sinofonin t1_ja3pbr9 wrote
There are two major things going on with the character. First he is growing up and transitioning to being an adult so there are some of the typical aspects of that age. The second part which is sometimes overlooked is his trauma and how it is also impacting his transition to adulthood.
AFAIK, Salinger started creating the character before the war but then while recovering from his own PTSD during the war he wrote more of it. So the character is a mix of this rebellious youth character and a character living through loss and trauma. I think there is a lot of Salinger in the character especially a lot of his fears about himself and his own capacity to deal with his trauma.
ERSTF t1_ja4zi0g wrote
How did you read the teacher? Predator or just a concerned adult?
Exploding_Antelope t1_ja5f7xf wrote
Oh hundo percent predatory. Everything about Holden makes a lot more sense if he’s been sexually abused.
mauben t1_ja5guii wrote
The fact his form of reassurance was just telling Holden he'd be going back to his own room didn't scream innocence to me either.
Mariposa510 t1_ja876l5 wrote
Professor Thurber? Just a spot-on description of an ancient college professor with no more fucks to give.
Hmmmm_Meh OP t1_ja3q7sr wrote
thank you for this comment. I am somebody who used to breeze through books maybe even skipping words and sentences just to get to the end. The result was I finished the book but never really understood it nor would remember anything after sometime.
Recently I am trying more to feel and understand them. What I think now after reading your comment is that it may be good to have a background read on the author. This is two authors I have read in a row whose works become more profound when you understand that most of the feelings of the character are those of the author themselves. That it is based on their own experiencr or related thoughts and the story gets so much more meaning.
Exploding_Antelope t1_ja5f5ey wrote
Yeah I think Catcher, as well as Salinger’s other stories, benefits greatly from being slowly, because the richness of the books comes from unraveling its unreliable narrator. The truths he’s almost accidentally telling come out between the lines. It helps that the book is fairly short, because that eases the pressure to rush through it. I like short books for that reason, you innately savour them.
Speaking of other stories, if you liked the interplay of motivations and character and text in Catcher, I definitely recommend Franny and Zooey. It’s similar in style but more centred around the contradictions of young adult as opposed to adolescent disillusionment.
CalmCalmBelong t1_ja5wp0t wrote
Aye, that second part is often overlooked, especially generationally. When I was in highschool (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), no one talked about trauma, or depression, or mental health. Literally no one. Today, every parent I know is friends with someone whose child "took a year off and went to school in Utah" and we all know what they're saying.
And even those parents ... so few recall Holden being in a residential program, journalling as part of his treatment, his depression from untreated trauma over his beloved brother's death, his sexual assault experience... Egads we were taught badly.
Mariposa510 t1_ja871o2 wrote
Holden’s brother who killed himself was maybe his personification of suicidal depression. The short story A Perfect Day for Bananafish, in the collection Nine Stories, is epic.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments