Catcher in the Rye Essay: Holden and the Complexity of Adult Life

H previous(a)en and the Complexity of Adult Life What was wrong with Holden, the main division in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D.Salinger, was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "phoney" and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the truly young, in whom he saw reflected his own lost childhood. at that place is something wrong or lacking in the novels of despair and frustration of many writers. The sour demarcation of bitterness and the recurring theme of sadism withstand become almost a convention, never thoroughly explained by the authors dependence on a psychoanalytical adaptation of a major character. The boys who are spoiled or turned into budding homosexuals by their mothers and a loveless home life are as known to us today as stalwart and dependable young heroes such as John Wayne were to an earlier generation. We have accepted this interpretation of the restlessness and admiration of our young men and boys because no one had anything better to offer. It is tragic to hear the anguished cry of parents "What have we done to harm him? Why doesnt he fright about anything? He is a bright boy, but why does he fail to pass his examinations? Why wont he talk to us?" A rare and absorbing novel, J. D. Salingers "The Catcher in the Rye," may serve to calm the apprehensions of fathers and mothers about their own responsibilities, though it doesnt attempt to explain why all boys who dismay their elders have failed to pass successfully the barrier between childhood and young manhood. It is profoundly moving and a disturbing book, but it is not hopeless. Holden Caulfield, sixteen years old and six foot two inches in hei... ...Boy, I was shaking like a madman." The Catcher in the Rye is not all horror of this sort. There is a wry humor in this sixteen-year-olds trying to live up to his height, to drink with men, to understand mature sex and why he is still a virgin at his age. His affection for children is spontaneous and delightful. There are few little girls in modern fiction as charming and lovable as his little sister, Phoebe. Altogether this is a book to be read thoughtfully and more than once. It is about an unusually sensitive and intelligent boy but, then, are not all boys unusual and worthy of understanding? If they are bewildered at the complexity of modern life, unsure of themselves, shocked by the spectacle of perversity and evil somewhat them - are not adults equally shocked by the knowledge that even children cannot escape this contact and awareness?