who wrote holden caulfield?
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
So, over the past like 2 months I've been reading The Catcher in the Rye. I wanted to read it for a few reasons. For one, the Green Day song sharing the same title as this post, and wondering if it would awaken some sleeper agent in me to attempt to kill an already-dead John Lennon.
I gotta say, the controversies surrounding this book are a lot more... well controversial than the actual book itself.
The book itself, on the surface, is about some kid who got kicked out of his prep school and finds himself bumbling about New York. Kinda being a whiney bitch if I'm being honest. However, I think we are doing the book, and it's protagonist a disservice just looking at it that way.
This book is regarded as a classic, but why? Well, for one it's historical context. There was nothing quite like it when J.D. Salinger wrote it, nothing that really spoke to the experience of a young person. It's also plausible that it is regarded as a classic in large part due to it's impact on pop culture, it being tied to the assassination of John Lennon.
When Lennon got zero'd, the killer wrote in a copy of The Catcher in the Rye "This is my statement". So... what's the deal with that?
I think Lennon's killer really only grasps at the surface level of Caulfield's character. His bitterness towards "phonies", his preference in hanging with children, etc. I don't think he saw Holden for who he truly is. Who'd have thought a guy nuttier than squirrel shit lacks media literacy?
I wanna talk less about the book as a whole, as I don't want this post to just be a plot synopsis, and more about analyzing the main man himself, Holden Caulfield. Who is he really?
Diving into my attempt at a literary analysis, Holden represents a certain kind of person. You might first read the book and find yourself hating Holden, he got on my nerves a bit too, but I found something sympathetic about him.
There's this reoccurring theme of keeping things the same and preservation. In the beginning, Holden laments at these props in a museum encased in glass.
The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket.
Another example of this theme comes from the quote at the start of this article. Holden wants to keep moments precisely as they are, before the world ruins it essentially. It's why he loves his little sister Phoebe because she's this innocent child. Holden imagines himself catching kids falling off a cliff because in essence the cliff represents adulthood, and Holden wants to prevent these kids from becoming adults and becoming the phonies he routinely bashes.
I can get where Holden is coming from here. I don't like change. I hate it really. I would have stayed in the apartment that was infested with bugs if it wasn't for my wife pushing us to move somewhere nicer. I get into a sort of depressive state at the thought of having to change my circumstances, good or bad. Change stresses me the hell out, but I do it anyway because change is the only thing that can lead to personal growth.
I think we all can sort of relate to Holden a little bit here, when we feel that strong feeling of nostalgia, wishing we could go back to simpler times in the midst of the chaos. When we dump time into some niche nostalgia, we are functionally trying to become the Eskimo behind the glass, preserving a time long gone.
As a dad, I also understand this wish for preserving innocence. I see the ugliness of the world and want nothing more than to shield my daughter from it. The difference between Holden and I is that I recognize the destructiveness that comes from this idolization of innocence.
In order to perfectly preserve innocence, you need to prevent personal growth. If I were to perfectly shelter my daughter from the world, I would be doing her a disservice because then she'd never grow as a person and when the world inevitably bursts her bubble, she wouldn't be prepared for it.
Another aspect to Holden's character is his distaste for "phonies", fake people, or NPCs to use a modern term for it. I think we can all recognize the sort of masquerade that goes on in our world, nothing feels "real" sometimes. Go to work, put on clothes you would otherwise never put on if it wasn't for your job, talking about things that don't matter, to people who only seem to exist in this liminal 8 hr space.
People aren't phonies on their own, it's the overarching systemic problems that make people phonies. Doing jobs we hate, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't like. This phoniness is jacked up to 100 on social media. People distorting their entire personalities to be algorithm-approved. Holden would have a field day if he were real and lived in our current era.
If you read Caulfield's character from the perspective of a burnt out adult, you start to understand a bit where he's coming from.
Holden has a soft side, constantly worrying about where the ducks in the pond go after winter, and his love for his little sister.
Holden spends most of the book in a sort of depressive state. He constantly comments of feeling "sad as hell". I think Holden's emotions and mental state are far more complex than he would leave you to believe. For one, I think Holden is dealing with unresolved trauma from his brother, whom he was very close to, dying of leukemia.
I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it…It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie.
Holden brings up his brother, Allie, a number of times, and each time I wondered if maybe there's something he didn't get to process.
I almost envy Holden's expression of his emotions. When my dad died when I was 14, my emotions completely shut down. I cried when the words first left my mom's lips, but since that point I barely felt anything, I wasn't trying to be stoic or anything. I just couldn't feel much of anything. It wasn't until much later and with a lot of therapy that I was able to find those emotions.
Another point of trauma was Holden seeing his a fellow classmate kill himself wearing one of his sweaters. Making mention that he heard the body hit the floor, and details the grizzly scene. He mentions seeing his old English teacher, Mr. Antolini, being the only one to carry James's body off.
Speaking of Mr. Antolini, another thing that likely adds to Holden's isolation and trauma is caused by Mr. Antolini himself. Holden goes to Antolini's house, and Mr. Antolini tries to reach Holden and give him advice, to which Holden is seemingly receptive to because he respects Mr. Antolini. This gets shattered when Mr. Antolini is caught by Holden petting his head. Holden rightfully freaks the fuck out and skedaddles, but seemingly Mr. Antolini (and Holden himself) try to gaslight him into thinking it was just innocent. However, given Mr. Antolini's flirtatious undertones (calling Holden "handsome" whilst saying goodnight and inquiring about his love life), I think Holden's instincts saved him from things getting worse. This shatters his perception of Antolini and probably all the advice he would have otherwise been receptive to.
I also think Holden experiences some form of social anxiety. When he pays for the services of a prostitute, but then just ends up talking to her instead of doing the sideways mambo. Every time he wants to call someone but backs out because he "isn't in the mood" (to which he eventually does call one of these people, but only when he's shit-faced). Or when he does hang out with people and they have this sort of disjointed conversation.
This combination of trauma and anxiety metamorphosizes into a sort of stagnation that leads to self-isolation. At the end of the book, Holden finally cracks. Holden watches his sister on a carousel and he is so happy he is bawling his eyes out for reasons he can't explain. The final chapter alludes to him being in a psych ward with the mentioning of "the psychoanalyst they have in here".
So, who is Holden Caulfield? A young man so estranged from society due in large part from his struggle with trauma and mental illness. He's trying to navigate this odd world, but lacks the support he needs and the one person who can be seen supporting him was probably trying to groom him. Or you know... just watch the Thug Notes video on it.
I understand now why this book is considered a classic. It has a lot of layers that I think initial readings in high school wouldn't do it justice and I'm glad I read it as an adult. I encourage you to read it and read it with some supplementary texts to really get the most of it. I found myself referring back to these texts to reaffirm my analysis.
To end off, I'll show you the lyrics of the chorus to Who Wrote Holden Caulfield by Green Day. I think it sums things up quite nicely.
There's a boy who fogs his world, and now he's getting lazy. There's no motivation, and frustration makes him crazy. He makes a plan to take a stand, but always ends up sitting. Someone help him up, or he is gonna end up quitting
Reply via email: me@absurdpirate.com
as of writing this...
chilling at work, got gifted Oreos and Flaming Hot Cheetos for my birthday from my boss as well as a mug that says "Twas the tism my lord". So, just casually munchin' and listening to 2000s computer room nostalgia core... seems fitting.