by Starbuck21

Created on: June 12, 2008

A focal point of both controversy and popular acclaim, "The Catcher in the Rye" has been a favorite in high school English curriculums all over the country since it was first published in 1951.

Protagonist Holden Caulfield has just failed out of Pencey Prep. Hoping to flee the "phonies" at prep school and at home, he decides to camp out at a Manhattan hotel for a few days. But now that he's free from the people and rules that were supposedly holding him down, Holden falls apart. While Holden Caufield is uncommonly perceptive (he certainly has no problem with pointing out the many problems with current society), he presents no better alternative to the problems he sees all around.

Holden Caulfield: Holden's picture should probably be right next to the term, "alienated teenager," in the encyclopedia. He views his teachers and other authority figures with mistrust. Dr. Thurmer, headmaster of Pencey, is pegged biggest phony of all. In an awkward but well-meaning gesture, Holden's former history teacher tries to pass on some clichd wisdom but Holden believes that he is past any help from Mr. Spencer and escapes the lecture as quickly as possible. He runs away from his favorite teacher, Mr. Antolini, after interpreting the teacher's gesture as perverted.

There is no escape from his personal demons. The death of his younger brother, Allie, haunts Holden, symbolized by the physical scars he received from smashing all the windows in his family's garage on the night Allie died. He's alienated from his family and friends, and views the world as full of fakes. He puts himself in dangerous situations, sleeping in public places and soliciting a prostitute whose pimp eventually beats him up and steals from him. The only thing he can even imagine doing is protecting the innocent, acting as a "catcher in the rye," by keeping the children from falling off a cliff as they play around him. Holden's need to be the protector eventually saves him from himself; he decides to get his life back together as he watches his beloved sister play.

"Catcher in the Rye" has a notorious reputation; censors have pointed out the novel's foul language, sexual content, underage drinking, and smoking as promoting non-family values. My feeling is that censors are missing a key point: Holden is really screwed up. He smokes and drinks and hires a prostitute because he is incredibly unhappy and is trying to find something to fill up the vast emptiness and sadness in his heart. I don't believe that J. D. Salinger intended Holden Caulfied to be a role model; anyone who wants to censor "Catcher in the Rye" should probably read the novel a second time. Maybe they'll see how special and beautiful it is.

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