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Catcher In The Rye

Catcher In The Rye “Oh literature, oh the glorious Art, how it preys upon the marrow in our bones. It scoops the stuffing out of us and chucks us aside” (David Herbert Lawrence). Well-written works of literature have the undeniable ability to kidnap readers, carry them away into the story’s imaginary world, and hold the reader for ransom, away from a world where they may not be anticipating the return. This type of literary escape is scarce in today’s fast-paced society. One is submitted into a fantasy, in which opinions and ideas about the characters and situations expand beyond all possibilities. Literature acts as a valuable aid for self-growth; it nourishes intellect, cheers one up, or relaxes mind and spirit. Nikki Giovanni asks the question, “ever been kidnaped/by a poet” (Giovanni 346). If one has not yet been enriched by this feeling, the mystery must be unveiled. To say that I have experienced this feeling from only one piece of literature would prove a great injustice to my literary history. There have been countless moments in my life where I have left time and place to enter a world created by the author, but perfected by my own interpretations and impressions. The literary work that stands out most my mind is The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. This is one of the most absorbing novels I had the privilege to read. The plot of this story concerns a young man, Holden Caulfield, being expelled from one of a long list of schools. The intriguing part of this story is how he perceives and understands his own human condition. He experiences unexplained depression and erratic behavior, which leads to an eventual nervous breakdown in a world he views as invaded by “phony” adults who corrupt innocent children. The title is justified when Holden is talking to his little sister. She asks what he wants to be when he grows up. He asks her if she’s ever heard the song “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye.” He continues: I keep picturing these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And 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. (The Catcher in the Rye 173) Throughout Holden’s psychological battle we are challenged to think if Holden is actually going insane or if society is in denial of their own feelings of hopelessness. His feelings can be summed up by one remarkable quote given to Holden by his former teacher, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die noble for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one” (The Catcher in the Rye 188). From this we can tell that Holden would rather die than become a “phony”grown-up. The style in which books are written is also a major part of their attraction. The Catcher in the Rye is a monologue; therefore we get the feeling that we are being told a story directly, not just observing the world from the outside. The style of language Salinger uses is quite similar to the dialogue we hear everyday on television and in our daily conversations. This type of dialect attracts readers because they can completely understand everything the author is trying to convey. The reader can relate to this language form because it is the most familiar to them. This is one of the many reasons the reader may get extremely attached to this story. This novel was especially absorbing because I could see myself in Holden. The suppressed feelings he experiences throughout the story are disturbingly familiar to almost everyone who reads The Catcher in the Rye. Feeling this type of connection is what causes the reader to be carried away by a piece of literature. This story is appealing because it reminds us of our adolescent experiences. One could not imagine Holden as an older man because Holden Caulfield is adolescence. The fact that Holden rejects models of maturity relates to the reader’s memories of adolescence, a time some people never forget or, in some cases, never get over. There is no exotic appeal present in this novel but the familiarity draws one in completely. The kind of “kidnapping” Salinger undertakes allows the reader to hold a stake in Holden’s experiences, until they care more about his outcome then their own particular life. Countless literary works have “kidnaped” me, and each one has done so in a different way, coupled with various feelings and inspirations. Literature has the ability to take one away from the turmoils of everyday life and broaden experiences without taking the risks. Salman Rushdie said it best with this beautiful quote, “Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale of the imagination and of the heart”. Bibliography:

Word Count: 963