The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger, partially published in serial form in 1945–1946 and as a novel in 1951. It was originally intended for adults but is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst, alienation, and as a critique on superficiality in society. About one million copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 65 million books.According to List of best-selling books. An earlier article says more than 20 million: The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion.<ref>''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions'' By Elizabeth Webber, Mike Feinsilber. The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression.

## Plot

Holden Caulfield, a depressed 16-year-old, lives in an unspecified institution in California after the end of World War II. After his discharge within a month, he intends to go live with his brother D.B., an author and war veteran with whom Holden is angry for becoming a Hollywood screenwriter.

Holden recalls the events of the previous Christmas, beginning at Pencey Preparatory Academy, a boarding school in Pennsylvania. Holden has just learned that he won't be allowed back at Pencey after the Christmas break, because he had failed all classes except English. After forfeiting a fencing match in New York by forgetting the equipment on the subway, he says goodbye to his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, who is a well-meaning but long-winded old man. Spencer offers him advice and simultaneously embarrasses Holden by criticizing his history exam.

Back at his dorm, Holden's dorm neighbor, Robert Ackley, who is unpopular among his peers, disturbs Holden with his impolite questioning and mannerisms. Holden, who feels sorry for Ackley, tolerates his presence. Later, Holden agrees to write an English composition for his roommate, Ward Stradlater, who is leaving for a date. Holden and Stradlater normally hang out well together, and Holden admires Stradlater's physique. He is distressed to learn that Stradlater's date is Jane Gallagher, with whom Holden was infatuated and feels the need to protect. That night, Holden decides to go to a [[Cary Grant]] comedy with Mal Brossard and Ackley. Since Ackley and Mal had already seen the film, they end up just playing pinball and returning to Pencey. When Stradlater returns hours later, he fails to appreciate the deeply personal composition Holden wrote for him about the baseball glove of Holden's late brother Allie and refuses to say whether he slept with Jane. Enraged, Holden punches him, and Stradlater easily wins the fight. When Holden continues insulting him, Stradlater leaves him lying on the floor with a bloody nose. He goes to the room of Ackley, who is already asleep, and doesn't give him any attention. Fed up with the "phonies" at Pencey Prep, Holden decides to leave Pencey early and catches a train to New York. Holden intends to stay away from his home until Wednesday when his parents would have received notification of his expulsion. Aboard the train, Holden meets the mother of a wealthy, obnoxious Pencey student, Ernest Morrow, and makes up nice but false stories about her son.

In a taxicab, Holden asks the driver whether the ducks in the Central Park lagoon migrate during winter, a subject he brings up often, but the man barely responds. Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel and spends an evening dancing with three tourists at the hotel lounge. Holden is disappointed that they are unable to hold a conversation. Following an unpromising visit to a nightclub, Holden becomes preoccupied with his internal angst and agrees to have a prostitute named Sunny visit his room. His attitude toward the girl changes when she enters the room and takes off her clothes. Holden, who is a virgin, says he only wants to talk, which annoys her and causes her to leave. Even though he maintains that he paid her the right amount for her time, she returns with her pimp Maurice and demands more money. Holden insults Maurice, Sunny takes money from Holden's wallet, and Maurice snaps his fingers on Holden's groin and punches him in the stomach. Afterward, Holden imagines that he has been shot by Maurice and pictures murdering him with an automatic pistol.

The next morning, Holden, becoming increasingly depressed and in need of personal connection, calls Sally Hayes, a familiar date. Although Holden claims that she is "the queen of all phonies," they agree to meet that afternoon to attend a play at the Biltmore Theater. Holden shops for a special record, "Little Shirley Beans", for his 10-year-old sister Phoebe. He spots a small boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye]]", which lifts his mood. After the play, Holden and Sally go ice skating at Rockefeller Center, where Holden suddenly begins ranting against society and frightens Sally. He impulsively invites Sally to run away with him that night to live in the wilderness of [[New England]], but she is uninterested in his hastily conceived plan and declines. The conversation turns sour, and the two angrily part ways.

