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introduction to this website about The Catcher in the Rye |
of The Catcher in the Rye |
of The Catcher in the Rye |
links and recommended literature |
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TEACHING ENGLISH:
WORKSHEETS, TESTS, &
MORE
Why buy books when you can get
individual worksheets
by email attachment?
Who is this cute little kid behind the fence? Right! It's Allie on his bike, watching his brother
Holden play golf |
EXTERNAL ASPECTS |
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NOTE: Much as I would like to quote many passages from CR, I really can't do it because from what we know about the Holden Server and other sites Salinger really doesn't like that sort of thing. |
"...that David Copperfield kind of crap" Here is the beginning of David Copperfield - in terms of style, content, and structure very different indeed from Holden's way of introducing himself to the reader - or listener, rather (because he is talking to us) ... NOTE: (Dec 1,
2004) Teachers, beware: as Bob Dylan already pointed out, the times they
are a-changing: |
I Am Born WHETHER I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that
station will be(held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my
life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have
been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It
was re-marked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
* caul = membrane that holds a fetus (Holden Caulfield: a protector of the young or innocent?!) |
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Huck Finn: First Paragraph Here's the beginning of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain. Huck and Holden have often
been compared with each other, and they are very similar indeed.
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You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly - Tom's Aunt Polly, she is - and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before. |
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Robert Burns: "Comin Thro' the Rye" Phoebe was right: It is "If (Gin) a body meet a body ..."
(cp. chapter 22).
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O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body, Jenny's seldom dry: She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin thro' the rye! I Comin thro' the rye, poor body, Comin thro' the rye, She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin thro' the rye! II Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the rye, Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry? III Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the glen, Gin a body kiss a body, Need the warld ken? Chorus O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body, Jenny's seldom dry: She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin thro' the rye! |
PS. The SONG itself can be found on the
following CD:
Balladeer Series: THE STAR O' RABBIE BURNS |
Paul Simon: "I am a Rock" This is one of my all-time favourite songs of the sixties (I remember
how happy I was at the time when I had finally figured out the guitar chords
and the riff that always follows after the chorus). The music itself and
the voices of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are magnificent, the lyrics
are great, but the reason I put the words here is the following:
PS. If you don't know the song, try to get hold of it - it's the words and the music together that make it so great. |
In a deep and dark December I am alone Gazing from my window To the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. CHORUS:
2. I've built walls
CHORUS 3. Don't talk of love
CHORUS 4. I have my books
CHORUS And a rock feels no pain.
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PS. On January 5, 2001 Sarah Stockton wrote me the following
email:
at first i liked the comparison
between the novel and I AM A ROCK by simon and garfunkel, but now i don't think
it's quite right. i don't think that holden has closed himself off because
he's been hurt, exactly. i think he wants to love and be loved and have
friends, but he doesn't see anyone worth the trouble, perhaps including himself.
(i suppose his avoidence of calling jane could sort of be that, but i don't
know.) however, simon and garfunkel do seem very caulfield-like. |
Catcher in the Rye: The Movie?! Did you ever wonder ... A. ... whether CR should be turned into a movie?
A. Speaking for myself, I am ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED
that it should not (and could not) be done - and, if it was done, I would
not go and see the movie.
B. Yes, there was at least 1 attempt I know
of. Towards the end of the 50s director Elia Kazan apparently asked Salinger
about the film rights. Rumour has it that Salinger thought about it for
a long time, then said to one of his few friends, a neighbour in Cornish,
something like "No, I think Holden Caulfield wouldn't like the idea."
* On June 24, 2000 I added a poll run by
freepolls.com (thank you folks) in which people could vote for or against turning CR into a movie.
They could also write a comment if they wished. |
Nov 29, 2009 NEW: Here is a special treat: A scan of a
letter JDS wrote
What's more, you can even buy the
original letter at
PS: momentsintime.com is also interested in buying other Salinger letters. |
March 16, 2001: Having just seen JOHN CUSACK in High Fidelity (and
some time ago in One Crazy Summer), I think he
could have played Holden when he was younger (I am not saying he should have,
but he might have fit the picture of Holden in my mind somewhat...) Nov 5, 2001: Somebody just wrote me an email, saying she based her image of Holden on the John Cusack character in Better off Dead... (I've got to get hold of that movie somehow) Then again, on Oct 10, 2001, I received the following email, indicating that there are people in this world who strongly disagree: "Holden Caulfield's mind would be in total agony for the duration of the movie because it could not fit into that actor's. As would mine, because it would not be able to contain my grief. High Fidelity is surely one of the exhaustively numbing, boring type of entertainment HC found so depressing. John Cusack is surely one of the phoniest, worst actors currently in orbit. Please rewatch that movie as many times as it takes for you to realise this, or perish in the attempt. Excuse the blatancy, Liz." |
References to CR in Fiction, Movies, and Pop Songs There are a number of direct references to CR in works of fiction, in movies, and in pop songs. I have collected those here which I know of. If you know any others, I'd appreciate it a lot if you would email me . Thanks! |
A. Fiction |
I realize that's a bit vague, but I'll try to check it out... Thanks Phoeb anyway! |
This is the novel which the movie Field of Dreams was based on. In contrast to the film, you'll actually meet J.D.Salinger here as a (non)fictional character. In the Ballantine edition, there is explicit reference to CR on pp. 85ff. and 109f., with the narrator and the (non)fictional Salinger discussing aspects of Holden Caulfield. Highly enjoyable. Oct 23, 1999: I just received permission from Kinsella to quote from this novel. Therefore, if you are interested, go to my new Shoeless Joe page. |
Here's what Edgar Wibeau, the narrator, says about CR: "Der soll sich mal den Salinger durchlesen. Das ist echt, Leute! Ich kann euch nur raten, ihn zu lesen, wenn ihr ihn irgendwo aufreissen koennt.Reisst euch das Ding unter den Nagel, wenn ihr es bei irgendwem stehen seht, und gebt es nicht wieder her! Leiht es euch aus und gebt es nicht wieder zurück. Ihr sagt einfach, ihr habt es verloren. Das kostet 5 Mark, na und?" You are right - this is German. Now, just in case your German is pretty weak and I had to translate that into English, it might look like this: "He should go and read Salinger. That's the real thing, folks! I can only advise you to read it, if you get hold of it someplace. You just nail it when you see it standing at somebody's place, and don't give it back. You just say you lost it. That's 5 Marks, so what?" |
The humanity of CR possibly resembles the humanity of The Peanuts, the, in my humble opinion, best comic strip in the world. In one of these strips, Linus once again persuades Sally to sit in the pumpkin patch and wait for the Great Pumpkin on Halloween. Of course, the Great Pumpkin does not show up, and Sally is furious. In her anger, she ponders suing Linus, then she shouts at him, "I'm never going to speak to you again! I wouldn't speak to you if I met you on the street, on the ocean, in the air or on the moon!" Here is Linus's reaction...
