When Catcher in the Rye came out it was met by a wave of disapproval from parents and was a target for censors, many parents would not agree with the rebellious nature of Holden. Many parents felt that it would be a negative impact on kids, perhaps inspiring rebellion.Today, it's highly revered and sells over 250,000 copies a year. The view on the book doesn't seem to have changed much, there will always be people who fight for censorship and those who fight against it. Older reviews seem to show a favorable disposition but people felt that it was a bit monotonous, Holden always seemed to be saying or doing the same stuff.
Well it seems the reason that J.D Salinger became a hermit because he was trying to protect himself from the people who felt it was their right to have more books from him, he's trying to protect his privacy.Many have tried to seek out J.D Salinger and so he sought recluse for himself, which the people in his community seem to respect.
In popular culture, Holden can be found anywhere. More recently, there was a whole South Park episode which argued that people were reading too much into Catcher in the Rye and has inspired numerous songs. If you hear or look around you're probably going to find some reference to Holden.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Holden
We've talked quite a lot about Holden and have delved into his mind to further understand him. We know that he doesn't like phonies and appreciates things that are more real, like the books by his brother D.B, before he went into Hollywood. He holds a deep resentment for the movies, they make a person believe He blames society for this at times, giving too much credit to those that they believe are good, the person doesn't understand when they're good or not like Ernie or the people in the play.
Holden is very lonesome and in a difficult time of his life, when he gets off the train he's at a loss for who to call. It seems that no one's there for him and in a difficult time for him too, he's constantly thinking about suicide and is depressed.
Holden sees himself as a protector of that which is corrupt, he protects the people he's placed up in his pedestal and tries to preserve them. When he's at the museum, he thinks to himself that some things should stay like the things behind the glass windows, unchanged. For this reason, I think he gets really 'peculiar' when Sunny says "like fun you are," I feel that he's reminded of innocence and going through with it would be corrupting the very innocence he stands for. The very same things happen when Stradlater goes out with Jane, he gets angry and nervous for Jane and feels it his duty to protect her. I also think this is why Allie's important to him, Allie's death caused him to be unchanged by society, they didn't get to ridicule him for his baseball mitt with the poems and so he was preserved in Holden's mind.
Holden is very lonesome and in a difficult time of his life, when he gets off the train he's at a loss for who to call. It seems that no one's there for him and in a difficult time for him too, he's constantly thinking about suicide and is depressed.
Holden sees himself as a protector of that which is corrupt, he protects the people he's placed up in his pedestal and tries to preserve them. When he's at the museum, he thinks to himself that some things should stay like the things behind the glass windows, unchanged. For this reason, I think he gets really 'peculiar' when Sunny says "like fun you are," I feel that he's reminded of innocence and going through with it would be corrupting the very innocence he stands for. The very same things happen when Stradlater goes out with Jane, he gets angry and nervous for Jane and feels it his duty to protect her. I also think this is why Allie's important to him, Allie's death caused him to be unchanged by society, they didn't get to ridicule him for his baseball mitt with the poems and so he was preserved in Holden's mind.
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