People often conflate the figure Holden with J.D. Salinger. Salinger himself once said it was 'sort of autobiographical'.
-Holden is obsessed with younger women, conflicted about their sexuality and Salinger dated women decades younger than him
-The obsession with childhood and innocence. Holden has experienced trauma which has led to the destruction of his innocence. The death of his brother and the sexual molestations (he only hints to). Salinger experienced the gore of WW2. At the end of WW2 the Germans resorted to using child soldiers, believing the allies would lessen their offence. He will have seen his own innocence and that of others ripped apart.
-Both were born into high-middle class families. Both were sent to military school.
-Both felt alienated and isolated in their societies. Salinger's family was half Catholic, half Jewish. In the 1930s, Judaism was suffering the genocide of the holocaust in Europe. Jews were also marginalized in America.
Showing posts with label bildungsroman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bildungsroman. Show all posts
Monday, 25 May 2015
Holden Caulfield, a paradoxical figure
Holden's mindset is marked by the dichotomy between adulthood and childhood.
He despises the superficiality of adulthood. Then again, he desires to be free of the shackles of adolescence.
He ultimately a very confused figure, dislocated from society, unable to bridge this chasm between childhood and adulthood.
Think about the 1950s society. Even today we find mental health problems can be stoically hidden and remain shunned and misunderstood.
After the war, many young men were coming back from war, thrown back into a world of uniform suburbia. Increasingly Americans were subscribing to a collectivist ethic, no longer a form of rugged individualism. No wonder so many men and women felt 'dislocated' in this mass corporate culture.
Prescriptions for tranquilisers were given out slapdash. There was a general ignorance towards mental health issues. Either they were ignored or treated like a physical illness.
The Catcher in the Rye is full of evidence that Holden is depressed.
'I thought I'd just go down down down'
'You can't imagine'... (Direct address to reader, increases sense of pathos)
'I was sort of disappearing' ... minimisation of language, playing down/masking his emotions, a form of self protection? Or a denial of how dire his mental state is?
His red hunting hat is a symbol for this paradox.
It indicates he needs protection. 'My hunting hat really gave me quite a bit protection, in a way'
HIS NEED FOR COMPANIONSHIP AND HELP
But in another way, it is a symbol of his self alienation. It advertises his uniqueness. His need for isolation.
He is self conscious of it... he takes off his hat 'as not to look suspicious' before going to his home.
It is significant that Phoebe gives him his hat back at the end of the novel. It is a reciprocal interaction. About the only one in the novel. He says that when people give him gifts they always end up 'making me sad'. In this instance of giving Holden feels happy. [I believe he is guilt ridden. He says his brother was very intelligent. He feels inferior to his brother. Perhaps he feel guilty that isn't 'good enough'.] But this interaction is, in a way, Phoebes indicting that its okay that he needs like form of protection. An approval.
He despises the superficiality of adulthood. Then again, he desires to be free of the shackles of adolescence.
He ultimately a very confused figure, dislocated from society, unable to bridge this chasm between childhood and adulthood.
Think about the 1950s society. Even today we find mental health problems can be stoically hidden and remain shunned and misunderstood.
After the war, many young men were coming back from war, thrown back into a world of uniform suburbia. Increasingly Americans were subscribing to a collectivist ethic, no longer a form of rugged individualism. No wonder so many men and women felt 'dislocated' in this mass corporate culture.
Prescriptions for tranquilisers were given out slapdash. There was a general ignorance towards mental health issues. Either they were ignored or treated like a physical illness.
The Catcher in the Rye is full of evidence that Holden is depressed.
'I thought I'd just go down down down'
'You can't imagine'... (Direct address to reader, increases sense of pathos)
'I was sort of disappearing' ... minimisation of language, playing down/masking his emotions, a form of self protection? Or a denial of how dire his mental state is?
His red hunting hat is a symbol for this paradox.
It indicates he needs protection. 'My hunting hat really gave me quite a bit protection, in a way'
HIS NEED FOR COMPANIONSHIP AND HELP
But in another way, it is a symbol of his self alienation. It advertises his uniqueness. His need for isolation.
He is self conscious of it... he takes off his hat 'as not to look suspicious' before going to his home.
It is significant that Phoebe gives him his hat back at the end of the novel. It is a reciprocal interaction. About the only one in the novel. He says that when people give him gifts they always end up 'making me sad'. In this instance of giving Holden feels happy. [I believe he is guilt ridden. He says his brother was very intelligent. He feels inferior to his brother. Perhaps he feel guilty that isn't 'good enough'.] But this interaction is, in a way, Phoebes indicting that its okay that he needs like form of protection. An approval.
Structure of Catcher in the Rye
Circular Novel.
Is this novel a Bildungsroman or a subversion of this form?
A Bildungsroman novel is one in which the protagonist sets out upon a quest for maturity in the course of the narrative, achieving a state of maturity and closure at its conclusion.
Does this ring true for Holden?
He does make the realisation that the process of maturity is inevitable. It is a transition that children need to experience. Inferred through the symbolism of the golden rings. 'If they fall off, they fall off.'
Then again, does Chapter 26 deny him any sense of closure?
He still sounds overwhelmingly cynical, 'don't ever tell anybody anything'. He begrudges the fact that he now 'misses' everyone he has written about. Is it sign that he no longer wants to go 'out West' and be a 'deaf-mute' (an outsider to society), or is it an indication that he's still a victim of trauma over Allie's death, not wanting to miss other figures in his life?
Is this novel a Bildungsroman or a subversion of this form?
A Bildungsroman novel is one in which the protagonist sets out upon a quest for maturity in the course of the narrative, achieving a state of maturity and closure at its conclusion.
Does this ring true for Holden?
He does make the realisation that the process of maturity is inevitable. It is a transition that children need to experience. Inferred through the symbolism of the golden rings. 'If they fall off, they fall off.'
Then again, does Chapter 26 deny him any sense of closure?
He still sounds overwhelmingly cynical, 'don't ever tell anybody anything'. He begrudges the fact that he now 'misses' everyone he has written about. Is it sign that he no longer wants to go 'out West' and be a 'deaf-mute' (an outsider to society), or is it an indication that he's still a victim of trauma over Allie's death, not wanting to miss other figures in his life?
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