The Catcher in the Rye is, according to critic Robert Bennet, "one of the most widely read and discussed works in the American literary canon," and consequently, Holden Caulfield is one of literature's most beloved--and despised--characters. People either love him or hate him; there is rarely a middle ground with this character.
So, scholars of mine, here are the talking points: What is it about Holden that elicits such strong feelings in readers? What, specifically, did Salinger in his characterization process do to create such an engaging and powerful figure? Why is there such a cult fervor surrounding Holden?
So, by Saturday at 11 AM, post a comment that handles some or all of these talking points, and make sure to include a response to at least one classmate if you are not the first to comment! The blog is on Edline, but to save you extraneous mouse clicks, here it is:
AP English Blog Rubric (15 Points)
Name: _______________________________________________________
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_____ Comment is at least a paragraph in length
_____ Comment substantiates position by referencing topics that give weight to opinion
_____ Comment is free from grammatical errors
_____ Comment responds to prompt in an accurate and appropriate way
_____ First to comment!
_____ If not the first to comment, comment addresses at least one other student’s idea in a respectful way
_____ Comment is at least a paragraph in length
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Rock on, faithful literature enthusiasts!
First comment cause i'm a nerd and have nothing else to do! :)
ReplyDeleteReaders’ love or hate relationship with Holden Caulfield is a result of his hypercritical attitude and ability to make some feel pity for him. Salinger’s use of “phony” as one of the major words in Holden’s vocabulary shows that Holden is constantly casting judgment on adults who he believes are insincere. Holden’s criticisms are his own observations of superficiality in the adult world, which can also be considered superficial. This may make some people hate Holden, because they don’t appreciate his type-casting of seemingly good people. Also, Salinger’s use of first person narration helps provide a look into Holden’s thoughts, which gives readers an extremely personal and powerful way to determine their feelings towards him. However, because Holden is expelled from school and wanders around from place to place avoiding his parents, some readers may empathize with him. Anyone who has ever felt depressed, outcast, or who has lost a close relative like Allie would be able to understand how Holden is feeling. They could also use grief as a possible excuse for Holden’s behavior, whereas others may not consider Allie’s death a sufficient reason for his negative perceptions of other people.
Jess, I think you do a nice job of identifying that he judges "superficiality" in adults.
DeleteHolden Caulfield is a character who is very much relatable to readers. His stance on people around him mostly centers on the fact of them being "phonies" or someone he considers to be good company. He holds his family in the most high regard as opposed to other people. With the death of his brother Allie, Holden finds himself struggling to find a place in the world around him. He is constantly being brought back to the thought of his brother. Readers can easily identify with Holden in the fact that he is insecure of himself and finds himself to be trapped. Many a teenager feels trapped as they try to find themselves amidst all the changes going on in their lives. Jessica poses a good argument in that readers "may not consider Allie's death a sufficient reason for his negative perceptions of other people." In the long run, not everyone will care about what unfortunate events befall people. People like to see someone pulling through tough times and not letting a loss dictate how they act.
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DeleteKatie, you have a good beat on humanity with your statement of, "People like to see someone pulling through tough times." I'd agree--readers often hate a character who DOESN'T bounce back. Holden certainly exposes his weaknesses to us, the readers.
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ReplyDeletePosted it and realized there was a typo, so of course I had to remove it and fix it :p
ReplyDeleteHolden Caulfield is stuck between adulthood and childhood, and has a difficult time adapting to the world around him, and as Katie stated, this makes him a more relatable character. He does indeed struggle "to find a place in the world around him" especially since he has a difficult time making connections with most of the characters in the novel because he is hypercritical and often writes people off as "phonies" for their behavior. However, despite Holden's judgments of the people around him, Salinger gives Holden a softer side, allowing him to make connections to the only people he seems to like: children. Holden is seen to be very protective of children, such as when he tries to rub the profanity off of the bathroom stalls at his sister's school, and children often cheer him up. He goes so far into his desire to protect them that he wants to become the "catcher in the rye,” and preserve their innocence. A lot of teenagers or even adults can relate to wanting to save the innocence of children, especially if the children are growing up too fast, which Holden describes when he says "...I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them." (Salinger 224-25). Many children express wanting to grow up, and Holden saying that “they don’t look where they’re going” shows that they do not know what they are getting into by growing up, and many adults and teenagers can agree with him, since growing up seems very different to a child than it does to an adult. It is also kind of tragic that no matter how much Holden wants to preserve the innocence of children, they will inevitably grow up. Not only is Holden very relatable, but he also has a soft spot for children behind his critical nature, which makes him more lovable.
