Holden Caulfied

hey everyone! I've been writing a paper on The Catcher In the Rye and i was just wondering what everyone thinks about Holden Caulfield (deviant or not?) and the book.

~Gits

[Edited on Jul 18, 2004 by Gitsie]

hate to even say it, it's a classic work, definitely masterful prose but in my humble opinion, grossly overrated

I think he's a whiny little b'zatch.

Oh, and the book. Its pretty good.

i had never really realized how popular it was

It is one of my favorites. Can you tell?

I'm not sure I would say it's overrated, but it does seem a little dated now. When it was written ( 1951? 52? ), it probably had a bigger impact that it would now.

I don't think it holds a candle to the work in "Nine Stories" though.

I read it for leisure during the summer after my junior year of high school.

The Catcher in the Rye, along with Aldous Huxley's Brave, New World (another book read for leisure), became two of my favorites.

The Catcher in the Rye has made "banned book lists" more than once.

If you enjoy The Catcher in the Rye, you might also want to read Nine Stories. Other books by J.D. (Jerome David) Salinger include Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction.

*Edited for grammar and clarity*

[Edited on Jul 18, 2004 by Holden_Caulfield]

Deviant? He's a bloody picture of normality.. if he's deviant.. god knows what I am.

Catcher in the Rye doesn't even deserve to be on the same banned book list as Crash or Naked Lunch.

I don't like it, I thought it was dumb and I thought he was obnoxious and whiny. my thoughts were, well get out there and fix it you little shit, quit moping around. but thats just me.

exactly. i think that's part of the reason the book became so popular. everyone sees it in themselves (or in someone they know), even if it is a bit naughty. and that's also part of the reason the book is hated.

Holden's not like me at all, he's a whiny milquetoast who won't even have sex with a hooker he's hired. Although if he's really hot I could potentially see myself "in" him. I'll have to wait for the movie and hope he's played by the actor who's in Bertolucci's "the Dreamers" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

Holden Caulfield is a friend of mine
We Go Drinking from time to time
And I find
It gets harder every time

....


hey there salinger, what did you do?
just when the world was looking for you
to write anything that meant anything
you told us you were through
and it's been years since you passed away
but i see no plaque, and i see no grave
and i can't help believing that you wanted it that way

Here's to life- Streetlight Manifesto

i agree. he irratated me. i hated that book because i hated him so much. why the hell people would like a book about a person that you dont care about cuz he's so annoying i dont know.

anybody who's been agitated at any point throughout their highschool years can identify w/ the guy, and even more so if you got to be unlucky enough to be born w/ lots of money and go to a prep school on the east coast.

sometimes i feel like i'm the catcher in the rye.

Thanks for your opinion, Stradlater.

i think one thing the book did was show the abnormality of the seemingly normal...

I got a lot out of it, more the second time around. I share many of his feelings about the world around us being full of phonies. I went to public school I dont even think you have to be rich to identify with the character. You have guys like Unites up there who bitch just for the sake of being heard and then you have the people who try to sound deep by saying things like "abnormality of the seemingly normal... ". Not to say Gitsie is nescesarily one of these people. The most telling thing about Holden is how he forgives everybody he hates like ten minutes after he leaves their company and even says he misses them. Very confused, thats my feelings on the character. and now I feel like a jackass talking out of the same, only I dont have a jackass, though I may certainly put a microphone in it and try talking through it if I did.

My problem with Holden: I think he sounds like a crotchety old man. He has this certain pessimism that is just not appropriate for a chracter of his age. Not to say that teenagers aren't cynical, of course they are. But he had a cynicism that suggested a world weariness. That was my big problem with the book.

I liked Franny and Zooey a lot better.

Well, his little brother who was the most important person in his life did die, I would think that would make you pessimistic and ever weary

total sociopath. unable to function normally in situations involving other people. no concept of social signals...

hes whiny and fucked ip.

He reminds me of me a few years ago. Such hypocrasy and desperation. I was totally that cynical in high school, but not motivated enough to look for answers. I just sat at home and got pissed off, while he went out and paid prostitutes for conversation.

Kinda weird that you picked today to post about the book. It's the 58th anniversary of Allie's death.

I did that as a scene in high school drama. I still remember the whole thing.