Now that might possibly increase his chances somewhat...
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can be seen reading from CATCHER. In issue #5, Daredevil enters a church where his mother, a nun, lives, and finds she had been brutally beaten by Bullseye, who is still hiding in the church. He begins by singing "When a body meets a body, coming through the rye...". He then adds, "Wry--ain't it, Red? [referring to the carnage and killing] If you're the literary type, you'll be able to call this one, Devil. No? C'mon--it's too easy. You're the catcher, get it? You're the catcher in the wry. But you know what every good catcher needs? A pitcher!" And Bullseye proceeds to hurl throwing stars at Daredevil. Not the best reference to the book (being mostly a play on words sort of thing), but still the first CATCHER ref in a comic book, I'd venture." Thanks a lot, Justin! |
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B. Movies |
This is the movie starring Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts. Gibson plays Jerry, a (seemingly) paranoid New York cab driver thinking there is a conspiracy behind everything. For some reason, Jerry compulsively buys all the copies of CR he can get hold of. At one point, when he buys yet another copy, this is picked up by a central monitoring agency who despatch black helicopters and men on motorcycles to capture Jerry. As far as I can remember, the whole CR bit is rather superficial, though. |
"Just a quick note to tell you about a film you didn't mention on your list. The movie Six Degrees of Separation (1993) has a whole scene in which the main characters dicuss the Catcher in the Rye and its involvement and influence of various crimes." Thanks Josephine! PS. The German film title is Leben - ein Sechserpack |
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"... recently when I was home watching television, I came upon a show that used the Catcher in the Rye as its whole plot. The name of the show was Working, its star was the star from "The Wonder Years", Fred Savage. In the show he gave his boss a copy of Catcher in the Rye to read while he was on his vacation. When his boss came back from vacation he told his employees he was quitting his job to live a life like Holden Caulfield. The show even went as far as rewriting the end of the novel to try to persuade their boss to come back to work. During the show the boss was shown wearing a red hunting cap and feeding the ducks at a frozen pond. This is just another example of Catcher in the Rye in a show or sitcom. ..." PS. Anybody knows the name of the star Jonathan is referring to? Feb 9, 2001: Josie Chea writes: "His name is Maurice Godin (he plays Tim Deale on the show), the episode is called "The Brown Noser"." Thanks! |
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Thanks a lot, Justin! |
ALVY (holding up a book) Whose Catcher in the Rye is this? ANNIE (walking into the room with an armload of books) Well, let's see now... If it has my name on it, then I guess it's mine. ALVY (reacting) Oh, it sure has... You know, you wrote your name in all my books, cos you knew this day was gonna come. |
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On Feb 3, 2002, I received another
email from John:
I found another catcher in the rye reference in the movie Almost Famous, the movie about the 15 yr old who goes on the road with a rock band. Anyway, on the bootleg DVD version called "Almost Famous/Untitled Bootleg Director's Version" or something like that. if you listen to the director's commentary, there's a scene where the two lead characters are walking along the lagoon in Central park. The director talks about how he was inspired by the book to shoot the scene. He doesn't go into much detail about it, but it's a nice scene. He does mention the ducks. you can see the whole lake in it, it looks great. By the way, both jerry maguire and this movie were both directed by cameron crowe. It's a great movie. Hope that's helpful. It is! Thanks a lot, John! |
On Jan 31, 2002, David A. from
Spain writes:
Anyway, the allusion to CR in a movie that I had sent you before was in John Fowles' The Collector. I do not know if the book actually discusses CR, but in the movie that they made of Fowles' novel they actually do. Here is how it goes: A man who enjoys collecting butterflies actually kidnaps a beautiful girl. He has her locked in the basement and often goes down to see her, take her food, and talk with her. In one of the passages of the movie (and I guess also of the book) both of them are discussing literature (she is an art student) and they start talking about CR. He mentions that he does not like the book at all, that the argument is silly, the character of Holden ridiculous and the whole thing pointless. She, on the other hand, has nothing but praise for the book and for Holden. Muchas gracias, David! |
On Feb 2, 2002, I got an email from
Elisabeth S. from Germany, pointing out that
there might be allusions to CR in FORREST
GUMP:
Jenny (Curran) - Jenny (in Robert Burns' poem) Thanks, Lisa! |
Sept 16, 2006 Here's a really good movie with lots of DIRECT references to CR: THE GOOD GIRL - starring Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson, and Zooey Deschanel. A good summary can be found at Wikipedia. Here are some similarities:
However, there are also basic differences:
Still, in my opinion it is a very good film - lots of funny scenes, lots of sad scenes, lots of interesting dialogue, plus very good acting. PS: The screenplay was written by Mike White, the "Bible guy" in the movie! |
C. Pop Songs |
Here's a part of the lyrics: There's a boy who fogs his world and now he's getting lazy There's no motivation and frustration makes him crazy He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting. Someone help him up or he's gonna end up quitting |
Here's the part of the lyrics referring to Holden: Do you think you'd sell your soul To just have one thing to turn out right? For the thousandth time you turn and find That it just makes no difference to try Like Holden Caulfield, I tell myself There's got to be a better way Then I lay in bed and stare at the ceiling Dream of brighter days |
Here are the lyrics which, according to a fan who wrote me an email on Nov 18, 2000, "really capture the essence of The Catcher in the Rye and make you better understand Holden's view of the world." i loved you for the minute when you decided to
tell me the truth |
NOTE: On May 10, 2001 I received the
following email:
