Seminar 1. J.D.

Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) as a study of youth alienation

1. How was The Catcher in the Rye received by critics and a wider audience?
But The Catcher in the Rye is far from a perfect novel. The very teenagerishness that
the Times celebrates isn't nearly as clever or relevant today, on the 63rdю As Jennifer Schuessler
noted in 2009. “Holden Caulfield is supposed to be this paradigmatic teenager we can all relate
to, but we don’t really speak this way or talk about these things.”
“In any case he is so completely self-centered that the other characters who wander
through the book—with the notable exception of his sister Phoebe—have nothing like his
authenticity. ... In a writer of Salinger's undeniable talent, one expects something more.”
Salinger's portrayal of Holden, which includes incidents of depression, nervous
breakdown, impulsive spending, sexual exploration, vulgarity, and other erratic behavior, have
all attributed to the controversial nature of the novel. Yet the novel is not without its sharp
advocates, who argue that it is a critical look at the problems facing American youth during the
1950's; thus the novel continues to be used as an educational resource in high schools throughout
the nation.
Before his novel, J.D. Salinger was of basic non-literary status, having written for years
without notice from critics or the general public. The Catcher in the Rye was his first step onto
the literary playing field. This initial status left Salinger, as a serious writer, almost unique as a
sort of free agent, not bound to one or more schools of critics, like many of his contemporaries
were.
Reviewer James Stern of the New York Times  saw The Catcher in the Rye as being too
depressive to be of any redeeming value to the reader. Stern did praise him, however, when he
commented on Salinger's ability to write about children. Other short stories by Salinger, such as
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "Franny and Zooey," are also based around children and
adolescents.
 Writing for the Library Journal (July 1951), Harold L. Roth "highly recommended" the
novel but warned that it "may be a shock to many parents" and should be thought of as
strictly adult reading.
Harvey Breit was, however, one of the first to compare The Catcher in the Rye to Mark
Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, an insight whose value has held up over time.
Jack Salzman points out that, by 1954, Catcher could be purchased in translation in Denmark,
Germany, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. That
international popularity is especially interesting considering the novel's dependence on the
vernacular.
 J.D. Salinger's novel is a wake-up call to all teenagers and in a sense, is an inspiring read
because it sends out the message that we should all remain hopeful and true to ourselves.
Teenagers can relate to it because of its complex themes of rebellion, identity and independence
but I would recommend you read it before you're an adult otherwise you may have the urge to
slap Holden for his actions when reading the book!
2. The novel is a portrait of the teenager in crisis. Adolescence was a subject in the 19th century
American literature, in particular in Mark Twain’s novels. What do these two representations of
teenagers have in common and on the contrary – what is a basic difference between them?
Huck Finn’s youthful naiveté is part of the charm of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Because of his young age, he is able to approach conflict with an innocence and curiosity that an
older protagonist might lack. Too young to be fully indoctrinated with the values
of antebellum (pre-Civil War) South, Huck gets to examine issues in light of his own still-
evolving moral compass. Tom Sawyer’s runaway imagination adds another layer of
adventurousness to the plot, and Huck’s contentment with the simple things in life remind us
we’re not dealing with somebody who’s got a ton of personal baggage. Lastly, the playful tone
of Huck’s narration strikes an interesting balance with the weightier topics of the novel, such as
slavery, morality, and racism.
Holden – not innocent, imaginative (bullets in the stomach), narration style of serious
topics.
Can you think of other ‘youth’ texts?

