So, here's the thing...I managed to get through Honors English and a BA in English Literature, and have never been mad to read the infamous Catcher in the Rye. So while I have been home in recovery, I have decided to have a read. It was pretty funny, when I went to the book store to purchase a copy of said book, I asked the young person behind the counter if I was now going to be on some FBI list. He just looked at me with this quizzical look. So I proceeded to attempt explain the conspiracy theory behind the book and the cashier seemed very disinterested, so I let it go. Personally I thought I was being very funny, but he didn't get it, so the joke was wasted.
Anyhoo, It took me about a week to read, only because I was reading just a few minutes here in there since I am so involved with my 4000 piece puzzle "and all." (If you've read the book you know "and all," is one of Holden's favorite ways to end a sentence.)
I actually enjoyed the book. I don't get how the book could ever possibly be connected to any sort of Conspiracy Theory. When I first set out to read the book I assumed it would dark and there would be some sort of suggestion of an underlying message to those who have used the book as a template for their crimes.
However, Holden Caulfield was a pretty likable young man. I can remember being his age and being confused and anxious about the same types of issues that he finds him self worried about; virginity, sexuality, popularity, relationships, fitting in, school, issues with parents, etc. I thought that the relationship that he had with his little sister was very sweet. I can remember having a similar time with my younger brother. I just read it as an adventurous weekend in the life of an average teenage boy.
So I decided that there had to be more to it. So I did some research...In a nut shell, the literary criticism was fixed on his inability to connect with other people and reality. That his little sister was actually his voice of reason, even the voice of the reader begging Holden to snap out of it! That Holden's criticisms of "phony" people was because they were actually more conventional and grounded in reality. One analysis went as far to break down his name as Hold-on-caul-field. A "caul" being the membrane that covers an embryo's brain. Suggesting that he is holding on to childhood as long as possible. And they support that with his take on the song by Robert Burns. He reads the poem/song as "catch a body" rather than "meet a body." Ironically, the song is actually talking about a chance encounter of two bodies in the rye. A sexual encounter. Holden interprets the song as being a catch who saves little children from falling off a cliff (a metaphor for a fall from innocence). WOW! If J.D. Salinger had all of that in mind when he wrote the book, he was a genius!
At the end of the book it is revealed that Holden is in a mental facility of sorts. Call me crazy, but I don't really understand why. I know that this story takes place in a different time (the late 40's) and the conventions of life were very different. I was a teenager in the 80's and I don't know of too many of us didn't feel the same way. Perhaps this is why so many who read The Catcher in the Rye, can completely relate to Holden and that is why he is one of American Literature's most beloved characters!
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