"Hey, I was just glancing through your section about musical references to Catcher in the Rye and I have a few things to add. First of all, it may come as some intrest that the Screeching Weasel song "I Wrote Holden Caulfield" was written at least partialy in response to the Green Day song "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield." The two bands are very good freinds and it was intended as a little inside joke. Second, I am in a band called simply "Caulfield." We are a punk band from Detroit, MI. We also have a song called "Where are you Holden Caulfield?" While some have already interpreted this as being a third in the series, it was written without that intention. However, we do not resent the implication (being big fans of both Green Day and Screeching Weasel). In case anyone is interested, our website is located at http://www.caulfieldrock.com. We are releasing our first full-length CD on Storm Records in June and will be touring the US east of the Mississippi later this summer. Third, "The Caulfields" broke up years ago and all of their recordings are currently out of print. Thanks a lot, I think you have a really cool site."-Kevin McCoy |
Here's an interesting part of the song: I'm afraid of people who like Catcher in the Rye yeah, I like it too, but someone tell me why people he'd despise say I feel like that guy |
Thanks Adrienne! |
Thanks a lot Aimee! |
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For the complete lyrics go to ... ? |
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1951 In 1951 a couple of remarkable things happened which are most likely coincidental, but uncannily so; to wit: |
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"Itchycoo Park" "Itchycoo Park" is a song by the Small Faces, written by Steve Marriott and Ronny Lane. In September 1967 it climbed the UK charts up to #3, and in January 1968 it climbed up to #16 in the US. First of all, it is a very nice song in its own right - just listen to it. (It was also pretty experimental at the time, e.g. because of the phased drums.) Second, there are a number of interesting parallels between the lyrics and CR, especially:
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To rest my eyes in shades of green Under dreamin' spires To Itchycoo Park, that's where I've been (What did you do there?) I got high
It's all too beautiful
I feel inclined to blow my mind
Tell you what I'll do (What will you do?)
(What will we do there?) We'll get high
It's all too beautiful ... I feel inclined to blow my mind ... It's all too beautiful ...
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Huck Finn: Last Paragraph Here's the last paragraph from Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It is interesting for at least 2 reasons:
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Tom's most well now, and got his bullet around his neck on a watch-guard for a watch, and is always seeing what time it is, and so there ain't nothing more to write about, and I am rotten glad of it, because if I'd 'a' knowed what a trouble it was to make a book I wouldn't 'a' tackled it, and ain't a-going to no more. But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before. |
The Catcher and Censorship: Considered Armed and Dangerous In December 1999 Understanding The Catcher in the
Rye
by Pinsker/Pinsker was published.*
* Sanford and Ann Pinsker, Understanding The Catcher in the Rye (Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut; London, 1999) |
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Matthew Freeman, People for the American Way (anticensorship group, Washington D.C.) * PS. See also the anecdote (# 15) |
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March 18, 2001: There is a new book by Pam
Steinle:
In Cold Fear : The Catcher in the Rye Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character Minor problem: it costs $45... "In the fall of 1982, approximately fifty Baptist ministers, with the support of school officials and other community leaders, banned seven books from the school libraries of Calhoun County, Alabama: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1963), The Way of Love by John Cunningham and Frances Hanckel (1979), Doris Day: Her Own Story (1975), No Place to Run by Barbara Beasley Murphy (1977), J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951), and two of John Steinbeck's novels: East of Eden (1952) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939). To those unfamiliar with American book censorship in the period following World War II, this may appear to be a rather odd collection of titles--the autobiography of Hollywood’s perennial Cold War sweetheart Doris Day paired with the gritty realism of John Steinbeck’s fictionalized tales of labor and personal strife; an early 1950s "contemporary classic" about an adolescent, The Catcher in the Rye, and a late 1970s bestseller in popular paperback fiction written for adolescents, No Place to Run. One might find it strange that of those involved in the Calhoun County incident, only the librarian had actually read the majority of the books cited and some of the "censors" had not read one--or even a portion of one--of the books in question. Stranger still might seem the later discovery that one of the books, Steinbeck's East of Eden, had never been on the shelves of the challenged libraries in the first place. As one becomes acquainted with American censorship in the post-war period, however, these oddities form a recognizable pattern. Book lists that appear almost random in their selection of titles, a lack of familiarity with the texts among those attempting to remove or restrict them, the "banning" of books already absent from libraries, the focus on adolescent or "young adult" reading materials, and the engagement of religious leaders, educators and school administrators, parents and other community members in censorship action and debate: each of these are among the defining characteristics of contemporary American censorship. Furthermore, it is an experience that was repeated with increasing frequency over the first thirty years following the end of WWII and continues today. Attempts to censor high school literature and the often heated controversies that surround them have occurred in every region of the United States, averaging nearly forty reported incidents per year, and leaving few school boards and communities untouched. ..." |
Bad Company: Books Banned in the USA The following list is mainly based on Banned in the U.S.A. by Herbert N. Foerstel. It shows some of the fifty books - among them of course CR - that were most frequently challenged in schools and public libraries in the United States in the early 90s. Amazing. |
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Salinger's Holden vs Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov I recently bumped into a website in which Elisabeth Pezzolla
compares the characters of Holden in CR with Raskolnikov in Feodor Dostoevsky's
Crime
and Punishment. The similarities are very striking indeed; in fact,
one wonders whether Salinger sort of "borrowed" a little bit from Dostoevsky
here.
