“The Catcher in the Rye” is a tragic story of a 17-year old adolescent,Holden Caufield, a strange and rebellious protagonist. The story is a long flashback of his three day period that starts at Pencey Prep, a prestigious boarding school from where he has just been expelled. He spends his time wandering in New York city. Almost everybody around him disappoints him. He thinks everybody is unrealistic and calls them phonies. Though Holden is not a cruel person, but still he does not believe in compassion and humanity. His rebel attitude drags him into constant fights.
As opposed to his nihilistic approach towards his life, Holden finds solace in the innocence of his beloved sister, Phoebe. Phoebe’s presence accentuates an interesting perspective into his character. I love the interaction between them. He secretly sneaks into her room, and tells her that he would love to be a catcher in the rye, a person who saves little children from falling off a cliff in the rye field. She is the only person in the Book whom he dearly loves and cares because she is still an innocent child. He does not want her to get corrupted by the dishonest world of adulthood.
“The Catcher in the Rye” is well-written book with an extensive use of colloquialism. It seems like an impatient attempt of cynical teenager trying to understand the world around him and somehow fit into it. The book describes that moment when you hate everybody and everything is worthless. The author sounds real, his astute observations makes the reader sympathetic towards Holden, despite the choices that he makes. He does not make a deliberate attempt to recognise people but he effortlessly makes wry observations that are very superficial. He does not arrive to any conjectures with his significant perspicacious remarks. The book precariously exposes the emotionally difficult and hypocritical nature of Holden that makes him fall apart from the world that he lives in.
Even though Holden loathes almost everybody, but still he is filled with longing for all those who share his memories. He wants to save all children from falling off the cliff and thus saving them from the miserable adulthood, disdaining themselves from humanity, faith and hope, or may be from becoming another Holden Caufield.
If you are reading this book for the first time, you will wait for something spectacular to happen, but unfortunately it never does. It is one of the most critiqued and most frequently banned books of 20th century. It is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. Honestly, I did not find it exciting enough to be a compelling read. But every book has a message to deliver, “The Catcher in the Rye” sends a message to be true to ourselves and remain hopeful.
