My favorite part of The Catcher in the Rye is how Salinger
manages to deal with deep, difficult to discuss/articulate ideas and fears,
while maintaining an “easy to read” connectivity to the narrator (Holden) and without bluntly throwing ideas out
to the reader. We have to stare deep into Holden’s snippets of narrated past while
trying to understand how they shape and impact his present day state of mental “falling”. Holden is deeply dissatisfied with society
and how he fits (/fails to fit) into any part of society. His ideals and “purity” from childhood are
constantly trounced on by the “phonies” of the world and cannot seem to figure
out how to fit into a phony society.
Holden, like all of us, struggles
with understanding/dealing with changes to any part of his life (just imagining
the museum scene where he finds reassurance in the stability of the contents
inside the glass boxes). Even after Pencey
and the very end of the novel he has nostalgia for Stradlater and Ackley and
all of their “phoniness”. The hardest
part of transience for Holden, and most humans, is death, and trying to grapple
with/comprehend how our life can move forward without our loved ones, and how
everything we have ever known can come to a close. Although Holden doesn’t explicitly discuss
many of his own grief/worries/problems, it is evident in his narration,
depression, and pieces of “ideal past” described that demonstrate his struggles
with dealing with Allie’s death, and the change of people/society around him.
Most of my favorite scenes in The Cather in the Rye are towards (/at)
the end of the novel when Holden talks to and hangs out with Phoebe. For me, no matter all the “phonies” and
messed up terrible things that plague the past and present state of the human
race, the most special, beautiful part of life is our connectivity and love and
positive energy that passes through loved ones.
Throughout the entire novel, Holden lacks a good friend who he can talk
to about these deep feelings and “falling” he is going through, and Phoebe IS
that friend who really picks him up and gives him love back into his life.
I agree that it was a touching ending that the reader needed to feel some sort of relief after what Holden shared with us. Because of his connection to us, and the narrative that pulls you in, we get attached. I struggled reading the parts of the book when Holden was struggling and on the verge of the "fall". So like I said, it was nice to see some sort of closure and mutual love shared between the two. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI think you make a really good point in this post. Salinger does a good job of addressing important issues that often difficult to deal with. Since Holden is such a relatable character, it forces the reader to think of these issues in their own life as well. As a result, it is easier for the reader to understand what Holden is going through.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the last scene with Phoebe was really important and showed a lot about Holden's character. I thought that it was interesting and important that Phoebe was the one who first got Holden to talk about his problems and what he wanted to do, as well as the one who helps him again at the end. I think that it is important that Phoebe can help him in both ways, by making him think about what the future will look like, and by loving him for who he is.
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