NOTE: I found the essay fascinating although I never read Crime and Punishment - but then again I might soon, because of the essay... |
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Crime And Punishment and Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher In Rye |
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NOTE: The novel itself can be found online at Bartleby.
Here is the beginning:
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Points of View (an attempt at a classification) Any person who starts to write a novel or a short story
- Salinger, you, me, anybody - has to make one crucial decision,
be it consciously or not: he has to select a certain point of view. That
means, the author creates a certain narrator who tells the
story. Sometimes author and narrator might be (almost) identical, but in
most cases they are not - which is why one should be careful and not mix
up the two terms.
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Obviously - and I bet also deliberately - Salinger chose
a first-person pov, having Holden Caulfield tell his own story. Thus Holden,
the I-narrator, not only recalls what happened to him but also freely comments
on everything - events, people, his own behaviour, etc; which is what makes
this pov so rich. On the other hand, it is also, in a sense, very limited
and possibly one-sided or unreliable, because everything is seen through
the eyes of this one character.
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NOTE: The underlined titles are (of course) clickable and will take you to extracts from those works. |
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On the other hand, the author can decide to make his narrator
stay completely "outside" the story. If so, he then has to make up his
mind as to the sources of information the narrator has access to: if he
opts for a Hemingway-like narrator, he will have him tell the story as
an observer without any access to the characters' thoughts and feelings.
Thus this kind of narrator can very appropriately be compared with a camera,
which also just describes the external action. (By the way - that's exactly
why it was relatively easy to turn The Graduate into a movie.)
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© B. Wahlbrinck 99
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The Cover of the Novel (Hardcover Edition) When I first saw the cover of the original (hardcover)
edition of CR I thought it featured some kind of a red horse pierced by
a kind of lance or something, and I wondered what that was supposed to mean. The second time I looked at it (real hard), it suddenly dawned on
me that it was supposed to be a horse on a carousel, which is of course
an allusion to the carousel scene with Phoebe in the second last chapter.
PS. See also #17 on this page. |
An Anecdote about Banned Books and Crafty Teachers Lately I came across the following fabulously funny anecdote, in which the banned books return with a vengeance... |
In High School I considered the banned book list my summer
reading list. In my high school we also had a pretty crafty English
teacher who had the list posted on the wall. She kept the books in a strong
box in her closet. (she used to like to show the covers to the class)
Every year she'd recruit a few seniors to spread the rumor that the combination
was 12-34-02 for the lock. Inevitably people stole books from the
box. I stole 1984. (isn't it funny our school banned
this book)
She later told me she his tons of copies of these books in her garage at home that she gets from flea markets and the like. She hopes they get stolen. Thank you Mrs. H, for understanding simple teen psychology. |
PS. On Nov 18, 2000, I received an email containing the
following remark about a very different teacher...
"I just recently read Catcher in the Rye for my English class, but I read it in only two days, because my teacher was trying to ruin it by making us edit out the swearing when we read aloud to the class...."Incredible! |
A Photo: The 2 Faces of J.D.Salinger A new biography of Salinger has just been published by Paul Alexander. If you go to this place at amazon.com, you will find the front cover of that book. Now, what is remarkable about that is the fact that there are two photos in one: you get the young and the old Salinger, sort of standing side by side, looking in the same direction, giving the impression that we actually see two different people and/or two personae of the same human being. Very thought-provoking... |
The Picture of Holden in your Mind One of the main differences between reading a novel and watching a film is the fact that the novelist makes every reader create a picture of the characters in his mind, whereas the director literally makes the spectator "see" the characters. In order to demonstrate that the picture created in the reader's mind depends to some (a large?) degree on the reader himself, I have copied the front cover of a European CR edition. It is striking because it shows a Holden Caulfield who, because of his hairstyle, looks a lot like a sixties kid - probably because that's what the artist had in mind. However, a close reading of the novel reveals that Holden has a crewcut - something Sally criticizes in chapter 17... |
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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes In chapter 25, when Phoebe gets on the carrousel
in Central Park, the song that is being played is "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes".
