reluctant to go into detail about his lousy childhood, two things we know for certain his family life has been disruptive and he is greatly affected the death of Allie. I believe that Allies death in particular had a significant effect on both Holdens perception of the world around him as well as his state of mind. Thus, all of the things that detractors of the novel state to invalidate its artistic meritHoldens extreme cynicism and aggressive nature, his immaturity and limited, coarse vocabularyI think are products of a childhood and a home life plagued by tragedy. So, in conclusion, The Catcher in the Rye is a largely misunderstood work that in my opinion is of immense literary value and offers us not just a character study of an idealistic, haunted young man, but a very real analysis of the world we live in, a world that is steadily failing us, hour by hour, minute by minute. Works Cited Bloom, Harold.
Introduction. Modern Critical Interpretations The Catcher in the Rye. Ed. Harold Bloom. Philadelphia Chelsea House Publishers 2000. 1. Print. Bryan, James. The Psychological Structure of The Catcher in the Rye. PMLA 89. Oct.1974 32. Print. Heiserman, Arthur, and James E. Miller Jr. J.D. Salinger Some Crazy Cliff. Western Humanities Review 10.2 (1956) 5. Print. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print. Trowbridge, Clinton W. The Symbolic Structure of The Catcher in the Rye. Sewanee Review 74.3 (1966) 29. Print. PAGE Derrick PAGE 1