Hey Charlie! It's been a long time! 

Today I want to talk to you about a book (which some of you probably have read already) which i recently discovered and particulary liked : The Catcher in the Rye!

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that I’ve particulary enjoyed. The reader follows the main character Holden, a young boy who has been expelled from his school, for a couple of days. What is particulary interesting in this novel is the way the writer presents the main character, Holden, who is also the narrator. I really have been impressed by Salinger’s work when it comes to language, indeed we really have the impression that this novel has been written by a teenager. In this novel language is Salinger’s way to depict Holden’s complex personality. This novel could be compared to The Stranger by Albert Camus with a main character being an antihero.

The story begins with Holden being expelled from his boarding school, Pencey Prep, which doesn’t seem to be a bad news for him. We quicly understand that Holden doesn’t like the people of his age, the word ‘hate’ is often used when it comes to his classmates. Holden appears to feel more at ease with younger or older people than him such as ‘Mr Antolini’ one of the teacher he used to have or also his little sister Phoebe, however we understand that he cleary has a problem with human interaction and relationships. Holden decides to stay a few days in New York before telling his parents the bad news. He is aware that his parents are deeply concerned about his future but doesn’t appear to worry about it. Salinger will perfectly describe the sordid atmosphere Holden finds himself in. Holden’s character is really complex, indeed the reader will be surprised by Holden’s paradoxical personality : he can appear to be an outsider because of his inability to socialize and have proper feelings but he can also be deeply human, as can show the episode when he tries to have a simple conversation with a prostitute. What has impressed me in this novel is the fact that I really had the impression that all the events that happen throughout the story are kind of secondary. Indeed, as far as I am concerned, the events that happen during the whole novel are tools Salinger gives us to understand Holden.

This novel deals with a lot of taboo subjects such as marginality through the character of Holden, loss and death explored through Holden’s late brother, Allie, but also sexuality or school failure. Holden is a typical antihero which makes his character even more interesting. Indeed Holden is an unfriendly character who is confronted to his lack of ambition and his inability to be part of the society, to be like any other people. This could be explain by the fact that under all this vulgarity and colloquial language is hidden a poet, a Catcher in the Rye (which is a reference to the poem Comin’ Thro’ the Rye by Robert Bums) who, as Baudelaire explains it so well, can’t be like everyone else because « His wings, those of a giant, hinder him from walking ».

 

See you soon!

Esther