I like the lyrics, and, come to think of it, they might have some significance...
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They asked me how I knew
They said someday you'll find
So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
Now laughing friends deride
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May 9, 2002: I've often wondered what the song itself might be like, so today I am really surprised when I watch THE MAKING OF "AMERICAN GRAFFITI", one of my favourite movies (available on DVD now), and George Lucas comments on the fact that they play this very song in the gym... |
Mark David Chapman (John Lennon's Murderer) and CR BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION: A SCENE FROM THE FABULOUS MOVIE FORREST GUMP, STARRING TOM HANKS: Color footage of the DICK CAVETT Show. Dick Cavett stands
up as he introduces Forrest.
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Lennon and Chapman Here is a summary of an essay by Daniel Stashower,
published in the American Scholar (#52, 1983).
April 12, 2000: Here's some additional
information I got by email today (thanks,
Lorrie!):
Along with your explanation why Chapman shot
Lennon, i |
At amazon.com you can find information about a book which
is, however, out of print:
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I also recommend the following website which deals exclusively and
extensively with this topic:
David Pryke's http://www.lennon-chapman.com |
On April 25, 2002, Will Hochman wrote
the following comment in the Bananafish Mailing
List which I found so convincing and well-phrased
that I persuaded him to let me publish it here.
Thanks so much, Will!
* It's just wrong to connect a murderous, insane person with a great artist or great artwork. Sure, there was a lot of press about how one person interpreted a novel and let it drive him to murder or whatever, but the thing that bothers me is that too many of us want to think about how one particular novel may be a catalyst for a murder when the truth is that I wouldn't trust Chapman to read an aspirin label well, much less a book. This drive to connect Catcher to murder is just a sad, small, literary footnote. It is not, as, Holden would say, 'a very big deal.' Last night I was the keynote speaker at an awards ceremony for prize winning middle school and high school writers and their parents. When I asked the audience of approximately 200 people how many had read Catcher, I watched at least 75% of the people raise their hands and I can still see many of the young folks shoot their hands up high and fast with a sense of pride and fondness that should make us really think about what Catcher can mean to most people. I may be making more out of this quick image than is right, but my interpretation of that moment is strong and deep. I can still see a few young writers arch their backs and reach their arms and hands in the air with a grasping confidence that said, yes, I know and love this book...yes, I am proud that I read this book...yes, I know Holden as a gentle soul who can show us how to love people and he's even able to help us understand our awkward, adolescent selves a little better than we could without him. The hands in the air that I saw didn't have guns in them. There wasn't murder in their hearts, and the only insanity or confusion they may have suffered was in applauding me at the end of my remarks. I just dislike it very much when Catcher is connected with murdering, and I hope this email changes the strand to thinking about how Catcher affects real readers, will Associate Professor of English Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515 203 392 5024 |
Aug 21, 2003: Here's some interesting info given by
Jack Jones which I found on the internet. He was asked by various people about
various aspects of Chapman who at the time was about to be paroled (or not).
Journalist Jack Jones discusses John Lennon's killer,
Mark David Chapman
"Mark's spiritual change has followed a very long progression. He evolved
from a Beatle worshipper and young drug addict at age 14 into an overnight
Christian while he was taking LSD, which he believed the Beatles had advocated.
After his conversion to Christ, John Lennon made the unfortunate remark that the
Beatles were more popular than Jesus and sang the song, "Imagine There's No
Heaven." This deeply offended Chapman's Christian identity and
subconsciously I'm certain he began plotting John Lennon's death at that time, a
full decade before he murdered the rock legend."
"At the age of 25, Chapman was probably an emotional 15 year-old. There is
a phenomenon in the literature of fictional personalities. Some people come to
believe that they are another fictional personage. Mark, when he turned away
from Christianity, believed that the Catcher in the Rye was his bible. His
decision to go from Honolulu to New York City, to hang around in Central Park,
to hire a prostitute, to get a gun, was a twisted re-enactment of Holden
Caulfield's coming of age in New York City. In many ways, he retraced Holden
Caulfield's steps before killing the man that he had made himself believe was
the ultimate "phony". He believed in some way that by killing Lennon
he could stop the rock star from leading astray another generation of innocent
youth." |
Thoreau: The West as a Mythical Land Holden repeatedly talks of going West, especially in chapter
25 (ironically, he does go West, but to the California resthome). He wants
to build himself a cabin, pretending to be a deaf-mute, then marry this
beautiful girl, etc.
