Last summer, I read this book-you might have heard of it?-called Catcher in the Rye. One of my best friends loved this book to pieces, and I'd heard about how it was one of those books 'you just have to read if you're an angry teenager like you are, FRAS!'. (I might have made up some of that sentence, maybe possibly. But it was implied.) So I did.
I think I hated it a lot the first time, even though I found myself relating to Holden Caulfield. I think I hated it because of the toenails. The one scene where they're clipping the toenails at the beginning of the book? Ugh. I hate it. It still gives me the disgusts.
How he just wanted someone to talk to, and he could count on exactly no one. His general angriness and the 'phonies' that make up this world- I'd thought about and hated it all, and some of his thoughts were mine.
Well, he could count on exactly no one- except for maybe his sister, Phoebe. I liked the sister. And the girl he won't talk to, even though he got so many chances, Jane Gallagher. I spent so much of my time after reading the novel wondering why didn't Holden just talk to her? He had opportunities, and she probably would have made him feel better. But I thought about it some more (I thought about this book the whole summer) and I came up with these reasons:
1. Maybe he didn't want to feel better. Maybe wallowing and hating everyone and everything was his style.
2. Maybe he didn't want to go back to those times when Jane was his friend. He was younger, and he was a different, more naive person. Pencey Prep changed him, and hardened him. Maybe talking to Jane would hurt too much, and he wouldn't be able to bear it. Maybe she was one of the few people who he genuinely liked, and he wanted to make sure that she kept the old image of him in her mind.
Granted, it's been a year since I read the book, and some parts are fuzzy, but I liked Holden Caulfield sometimes (because he was like me) and I hated him other times (because he was an unutterable jerk) (so, he was too much like me). But I think Holden is everyone- insecure, and just wanted to trust someone completely, and having to deal with the death of someone he loved (his literally), not have to deal with any fakes he didn't want to deal with. He just wanted to live. And despite everyone who hates him, I don't think that's bad.
I'm going to reread the book, knowing what I know now, and write more about it some other time.
Quote for Saturday, April 30, 2011:
The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.
-Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye
Muse for Today:
The best stories that J.D. Salinger ever wrote: Franny and Zooey, especially Zooey's, which makes more sense.
And BEDA is over, darlings! 3o posts and all!
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