The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)

Have you ever been bored to death with your life? Ever got sick and tired with fake masks people around you are putting on every day? Ever wanted to run away from it all? I sure have and The Catcher in the Rye’s Holden Caulfield--even though he’s not a real person in the sense that he has only been existed on the pages of Salinger’s work--had too.

Being a somewhat movie freak that I am, The Catcher in the Rye reminds me of Dead Poets Society and Igby Goes Down. The Catcher in the Rye has this: prep boy, unnatural death (just like Dead Poets and Igby), adventure in the Big Apple (Igby), parents’ pressure (Dead Poets). The previous phrases pretty much sum everything up, really. Holden Caulfield, seventeen years old, getting sacked for the third time out of yet another expensive preparatory school (which had its own dorm, mind you), decided to leave the school before the due date and chose to roam around the streets of New York before returning home in time for Christmas holiday. His adventure was not at all too exciting, from this humble reader’s point of view. If Holden’s quest was worth anything, it simply pointed out how immature he was.

The best character you could find a book is the one that, cliché as it may sound, you can relate to. In my case, it was Holden’s ill opinion towards the people around him that struck me the most, because I often think that way myself. To put it simply, Holden thought that most people, school mates and teachers in particular, were phonies--they acted cool and wise and impressive while the truth was, they’re nothing like that. I imagine that Holden saw no point in impressing these people, especially if doing so would make him end up being as false as they were.

Many sentences on the book were Holden’s ranting on people’s deceits. Too bad Holden failed to notice that he often acted phony himself--acting cool at a nightclub, trying to book a prostitute, lying to impress others, dating a girl he didn’t like. That’s the problem with people with negative standpoint towards the world. They’re too busy criticizing others that they couldn’t see what’s wrong with themselves. Perhaps I’m like that too.

Speaking about a person with negative worldview, it’s very likely that the guy who shot John Lennon, who was said to have read The Catcher in the Rye before performing his deed, falls to that category. Truth to be told, the world doesn’t seem bleak after reading The Catcher in the Rye. It’s quite the contrary. Because Holden finally realized that, despite his ramblings about how bad everything really was, it’s the simplest thing that eventually made life worth living; in his case, it’s the sight of his little sister riding on the carousel. And despite how lame people were, they’re probably not that bad either; you could even miss those people after you parted with them.