3. The post-war rush into consumerism and technology is not appreciated by Holden. Do you
consider the protagonist to be a mid-century nonconformist? If so, how successful he ultimately
is?
 Nonconformist - someone who lives and thinks in a way that is different from
other people. Holden doesn’t want to study, spends too much money, inconsistent in his desires,
cannot cope with his emotions. Tries to communicate with the prostitute instead of sleeping with
her, rebels by escaping from school at night.
"That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because
there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking,
somebody'll sneak up and write 'Fuck you' right under your nose."
That's why it's such a big deal when Phoebe puts it on his head at the end of the novel:
not only is she giving back to Holden, but she's demonstrating that she loves him as the
individual that he is—corny red hunting hat and all.
4. An important idea in ‘youth’ texts is the concept of a ‘threshold moment’ marking the liminal
‘rite of passage’ between the worlds of childhood and adulthood. How is the liminality
represented in Salinger’s novel?
1st threshold – escape from Pency for New York – carrousel and red hat – maturity to go
to school in September
Prior to crossing the first threshold, Holden goes to say goodbye to his history teacher
Mr. Spencer, evidently seeking direction. He serves as Holden’s first helper on the journey.
Though Holden silently mocks Mr. Spencer throughout their conversation, Mr. Spencer gives
him one important piece of advice when he says, “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one
plays according to the rules” (8). Holden thinks this advice is not applicable to someone like him
who doesn’t fit into the “game of life,” yet  on his journey he battles with ideas of conformity
and nonconformity as he tries to find his place in society.
5. Comment on the peculiarities of the first-person narrative. Is Holden a reliable narrator or not?
Holden is our central, first-person narrator, so no surprises there. Right? Well…
I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. If I'm on the way to the store to buy a
magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the
opera. (3.1)
Uh-oh. What do we do with a first-person narrator who tells us straight out that he’s a
liar? Can we trust anything that he says?
Well, we have to, right? In Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s perspective on maters in the
substance of the novel; more than the events themselves, we're interested in what Holden
thinks of the events/people/places/weather/dead mummies and how he presents them to us—
a.k.a., his point of view. And here’s the thing: while Holden calls essentially everyone in the
book a "phony" at some point or another (with the exceptions of Jane Gallagher, his brother
Allie, and his sister Phoebe), he himself is a constant liar.
Group assignment #1 (2-3 volunteers)
Outline J.D. Salinger’s legacy. What is known about the writer’s unpublished stories? What are
the family’s plans regarding the unseen writings?
Group assignment #2 (2-3 volunteers)
J.D. Salinger resented the attention after the publication of his only full-length novel and
preferred a reclusive lifestyle? Why? What is known about Salinger and WWII?
Jerome David Salinger was an American writer known for his novel The Catcher in the
Rye. In 1941, Salinger began submitting short stories to The New Yorker. Seven of Salinger's
stories were rejected by the magazine that year, including "Lunch for Three", "Monologue for a
Watery Highball", and "I Went to School with Adolf Hitler". During the campaign from
Normandy into Germany, Salinger arranged to meet with Ernest Hemingway, a writer who had
influenced him and was then working as a war correspondent in Paris. The two writers began
corresponding; Salinger wrote Hemingway in July 1946 that their talks were among his few
positive memories of the war.
Salinger's experiences in the war affected him emotionally. He was hospitalized for a few
weeks for combat stress reaction after Germany was defeated, and he later told his daughter:
"You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long
you live." Both of his biographers speculate that Salinger drew upon his wartime experiences in
several stories, such as "For Esmé—with Love and Squalor", which is narrated by a traumatized
soldier.
Unlike many soldiers who had been impatient for the invasion, Salinger was far from
naïve about war. In short stories he had already written while in the army, such as “Soft-Boiled
Sergeant” and “Last Day of the Last Furlough,” he expressed disgust with the false idealism
applied to combat, and attempted to explain that war was a bloody, inglorious affair.
Holden Caulfield, and the pages that held him, had been the author’s constant companion
for most of his adult life. Those pages, the first of them written in his mid-20s, just before he
shipped off to Europe as an army sergeant, were so precious to Salinger that he carried them on
his person throughout the Second World War. Pages of The Catcher in the Rye had stormed the
beach at Normandy; they had paraded down the streets of Paris, been present at the deaths of
countless soldiers in countless places, and been carried through the concentration camps of Nazi
Germany. In bits and pieces they had been re-written, put aside, and re-written again, the nature
of the story changing as the author himself was changed. Now, in Connecticut, Salinger placed
the final line on the final chapter of the book. It is with Salinger’s experience of the Second
World War in mind that we should understand Holden Caulfield’s insight at the Central Park
carousel, and the parting words of The Catcher in the Rye: “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If
you do, you start missing everybody.” All the dead soldiers.