The Catcher in the Rye, my thoughts

Book in question.

Oh Holden. How would I have loved to meet you sooner. I’m glad I finally got around to reading The Catcher in the Rye. Being the weeb I am, the first time I saw it referenced was in the slogan of the Laughing Man in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.

It’s also mentioned in one of my guilty pleasure movies, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. And my starter ship in Azur Lane, Z23, has a skin called The Eyecatch in the Rye? So I really didn’t need any more reasons to read it. Also, if you’ve ever heard of a guy called John Lennon, apparently this book was his killer’s favorite. How crazily interconnected this world is.

The main question I had going into The Catcher in the Rye was how the hell a coming-of-age novel became such a huge classic. Sooner rather than later, the answer became obvious. The Catcher in the Rye is not just a coming-of-age novel. It might as well be the coming-of-age novel. Most literature of this genre is corny, and if you are outside its main target audience, they really aren’t that enjoyable to read.

But Holden is not corny, he’s sincere. The book is not dark, it’s raw. And when one writes as close to the human heart as Salinger did, I think it’s impossible for anyone to read it and not feel appalled when presented with Holden’s struggles. The alienation from his peers. Everything being lousy and everyone being a phony. Even if it’s been a few years since I was in Holden’s shoes, I can very well sympathize with the pessimism he faces the world with. While reading it, I couldn’t help but think that he and I could be good friends. We are similar in a lot of ways. Except Holden is awfully sociable for a guy who despises everyone so much. And then there’s the fact that Holden is bitter. You need to have a special kind of resentment to remember everyone just by the things about them that bother you, for Chrissake.

Despite it all, Holden doesn’t wall off his heart. He still has his sense of justice. He takes note of all the things that depress him. He doesn’t go out of his way to mess with people. On the contrary, he’s kind enough to reward those that don’t piss him off that much. He grew on me, he really did, that sonuvabitch.

The Catcher in the Rye is a wonderful story about a young man that is coming to terms with how the innocence, sincerity, and curiosity of children slowly drifts away as they grow older. Not only in his peers but also himself. A book that carefully and skillfully shows how family, school, mentors, friends, lovers, and topics such as pride, mental health, sex, and mortality influence the heart of a young man.

I’ll leave you with another classic quote from the book:

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.