BOOK REVIEW

Book title: The Catcher in the Rye

Author: J. D. Salinger

Publisher/Year: Penguin Books, (first published in the USA in 1951)

Book type: Novel

Pages: 192

SUMMARY

This book tells the story of a boy called Holden and his teenage problems. Holden has got the axe in a lot of schools because he failed most of his subjects. The boy was expelled from Pencey, his last school, two weeks before Christmas and so that he doesn’t want to return home before holidays because if his parents know that, they will get angry with him. Then, he decides to go to his city, New York, and spend the fortnight in a hotel. However, Holden has a difficult personality. He has had a lot of sad experiences like the death of a brother, the suicide of one of his schoolmates, problems with friends and the failure at his studies. That is the reason why he is lonely and feels alienated from society. Nevertheless, he uses this alienation as a form of protection against other people. He thinks that a lot of people, especially adults, are phoney and self-centred. Holden is very immature although he is brave to make the decision of living alone in the hotel. During his stay in New York, he meets some old friends but in the end he doesn’t feel comfortable because he can establish no more than a superficial relationship with them. One day, he manages to see his little sister, Phoebe. He gets on very well with her and likes to be with her. It is Phoebe who gives the stability to his life. After talking with her, Phoebe makes him think of his painful situation. Eventually, he returns to his home and recognises his psychological problems. He ends up in a hospital recovering from his unfortunate past experiences and thinking about his future.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Holden Caulfield

This is the main character of the novel and at the same time he is the narrator of the story. Holden is a 16-year-old teenager with a lot of worries in his life. He tries to protect himself from the people he considers superficial and phoney. Alienation and loneliness are his feelings towards society. He only does first judgements to people. He is depressed and his cynic attitude shows his peculiar point of view of the world.

Phoebe Caulfield

She is Holden’s little sister. Holden tries to protect her at any moment because he cherishes her sister. He doesn’t want her to grow up. He hides all things concerned with adult world. But, sometimes, it is Phoebe who is more mature than his brother and she helps him to realize his place in society. Moreover, she also criticises him for behaving like a child.

Ward Stradlater

He is Holden’s roommate at Pencey. He is arrogant and popular although Holden calls him a “secret slob”. Holden gets into a fight with him because he suspects that his friend is meeting Jane Gallagher.

Jane Gallagher

She is an old friend of Holden. He talks with her on the phone and he finds her attractive. However, she is dating Stradlater.

Mr. Antolini

He was Holden’s English teacher in a previous school. Holden doesn’t call him a phoney because his behaviour is unconventional and Holden can talk with him about almost everything. Mr. Antolini lets Holden stay in his house one night that he was all drunk. While Holden was sleeping, the teacher touches his head and he suddenly wakes up nervous. He thinks that what Mr. Antolini had done was a homosexual advance and therefore, he leaves the house.

OPINION

From my point of view this is a very original book aimed at the public in general. It is interesting to see the unlucky evolution of the protagonist. In this non-fiction work, the author has managed to transmit the reader the feeling of helplessness towards the terrible life of Holden. The story is an exhaustive portrait of the life of a troubled teenager and I think it is quite difficult to achieve an amazing description like that. In addition, the book is very entertaining because you can perfectly see the psychological behaviour of Holden and compare it with the one of a normal teenager.

LANGUAGE/STYLE

The book has been written in American English. Salinger has written the book with colloquial and informal vocabulary on purpose. He uses as well a lot of slang words, idioms and collocations (“to be as cold as a witch’s teat”, “to shoot the bull”, “helluva”, “sonuvabitch”, “dough”, “to puke”, ect.). Moreover, the author uses some typical American words like “flunk” (fail), “phony” (phoney), “to get the ax” (to get the axe), “stiff” (person), “checkers” (draughts)... In addition, J. D. Salinger has written a lot of repetitions that become pet words for the protagonist, for example “for Chrissake”, “phony”, “lousy”, “goddam”, “and all”, etc.

On the whole, it is a dynamic and intelligible book but sometimes I think you have to make an effort to understand some passages because of this kind of vocabulary. However, you can get it by the context or look it up in a dictionary.

MARÍA MIGUEL RECATALÁ