Hey, no worries about the reposting! You raise a good issue: the view of "growing up" looks different for children than it does for adults...how appropos that Salinger puts Holden smack in the middle...
DeleteHannah Coderre (I FINALLY FOUND THE BLOG....I GUESS I HAVE TO USE SCHOOL COMPUTERS TO COMMENT!!)
ReplyDeleteHolden elicits such extreme reactions because he is an extreme character. He is kicked out of a prestigious boarding school. He lives practically homeless in the streets of New York. He ends up in a mental institution. These are extreme circumstances that the reader can either totally relate to or is completely foreign. Like Marrissa said, Holden wants to remain a child. That is another extreme. Extreme characters elicit extreme reactions.
I agree with Hannah that Holden is an extreme character and that is why readers react so strongly to him. He acts in extreme ways by getting expelled from school and wandering around New York City by himself, but he also forms strong opinions on things. Even if he changes his mind on a subject, he always feels passionately about the things he discusses; such as his fantasy of leaving home and being out west or his feelings towards sex. There is no middle ground wit his thoughts and that is why there is no middle ground with readers' reactions. They either love him or hate him. Although he is quite an extreme character, people love him because they can relate to him. They may not agree with all of his opinions but he is a teenager living in the modern world and all of his inner thoughts are made known to the reader. That is why so many people identify with him.
DeleteHannah: I'm glad you figured out how to post! Holden certainly does live a life of extremes.
DeleteDanielle: You raise a good point--because Holden's inner thoughts are so available, it gives readers an opportunity to either love him or hate him.
Holden Caulfield, like Katie has pointed out, can relate very well with readers. Holden is not the brightest kid in his class, even going so far as to get expelled from some of his schools. He is scared of his parents finding out about his expulsion, which any high school student can relate to. Holden finds comfort in the idea of innocence. He calls anything that is imperfect "phony", as Jessica points out in her response. "Phony", to Holden, is many things, but can be summed up in the fact that it is the loss of innocence. Holden states that he wants to be the catcher in the rye - Holden wants to save the kids from growing up and entering the real world. Some readers can relate to this and can reminisce about how easy their childhoods were and how they wished someone had caught them in the rye. Other readers can also completely disagree with Holden, pointing out the fact that Holden is an unreliable narrator and is placed in a mental institution, therefore his ideas have no real worth. Those readers state that people need to grow up. Living in a romanticized fantasy of what childhood is is no way to live. Holden Caulfield is therefore one of the most discussed literary characters, for his faults, beliefs, and activities. Holden is not perfect. Holden, in fact, is "phony".
ReplyDeleteJordan--your point that "phony" often equals imperfection for Holden is an interesting one.
DeleteHolden Caulfield creates a strong connection with the reader, though that connection is not always a positive one. Often, when a character has a harsh or very blatant personality, they are either loved or hated by the reader. This is the case with Holden. With his sarcasm, extreme aversion to making connections with others, and his irresponsible wandering and drinking, Holden is not a typical seventeen year old. Like Hannah said, he is an extreme character. That leaves it open to the reader to either completely love him, or completely hate him. There really is not any in between. Salinger is able to create such strong feelings surrounding Holden by creating complexities within Holden's character. He may be an overly sarcastic, and bitter to the world teenager, but there are curiosities and feelings inside him that make Holden a more relatable and real character. He is just searching for himself. Is that not what everyone does each day of their life? He may often be a liar, but Holden does have a deeper side. He cares deeply not only about children, but also about the ducks in the Central Park lagoon. He is protecting the innocent. As Katie said, Holden "is insecure of himself and finds himself to be trapped." Everyone has most likely found themselves feeling like that at some point in their lives. Growing up can be difficult, and Holden handles it in his own unique way. That unique way is praised and respected by some, and hated and disrespected by others. Yearning for the past and the desire to get back the innocence of childhood, allows readers to connect to Holden's struggle of becoming an adolescent.