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from: Henry David Thoreau, "Walking", Atlantic Monthly (June 1862) We go eastward to realize history and study the works of art and literature, retracing the steps of the race; we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure. The Atlantic is a Lethean stream, in our passage over which we have had an oppor- tunity to forget the Old World and its institutions. If we do not succeed this time, there is perhaps one more chance for the race left before it arrives on the banks of the Styx; and that is in the Lethe of the Pacific, which is three times as wide. .. Every sunset which I witness inspires me with the desire to go to a West as distant and as fair as that into which the sun goes down... The West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild; and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of the World. Every tree sends its fibres forth in search of the Wild. The cities import it at any price. Men plow and sail for it. From the forest and wilderness come the tonics and barks which brace mankind. Our ancestors were savages. The story of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf is not a meaningless fable. The founders of every state which has risen to eminence have drawn their nourishment and vigor from a similar wild source. It was because the children of the Empire were not sucklmd by the wolf that they were conquered and displaced by the children of the northern forests who were... So I would say, -- How near to good is what is wild! Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him. One who pressed forward incessantly and never rested from his labors, who grew fast and made infinite demands on life, would always find himself in a new country or wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material of life. He would be climbing over the prostrate stems of primitive forest-trees.... |
A Photo Album of Holden Caulfield's Odyssey Jan 5, 2000: I am happy to provide a very special link here to a project run by Suzanne Morine, author of the well-known Page Index for the Catcher . Suzanne has been to NYC recently (actually, a week or two before Christmas, just like Holden) and has taken lots of photos there. These photos provide the basis for her The album is done now (June 2000). Nice reading, too - not to mention all the photos of places Holden went to during his odyssey... |
22. PEARL JAM: "WHY GO" I don't know the song itself (yet), but it looks like Pearl Jam is an alternative rock band, and the music is pretty heavy and fast. In any case, it seems to me that the lyrics are very bleak, which provides a strong contrast to the ending of CR, esp. the carrousel scene in chapter 25... |
WHY GO |
23. Looks like a novel has
been published which is somewhat similar to CR: The
Perks of Being a Wallflower, according to
300 plus reviews (!) at amazon,
is either a rip-off of CR or a beautiful modern
novel in its own right. |
Here's the beginning of the novel: August 25, 1991 Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. Please don't try to figure out who she is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don't want you to do that. I will call people by different names or generic names because I don't want you to find me. I didn't enclose a return address for the same reason. I mean nothing bad by this. Honest. I just need to know that someone out there listens and understands and doesn't try to sleep with people even if they could have. I need to know that these people exist. I think you of all people would understand that because I think you of all people are alive and appreciate what that means. At least I hope you do because other people look to you for strength and friendship and it's that simple. At least that's what I've heard. So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be. I try to think of my family as a reason for me being this way, especially after my friend Michael stopped going to school one day last spring and we heard Mr. Vaughn's voice on the loudspeaker. "Boys and girls, I regret to inform you that one of our students has passed on. We will hold a memorial service for Michael Dobson during assembly this Friday." I don't know how news travels around school and why it is very often right. Maybe it was in the lunchroom. It's hard to remember. But Dave with the awkward glasses told us that Michael killed himself. His mom played bridge with one of Michael's neighbors and they heard the gunshot. |
24. CR and Cannibalizing: Origins of the Novel In an interesting essay at ClassicNotes it is pointed out that CR "is the culmination of themes that appeared throughout a number of Salinger's short stories, however, some of which form the basis of individual chapters in The Catcher in the Rye." That means in effect that Salinger, like Raymond Chandler, decided to use some earlier short stories and incorporate them in the novel. Chandler called his custom of rescuing earlier work "cannibalizing" - a somewhat strange but fitting metaphor. The short stories Salinger made use of are:
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If you are interested in more details, go to ClassicNotes where you can find the essay called "About the Catcher in the Rye" dealing with Origins of CR . |
25. In July 2000 I had an exchange
of emails with Tom Murphy, a teacher at an
Illinois High School. (He says if
you want to contact him "to continue the
conversation or just yell at me for my stupid
interpretations :-)" you can email him:
Tom Murphy
) |
TOM MURPHY: "The notion that
Grendel and Holden have something in common just
came to me... I don't know of - or at least
don't remember - seeing the idea anywhere.
If you haven't read John Gardner's book, I'd encourage you to. In the original tale of Beowulf, Grendel is just the monster - the Evil Thing against which the Hero must test himself to prove himself Heroic. By re-telling that story from the monster's viewpoint, Gardner invites us into a world that we expect to be utterly alien but which turns out to be hauntingly familiar. Holden's mention of Grendel on p. 110 carries a very faint whiff of approval or attraction. He says "Well, most of the time we were on the Anglo-Saxons. Beowulf, and old Grendel and Lord Randall My Son, and all those things." For Holden its "old" Grendel. Adolescent boys are notoriously attracted to the dark side, curious about the power of destruction. They may ultimately want to identify with the hero, but there seems to be a deeper soul-link with the monster. Both Holden and Grendel are sharply alienated characters, estranged from self, family, others, the world...while they are in the process of trying to understand those very things. There seems something particularly adolescent in Grendel's curiosity about the world of men and his anger at being excluded. So he becomes The Destroyer, The Hrothgar-Wrecker. Similarly, there is something at least potentially monstrous in Holden's self-absorption and the temptation to nihilistic generalizing about the phoniness of the world. But in both characters there is some underlying appreciation of Value that has not been allowed to develop. It's more explicit with Holden. There are a number of things that he positively desires. He knows he wants to be The Catcher (though he comes to see that it's an impossible dream); he cleary loves Phoebe, Allie and maybe D.B.; he seeks connection with Jane Gallagher. Grendel had sought out positive connection with humans and was rejected. Yet there are moments in his career of destruction when he has the opportunity to kill certain characters (Hrothgar, The Shaper, the queen) but he does not. He seems to have a faint understanding of the limits of his own nihilism. Both Holden and Grendel seek out mentors (Horwitz and Antolini/The Shaper and The Dragon); both are helped and hindered by what they learn from them." BERND WAHLBRINCK: "This does sound interesting ... However, I do not share your view that Holden is nihilistic - in fact, by trying to be the catcher, wiping out those "fuck you's", etc etc he shows how desperately he is trying to keep up certain values..." TOM MURPHY: "On Holden’s nihilism: I probably overstated this a bit. Holden certainly has a range of values (authenticity as opposed to phoniness, concern for others, particularly children) that he tries to practice and wishes that others would also subscribe to. You could probably argue that he is actually some kind of saint. His nihilism - it’s not the right term, but I don’t know what else to call it at the moment - is the posture of a teenager who gets a bit lost in the midst of Life’s complexities. Sometimes in adolescence we tend to think in absolute categories, but when Life doesn’t present these in nice neat packages we leap to the extreme statement: "People are all phony" or "Nobody ever listens to anybody". It is a tendency to throw it all up for grabs, to throw it all out. Why can I hear Johnny Rotten roaring "I WANNA DES-TROY" at this moment? What is this adolescent (mostly male?) interest in the power of violent action? It often takes the form of an impulse to destroy something or someone in an attempt to "make a statement". (I can’t help but think of the violence at Columbine High School and elsewhere in this context.) There are moments (the fight with Stradlater comes to mind) when it seems that Holden actually wishes he had that kind of power. At that moment he really could kill Stradlater. In fact, though, Holden is probably no more of a nihilist than Gardner’s Grendel is. But they are both Lost Boys. There is hope for Holden by the book’s end - he has found some sense in the midst of all "this madman stuff". For Grendel - as for many in this broken world who can’t find their way through - there is only more darkness." |
26. Why (NOT) Read Biographies? 3.11.2000 I used to be very interested in biographical information concerning Salinger. In fact, Ian Hamilton's In Search of J.D. Salinger, first published in 1988, offers remarkable details about him, especially regarding parallels between the author and his protagonist Holden Caulfield. Thus this kind of extrinsic approach can easily expand your view of the novel itself and contribute to a better understanding of various aspects. However, since the publication of Margaret Salinger's Dream Catcher in September 2000 I have begun to change my mind. According to amazon.com, she writes in the introduction: "I grew up in a world both terrible and beautiful, and grossly out of balance." She continues: "My father, a writer of fiction, is a dreamer who barely can tie his own shoelaces in the real world, let alone warn his daughter she might stumble and fall. In real life, when he chooses to make himself available, he can be funny, intensely loving, and the person you most want to be with." However, she adds: "To get in the way of his work, to interrupt the holy quest, is to commit sacrilege." So far, so good. But after reading about other
details on the Bananafish Mailing List - e.g. that Salinger used to drink his
own urine etc - I more and more got the feeling that it might not be such a
brilliant idea to go and buy the book in the first place. Here are 2 reasons: * |
4.11.2000 Otto Sell sends me an
email reminding me of the message we should have learned from the Wizard
of Oz: "Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain." Right! And thanks, Otto! |
27. July 16, 2001: A Letter to Holden Here's a letter to Holden, written
by Will Hochman, Assistant Professor of English & Composition,
Co-Coordinator Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St, New
Haven, CT 06515203 392 5024. (website: http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html ) (email: mailto:hochman@southernct.edu ) |
Dear
Holden,
Everyone
is making a very big deal about your 50th anniversary.
You came to us as a sixteen year old boy in l951 and you have remained
a perfect pain in the ass.
You just made the “great” social critic George Will whine about
your childish effects on boomers. Several years ago you made Harold Bloom, the
self-proclaimed king of criticism edit a book of essays totally about you
because you are such a character.
And you’ve made millions of readers see themselves in so many new
ways that it’s no wonder that young readers found literature’s first door
being courteously held open by you.
To stop and say thanks, even if your author makes that something less
than it could be, seems like something you would appreciate. Everyone knows your author wants little part of any thanks offered, and I am trying to respect that…but you, Holden, I at least know well enough to believe you might like to hear a little bit about how helpful you’ve been. Before wincing at people taking you too seriously, don’t worry. I’ve been working with Chris Kubica to edit a book of Letters to Salinger (due in December from the University of Wisconsin Press), though this collection doesn’t really go out to Mr. Salinger. Most of the contributors (ranging from writers like W.P. Kinsella, Tom Robbins and Melanie Rae Thon to teachers and kids like you) are really talking about how literature has made them a bit more of who they are…and they are simply happy to send an intelligent and interesting smile your way.
Me too, Holden.
Want a laugh?
My dog’s name is Holden Caulfield in honor of you.
He’s an old Springer Spaniel and whenever folks stop to pet him, they
ask me how old my “puppy” is…sort of like you, eh, Holden?
Want another laugh?
I got an NYU Ph.D. writing about readers responding to you but now I
prefer to focus on “Bananafish,” an email discussion list for Salinger
readers. But
computers seem out of your time, even if this group of readers really does
love you quite a bit. You started it Holden, don’t blame me.
I just hung on to the carousel and I’m still reaching for the
literary ring. I don't need it to be gold...I just care that it's made with a
bit of you In the fifty years you’ve been around, your author has not given you the family life you deserved. But let’s not talk about him now. Besides, you may not need as much from your parents now since you are so much older and always knew more than most the importance of a good brother or sister. Hey Holden, do you know how many girls and boys are your siblings now? Generations of millions of readers relate to you…they welcome you, understand you…and often grow better because of you. Spirit brother or character, your work is good and is still going strong.
But let’s face it Holden—growing up is hard to do and now, growing old
sucks. So
here’s the deal.
