Salinger, J. D. - Life of the author and analysis of The Catcher in the Rye

In questo appunto di letteratura inglese si parlerà brevemente della vita di Saliger per inquadrare nel giusto contesto storico sia lui che la sua opera, The Catcher in the Rye di cui tratterà in seguito più approfonditamente sia da un punto di vista delle tematiche e della forma che facendo riferimento ad un opinione personale.

Briefly overview of Jerome David Salinger’s life

Jerome David Salinger was born in 1919 in New York City and lived his childhood with a wealthy and family: his father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic.
Because of his great attitude in studying, he was admitted at McBurney School but he was not so brilliant as people expected him to be.
He travelled around Europe and studied in Vienna importing business when finally in 1939 he reached to be part of writing classes at Colombia University.

Here he met Whit Burnett who was both a teacher and a editor that understood Salinger’s capabilities and helped him to publish in the magazine “Story” his short story “The Young Folks”.
During World War II he fought with the army and participated at D-Day mission. After that he worked as a Counter-Intelligence agent.
In the meantime, between 1946 and 1951, he published seven stories on The New Yorker.
Although his fame was increasing, in 1953 he decided to move to Cornish refusing every contact with other human beings but focusing on Zen philosophy oriented literary works.
His last novel was published in 1965 with the title “Hapworth 16,1924”.

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The Catcher in the Rye – Analysis of the novel

The Catcher in the Rye focuses on the social condition during the second afterwar where the “American dream” was spread to its maximum leaving behind adolescences that clearly felt the discrepancy between their world and grownup’s world. This fact will lead, during the 1960s, to the rebellions of young people that will reach their peak in 1968. Anyway, this feeling of insurgence was anticipated by Holden’s behaviour based on restlessness and uneasinesswith the traditional values. As a matter of fact the protagonist was so easily moved and was so really idealistic that he needed true relationships with human being which were impossible to obtain because of the hypocrisy of the corrupted society. All this pain and sufferings came out on the sly during a dialogue between Holden andPhoebe. Also, in this context, it is quoted a variation of a verse by a poet called Robert Burns which is the title of the novel due to the fact that the main character express his condition saying he was feeling like a catcher of children who is going to fall off a cliff in a field of rye.
So on one hand the story underline Holden’s failure and his shattered dream to save other children from this terrible and artificial society, on the other hand there are some hints which can let the reader think that Holden himself is struggling to find out his real place in the world.

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The Catcher in the Rye – Writing style used

The novel is characterized by the fist-person narrative because it is told by Holden’s point of view. Moreover, the main character usually addresses the readers and he is not unresponsive about the things that happen around him since he comments them. For this reason the language of this book trace the real American slangs and colloquialisms spoken by American teenagers. It is also enriched by swear words in order to create a sense of immediacy to the dialogues and the narration itself. On the other hand, humour and irony are frequently used to criticize adults’ faults and the “phony” world in which they live and believe.

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The Catcher in the Rye - Personal Response

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is a bildungsroman which takes place mostly in New York in 1949.
It’s the story of a sixteen years old boy, Holden Caulfield, who thinks a lot and in a special and creative way, who doesn’t study and has been expelled by many colleges.
Indeed, the story takes place during the three days he spends in New York without saying it to his parents, after having been expelled.
Through his meetings and his experiences we can attend his growth and his change: he initially might seem a fool and irresponsible boy without particular capability (at the beginning he yet strikes me with congeniality and smartness, but it’s undeniable that he’s a great idler); but during the days, the people he meets and the thoughts he loses in, show us a promising and creative mind which is only going through the adolescence and has no other need but knowing, finding and defining itself.
“Don't you think there's a time and place for everything?[…]” “You'll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly” are some of the words which are spoken to Holden and maybe the most exactly right for his example and in general for everyone: there’s a way, a sphere, a characteristic perfectly fitted for everyone, there isn’t nobody on earth without his own peculiarity; time, situations and meetings can often make the difference but in the end it’s up to the everyone of us to find them and above all, to have the power and the desire of doing it.

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