Sorry, I lied. I was going to write this in Holden Caulfield-speak, but I realized that my impression wasn't very good, other people have done that anyway, I don't have my copy of the book with me, and it was preventing me from saying some things I wanted to. So I'm just myself, rambling on.
I don't want to veer into the usual analysis most kids get in their high school English class (I didn't, because it looks like I'm not going to be assigned this book anytime soon, so that's why I read it). Instead, I could talk about my experience reading it and analyze Holden, or I could talk about how this book relates to the future of young adult literature. I'm going to do the former, because the latter would be a perfect first essay in my planned future YA lit history blog (I'd love to know if you're interested, but it's not going to happen for a few years).
So part of the reason I really wanted to read The Catcher in the Rye was because it was about wanting to hold onto innocence and not growing up, which was something I can relate to, having gone through that myself. However, this story was different than expected and very subtle. And I still loved it by the time I got to the end.
What initially threw me off was Holden. Now, I'm definitely not a hater, but he wasn't quite the type I would expect to want to preserve innocence. He curses, he drinks, he smokes, he has interest in sex. Once second he's talking about how he wants to think of a friend who may or may not have had sex with his roomate as playing checkers a certain way, rather than behaving sexually, and then the next second he's asking this girl to run away with him in the woods and get married. And he's always honest, which means he can say some things that just sound stupid or offensive. But as I progressed, I began to realize that these anomalies were because Holden really is confused and on the cusp of adulthood.
And Holden certainly has some noble intentions in some places. He doesn't think taking advantage of a girl is right. And then he'll follow that up with essentially saying that he's not sure when a girl wants it because they start to get "stupid" in those situations. Really, Holden? You were so close! [But it's true he doesn't think he should take advantage of the surprisingly young prostitute.]
It's also true he tends to value virginal women more--his smart sister, the nuns, Jane as a checkers player. But I think this has more to do with the eventual reveal that Holden has been sexually abused in the past than misogyny. He's afraid of them falling prey to the adult world, which has only greeted him with negativity. Not to mention, he's pretty bad at being an adult, if his proposition to Sally was enough evidence.
My take on the "phonies" is that they are the ways adults act when they conform to society, or that's at least what I want it to mean. And so Holden is certainly not a phony, which means that he says stupid things sometimes. But he's also very interesting, as are many other characters in the novel. They don't feel like cardboard cut-out character types, but real, if strange, people. The ones who are not so much (like Sally) tend to be phonier.
Oh, and as with the abuse, there is one line at the very end that can change your perspective on Holden: he's depressed. Or, at the very least, he goes to a mental hospital. In this context, some of his behavior makes more sense. And Catcher in the Rye captures the terrors so they are truly frighting: Holden worrying that he'll be sick, walking nonstop through the city, thinking about living in solitude...it had me on the edge of my seat. And ultimately, the novel is Holden's way of expressing himself and how he was driven mad by no one understanding him except the guy who wanted to stick his hand down his pants, and later his sister.
Catcher is one of the most character-driven stories there is. The events in it are more for shaping our views of Holden than actual plot. And maybe I didn't read it slow enough to decode every single thing, but it did give me a good punch in the gut at the end, so it was more than worth it. And I look forward to rereading this with the new perspectives I gained upon finishing it.
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