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The Catcher in the Rye is a book that has aged shockingly well over time with its relatability and message. However, there is one aspect that seems to be "hit or miss'' when it comes to his personal struggle to find meaning. Holden lives in an age when being a teenager often meant being part of the "normals" or else being cast out. While this trend has very much carried over into the 21st century, I believe that people who don't fit in the normal nowadays have the ability to find their own niche through the internet and other forms of media that may serve as a common factor amongst them. When we consider that Holden struggles to come up with something “material” that he is passionate about, we notice that he seems to only enjoy spending time with Allie and Phoebe.
I don't mean to demean Holden's trauma from his brother's death, but I think that whatever hole he was in has been dug even deeper because of his absence of anything he could be consistently passionate about. Fortunately, I find in my experience that individuals who generally have more hobbies have a better time coping with struggles they face. This observation is also important when we reflect on the passage of time in this book. I think Holden is oblivious to the absence of passion that he has grown up with; when we look at this narrative years in advance, we can compare what we have now and what he didn't have then. Additionally, this type of reflection allows for us to ponder what things perpetuate our own struggles and the possibility that these absences can be remediated in the future.
Rather than being a novel about the process of coming of age, I believe that The Catcher in the Rye tells the story of a teenager hopelessly lost in a passionless world that refuses to support people like him. Maybe I just restated “Coming of Age” but who knows. This might be a phony take after all…
I agree that the social groupings we see in the book are very different than ones we see now. This could be because we are at a different school and location but I think that we have a much broader term of the term "normal" than what was used in the book. I wonder how different Holden's feelings would be if the book was written in the present day. It would be interesting to see if he would feel less alone in a possibly more inclusive environment.
ReplyDeleteI like how you related Holden's extreme loneliness to being something that continues to hit home in this day and age. It is interesting to think of how different of a world we live in, where vast amounts of media now readily available to us and everyone can easily express a voice and presence to strangers. Rather than having to be like Holden in feeling his takes on the phoniness of society and his situation are unprecedented, we are able to read about other characters who have gone through the same thing. However, I feel that Holden's crisis runs much deeper than simply having an internet niche to be a part of or having a consistent hobby. We see evidence that he has people in his life who he hangs around with (Stradlater, Ackley, Sally) and that he has things he enjoys (English/writing, having good conversations with the nuns/kids). But, he feels empty because of this identity crisis of what kind of person he wants to be without conflicting with morals, which runs much deeper than his surface level relationships. It's really hard to say that there is an easy fix for him to come to terms with the various trauma he's experienced, and I think only he will be able to find that path for himself.
ReplyDeleteSlayalicious post. I think you're right to bring up the technological and social differences between the book's setting and our current time. However, it's still true that people who engage in lots of various online communities can still feel lonely and depressed. And I think Holden, being in the financial position he was in, could absolutely have found his own niche if he really tried to, like how the second teacher guy tried to recommend literature so Holden would have a sense of community/example. I think you're absolutely right that the social scene/acceptability of different niches has expanded since then--psychotherapy has become much more accessible, widespread, and generally encouraged. So maybe the problem wasn't a passionless world but rather one that didn't understand Holden's problems and how to actually help him, and maybe Holden got really really into knitting after psychotherapy :)
ReplyDeleteI really like your post! I think his inability to find something that makes him excited is made worse by the fact that he refuses to be passionate about things that most people are excited about. Disregarding school, movies, and everything else he labels as 'phony' only take away from the things he can do and makes his loneliness and his trauma with Allie's death even worse. Great post!
ReplyDeleteNice post! I definitely agree that Holden's tale is a fish out of water one. I also think that the desire to be accepted is something that Holden struggles with. He wants to fit in more but believes that "fitting in" will compromise his moral values. Think of how he reacts to his teacher saying "life's a game." He doesn't want to be one of life's players, but he's stuck in a white upper class boys school where everyone else is playing.
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