Catcher In The Rye Response Research Paper

Response paper on The Catcher in the Rye

The novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D Salinger is one of the most discussed novels in American literature. The Catcher in the Rye is J.D Salinger 's landmark novel, it set a new course for literature in post-WWII America and vaulted him to the heights of literary fame. The book mostly focuses on the period of time when a young teenage boy named Holden Caulfield gets expelled from his high school and how he sees, feels things and people around him. J.D Salinger shows Holden as a 16-year-old boy lose to adult hood and having trouble with accepting society and struggling with many issues in the daily life. Holden is an individual in earlier American society, who is non-conformable and does not choose to cooperate with society, however still very human because he is low self-esteem when he calls himself words like moron, madman or weak, but Holden is sincere and kind when he desires to be a protector of innocent for young children. According to Christopher Parker, a critic of The Catcher in the Rye, he said: “I 'm not trying to say
that Caulfield 's way is right and society 's is wrong-but I do think that Caulfield, the individual, is far more human and right than those of us on the outside asking him if he 's going to apply himself or not.” He also states: “Some people condemn Caulfield as “not liking anything,” but he does – he likes the only things really worth liking.. Because he is sincere he won 't settle for less” (15-16). Parker emphasizes that Caulfield is no different from us, he does like something, but the only difference is Caulfield only likes “things really worth liking.” Throughout the story Holden displays that he does not like to go to school, because he does not seem like he tries to study hard or fights to stay at school when he is “flunking out of Pencey” (Salinger 13). He does not like phony people, he thinks this world, or at least his world is full of phonies, from his principal who puts on phony smile and handshakes students ' parents to most of his friends and people he meets are phony. Phoniness, for Holden, stands as an emblem of everything that’s wrong in the world around him or everything that he does not like, and it provides an excuse for him to withdraw into his cynical isolation. Also one event that really inspires Holden is when he was in his old school, there was a guy named James suicided because he “wouldn 't take back something he said about this very conceited boy” ( Salinger 221). This really makes him sincere, because he is living truly with himself. He does not make himself have to like people, who are nice and seem like trying to make this society better, actually they are making this world very “phony” to him. The scence that also reveals his “things really worth liking” is when he slips Holden slips quietly back into his apartment and speaks with Phoebe. They talk, argue, and then reconcile, and Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life. He responds “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. 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” (Salinger 224-225). Readers can see his fantasy of idealistic childhood and a protector of innocent is the only thing Holden likes and desires for. Salinger does show some good sides of Caulfield and this is one of them. A kind young boy tries to save the young innocent generation from adult hood, which is very superfacial and hypocritical. His “catcher in the rye” fantasy reflects his innocence, his belief in pure, uncorrupted youth, and this makes him very human. On the other hand, this quotes also shows that Holden prefers to retreat into his own imaginary view of the world rather than deal with the complexities of the world around him. He is totally not willing to cooperate or accept the reality happening in his life. According to author Ledbetter of Journal of Individual Psychology, “Holden Caulfield selectively attends to and retains essentially the negative aspects of his world, and then depricates others and his surroundings in order to compenstate for deepseated feelings of inferiority.. Holden Caulfield depicts himself as a “moron,” “yellow,” “quite illiterate,” “not too tough,” “a liar,” “the only dumb one,” and “weak.” His self-perception is so imbued with intense of feelings of inferiority, it is even manifested in his somasthetic awareness.” Throughout the story, Holden Caulfield usually calls himself with words like “moron”, “madman”, “weak”.. Those kind of words are used to degrade someone and that is what Holden is doing, he is degrading himself. His “self-perception” is also his very low self-esteem. He lets his negative feelings and thinkings toward his world, therefore it destroys his self-esteem. This shows that he does not find the connection with the real world, or neither let himself to open to cooperate with the society. He puts himself in a isolated world, which is very different from reality and this imaginary world does not have phonies or perverts as he sees. In The Cather in the Rye, J.D Salinger shows readers a young boy who lives in New York city.
During the time in the city before going back home, Holden Caulfield experiences and discovers more about himself. He presents an individual in the early society who are struggling with cooperate with the whole community, and even people around. He is not a rebel, though he is usually called that. He is merely suffering from the way things are, always and everywhere, in a world of insufficient truth. He is a low self-esteem and sometimes absurd adolescent, but he is also a doomed human being of special sensitivity. The neglect Holden felt as a child produced his catcher in the rye fantasy, where he wants to protect the foundation of childhood and innocence. This fantasy is the reason that Holden stops himself from becoming involved with people and that makes him very human and sincere as
well.

Work Cited Page Huber, R. John, and Ledbetter, Gail. “Journal of Individual Psychology”. November 77, 2003. Vol. 33, p250. Print. Parker, Christopher. “Why the Hell No Smash All The Windows?” Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait. Ed. Grunwald, Henry. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1962. Rpt. In Holden Caulfield. Ed. Bloom, Harold. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1990. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1951. Print.