Holden decides to meet his old classmate, Carl Luce, for drinks at the Wicker Bar. Holden annoys Carl, whom Holden suspects of being [[gay]], by insistently questioning him about his sex life. Before leaving, Luce says that Holden should go see a [[psychiatrist]], to better understand himself. After Luce leaves, Holden gets drunk, awkwardly flirts with several adults, and calls an icy Sally. Exhausted and out of money, Holden wanders over to Central Park to investigate the ducks, accidentally breaking Phoebe's record on the way. Nostalgic, he heads home to see his sister Phoebe. He sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are out, and wakes up Phoebe — the only person with whom he seems to be able to communicate his true feelings. Although Phoebe is happy to see Holden, she quickly deduces that he has been expelled, and chastises him for his aimlessness and his apparent disdain for everything. When asked if he cares about anything, Holden shares a selfless fantasy he has been thinking about (based on a mishearing of Robert Burns's Comin' Through the Rye), in which he imagines himself as making a job of saving children running through a field of rye by catching them before they fell off a nearby cliff (a "catcher in the rye").

When his parents return home, Holden slips out and visits his former and much-admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who expresses concern that Holden is headed for "a terrible fall". Mr. Antolini advises him to begin applying himself and provides Holden with a place to sleep. Holden is upset when he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini patting his head, which he interprets as a sexual advance. He leaves and spends the rest of the night in a waiting room at Grand Central Station, where he sinks further into despair and expresses regret over leaving Mr. Antolini. He spends most of the morning wandering Fifth Avenue.

Losing hope of finding belonging or companionship in the city, Holden impulsively decides that he will head out West and live a reclusive lifestyle in a log cabin. He decides to see Phoebe at lunchtime to explain his plan and say goodbye. While visiting Phoebe's school, Holden sees graffiti containing a curse word and becomes distressed by the thought of children learning the word's meaning and tarnishing their innocence. When he meets Phoebe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she arrives with a suitcase and asks to go with him, even though she was looking forward to acting as Benedict Arnold]] in a play that Friday. Holden refuses to let her come with him, which upsets Phoebe. He tries to cheer her up by allowing her to skip school and taking her to the Central Park Zoo, but she remains angry. They eventually reach the zoo's carousel, where Phoebe reconciles with Holden after he buys her a ticket. Holden is finally filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe riding the carousel.

Holden finally alludes to encountering his parents that night and "getting sick", mentioning that he will be attending another school in September. Holden says that he doesn't want to tell anything more because talking about them has made him find himself missing his former classmates.

History

Various older stories by Salinger contain characters similar to those in ''The Catcher in the Rye''. While at [[Columbia University]], Salinger wrote a [[short story called "The Young Folks]]" in [[Whit Burnett]]'s class; one character from this story has been described as a "thinly penciled prototype of Sally Hayes". In November 1941 he sold the story "[[Slight Rebellion off Madison]]", which featured Holden Caulfield, to ''[[The New Yorker]]'', but it wasn't published until December 21, 1946, due to [[World War II]]. The story “I'm Crazy”, which was published in the December 22, 1945 issue of Collier's, contained material that was later used in ''The Catcher in the Rye''.

In 1946, ''The New Yorker'' accepted a 90-page manuscript about Holden Caulfield for publication, but Salinger later withdrew it.==Writing style==

''The Catcher in the Rye'' is narrated in a [[First-person narrative|subjective]] style from the point of view of Holden Caulfield, [[Stream of consciousness|following his exact thought processes]]. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events, such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences.

