The Catcher in the Rye

Bibliographic Information: Salinger, J.D. (1945). The catcher in the rye. Boston: Little, Brown.

Plot Summary: After three days of little rest, walking around in the cold, and smoking too many cigarettes, Holden Caulfield “practically gets t.b.” and is residing in place where he is being treated and getting “checkups and stuff.” From here, he tells us his story about how he’s been expelled from several prep schools—most recently, Pensey Prep. in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. He visits his old history teacher, who is ill, and the presence of the elderly man makes him uneasy, and on top of that the guy is criticizing his failures in school—so Holden leaves quickly. After some uncomfortable encounters with his roommates, revealing that his little brother Allie died of leukemia, and getting into a fist fight, Holden decides to leave for New York, where his family lives, and stay there for three days in a hotel without telling them.

            The next few days play out it painful detail, as Holden repeatedly reaches out to connect with people, and then just as quickly retracts into his isolation, convinced that everyone is a “phony.” He observes the other tenants in the hotel with their quirky habits, thinking they are perverts; he goes out to nightclubs, but never for long. A few times, he makes attempts at losing his virginity, and other times he goes on dates that end badly.

His several attempts at human connection just get worse and worse, and he becomes so cold and desperate that he decides to sneak into his own apartment to speak with his sister, Phoebe. He shares with her that he’s failed school again, and she criticizes him for hating everything, to which he responds with one thing he likes, a line from a Robert Burns poem that makes him want to catch children who fall off a cliff. But Phoebe points out to him that he has misunderstood the words—the true word is “meet” and not “catch.” It is at this time that Holden recalls another boy he knew who died too soon.

            Lastly, Holden visits an old English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who gives Holden the best advice yet: “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” But when Holden mistakes the man’s comforting touch for a homosexual advance, he leaves in a hurry, yet again. The story ends with Holden watching his sister on a carousel after she’s tried to run away with him. The beauty of this moment overwhelms him.

Critical Evaluation: Holden is often considered a deplorable character, not just for his failure to “apply himself”, but for his hypocrisy. His biggest qualm with the adult world is that it is full of what he believes to be “phonies,” that is, people who are superficial and shallow. He’s even attributes the phrase to his own older brother who has succeeded as a writer for Hollywood. But never does Holden acknowledge his own “phoniness”—even when he tells elaborate lies to a classmate’s mother on the train to New York. He makes cruel remarks to just about everybody he encounters, but never shows much remorse for his own actions. But the complexity of his behavior is what makes him so appealing to teens and adults. He stands on the border between childhood and adulthood, a division that he sees as a cliff and that is signified by his fantasy of being the catcher in the rye. Since he has witnessed two accounts of early deaths, this trauma has shaped his bleak vision of adulthood (falling off the cliff) and his nostalgia for childhood (playing in a field and blind to reality). In way, his childish behavior is a way of keeping his brother Allie close to him in spirit. To be growing up, would be letting go of his brother. What young readers should take from Holden’s mistakes, is that you have to keep trying at least. Holden gives up on everything too easily.

Reader’s Annotation: Holden Caulfield jumps from one school to the next and deplores most of humanity. He spends a few days in an emotional downward spiral throughout NYC.

Author Information: Gale’s Contemporary Author’s Online states, “J.D. Salinger is a highly regarded American author whose most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye, has sold over sixty-five million copies. In addition to being known for his work, Salinger was also known for his reclusive behavior. Following the success of The Catcher in the Rye, he began to publish work less frequently and to avoid public attention, giving his last public interview in 1980. Salinger's prolific literary career was riddled with controversy. In the 1980s he became involved in a legal battle with the biographer Ian Hamilton over privacy issues. More recently, he engaged in a legal battle concerning an unauthorized sequel to The Catcher in the Rye. As much as he tried to avoid the public eye, much private information concerning Salinger's life as come out over the years. His former lover Joyce Maynard auctioned off a series of their letters and published a memoir of their time together. His daughter, Margaret, also published a book about him. Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010, at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.

Salinger rose to prominence with the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. Prior to this, Salinger had written only a handful of short stories published in popular magazines. While Salinger's novel is more complex than many first-time readers perceive, its appeal to both adolescents and adults remains strong, conferring upon it the status of a classic novel. Salinger's work following the phenomenal success of The Catcher in the Rye was modest considering the promise demonstrated by that first book. Salinger collected a number of short pieces in Nine Stories, each of which demonstrate his command of middle-class American colloquial speech, mastery of eccentric characterization, and deft irony.”

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Subjects: coming-of-age, emotional problems, family, New York

Curriculum Ties: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Why can’t Holden maintain any human connection for very long?

Who are the types of people Holden finds to be “phony?”

Reading Level/Interest Age: 13+

Challenge Issues/Defense: Due to profanity and sexual encounters, this book may be challenged. If so, refer to:

1.     The San Francisco Public Library Collection Development Policy, Selection Criteria, and Teen Collection documents.

2.     The California Department of Education District Selection Policies, Reading Lists, and Resources for Recommended Literature: Pre-K-12.

3.     A hard copy of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights.

4.     Mixed book reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publisher’s Weekly.

5.     Book selection rationale.

6.     If necessary, The San Francisco Public Library’s Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form.

Reason for Selection: This the quintessential YA novel, and I hear that most schools are dropping it from their curriculum—more of a reason to keep some copies in the library.