Catcher In The Rye

This book has been steeped in controversy since it was banned in

America after it's first publication. John Lennon's assassin, Mark Chapman,

asked the former beatle to sign a copy of the book earlier in the morning

of the day that he murdered Lennon. Police found the book in his possession

upon apprehending the psychologically disturbed Chapman. However, the book

itself contains nothing that could be attributed with leading Chapman to

act as he did - it could have been any book that he was reading the day he

decided to kill John Lennon - and as a result of the fact that it was 'The

Catcher In The Rye', a book describing nervous breakdown, media speculated

widely about the possible connection. This gave the book even more

notoriety. So what is 'The Catcher In The Rye' actually about ?

Superficially the story of a young man's expulsion from yet another school,

'The Catcher In The Rye' is in fact a perceptive study of one individual's

understanding of his human condition. Holden Caulfield, a teenager growing

up in 1950s New York, has been expelled school for poor achievement once

again. In an attempt to deal with this he leaves school a few days prior to

the end of term, and goes to New York to 'take a vacation' before returning

to his parents' inevitable wrath.

Told as a monologue, the book describes Holden's thoughts and

activities over these few days, during which he describes a developing

nervous breakdown, symptomised by his bouts of unexplained depression,

impulsive spending and generally odd, erratic behaviour, prior to his

eventual nervous collapse.

However, during his psychological battle, life continues on around

Holden as it always had, with the majority of people ignoring the 'madman

stuff' that is happening to him - until it begins to encroach on their well

defined social codes. Progressively through the novel we are challenged to

think about society's attitude to the human condition - does society have

an 'ostrich in the sand' mentality, a deliberate ignorance of the emptiness

that can characterize human existence? And if so, when Caulfield begins to

probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation, before

finally declaring that the world is full of 'phonies' with each one put out

for their own phony gain, is Holden actually the one who is going insane,

or is it society which has lost it's mind for failing to see the

hopelessness of their own lives?

Holden's Personality -

There are 3 main aspects in Holden's personality :

1. His criticism toward the 'phony' things in society.

2. His perception that laws (Rules) are 'child's play' for the

strong and a difficult struggle for the weak.

3. Respect for fellowman.

The criticism toward 'phony' things in society is expressed in the novel

primarily by the word 'phony'. Holden is a representative of the world of

childhood whose characteristics are the opposite values to those Holden

calls 'phony'.

One of the things Holden often calls 'phony' is the world of movies

and everything about it. Examples of it are his anger toward his brother

D.B. because he moved to Hollywood, aversion of Sunny the prostitute who

tells him she spends most of her time in film theaters and derision to the

three women he met at the bar who are only interested in movies and famous

actors.

Another thing Holden calls 'phony' is the theater. He finds the

theater 'phony' because he thinks that instead of demonstrating reality as

it is, the emphasis is put on polishing theatricality. He says he has never

seen so much 'phony' things like he saw in the theater. Out of these

examples and others we see that for Holden it is very important to be

'real', honest and not 'phony', thus the criticism toward the 'phony'

things

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