The Catcher in the Rye
When authors refer to other great works, people, and events,
it’s not accidental. Below is a list of literary and cultural references. Many
contain live links; those that don't can be easily "Googled."
Regardless of whether or not there is a link, the first page is simply a
starting point; successful completion of the assignment requires reading more than one site. (Page numbers are noted, but we have several different versions of the book so they won't be exact. The numbers will at least give you a ballpark idea of where to look for the reference.)
Today, write everyone's name on the board. Go around the room and each select 1 allusions or cultural reference. For classwork and/or homework, if unfinished, research your reference and write a post to our blog explaining what the topic/name/author "means" and to the best of your ability, why Salinger might have incorporated the reference into the book, how and where he did. I understand that this understanding will be speculative for sections for the book that you haven't read yet, but do your best.
Clarification:
- No two students can research the same topic so clarify who is doing what as a group before you start.
- Begin by providing some background about your topic.
- Provide information about how/when/where the reference is made in the book. Several references are made more than once and might change meanings in different contexts of the novel.
- Write your assessment about Salinger's intention for including the reference.
*Entries should be a minimum of 300 words and should follow the conventions of Standard Written English.
*Entries must be posted before class on Monday, January, 12th in order to receive credit.
"Good luck..." - Mr. Spencer
Literature
- Beowulf (chapter 2,
page10 & chapter15, page111)
- "Lord
Randal" (chapter 2, page10 & chapter 15, page 111)
- Isak Dinesen, Out of
- Ring Lardner
(chapter 3, page 18 & chapter 18, page 141)
- Thomas Hardy, The Return of the
Native (chapter 3, page 18 & chapter15, page111)
- Somerset Maugham, Of
Human Bondage (chapter 3, page 18)
- William
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (chapter15, page111)
- Robert Burns, "Comin Thro' the
Rye" (chapter 16, page 115) -Ms. O'Donnell
- William
Shakespeare, Hamlet (chapter 16, page 117)
- Charles
Dickens, Oliver Twist (chapter18, page 138)
- Rupert Brooke (chapter18, page
140)
- Emily Dickinson (chapter 18,
page 140)
- Ernest
Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (chapter 18, page 141)
- F.
Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (chapter 18, page 141)
Historical Figures
- Benedict
Arnold (chapter 21, page 162 & chapter 25, page 208)
- Wilhelm
Stekel (chapter 24, page 188)
Pop Culture
- The Atlantic Monthly
(chapter 2, page7 & 12)
- Slaughter on
Tenth Avenue (chapter 4, page 27)
- Song of India
(chapter 4, page 27)
- The Ziegfeld Follies
(chapter 4, page 29)
- Cary Grant (chapter 5, page
37)
- The Baker's Wife (chapter
10, page 67)
- Raimu (chapter 10, page 67)
- The 39 Steps (chapter
10, page 67)
- Robert Donat (chapter 10,
page 67-68)
- Peter Lorre (chapter 10,
page 71-72)
- Gary Cooper (chapter 10,
page 74)
- The Lunts (Alfred
Lunt and Lynn Fontanne) (chapter 17, page 125-127)
- Sir Laurence Olivier
(chapter 16, page 117)
- The Saturday Evening Post
(chapter 17, pages 124-125)
In the 16th chapter of The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger makes many references to Hamlet by William Shakespeare. As Holden is walking through Broadway in New York City, he purchases tickets to a play for his date later. Then memories come up of a time that DB took Holden and Phoebe to see Hamlet. Holden comments that “I’ll have to read that play. The trouble with me is that I always have to read the stuff for myself. If an actor puts it out, I keep worrying that he is going to do something phony at any mennonite.” (Pg. 117) Holden’s favorite part of the play was when Ophelia was getting advice and she “horsing around while trying to look interested in the bull that her father was shooting.” (Pg. 117) Clearly Holden does not like plays (like movies) as much as he likes books because he feels like the actors are always phony. He only likes the play when a character also hates “the phony advice.”
ReplyDeleteAlso, Holden talks about a man who played in the play. Sir Laurence Olivier was good at acting yet the problem was he never let you forget it. “I did not enjoy that much either. I just don’t see what's so marvelous about Sir Laurence Olivier.” (Pg. 117) Later, he describes that Sir Laurence Olivier was a very talented singer and actor. This shows that Sir Laurence Olivier is a “marvelous actor” yet Holden only dislikes him since he is good at what he does. Kind of like Ernie’s earlier in the novel.
Finally, Holden mentions that Phoebe's favorite part of the play was when Hamlet patted a dog on its head. This shows that Phoebe is still a young and innocent child (or at least she is in Holden’s eyes) and that she is idolized in Holden’s eyes. Obviously there are lots of similarities between Hamlet and Holden’s struggles and Salinger uses the comparisons and hidden allusions to make The Catcher in the Rye such a great novel.
