Book Report – The Catcher in the Rye
A novel by J. D. Salinger
A novel by J. D. Salinger
Among the many reasons I chose "The Catcher in the Rye" as the book to write about in this report, I'll outstand three. First of all, for being one of those famous books that is more quoted than actually read in my country, Brazil. Second, because everybody knows that it is a great classic of contemporary American literature, a bestseller in the U.S. since it was published until today. And third, by the mystique that surrounds it after "the man whose name Yoko Ono asked us to say never" claimed that the book inspired him to kill John Lennon. The fact is that many people have actually recommended me to read it, it is mentioned in several songs, and used as reference for a plenty of articles on the Internet. Then I decided to "check it by myself."The book is a narrative with first person narrative focus. Holden Caulfield, a 17 year old boy, is the protagonist and tells us about a weekend that probably changed his life, in which he meets several people and recalls a lot of memories of his past. Although predominantly narrative, the book has many descriptive digressions. Holden describes mainly characters that he meets along his trajectory, or simply remembers at certain times. The Setting is the United States after the II World War, in the late 40's, specifically between the town of Angerstown, Pennsylvania, where it's located Holden's school, and the City of New York. The language used is very colloquial and "teenager", which helps in expanding my vocabulary with the acquisition of new slang words that, strangely, seems present-day after 60 years.
About the plot, it begins with the story of Holden in his recent expulsion of a traditional American school, "Pencey Prep", located in the city of Angerstown, as I told before. His last moments in the city are marked by a farewell meeting with his History teacher, for whom he nurtures some affection / admiration, Mr. Spencer, and by a conflict with his roommate, Stradlater, who had just returned from a "date" with Jane Gallagher, a childhood friend of Holden, for whom he seems to nurture a kind of fraternal appreciation combined with love interests. This event is essential for Holden anticipates his return to New York, where it´s located his home, starting his journey on Saturday night. He arrives in New York by train and stays in a hotel, perhaps trying to escape or at least postpone the meeting with his parents and their reaction to the novelty of another expulsion from college. He walks around the city and, through the way, he meets several characters, always describing them a lot, more than the places he goes. His predominant feeling is depression, sadness and loneliness, especially for the disappointment he feels when he notices falsity in people and their relationships. This feeling makes he remind of special people, always described with great details, with whom he tries to contact and meet. Among them there is his ex-girlfriend, Sally Hayes, who believed he loved, with whom he disappoints, as all other people so far. There is also an old and intelligent colleague, Carl Luce, with whom he takes some general advices.
The big twist is when he revisits carefully, at dawn, his home and, taking advantage of the absence of parents, has a long conversation with her younger sister, Phoebe, for whom he feels extreme admiration and nurtures strong brotherly love. She is described as very smart little girl, despite being only 10 year old, and is capable to find out the expulsion of Holden, and then immediately questions him, his rebellion without a cause, self-destruction and if he is able to like something. At this time, perhaps stuck with all her sister´s questioning, completely depressed and trapped, he quotes (corrected by his sister): "if a body meet a body coming through the rye", fragment from the poem "Comin' Thro' the Rye", by the real writer Robert Burns. Strongly influenced by all that happening, he gets deeply in his imagination and sees himself: "Anyway, I keep picturing all 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 to, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and They Do not look they're going where 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. I know it's crazy." From there he goes to meet a former teacher, who strangely approaches him and, because of that, causes surprise and another big disappointment. More alone than ever, he then decides to "go walking in direction of west", actually aimless, but a last meeting with his sister makes him get real and then finally he decides to return home and face her parents and the consequences of his expulsion from college. He reportedly decides not to tell us what happens thereafter, and the book story ends there, with a big cliff-hanger.
About the characters, Holden Caufield is a typical rich teenager, well born, who is studying in traditional school. But what separates him from his peers is the fact of switching moments when he is naive and innocent, with moments when he is irresponsible and a liar. Furthermore, he is misfit and rebellious but extremely sensitive. Basically his rebellion is justified by what makes him more nonconformist: his realization that the world is full of interested, empty and false (or “phony”, how he says) people. "PHONY” is one of the words that he mostly speaks in the book. The first character with whom he comes into real conflict is his roommate, Stradlater, the perfect stereotype of the typical young American rich of that time: “(...) he was madly in love with himself. He thought he was the handsomest guy in the Western Hemisphere. (…) Just because they´re crazy about themsef (sic), they think you´re crazy about them, too (…)”. Athlete, handsome, conceited, all the girls go for him. And when he dated Jane Gallagher, Holden was a little nonconformist how a “moron” like him could be with a so special and innocent girl that he knew so deeply when child. He was clearly jealous because of that and this fact influenced him a lot, as I told in last paragraph. Phoebe, her sister, is the great antagonist of the book. And Holden admired her too much, always talking about her since the beginning, “the smartest kid ever”, a very creative child, capable to write stories and create characters, a good dancer, very emotional (which worries him a little), spontaneous and funny.
At the end of the book, which finishes with a huge "cliff-hanger", the feeling that remains is divided: the reading is a little sarcastic funny, but the strong impression is of pessimism and depression with which the American youth of that time is covered. Basically the characters are allegorical and represents stereotypes of the society´s behavior. The emptiness and falsity that Holden criticizes with some naive and innocence extends to the status quo of his time, and the strong popularity and acceptability of the book that continues today indicates that it extends also to the present-day. It is not hard to figure out why this is a classic, a definitive and groundbreaking production that represents a milestone and continues present-day, influencing new generations and questioning the values and paradigms that seems to survive in society as a whole. In the end, the question is... “What happens to the ducks on the lake in Central Park during the winter?”
Texto escrito entre terça e quarta-feira, postado na quinta-feira.
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