\* "Old" – term of familiarity or endearment

\* "Phony" – superficially acting a certain way only to change others’ perceptions

\* "That killed me" – one found that hilarious or astonishing

\* "Flit" – [[Homosexuality|homosexual]]

\* "Crumbum" or "crumby" – inadequate, insufficient, disappointing

\* "Snowing" – sweet-talking

\* "I got a bang out of that" – one found it hilarious or exciting

\* "Shoot the bull" – have a conversation containing false elements

\* "Give her the time" – [[sexual intercourse]]

\* "Necking" – passionate kissing especially on the neck (clothes on)

\* "Chew the fat" or "chew the rag" – [[Small talk|small-talk]]

\* "Rubbering" or "rubbernecks" – idle onlooking/onlookers

\* "The can" – the bathroom

\* "Prince of a guy" – fine fellow (however often used sarcastically)

\* "Prostitute" – sellout or phony (e.g. in regard to his brother D.B. who is a writer: "Now he's out in Hollywood being a prostitute")

==Interpretations==

Peter Beidler, in his ''A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"'', identifies the movie that the prostitute "Sunny" refers to. In chapter 13 she says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. The movie is ''[[Captains Courageous (1937 film)|Captains Courageous]]'' (1937), starring [[Spencer Tracy]]. Sunny says that Holden looks like the boy who fell off the boat. Beidler shows (page 28) a still of the boy, played by child-actor [[Freddie Bartholomew]].

==Reception==

However, not all reception has been positive. The book has had its share of critics, and many contemporary readers "just cannot understand what the fuss is about". According to Rohrer, who writes, "many of these readers are disappointed that the novel fails to meet the expectations generated by the mystique it is shrouded in. J. D. Salinger has done his part to enhance this mystique. That is to say, he has done nothing."<ref name="finlo rohrer" /> Rohrer assessed the reasons behind both the popularity and criticism of the book, saying that it "captures existential teenage angst" and has a "complex central character" and "accessible conversational style"; while at the same time some readers may dislike the "use of 1940s New York vernacular" and the excessive "whining" of the "self-obsessed character".

==Censorship and use in schools==

==Violent reactions==

{{further|The Catcher in the Rye in popular culture#Shootings}}

==Attempted adaptations==

===In film===

{{cquote|Of course I read ''The Catcher in the Rye''... Wonderful book. I loved it. I pursued it. I wanted to make a picture out of it. And then one day a young man came to the office of [[Leland Hayward]], my agent, in New York, and said, 'Please tell Mr. Leland Hayward to lay off. He's very, very insensitive.' And he walked out. That was the entire speech. I never saw him. That was J. D. Salinger and that was ''Catcher in the Rye''.<ref>Crowe, Cameron, ed. ''Conversations with Wilder''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. {{ISBN|0-375-40660-3}}. p. 299.</ref>}}

In 2003, the [[BBC]] television program ''[[Big Read|The Big Read]]'' featured ''The Catcher in the Rye'', interspersing discussions of the novel with "a series of short films that featured an actor playing J. D. Salinger's adolescent antihero, Holden Caulfield."<ref name="guard" /> The show defended its unlicensed adaptation of the novel by claiming to be a "literary review", and no major charges were filed.

===Banned fan sequel===

==Legacy and use in popular culture==

{{main|The Catcher in the Rye in popular culture}}

==See also==

\* [[Book censorship in the United States]]

\* [[Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century|''Le Monde''{{'}}s 100 Books of the Century]]

\* ''[[Vision Quest (novel)|Vision Quest]]''

==References==

===Notes===

{{reflist|1=30em}}

===Bibliography===

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===Further reading===

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==External links==

{{wikiquote|The Catcher in the Rye}}

\* [http://www.bookdrum.com/books/the-catcher-in-the-rye/9780140237504/index.html Book Drum illustrated profile of ''The Catcher in the Rye'']

\* [http://www.mansionbooks.com/BookDetail.php?bk=213 Photos of the first edition of ''Catcher in the Rye'']

\* [http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/06/03/salinger.catcher.lawsuit/index.html Lawsuit targets "rip-off" of "Catcher in the Rye"] – ''[[CNN]]''

{{J. D. Salinger}}

{{Authority control}}