An Introduction to The Catcher in the Rye

1
An Introduction toThe Catcher in the Rye

• English III
• Ms. Shasho

2
J.D. Salinger

• Alienation from society is a major theme of
  Jerome David Salingers work and no less a force
  in his own life. He seems determined to retreat
  from society and has succeeded in obscuring most
  of his private life.

3

• Born January 1, 1919 to the family of a
  prosperous Manhattan food dealer, Salinger had
  one older sister. He was educated in New York
  City except for the last two years of high
  school. These final years were spent at Valley
  Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania.
• Information about his first six years after
  graduation is vague. Salinger may have visited
  Europe and is known to have studied sporadically
  at New York University, Ursinus College, and
  Columbia University, concentrating on writing
  courses. During this time, Salinger published
  several short stories in popular magazines.

4

• Drafted in 1942 and trained in England, Salinger
  participated in the D-Day invasion. He continued
  to write during this period and more stories
  appeared in print. There was also an alleged
  marriage to a Frenchwoman, which supposedly ended
  in divorce in 1947.

• Salinger moved to rural New Hampshire and lived
  as a recluse. He only saw local youngsters, whose
  company he enjoyed. Although the success of his
  one novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), brought
  him unwanted attention, he kept the public eye at
  bay by refusing all visitors. However, whenever
  he was trapped, he offered conflicting
  information and often totally false biographical
  data.

5
The Philosopher

• In Salingers work, contemporary society is
  permeated by hypocrisy, injustice, and a lack of
  love. In this world of artificiality and
  indifference, Salingers sensitive characters
  invariably suffer.
• One of the few saving graces in Salingers
  corrupt world is the purity of childhood. Yet
  this beautiful, desirable, pristine innocence is
  short lived. And since childhood innocence is
  corrupted by passage into adulthood, Salinger
  offers little hope for a meaningful existence.

6

• Some readers object that Salingers message is
  based on negative, reactionary attitudes. For
  example, Holdens ideals are defined by his
  disgust with evil, rather than his reverence for
  good. Yet, when faced with such overwhelming
  corruption and such varied reasons for despair,
  even cautious optimism and the chance for
  salvation is cheering.

7
The Technician

• Salinger is a writer, first and last. He
  adamantly rejects the role of a public figure. He
  also rejects the position of teacher, refusing to
  talk about his writing or instruct others on his
  methods.
• Although Salinger has retreated from the world,
  his work offers great immediacy and reality. This
  is partly due to his stylistic gift for
  recreating idiomatic expression. In addition, his
  ability to capture the motivations and desires of
  the soul show that he has an intuitive grasp of
  the human character.

8

• Salinger works like a sculptor, obsessing himself
  with a single character or theme and reshaping it
  in a number of ways. He continues to approach the
  character or theme from various angles until the
  final forms emerge. Holden Caulfield evolved in
  this manner.

9

• At present, Catcher is Salingers only novel. He
  considers himself a short story writer. He has
  written one collection entitled Nine Stories
  (1953) and three novelettesFranny and Zooey,
  Seymour An Introduction, and Raise High the
  Roofbeam, Carpentersissued as a single work in
  1963. He also published approximately twenty
  other magazine stories.
• Although his output seems meager, Salingers
  widespread popular and critical acclaim make
  every effort seem more valuable.
• The fact that The Catcher in the Rye continues to
  sell over a quarter of a million copies annually
  in the U.S. alone testifies to Salingers
  continuing popularity.

10

• The novel offers realism in its use of language,
  its use of social criticism where it is due, and
  its presentation of real problems which
  adolescents face in the process of achieving
  maturity. The book also offers romanticism in its
  view of the innocence of childhood, its quest for
  truth, idealizing the past, and its emphasis on
  individual discovery and growth.

11

• Salinger borrows traditional structures for
  telling Holdens story. As in Chaucers
  Canterbury Tales or Welles Time Machine, he
  utilizes a frame story structure. The outside
  frame is Holdens talking to a psychoanalyst the
  inside story is Holdens own narrative, with
  flashbacks of the events, the madman stuff that
  has led to his arrival at a rest home in
  California.
• The narrative is in first
• It is psychological in that the events narrated
  are accompanied by Holdens thoughts. It is also
  a quest narrative in which Holden seeks to
  discover truth, values, and, ultimately, himself
  and his place in the world.

12
Criticism Controversy

• The Catcher in the Rye is not without its
  detractors and critics. They attack the books
  use of colloquial slang, its cynical central
  character as an inappropriate role model, its use
  of profanity and seedy scenes and its lack of
  didacticism.
• While these are points to consider, a thorough
  and objective analysis of the book as a whole can
  lea to the conclusion that the book is a balance
  between realism and romanticism that is designed
  to encourage readers to form their own opinions
  in relation to, in juxtaposition with, Holdens
  opinions.

13

• Until 2006, The Catcher in the Rye was one of the
  most frequently banned books.
• It is in the sense that it teaches without
  preaching that Catcher is perhaps the best book
  in the 20th century to address the adolescent
  stage of human development and may explain its
  enduring popularity and controversy.
• Holden Caulfield is such a composite sketch of an
  American teenager that nearly all readers
  identify with or see some of their friends
  reflected in different aspects of Holdens
  character.

14

• Young readers see in Holden Caulfield a little
  bit of what they are, while older readers see in
  Holden a bit of what they once were.
• Ultimately, we all know that in some way, Holden
  is one of us.

15
Catcher John Lennon

• On December 8, 1980 Mark David Chapman killed
  John Lennon outside his Dakota apartment
  building.
• He was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye
  with him at the time of the murder and even sat
  down and read a few pages following the shooting,
  while waiting for the police to arrive.
• He was obsessed with the book and Holden
  Caulfield and believed that the book expressed
  who he was. He thought of himself as a catcher in
  the rye and thought he needed to kill John
  Lennon, who he saw as a phony.
• Part of his statement following the murder is as
  follows
• Then this morning I went to the bookstore and
  bought The Catcher in the Rye. Im sure the large
  part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main
  person in the book. The small part of me must be
  the Devil.
• Creepy, huh?

16
Some Values Themes in Catcher

• The need for inner direction and commitment to
  action
• A sensitive awareness of lifes compensations a
  necessary balance of sympathy and rejection, joy
  and sorrow
• The recognition of superficial standards of
  behavior the challenge of seeking positive
  change in ones moral environment
• The ability to feel compassion and to expect
  justice for all
• The therapeutic worth of honesty in communication
  with others the treatment of every person as an
  individual
• The learning of universal love and empathy in
  ones individual struggle against hypocrisy and
  worldly corruption

17
Dominant Symbols in Catcher

• The carousel
• The red hunting cap
• The catchers mitt
• The ducks in Central Park pond
• The Museum of Natural History
• Pencey Prep

18
Sources

• Perfection Learning Corporation Curriculum Unit
  The Catcher in the Rye.
• Center for Learning Curriculum Unit The Catcher
  in the Rye.
• Contemporary Classics Curriculum Unit The
  Catcher in the Rye.
• Dr. Cornel Bonca He Just Wants to Make Us
  Happy Salingers Holden Caulfield at 50.