The reference to Emily Dickinson in Catcher in The Rye is put as a contrast with Rupert Brooks. The context of the conversation stemmed from Holden’s brother, D.B., attending in the Army for four years, and the events helping contribute to some of the topics he writes about. Holden despised the idea of war as he remarked on his brother saying ”the Army was practically as full of bastards as the Nazis were.” D.B. then asks Allie, “who was the best war poet, Rupert Brooke or Emily Dickinson”, to which Allie replies Emily Dickinson. Essentially there are a few problems Holden has with the situation of D.B. writing about war, the first being is that him writing it for Hollywood is phony act. Yes, Holden praises his brother for carrying out his writer career, but feels as though working in Hollywood is selling himself, and is having writing lose the initial purpose. Holden believes that when people begin writing for Hollywood or big producers, the purpose is less on passion and fulfillment, and more on profit and publicity. This is even shown in J.D. Salinger, who specifically stated to not make The Catcher in The Rye into a book, as he just wrote for his pleasure and not in the interest in fame or profits.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Emily Dickinson was referenced to elucidate the fact that there are people who write solely for personal enjoyment, and a voice that holds the same perspective and values as Holden. Dickinson was a popular writer of her time, and still holds popularity today. But, she was never focused on her success or even in it for the money; in fact, she spent most of her time writing in her father’s home. This isolation closely parallels both Holden and J.D. Salinger, and shows how an influence can still be made by talking to and associating with a select few. Moreover, this contrast between Dickinson and Brooks is to show how one doesn't need to have fought in the war to understand it, or even to be good at it, as is shown by Allie liking her over Brooks. Essentially, Holden wants to make note that his brother shouldn't have sold himself to Hollywood, and could’ve been just as good a writer by staying at home like Emily Dickinson.
Towards the end of chapter 18, Holden mentions the Second World War, and along with this, he talks about a couple novels. The audience first learns that D.B, his older brother was in World War II. He partook in D Day just like Salinger did when he himself was in the war. D.B told Holden that he did like the War, but not the Army because it’s full of “bastards”. This made Holden think about what his older brother had said for he wouldn’t be able to look at the guy’s neck in front of him. Having bringing this up, the reader is reminded of when Holden wasn’t able to sock someone in the face. After this, Salinger brings up Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. D.B recommended the book to the younger Caulfield, but didn’t like the book in the end, rather enjoying Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The protagonist of the novel, Lieutenant Henry was a nice guy in Holden’s eyes, but he didn’t understand how D.B loved the book so much if he hated the Army yet loves a character who loves the Army. It’s phony.
ReplyDeleteI think Salinger added this reference in the book to further elaborate on his times in war. D.B was part of D day, something that Salinger had to go through before the war was over. A Farewell to Arms was deeply influenced by Hemingway’s own experiences during his time in World War I. Both authors knew each other as well and enjoyed the other’s work immensely. Since Salinger idolized Hemingway’s literature, he possibly could’ve related to what he had mentioned through Lieutenant Henry in the novel. On the other hand, this novel is referenced because of the similarities between Holden and Henry. Both are going through difficult journeys alone, as well as have been experience the loss of people who are close to them. The reference to A Farewell to Arms is one of the many references to Salinger’s own life through Holden.
In the end of chapter 18, Holden talks about books he read with D.B. One of those books was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. He elucidates “I was crazy about The Great Gatsby. Old Gatsby. Old sport. That killed me” (183). It’s important to note that Holden does not think of Gatsby as phony; this is strange since Gatsby’s whole adult life was him pretending to be at the same level of Old Money. But, with Gatsby’s innocence and naive way of thinking, maybe Holden finds him to be young even as an adult, a trait he admires since he loves children.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of parallels between Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby upon further inspection. Nick Carraway, arguably the protagonist of The Great Gatsby, is alike to Holden in that the both of them have high expectations for people around them. They hope for them to be greater than the last group of peers they had. However, both characters are disappointed as they realize that their impractical ideals fall in the face of how human nature truthfully is. In addition, Catcher and Gatsby both take place in New York during crucial time periods, turning points in history. The Great Gatsby takes place during World War I, and The Catcher in the Rye takes place during World War II. Holden is also similar to Gatsby. They appreciate traits in women that are not usually noticed. Holden adores how Jane keeps her kings in the back row, and Gatsby loves Daisy’s voice and how it sounds like money.
