Catcher In The Rye Gender Roles
The genders play a big role throughout the novel. Holden is a very dominant male and seems to treat women as if they are nothing more then pieces of meat. He does not seem to see woman equal to men and just see them as sexual objects that are determined to serve men. Of course he doesn’t say they are obligated to do so, but he expects them to be directly attracted to him without even considering his age. Women in this novel are morally invaluable and definitely are not considered equal to men. Also, since this novel was written during the post war era where men were very important because they saved the whole country and women were relatively less valuable. The story would definitely gain a more emotional value. It is common knowledge that
women seem to act more according to their emotions and men mostly according to their logic. While Holden looks towards women in a very sexual way, as a girl she would apply empathy on her relations with others and act more sensitively. He would think before acting and talking to someone. Also, She probably would have been more fragile and have heightened emotions throughout the story. For example he says. “I sort of looked at her for a while. She was laying there asleep, with her face sort of on the side of the pillow. She had her mouth way too open. It’s funny” (Salinger, 159). It can be seen here that Holden manipulates the other gender and does not value them much. The story would not change completely, but it would certainly have a different perspective. Because gender in not the only answer to all Holden’s actions. Holden is not a completely normal guy either, so if he were a girl, he would have to be a girl who is not completely like others too. Therefore, weirdness could be to reason to all her actions rather then her gender. Also in the sory Holden says, ““Please. I’m lonesome as hell. No kidding. Do you know how I don’t see my family for so long. You didn’t even listen to me. This is rude what you are doing” (Salinger, 149). Here it is seen that Holden can also be emotional like a girl at sometimes.
Works Cited
J.D Salinger, “The Catcher In The Rye”, Little Brown edition, July 1951
women seem to act more according to their emotions and men mostly according to their logic. While Holden looks towards women in a very sexual way, as a girl she would apply empathy on her relations with others and act more sensitively. He would think before acting and talking to someone. Also, She probably would have been more fragile and have heightened emotions throughout the story. For example he says. “I sort of looked at her for a while. She was laying there asleep, with her face sort of on the side of the pillow. She had her mouth way too open. It’s funny” (Salinger, 159). It can be seen here that Holden manipulates the other gender and does not value them much. The story would not change completely, but it would certainly have a different perspective. Because gender in not the only answer to all Holden’s actions. Holden is not a completely normal guy either, so if he were a girl, he would have to be a girl who is not completely like others too. Therefore, weirdness could be to reason to all her actions rather then her gender. Also in the sory Holden says, ““Please. I’m lonesome as hell. No kidding. Do you know how I don’t see my family for so long. You didn’t even listen to me. This is rude what you are doing” (Salinger, 149). Here it is seen that Holden can also be emotional like a girl at sometimes.
Works Cited
J.D Salinger, “The Catcher In The Rye”, Little Brown edition, July 1951