ReplyDeleteLauren: Your discussion of Holden's "curiosities" is particularly apt.
DeleteDuring the characterization process, Salinger had to, like Katie said, make Holden "very much relatable to readers." However, at the same time, he had to make Holden dislikeable to others so that he could invoke strong contrasting feelings from the readers about Holden. To do this Salinger had use personality traits that would make him appeal to one group of people but irritate and completely annoy another group of people. In one way of doing this, Salinger made Holden a very critical character, like Jessica said, making him constantly remark on the way people act. To some readers, they would find this enjoyable, because they too are critical and share his perspective on the actions of others. To other readers, such criticism would be seen as rude, bitter, and not nice, making them despise him. One such incident is when Holden is criticizing ministers and why he does not "...see why the hell they can't talk in their natural voice. They sound so phony when they talk" (Salinger, 100). In this instance, some people would agree because they relate to Holden and agree with his views. Other people would be annoyed by this criticism and dislike Holden for even thinking it. These contrasting views and outlooks of Holden's critical views and mentality come from the characterization process Salinger went through to purposely evoke these emotions.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analysis: it is the reader who sees the qualities that they want to see in Holden.
Deleteas Katie says, Holden is a character that may readers can relate too. He is around our age, and deals with things like school and friends. However, he has trouble making friends because he thinks everyone is a phony and pretty much everything depresses him. This is actually the reason i cannot stand Holden as a person. He is like oh look kids having fun, that depresses me. I personally would just like to slap him and be like how does that depress you. Sorry if this post makes no sense i did this after the game lol.
ReplyDeleteYou'd like to "slap" a fictional character in a fictional mental institution?
DeleteReaders either absolutely love Holden Caulfield or they absolutely hate him. Holden is a complex character and like Hannah said, he is a very extreme character. Salinger created Holden as this complex character to add more depth to the story. Because Holden is so complex, the reader has to take a deeper look at The Catcher in the Rye in order to decide whether or not they like him. Holden does and says many things that repulse the reader, but he also does and says things that make the reader see him as a sweet and caring person. The first thing most readers notice about Holden is the language that he uses. He constantly swears and curses. Also, Holden is not a very moralistic person. But Holden is straight forward with the reader when he says, "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible” (16). This aspect of Holden especially elicits strong feelings in the reader. This will either make the reader love or hate Holden. On one hand, the reader does not like Holden because the reader cannot trust him, but on the other hand this shows that Holden is extremely blunt; many people like that trait in a narrator. It is interesting how Salinger creates a character that has so much complexity to him.
ReplyDeleteYou use fitting words for Holden: "blunt" and "straightforward," and these words are true when it is Holden working specifically with the reader.
DeleteHolden Caulfield elicits such strong feelings in readers because of the way Salinger characterizes him. Holden is a young teenager which makes it easy for readers to connect to him at first because teen age years are such a poignant time in life. Then the reader finds out about Holden's sometimes questionable lifestyle. Holden drinks alcohol, he smokes all of the time, he fails out of many schools, and he hires a prostitute. At the same time, as Andie said, Holden is a liar who lies for no reason sometimes. This makes Holden even more immoral. Also, as Jess pointed out, despite all of the bad things Holden does, he casts judgement on almost everyone else calling them "phony." Another reason why Holden elicits such strong feelings is that he does not fit any molds that readers look for. Some may like the individuality but others may dislike it because they do not know what to think. One thing that gets to some readers is Holden's complaining about different things in his life and not doing anything about it. Some readers may feel that he has no right to complain if he does not try to fix things. If readers can look past all of Holden's choices they may love him and be able to sympathize for him because he goes through many problems and difficulties such as not being able to connect to anyone. If they cannot, they will hate him.