Salinger’s intention with this allusion is to remind the reader that Holden, despite his occasional mature and immature moments, is, at heart, a teenager. He’s unreliable and idealistic the way Gatsby was. He’s constantly let down by people around him as Nick was. With the link of these two, the reader recognizes that Holden is essentially let down due to his idealism. But, because Holden thinks he’s right, he likes Gatsby as he relates to him. Gatsby is the biggest phony in his novel as Holden is the biggest one in his. Salinger's indirect relation between the two prompts the realization of this connection.
Oliver Twist was published in 1837 by Charles Dickens. This had become the second novel of Dickens’, having only been written while he was still in his mid-twenties. Oliver Twist is the story of a young orphaned boy who excuse years and years of abuse in search for better hope in London. Light is later shinned upon a will with inheritance left for Oliver, a trinket of Oliver’s deceased mother, and conspiracies made to destroy Oliver, ultimately. Despite the abuse and hardships to which Oliver experiences, he decides to share his inheritance with Monk, his mysterious later known half-brother. Dickens uses the novel of Oliver Twist to explain his attitude of the English state and society during the 1830’s. Through the novel he makes a point to explain how traits exhibited on goodness within humanity have the potential to be permanently lost through considerably ‘ungoverned corrupting influences.’ These traits that are found in humanity are exhibited individually through the characters of the novel, and their interactions with Oliver Twist.
ReplyDeleteOther aspects of the novel stress the importance of Dickens beliefs towards education. Education is not entirely stressed until Oliver Twist’s fortune begins to rise, where his benefactors take a closer interest into how Oliver would receive his education. Education in regards to Holden Caulfield, had never been financially straining on his parents. His parents always had the finances to skip him around from school to school, as he would constantly get kicked out on a regular basis. Caulfield was aware of this fact, therefore playing along with his continual tactics; he lost a sense of desire to care. His lack of completion of one school in entirety showed the lack of motivation in his life to complete anything in its entirety.
When introduced to the Oliver Twist allusion reference in Chapter 18 on page 179, (larger copy of the book) He (Caulfield) is disgusted by others carrying a copy of the novel. Holden had been invited by Carl Luce, a graduate of the Whooton Scool. According to Holden, it was after the 'Christmas thing' started that the picture has started. In the picture, Holden witnesses a girl and a boy bond over Oliver Twist and the author, Charles Dickens. The bonding over the book and what it led to is simply what Holden could only imagine and dream of. Being able to have intellectually stimulating conversations with another person and through this, strength the relationship one has with that other person is something Holden has yet to experience. Salinger includes this reference to the book to explain its impact on Holden. Holden's emotion exhibited as he described the encounter between the boy and girl was jealousy, as though he knows he cannot obtain the relationship that they share. Additionally, there is this sense of knowledge that comes from books, that Holden is unable to achieve through not being able to gain insight from the novel.
In chapter 10 of Catcher in the Rye, Holden mentions that his younger sister, Phoebe, likes watching movies. He lists some that he has taken her to see (despite his own distaste for movies), and among them is The Baker’s Wife. The Baker’s Wife is an American play turned into a French movie about a baker in a small town whose wife runs off with a local, handsome shepherd. Distressed by this, the baker refuses to bake bread for the town. The townspeople are, in turn, distressed by the lack of bread, and join together in order to try to reunite the baker and his wife to resume their bread-filled lives. In context of the novel, Holden and DB take Phoebe to see this movie- Holden mentions it to prove that his younger sister has good taste in movies (again, despite him disliking movies).
ReplyDeleteThis movie is likely mentioned in order to draw attention to the fact that Holden doesn’t necessarily mean everything he says. He claims to dislike movies, then turns around and says that Phoebe knows a good movie when she sees one. If Holden really disliked movies, he would probably think that they were all bad. Thus, this draws attention to Holden thinking that DB is something of a sell-out for writing for Hollywood. In fact, this one sentence probably returns, in all likelihood, to the idea that Holden has something of a jealousy for his more successful siblings, since he seems to afraid to try to match their levels of success. Apart from Holden’s lack of trying to succeed in school, there is no particular indication that he can’t be as successful as his siblings; instead, he is looking for reaffirmation of some sort from his parents through his failures and his oddities- even if they aren’t necessarily the case, such as not liking movies, but thinking his sister likes the good ones.
In chapter 15 of Catcher in the Rye, Holden meets two nuns in which he forces them to take 10 dollars in donations from him. In this chapter, he discusses literature with them, which turns into a conversation about Romeo and Juliet. This conversation is used to remind the reader that Holden does have issues with formal education and that, according to him, he is not that smart, but it also highlights the fact that Holden is, overall, an intelligent individual. The conversation delves far from the trivial aspects of the play but instead delves into the emotional aspects of it, where Mercutio dies.
