The Catcher in the Rye (Dec26 2012)

I do not remember why, as it has been many years ago since I had read it, but The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger use to be one of my favorite books I read in High School. While I was rummaging through some of the stuff I hadn’t unpacked, I found my old book. I knew what it was about of course but couldn’t tell you why I had liked it so much. I read it again today. I must confess for a good 3/4 of the book I was wondering why it was such a favorite of mine. I mean, I could see how I probably found myself in some aspects of the main character, being a teenager myself at the time, going through all the insecurities, fears, and pains of growing up and finding my path in life.
I have been thinking about it all evening. There are several things in the book that kept coming back to my thoughts. The sole character of this book is Holden Caulfield. Yes there are secondary characters but really they are not of much importance except to demonstrate how Holden perceives the world.
One thing aside, that has nothing to do with my philosophical thoughts, but that amused me as I read today was the mention that a Jaguar cost “damm near four thousand bucks”. Of course the first publishing of the book was in 1945.
Anyhow, back to Holden. He pretty much sees everything in the world as a big fat lie. Now I do not perceive the world in such manner but I have always had a very strong dislike of deception , lies, and hypocrisy.So I can see how I probably identified with him quite a bit back when I first read the book. Being in High School back then,as Holden is, many of the things he observes and talks about are/were very real.
Sadly many of those things do continue on through adulthood for some. And what I mean by that is that many continue to live in their appearance world, and others continue to be as lost as Holden was that winter even though they have left their teen years behind many winters ago.
There are some quotes from the book I find worth retyping because to me it encloses the whole discussion. Most of them are from a conversation between Holden and his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini.
Mr. Antolini tells Holden that he is headed for a terrible fall.
“ The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement’s designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started.”
He then writes something on a piece of paper for Holden to read carefully and keep with him.
“the mark of an immature man is that he want to die nobly for a cause, when the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
He then advises him that “one of this days, you’re going to have to find out where you want to go, and then you got to start going there”
And here lies one of my observations of life. I believe the majority of us go through this phase more than once in life.The biggest one being going from childhood to adulthood. But then life keeps moving forward and it might be for different reasons that we are faced with this question again but I believe it can be as daunting as the first time in some cases, although we are supposed to be better equipped to handle it. Some live in this constant circle and they never get out of it, a lot find their way into a new direction and a few lucky ones never encounter it again in such force and gently move from one path to another or are blessed to only have to make minimal adjustments because they found their true path early on and for whatever reason were granted all the conditions to stay on it for life.
Farther in the conversation Mr. Antolini tells Holden:
“Among other things you will find that you’re not the only person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior…many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You will learn from them-if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you.”
Of course the key words here are: “if you want to”. Some never do…
Maybe that is one of the reasons I like writing so much and I usually write from my own experiences and thoughts. Might not help anybody to share it, but it might. You just never know. Sometimes you are blessed enough to actually find out that you have in fact helped somebody just by sharing your thoughts and experiences. Maybe you didn’t clear their questions but you motivated them to search their own answers in a positive way. Or made something click in their minds that they knew but couldn’t see before. I know I had benefited from others who have shared.
In the end Holden crashes and the book is not very clear about which road he takes after that but it does gives a hint that he might finally be willing to become less pessimist and more focus in building a life for himself where he can be true to himself and maybe even happy in this complicated world. In other words he starts to grow up and get out of his funk by approaching life with a different attitude,at least to consider thinking about another possible way. And through it all there is one thing that ties him to that road. Children…his little brother (even though he had died) and his little sister and children as a whole. You see, children in general are honest and are able to enjoy the moment and see beauty and fun in things we start to forget as we grow up and become more preoccupied with world/man matters and expectations. It is true we all have to grow up at some point and is sad when some don’t and continue to live as confused teenagers. But if we can keep the honesty and ability to adapt without compromising that most children have we are much better off as adults. This are some of the lessons I am trying to instill in my own children and hopefully I am doing a half decent job at it.Their empathy, loyalty, imagination, colorful view of things are valuable traits to preserve. Traits that I am trying to remember to keep in myself as I travel through life and its challenges. This are things that used in a mature balance can make our life fuller and more beautiful and full of meaning.