First Published: 1951, America
Original Language: English
Topics: Childhood, adulthood, insanity, bitterness, loneliness, sexuality, disaffected teenagers
In A Nutshell: The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a teenager who has just flunked out of yet another school and will be sent home permanently for winter vacation. Holden narrates the three or so days between his leaving Pencey and his return home, during which he meets various people at Pencey, on the train, and in New York. Deciding not to head straight home, Holden spends a few days at a hotel in New York, drinking, smoking, and looking for a good time, all the while wrapped up in a cloud of lonliness, discontent, emptiness, and cynical bitterness. He tries to talk with some girls, both some he meets randomly at a bar (from Seattle, no less) and one that he knew before, but none of these encounters work out as he'd like. He also goes to visit a former teacher, Mr. Antolini, who gives him good, wise advice, but when Mr. Antolini pats him on the head while he's sleeping, Holden interprets it as a sexual advance and flees. Holden finally sneaks into his parents' apartment to see his kid sister, Phoebe, with whom he has a better connection than anyone else he's encountered. He also frequently mentions another younger sibling, his brother Allie, who died accidentally, and an older (?) brother DB, who does writing in Hollywood. Finally, Holden decides to head out West to seek a different life, but when Phoebe tries to insist on going with him, he changes his mind and takes her to the park instead. The book ends with him in a (mental?) hospital, discussing beginning another school in September and admonishing the reader to never tell anybody anything, because "you'll start missing everybody."
Thinking Makes It So: I really, really didn't like Holden Caulfield, and as a result, I didn't like reading this book. Written in a stream-of-consciousness style, the narrative is rambling, repetitive, and pointless. It's like living inside Holden's head, or sitting next to him as he tells you the story; you can almost hear his voice drifting out of the pages. And given that Holden is an insufferable jerk, that's not the most delightful experience.
My opinion of Holden would sound something like this: "Holden Caulfield is a confused, aimless, and cynical person, making judgments and generalizations--consistently negative ones, of course--about the people he meets based on short conversations or mannerisms that he doesn't enjoy. Everything seems to irritate him, so he's in a constant state of snappish discomfort. He's obnoxious, whiny, listless, bitter, and annoying, and he refuses to take any joy in anything, and I can't stand him." The delightful thing about Mr. Caulfield, however, is that you can't say something like that without sounding exactly like him. And I can't help feeling sorry for him (just like he feels sorry for others: in a condescending, disdainful sort of way), since, as Phoebe points out, he doesn't seem to really like or enjoy much of anything, and he's clearly still mourning the death of his brother Allie. It also seems significant to me that his parents are never actually seen; they're mentioned often, but the one time he actually goes home, he hides in Phoebe's closet to avoid "catching it" for being kicked out yet again. Clearly, his parents are not a source of support or encouragement for him.
As I was reading this meandering, vaguely drunken rabbit chase of a book, I couldn't help wondering where it was going. Surely this story was building up to something. Holden hates "phonies"--a general insult that I can't seem to pin down, because almost everyone he meets is labeled as such, but that seems to indicate "someone who doesn't act how I think they should/want them to/genuinely"--so he wouldn't (I think) just be telling a story to show off, for no reason. Or would he? Anyway, the point is there is no point. Holden sits in the rain weeping, watching Phoebe on the carousel in Central Park, and then it's over. Did he change in any way? Perhaps; maybe the experience of those empty, lonely, meaningless days in New York drove him mad, or woke him up. But right when we're about to find out, Holden ends his narrative. Which is, true to form, very frustrating.
That You Must Teach Me: I would not want to teach this book. (I seem to be saying that about quite a few of these, and that doesn't bode well...) The book has been controversial in the past because of sexual topics and bad language; I'm not sure how that would compute in another culture, although it's certainly an opening to talk about the meaning and impact of that kind of language. Also, just because I never went through a period like this doesn't mean my students won't. So, possible focus points:
- Stream-of-consciousness writing vs (more) traditional narrative style; writing vs. speaking styles
- Childhood vs. adulthood and the transition process
- Role of adults and children in the life of a teenager
- Ways that Holden copes with his feelings of isolation and cynicism
Resources:
LessonPlanet: lesson plans and discussion topics
BookRags: Summary and notes
Summary and issues
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