h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Catcher in the Rye - J. D. Salinger - A2023732
Author: tom - U528185

i'm back from my long walk round the building and would like to try (again)to get this in to the edited guide.

comments and criticisms please.

tom.

Ahum, well tom (can't you use a pseudonym?) well, yes, euh, I do not think Holden C. is in a 'mental institution' as you said in the beginning of your noble but brief entry on the phenomenal phenomenon Holden C.. His parents sent him to a, probably very, very, very, VERY, expensive, boarding school.

he is definitely in a mental institution. it's not obvious in the first chapter, but it is in the last one.

I can't really help on the content issue outlined above, having never read the book myself! What I would say is that there should definitely be more articles on classic books to convince people like me to make more effort to hunt them out in bookshops, so I think it's a good effort.

Perhaps some sub-headers would help to organise the article into sections and give you focus on different parts. For example, a good introduction would be to tell us a little bit about Salinger and the circumstances in which he wrote the book. Then you could move on to a "synopsis" section, explain some of the themes of the book, and so on. Maybe make some reference to the supposed connection with John Lennon's murder? I'm no expert on Salinger, as I say, but some divisions like this and some more "human interest" would make it more readable. You're obviously a fan of the book, though!

Maybe check out some entries for other classic, original works - the edited entry for Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" A266069 would help you to get some ideas on how to structure it and develop the theme beyond the book itself. Look forward to having a look at this again soon!

My impression is that the narrative is written from an institution, but that the "events" of the story occur when HC has just run away, literally, from a school (from which he has been expelled). But we only have his word for any of this.

So I just go down to the cellar, rummage through several boxes of books, find the copy which is in tatters if I remember well and I will be back with you about this 'mental institution' thing.
He is expelled and runs away. But it is just not done in the establishment in which he grows up for parents to send their kids to a home for the mentally ill. They would rather cough up big amounts of cash in order to be rid of the problem, pacify their conscience and also safekeep their son's future in the long run.
But we will see whether you're right or not.

aging jb is right. the book is written by holden whilst he is in a mental institution, but is about when he runs away from school after being expelled.

thanks's for the suggestion skankyrich. i will look into that.

tom.

On page 9 H. remarks he has no wind because of being a heavy smoker and 'Another thing, I grew six and a half inches last year. That's also how I practically got T.B. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff. I'm pretty healty, though'.

Yes, the copy is in tatters. Got to page 64 and then a lot of pages are missing.The story continues at page 117, with H. chatting up some nuns about Romeo and Julliet.
The missing pages are probably still in the box downstairs in the cellar. It a lot of work you know, shifting all these boxes and searching after what you're looking for!

Anyway last chapter 26: 'A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself when I go back to school next September.'

It sounds more like a sanatorium or health-farm.


You know why is it called 'Catcher in the rye'?

I'm glad that my all-time favourite book is getting some attention. Good work!

I reckon it needs a bit more critical analysis:

Is it just about a smart-ass teenager wandering around New York?

Is it aimed at a teenage audience? It's perfect fodder for the average '....nobody understands me. Boo hoo." teenager.

Or.....is it a book about the impact of WWII on US society. All the grown ups went away for a while and entered a horrible world where they witnessed fear and atrocity. Now they won't talk about it with the younger generation. Obviously there's some great secret - but the phonies are just carrying on as though nothing happened. And some of them didn't even come back!!! ('Where do the ducks go in winter?')

This one is bound to get some attention - well done Tom for doing some work on this.

My only main comment at this stage would be that I would like to see a bit more of the storyline presented. It is quite short, and I think if we were given a bit more narrative it might expand the entry properly. I think this can be done without necessarily spoiling the book because the book appears to be far more than just a narrative.

It may also be worth mentioning that the guy who shot Lennon was an avid Catcher fan.

Woodpigeon

Yes, the ducks. Good question!

I forget whether I've said this here before, or just in real life.

What struck me when I re-read it is that it works on different levels. When I was a teenager and a lot more like Holden, I identified him and the way he saw the world and railed against all the fakes and phonies.

Now I can see how when he goes on about the people that used to annoy him at his other schools he's kind of saying that he misses them, that although he won't admit it to himself they were his friends. I think...

I think it's an adult using an adolescent character to ventilate his annoyance, frustration and love for the culture and people around him.

It's a good book ... but why? Not only because it's funny, it's 'humane' as well. Holden is an adorable character ... his being at odds with his surroundings sheds a light on the civilisation he's going to be a member of and isn't only due to growing up ... and doubting what he is growing up to be or protest ... but also about the loss of someone he dearly loved, his little brother. He's in mourning.

Something on the different levels of how this works would be good.

A little bit more on the plot and the protagonist wouldn't hurt either.

Personally Holden was driving me bad by the end - smart ass is indeed the word.

sprout

The way he constantly pushes away people that seem to care about him wears you down in the end.

Although of course it is classic attention-seeking behaviour.

Tom seems to have gone for another long walk around the building....

Yes, but...aren't Holden's grieving over his brother and his general 'anomie' meant to be reflections of a post-war malaise? Everyone either grieving and/or traumatised but nobody talking about it? How are people meant to just settle in after such a major experience and get on with normal life?

Note that it would have been boys of Holden's age - or only slightly older - who would have been killed in the war. See also the subtitle to Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (or The Children's Crusade).

Is there any mention of the second world war in Salinger's Catcher in the Rye? About soldiers having come back, dads, brothers, uncles, neighbourshood boys killed?
Isn't it more of a sigh of relief, it's over, let's get on with life?

But...isn't the point is that there ISN'T a mention of the war? And that people are being phoney...pretending that it's over and they can just get on with life? In the same way that everyone is just getting on after Holden's brother's death?

Maybe we shouldn't attempt to read too much autobiography into it...but Salinger went through the was himself and (I believe) lost a brother. I also think that he - like many of his generation - may well have been traumatised. How would you feel if you'd seen people blown apart? And what if...as with the Vietnam vets...there was nobody back home to give you a big hug and tell you it would be OK? No catcher waiting for you to run out of the rye and stop you falling over the precipice?

Just a theory, of course But the novel does seem to have a particular post-war vibe to me.

Incidentally...Salinger also deals with his (fictional?) brother's suicide in hisn short story 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish'.

Maybe when this one expires you guys could take it to the CWW? Just an idea...