ReplyDeleteBrandon: although readers and literary students must always reserve judgement on a character, you do raise a particularly good point: if "readers can look past all of Holden's choices," and forgive him, that is how they will not only tolerate him, but love him.
DeleteAs Holden develops in the story, the reader can see that Holden is very complex, and through his complexity, the reader develops strong feelings for him. As Katie said, Holden is a "character who is very much relatable to readers." Because Holden is a teenager, struggling with many teenager problems, younger readers really can identify with him. His disgust with society and wanting to save the innocence in the world, many teenagers often struggle with that same problem that Holden does: growing up. Many teens don't want to take that leap towards adulthood, yet they want the respect that comes along with growing older. Holden epitomizes these coming-of-age struggles that many younger readers have to face, which is why they identify with him, and often love him because of how alike to him they are. Holden swears, he lies, he has sexual urges, he smokes; all of these are things that any teenager can be touched by, and his close identification with such a large base of readers makes him a very well loved character. On the flip side, all of this immorality that Holden has, his cynical and hypocritical nature, how he can boldly lie or judge a person so rashly, he's not a very trustworthy and reliable narrator, in this often baffles and scares a reader into hating him as a character. Whether you can identify with Holden and his complexity or not, it isn't easy to love a narrator that you cannot trust or are confused by. Holden is an extremely complex character and evokes a great amount of emotion out of any reader, whether that emotion is love or hate. This ability to draw emotion out of a reader makes Holden Caulfield a very interesting character that causes large amounts of readers to love to read about his story, regardless of their personal feelings for the character himself.
ReplyDeleteChris, you nailed one of the ideas I was hoping someone would identify: Holden does things that teenagers do (or think about doing, or wish they did)...his exploration of adolescent curiousities cause people to love him or resent him!
DeleteJ.D Salinger creates Holden Caulfield as a very complex character. The reader sees Holden in all aspects of his personality. Holden can be very caring and passionate which is shown through his interest and concern for the ducks in Central Park. The other aspect of Holden's character is violent and uncaring which the reader sees when Holden attacks Stradlater, lies to strangers, and gets extremely intoxicated. This complexity of Holden's character is what evokes such a powerful response from readers. As Katie points out, Holden is relatable because he's struggling to find his identity and grow up, like many teenagers. Holden has to deal with the "phoniness" of the people around him and find his place in the world. Holden can either draw a reader in or completely ruin a relationship with the reader.
ReplyDeleteGood detail regarding Holden's "violent" behavior...and good identification that he is trying desperately to find himself.
DeleteHi, ladies and gents! Thanks for you comments. I know the blog's clock is a little kerfluey, but it is currently 11:16 AM on Providence's East Side. Therefore, this English teacher is getting her grade on. Expect rubric slips in your folders on Monday!
ReplyDeleteSorry just got up...finally got to sleep...dont know whether to comment now
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we'd all like to hear your take on this!
DeleteThere is no gray area when it comes to reader's opinion of Holden as a charater. As Chris stated, young readers can identify with Holden. He is going through many problems that teenagers can relate to. The problem with Holden is that he critical of others, but does not realize he does the same things. Readers are able to understand that Holden is not reliable which can swing their opinion either way. They can feel for Holden as he has gone through a lot, or they can blame him for not putting in the effort he should. As "Deanielle" mentioned, readers are able to get a good sense of Holden through his thoughts. Just like most teenagers, Holden has thoughts that he never carries out. He wants to have sex and orders a prostitute, but once Sunny arrives, he changes his mind. Not that teenagers should relate to ordering prostitutes, but the idea of rebelling against what is right makes Holden the typical teenager young readers can understand.
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