JUST READ: J.D. SALINGER'S THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

This is just another bildungsroman novel in line with Huck Finn, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and To Kill a Mockingbird where the protagonist is going on some maturity and all them crazy stuff.

I finished the book in two sittings, it was actually an easy book to read all through the last leaf of it but I just had to hit the sack, thus the cut.

Reading The Catcher in the Rye, like Holden, got me "killed" for some reasons, only that he had to be killed over twenty times in the whole novel. Poor chap, he gets himself killed saying, "it killed me."

1. Language

Here's a little som'n: there's this extensive use of the adverb "and all." For all I cared, 'twas written 343 bloody times! Yes, I tallied it for feet's steak! HAHA. Let alone those other keywords.

Much to my dismay is how Holden's mouth is filled with profanity. I am honestly bothered while reading. And why wouldn't I be? He was even told off by some people in the story. He be cursin' real bad. REAL BAD. 

2. Symbolisms

Salinger got plenty of them but the ones that I actually did like were these:

a. "The Catcher in the Rye"


According to SparkNotes, in ref. to ch22 of the novel, Holden wants to catch children before they fall out of innocence into knowledge of the adult world and stuff.

At first I thought that the "rye" is actually a place in New York, 'cause it's also in the map. NY was mentioned a couple of times in the novel where it was described as a messy place for boys like Holden and things like that. I mean, New York's pictured as an adult's world.

b. Holden's red hunting hat

It kept croppin' in throughout the novel and I was thinking even on the first mention of the hat that it has something to do with the protagonist. It was a bit ridiculous but, methinks he puts the hat on important moments like when he was writing about Allie's mitt, staring at the mirror acting tough, when he left the dorm and when he's kind of vulnerable in some way.

It was also mentioned of how the hat has become so important to Holden that when he wears it he would pretend not to care what the others may think about how he looks like. He says, "I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on-- i didn't even give a damn how I looked." 


Holden hates corny things, but the corny thing is actually on his head and he doesn't give a care about it.


Or I have somn about the color red-- on how it's associated with the head (Allie's hair, the hunting hat). I mean, red could be politically claimed as rebellion, then I remember that communist thing, the bloodshed and all the fierce correlations about the color.

Maybe, red (rebellion) starts in the head.

c. The light

Holden always prefers the light turned on. He seeks for it figuratively in the story, but he's searching for it in all the wrong places.

d. Death

It was seen real in Holden's life. The loss of Allie his brother, his classmate James Castle and even how Pencey built their establishments from the money earned by funeral parlor bargains. Death, being everywhere, led him think about his own demise in the hands of this reality.

3. Religion

He dealt with his life apart from faith and religion. Holden's a self-proclaimed "sacrilegious" atheist but never had a good point in telling why. I didn't see how strong he was with his claim just like someone who shoves his way sayin', "I hate Twilight! Twilight sucks" without an apparent reason. HAHA I remember one guy saying how he dislikes pop-culture when he's actually living his way in it. Funny.

Some people really got it all wrong particularly on that atheist thing. Like, how could you even renounce that there is a God when you actually have the idea of a 'God?'

4. Mr. Antolini's quote

"Once you get pass all the Mr. Vinsons, you're going to start getting closer and closer-- that is, if you want to, and if you look for the it and wait for it-- the kind of information that will be very, very dear to your heart. Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them-- if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."

This got me, okay. It's 'nuff said.

So, bulgar words be set aside, the plot was indeed a good one.  

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