The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger­: In-Depth Analysis

Ms. Anderson

ESL Transitional Literature

February 23, 2013

The Catcher in the Rye

The fiction novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger is an adventurous story of a 17 year old boy Holden Caulfield, and his failure to prove himself to be unlike “phony” people. In his four high schools, he was kicked out due to his reluctant behavior in class. His brother Allie’s death, refusal of intimacy with other people, denial of immaturity, prejudiced character analysis of others like his friends from Pencey Prep, along with the confused and spontaneous state of mind for sexuality finally causes him to have a nervous breakdown. Even though Holden’s actions contradict his thoughts which force him to keep making the same mistakes over and over again such as getting drunk, failure of finding connections with people, getting expelled from his fourth high school; his perception of maturity, understanding of how life works and concept of what is worth to care about changes throughout the book.

One of the major conflicts in Holden’s mind is the inability to admit that he cares. As he says: “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life”(16) he is aware of the fact that he can lie whenever or to whomever he wants, including himself. Lying to himself by saying that he doesn’t care makes him even more vulnerable in situations where he suddenly bursts into tears because of keeping every emotion inside his soul and not sharing them with anyone. After he gets drunk, washes his face with cold water and gets himself all wet; he sits on the radiator to get warmer however all of a sudden he starts crying without knowing why: ”I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome.”(153) Also even though he doesn’t have any concerns about his academic life; at the end of the book when his psychoanalyst asks him if he is going to apply himself when he goes back to school next September, he says: “I mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it? I think I am, but how do I know?”(213) Even if it might not be the perfect answer for a question like this, at least it indicates that he is somewhat determined not to give up. His strange and unusual interest in the ducks in the Central Park lagoon, how they survive during winter reveals that he pays attention to little things which may not even matter to most people. Another proof for his changing thoughts about himself can be the moment where he thinks he would just go down, down, down and nobody would ever see him again every time he gets to the end of each block. (197) He is terrified with the idea of vanishing so he pretends like he’s talking to his dead brother Allie, “Allie, don’t let me disappear. Please.”(198) Not only he realizes that he is eager to live but also he thanks him every time he passes a block. (198) This shows his realization of being grateful for what he has.

The evolution of his characteristic is presented in the literal meaning of “The Catcher in the Rye.” Although the prejudgment of phoniness makes him a narrow-minded person, Holden’s perceptions about children are significantly different. He perceives them as “innocent” creatures because he sees his past through their emotions. When a friend of Phoebe tries to tighten her skates, Holden gives her a hand and helps her. “Boy, I hadn’t had a skate key in my hand for years” displays the hunger for the good old memories he had before he started growing up. (119) He wants not only to remember joyful memories but also to keep them in his mind, which is why he wants to protect the little children from getting hurt whom he depends on. “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody (little kids) if they start to go over the cliff. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all,” (173) he responds to Phoebe’s question in this way since he believes that it’s necessary to watch children’s every move and make sure they do not fall both literally and figuratively. However the main irony in this concept of catcher in the rye is that he is one of those little kids who will fall off the cliff unless someone standing at the edge rescues them. As Mr. Antolini says during his discussion with Holden: “ I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible fall,” (186) he can’t be the catcher or “the responsible one for kids’ protection” if he, as still being a kid, hasn’t been saved yet. By choosing the word “riding”, Mr. Antolini implies that Holden is cognizant of his appalling situation.

Holden’s intimacy with his ten year old sister Phoebe, is very influential in his transformation from the beginning to the end of the book. When Holden starts thinking about what would happen if he died because of pneumonia and who would come to his funeral, only good thing he is able to bring out from his death is that his mom wouldn’t let Phoebe go to the funeral (155). Phoebe helps him in every condition such as when his mom asks Phoebe if she smoked in her room, she says: “I just lit one for one second,”(177) and takes the fall for Holden. Since she is the only one that Holden actually feels worth fighting for; when he drops the record he bought for her and it breaks into pieces, he says: “ I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible.”(154) His emotions and thoughts at the end of the book where Phoebe rides the carousel manifest her significance in Holden’s life. All of the kids tries to reach to this “golden ring” while riding the carousel, so does Phoebe. He says: “I was sort of afraid that she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say or do anything.” (211) He finally realizes that if they want to grab the golden ring, they should be free to do it. According to “new” Holden: ” If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them,”(211) which controverts his dream of being the catcher in the rye because back then, he wanted to save children from falling off the cliff or whatever is dangerous for them. “The golden ring” varies from person to person since it symbolizes the thing that each individual wants to reach for themselves throughout their life. Holden realizes that he can’t prevent his beloved ones from getting hurt like Allie or Phoebe. He finally lets go of whatever was holding him back from reaching happiness and peace which might even be related to Allie’s death.

Holden’s dynamic behaviors and spontaneous feelings are evidently seen at the end where he says: “ I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, I don’t know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around,”(213) when Phoebe was on the carousel. However before, everything made him feel depressed, sad and lonesome. He also finally admits that he misses people who were in his life before, “About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” (213) Even though he criticized every single friend he had before, like Stradlater and Ackley, Holden sees the truth about being a human: everybody deserves to be loved and cared even if they are hypocrites or phonies. His first time at the museum in this novel proved his consciousness and observation of how life works which in his words designates that “ Nobody would be different at the museum. The only thing that would be different would be you.”(121) In spite of some steady habits that would change in long term, Holden was able to accomplish his transformation from denial of immaturity to acceptance of who he really is and appreciation of life with happiness.