Essay

The Catcher in the Rye

The controversial novel The Catcher in the Rye was written by J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye has been very successful due to the extremely complex main character Holden Caulfield. Holden is a bitter yet hypocritical character that judges people willingly, in order to cover up his own blemishes. The reason for this is because he is afraid to look at himself in the mirror and see something he can’t change due to trepidation. This character is the perfect example of someone suffering from metathesiophobia (fear of change). Holden demonstrates this through several ways such as alienating himself from the world, depicting everyone else as a phony, and getting caught up in a miss-communicated metaphorical field of rye.

Loneliness is a key factor of Holden’s character, and why he is the way he is. He not only spends most of his time by himself, but he also barely ever interacts with others for very long periods of time. He will not try to fit in with the crowd, he won’t even try to stand out, he will simply not be in the crowd at all. He starts off by not going to the biggest football game of the year. Then you find out he is kicked out of the school. Being kicked out doesn’t bother Holden it’s his fourth time so it is no big deal. This is an example of Holden’s protective barrier. His hunting hat he buys is the symbol of his barrier. He buys a non-traditional hat that most will not like. Just to make him feel more alone. All this protective business is just Holden preventing himself from developing as an adult. He as well is the cause of all his pain because the protective wall is preventing him from his need for companionship. Holden is told by Mr. Spence: “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules” (Salinger, 8). Holden believes that life is only a game when you’re on the side that’s winning, but when you’re on the side that’s losing, there is no game. Consequently, Holden distances himself from the game of life because he feels he is on the losing side. Furthermore, he cannot find companionship for he is too afraid of interacting, and also because most conversations end up confusing him. This feeling of being on “the other side” causes him to stay the same and continue with what is ordinary so that he doesn’t have to develop as an adult.

In addition, the term phony is used freely and is one of Holden’s favourite concepts throughout the novel. Not only because of the fact he says the word at least 5 times a page but is able to apply it to all his encounters. In Holden's case he makes the term fit every living human being on the face of the earth. He applies it to anyone he has an encouter with or anyone he just takes a second glance at, he always judges the book by the cover! The definition of “phony” for Holden is very ambiguous. The term will be associated with a liar, an imperfection, and/or a stereotype/archetype. The funny side of it he considers himself not phony but he considers himself a lie-aholic. Holden states “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my 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”(Salinger,16). It's terrible. Therefore, he himself is just as false as the world around him. His misconception of the word is not used to an advantage either. It’s a disadvantage because he is judging everyone by look or by the first impression and with his harsh point of view the worst is always seen. And Holden feels that these “phony” people can’t see their own phoniness, consequently he feels as they narrator he should bring it to your attention. This is his reasoning for what’s wrong with everything around him. This gives him as excuse to be so cynical. Not only does this make him look like an angel next to Jesus Christ, it in turn makes him just as phony as the rest of humanity. Holden spends so much time and effort discovering how everyone is phony he is unaware of his phoniness. With all that effort going toward proving everyone else phony it keeps him distant from his inner self fear of change.

Moreover Holden confused lyrics to a song he over heard one day and applied these lyrics to his own made up fantasy world. This world was his comparison to the “real world”. The lyrics he overheard were “If a body catch a body comin’ through the Rye” (Salinger, 173). Then his sister quickly corrects him and says: “If a body meet a body comin’ through the Rye” (Salinger, 173). Nonetheless, the he explain to his sister his own made up world:

…I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of
rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean
- except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to
do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if
they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from
somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in
the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to
be (Salinger, 173).

After his sister corrects him, he quickly realizes that his world has fallen apart. When “catcher” is not in the lyric he can’t catch anyone anymore. Subsequently the only thing he wants to do he can’t. The need to change has the perfect opportunity to rise up, but Holden won’t let it because anything more complex than a “Hello” is to confusing and mind boggling. Holden continues to evade the fact of the need to change because of apprehension.

Over the course of the novel Holden Caulfield criticizes everyone and everything around him. He would either distance himself from interactions with other or he would interact and slap a phony sticker on their forehead. Then he creates this so called fantasy world of a field of rye, where Holden catches the children about to fall off the cliff, in other words about to fall into the adult world. Holden makes himself the hero and that’s what he genuinely wants to be. He is soon told the proper words to the song; consequently his fantasy world is torn down. Faced with the actualities of the world Holden then recognizes he doesn’t want to change, and deep down inside still wishes the world could by paused like a movie. His fear of change is so elusive he will never be able to comprehend the need to change.