Catcher In The Rye 🧵
One of the best-selling books of all time (65 million+ lifetime sales)
The most banned *and* the most loved book on school campuses
On J.D. Salinger’s 103rd birthday today
Discover how seven thematic tensions make this novel an all-time classic👇🏻
One of the best-selling books of all time (65 million+ lifetime sales)
The most banned *and* the most loved book on school campuses
On J.D. Salinger’s 103rd birthday today
Discover how seven thematic tensions make this novel an all-time classic👇🏻
1/ Authenticity v/s Inauthenticity
For the protagonist Holden Caulfield, the whole world is full of “phony bastards”
He chases authenticity
He refuses to write exams he finds uninteresting
He despises his friends who laugh at unfunny jokes
He’s honest - to a FAULT
For the protagonist Holden Caulfield, the whole world is full of “phony bastards”
He chases authenticity
He refuses to write exams he finds uninteresting
He despises his friends who laugh at unfunny jokes
He’s honest - to a FAULT
In a 1966 review, CW Trowbridge writes:
“Thematically speaking, Salinger presents us with the plight of the idealist in the modern world. If he is to remain an idealist, he must either strive to find his ideal world or attempt to reform what is into what ought to be.”
But…
“Thematically speaking, Salinger presents us with the plight of the idealist in the modern world. If he is to remain an idealist, he must either strive to find his ideal world or attempt to reform what is into what ought to be.”
But…
2/ Knowledge v/s Action
Holden Caulfield is smart enough to diagnose the world’s problems but not strong enough to fight them
Caulfield: “I can't make a real fist any more - not a tight one, I mean”
He has a weak grip - physically, intellectually, and spiritually
Holden Caulfield is smart enough to diagnose the world’s problems but not strong enough to fight them
Caulfield: “I can't make a real fist any more - not a tight one, I mean”
He has a weak grip - physically, intellectually, and spiritually
3/ Real Loneliness v/s Fake friends
Caulfield calls a girl “queen of the phonies”
5 pages later he wants to marry her
If you persist in being yourself for long enough
You'll find your tribe
BUT the question of "how long?" will haunt you every night
& tempt you to compromise
Caulfield calls a girl “queen of the phonies”
5 pages later he wants to marry her
If you persist in being yourself for long enough
You'll find your tribe
BUT the question of "how long?" will haunt you every night
& tempt you to compromise
This is the dilemma facing Caulfield in 1951 - and many of us today
Sometimes the price of authenticity = loneliness
Loneliness = unbearable
Most put on the required masks to keep their “friends”
Caulfield is too scared to be in the bottomright, so he’s stuck in the topleft
Sometimes the price of authenticity = loneliness
Loneliness = unbearable
Most put on the required masks to keep their “friends”
Caulfield is too scared to be in the bottomright, so he’s stuck in the topleft
Caulfield wants intellectual peers:
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.”
4/ Permanence v/s Change
Caulfield is OBSESSED with the perfectly preserved Egyptian mummies
Keeps bringing up how “they could be buried in their tombs for thousands of years and their faces wouldn't rot”
He LOVES the museum as “everything always stayed right where it was”
Caulfield is OBSESSED with the perfectly preserved Egyptian mummies
Keeps bringing up how “they could be buried in their tombs for thousands of years and their faces wouldn't rot”
He LOVES the museum as “everything always stayed right where it was”
5/ Casual sex v/s Intimacy
Caulfield: “Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it, though, the same week I made it.”
Caulfield wants genuine connection but can’t seem to find it
Caulfield: “Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it, though, the same week I made it.”
Caulfield wants genuine connection but can’t seem to find it
6/ Childhood v/s Adulthood
Caulfield’s favorite person is his 10 year old sister Phoebe
His dream made-up job is to the “Catcher In The Rye”
When kids are playing in a rye field near the cliff
He will stand and catch them if they run towards the edge
The SYMBOLISM is clear:
Caulfield’s favorite person is his 10 year old sister Phoebe
His dream made-up job is to the “Catcher In The Rye”
When kids are playing in a rye field near the cliff
He will stand and catch them if they run towards the edge
The SYMBOLISM is clear:
On Caulfield’s rye field there are no adults:
“1000s of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me”
Kids walk the world with their actual expressions not masks
Unlike the phony adults
But Caulfield is on the edge of adulthood with no catchers around..
“1000s of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me”
Kids walk the world with their actual expressions not masks
Unlike the phony adults
But Caulfield is on the edge of adulthood with no catchers around..
7/ Perfectionism v/s Making choices
Caulfield packs a snowball, points it at a car but the car looks too “nice and white.”
Points at a hydrant, but it too looks “nice and white.”
Finally: “I didn't throw it at anything.”
Caulfield's aesthetic sensibility is FREEZING him up
Caulfield packs a snowball, points it at a car but the car looks too “nice and white.”
Points at a hydrant, but it too looks “nice and white.”
Finally: “I didn't throw it at anything.”
Caulfield's aesthetic sensibility is FREEZING him up
Caulfield’s disturbed psyche is nudged towards recovery by his teacher Antolini
He writes down a quote for Caulfield to chew on:
“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
He writes down a quote for Caulfield to chew on:
“The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
Appreciate your time!
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