You gave us some light in the dark space of adolescence and now I’m
wondering if you can do the same for being old.
Surely you’ve had time to meditate on just what it means to be “Old
Holden”? Ok,
ok,…I’m just kidding. I
wasn’t going to fool around like that when I started this letter, but you
have to know that you made
me do it.
Let’s leave it at that Holden—fifty years or the next time I read
your classic pages, you will always bring out the kid in me, and that’s
enough to make it through any age
With all my love and not too much squalor, Will |
28. "Where do the ducks go?" - At Last, External Evidence! A central aspect which has puzzled people both inside and outside the novel for 50 years is Holden's question where the ducks go when the lagoon in Central Park freezes over. The first cab driver Holden asks in chapter 9 thinks Holden is trying to kid him. Then, in chapter 12, Holden has this famous and very funny conversation with Horwitz, the second cabbie. Horwitz hasn't got a clue where the ducks go and gets incredibly excited about the question, also comparing the ducks' situation to that of the fish in the lagoon. In fact, he gets so sore that he drives off "like a bat out of hell". (Rumour has it that he is so unnerved that he actually drives into a lamppost.) Alas, Holden himself never finds out where the ducks go (or does he, years later?! ;-) . However, exactly 50 years after the publication of CR there is, at last, the answer to this mind-boggling question. It was published in the New York Times on July 22, 2001 by Thomas Beller. In his article, "Holden's New York", we learn (I paraphrase): |
The park commissioner said that every year his office is contacted by people inquiring about
a mystery posed by Holden: What happens to the ducks when the lagoon freezes over? According to the commissioner, the lagoon does not really freeze anymore. "Usually the ducks go to the middle of the lake, which is the least likely to freeze," he said. "If that freezes over they have been seen in the Hudson and East Rivers. In fact ducks travel much less than they used to, because it is really much easier for them than it was in 1951. |
So what? Well, the point is: Horwitz was (basically) right: Mother Nature takes care of the fish - and the ducks, too. Holden cares about the ducks because he cares about (from his point of view) helpless, innocent creatures who he feels should be protected from the brutal world. That goes for the ducks (can you imagine Ackley or Stradlater asking themselves where the ducks go? - Me neither!), it goes for the nuns, for Jane Gallagher, and of course for his sister Phoebe. Therefore, just like Holden eventually realizes in the carrousel scene that he has to allow Phoebe to make the experience of possibly falling off the horse or the carrousel (of life) - see my #18 Internal Aspects - he should not worry too much about the ducks...
PS. A friend pointed out to me that this reminded him strongly of the Bible
(Mathew 6/26): "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them." |
29. Names & Psychology in CR On Nov 6, 2001, I received the following information from Holly Prescott, a psychology student from Wigan, England. Thanks so much, Holly! There seems to be a strong theme of psychology (of course) and psychoanalysis running throughout the narrative. Wilhelm Stekel is mentioned (in chapter 24 by Mr Antolini), and Carl Luce's father himself is a psychologist. It so happens there is a Luce Irigaray who was born in 1930; her work explores psychoanalysis and male dominance in Western Society. You may be interested to know that Goldfarb, surname of Raymond who drank scotch with Holden in Whooton's chapel (chapter 13) is also the name of a psychologist who studied children in institutions to see whether this affected their intellectual development. His research was carried out in 1943 and he concluded that children's intellectual and emotional development could be stunted by lack of opportunity to form an attachment to a care giver in the early years of life. Holden got sent to boarding school. Coincidence, huh?! Hayes (as in Sally) is also the surname of a psychologist. In fact, Hayes & Hayes were a couple; the initials of the pair are a KJ Hayes and a C Hayes, who studied language development (using primates!), their most famous studies carried out in 1952. A man named Nathan .M. Horwitz (the surname of the talkative taxi driver) appears in the American journal of psychoanalysis. Nathan M Horwitz is still alive and kicking, his article being called "Why do humans stay in hateful relationships". However there is also Leonard Horwitz, who worked (dunno if he still works) in Psychoanalysis, the only article or study I can find of his dates from 1974. Funny huh? |
30. Paul Simon: On Feb 17, 2002, I received an interesting mail from Joe Z., Long Island: I am an English teacher on Long Island ... and I think that I have something for you to add to your site. The song "A Poem On The Underground Wall" by Paul Simon sounds exactly like the guy that Holden would want to defend the world against--especially since the "A single worded poem consisting Of four letters" is probably the exact profanity that Holden seems to be crusading against. Further, I think that the fact that the graffiti artist in this case is described as using a "crayon" goes to show the age of the culprit who would be close enough in age to the person who probably wrote the profanity that Holden first sees. Hope you agree, Joe Z.Yessir, so here it is... |
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NOTE: Here is some interesting background information from
Wikipedia on this song which, ironically, also reminds one of Holden Caulfield: "A Poem on the Underground Wall" is a song written by Paul Simon, first released as a recording on the Simon and Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. The Simon and Garfunkel boxed set Old Friends includes a live version of the song, prefaced by an anecdote from Garfunkel about its origin: he explains that a photo shoot for the cover of the album Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. was ruined because the subway wall they had intended to use as a backdrop had obscenities written on it. |
Hold it! Why not take a trip to my other sites... |
TEACHING ENGLISH:
My new book: * |
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introduction to this website about The Catcher in the Rye |
of The Catcher in the Rye |
of The Catcher in the Rye |
links and recommended literature |
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