Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Open Question

            In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield, the protagonist in story, caught my attention, and I grew to admire him. Some might argue that I am mistaken since Holden is portrayed very poorly in the story, but one side of him shouldn’t be used to judge him as a whole. Salinger does this on purpose to make Holden stand out from his hectic life. Holden discovers a very important fact about life where he wants to be the catcher in the rye. 

Salinger, throughout the entire plot, shows the negative side of Holden and towards the end provides a new side of him where the readers feel compassion for him. Even though he flunks out from Pencey prep school, calls up a prostitute to ease his desire, and lies to his sister Phoebe about dropping out from school, he has a side which admires me; he imagines himself being the catcher of the kids falling off a cliff. Salinger uses a metaphor for the cliff to represent the transformation from childhood to adulthood, the state where kids experience puberty. From all the events that occurred up to this point, this intention is capricious, judging from his previous haughtiness.

He is one of the kids who fell from that cliff, no one to catch him from falling off. As he is experiencing the event, he realizes that the unknown world is cruel and harsh. He calls most people “phony” and criticizes them to cover up for his loneliness and depression. Through many signs and symbols, I can conclude that Holden wants to be young again in his innocent youth. He doesn't want to grow up because there will be many responsibilities and desires he never expected as child.  

Holden Caufield is not the typical protagonist who does great deeds and lives a moral life. He is one who is sick of all the cruelties of life and has nowhere else to relieve them except on others and him. He is aware of this and wishes to prevent others from going through the same experience. People shouldn’t judge a character solely on his/her action or behavior but what’s in the heart. 

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