ReplyDeleteThis part of the story is used to show that, unlike Holden makes it out to be, he is both emotionally and intellectually intelligent to be able to have a conversation like that with another individual. This part of the novel also shows how observant Holden is. He notices that the nuns never go anywhere luxurious and expensive for lunch. This highlights how Holden compares himself to others and wants to help fulfill their needs and constantly relates those issues with his own life. He also notices how religion can be a barrier in one's life. Religion is a construction and constructions are just social barriers, which are never good.
In chapter four Salinger references Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue was produced for the 1936 Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes. On Your Toes featured Ray Bolger as "The Hoofer" and Tamara Geva as "The Stripper." This ballet was the first full-scale ballet to be held within a musical, and was also the first to advance the action of the show, it also introduced the word "choreography" to Broadway. The music for this ballet was also taken from On Your Toes was the first of four Roger and Hart musicals. Interestingly the ballet is about about a jealous Russian chief danseur and his hoofing American rival. In the ballet the Hoofer (a tap dancer) falls in love with a dance hall girl, however, the dance hall girl is shot and murdered by her jealous boyfriend. The tap dancer then gets revenge and shoots the boyfriend.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter four Holden states, “Stradlater kept whistling ‘Song of India’ while he shaved. He had one of those very piercing whistles that are practically never in tune, and he always picked out some song that's hard to whistle even if you're a good whistler, like ‘Song of India’ or ‘Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.’ He could really mess a song up.” After some research and examination of the song, I can say that it is beautifully written and orchestrated.
It’s interesting because right after Holden mentions two great musical pieces he goes on about how Stradlater cannot whistle and even gives us description of what it would sound like of Stradlater whistling, which is not very pleasant. I also find it interesting that Salinger referenced this particular song in his novel, seeing as the song is from a ballet which is about love and murder. To me it rings a bell with what Salinger may be feeling because he remembers that the love of his life left him and got engaged with a hollywood director while he was in the Services. And here in chapter four we have Stradlater going on a date with Jane Gallagher, arguably the love of Holdens life. I’m really not sure why Salinger decided to reference this piece. I’m not sure whether he intended to draw his readers to look at the music or to delve deeper into what the music could mean in both Holdens life and in the authors own life, or both. Either way J.D Salinger has created an amazing piece of writing.
The book, Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham, is, according to multiple websites synopses of the book, about a boy by the name of Philip Carey who has clubfoot and yearns for knowledge and adventure. The book starts off with him being around the age of 9 years old. He was raised in a religious household by a religious aunt and uncle after his mother passed away. He loses his faith in God, at some point, because God had failed to heal his clubfoot.The book follows him as he falls into a disastrous love due to ultimate lust. The synopses seem to identify him as someone who is a slave to love and sexual infatuation as well as someone who ultimately longs for acceptance from the people around him.
ReplyDeleteSalinger most likely added this reference due to the striking similarities between Philip and Holden. Both of them struggle with an ultimate loneliness. In Holden’s case, he has people who count as possible friends and well, his parents, but they don’t seem to care about him as much as they could. In Philip's case, he doesn’t really have many people because most people shy away from him due to his deformity. They also both have lost someone close to them. Holden lost his brother at a young age and Phillip lost his mother at a young age. Both of them also seem to be somewhat run by sexual desires. One sees this more in Of Human Bondage, however it seems to be one of the largest themes in Catcher in the Rye as well. The characters share a bond through just being lost in the world they live in. They don’t seem to have anything much that they’re holding on to. Philip later on gets a girl, but that, in itself, becomes a unlucky mishap. Holden lost his girl, in a way, since Jane isn’t necessarily with him. The two may have a sort of sexual obsession. Philip’s obsession, however, is more directed at someone, whereas Holden’s spreads to any sort of “pretty” female with a collection of other things that make females more attractive.
Benedict Arnold was a general in the American revolutionary war who eventually switched over to the British Army. Similarly to Holden, Benedict Arnold had lack of structure. He was often in trouble. Rather than going to school, Arnold worked with his cousins and joined the army. Finances and his disgust for his American enemies led him to join the British.
ReplyDeleteWhile in the American Revolutionary war, Arnold was very well respected, but often argued with his men about the slightest things which caused him to not be very well liked. After going to the British Army, he attempted to get control of the West Point and hand it over to the British. After failing, he fled to New York.
In The Catcher In the Rye, (pages 87, 111, and 112, chapter 21), Phoebe is supposed to play Benedict Arnold in the school play. When Holden comes home, Phoebe excitedly tells Holden how she gets to play Benedict Arnold in the play and how she hopes he’ll be there. Holden, however, ends up making Phoebe miss the play when he plans to leave and Phoebe wants to go along with him. Holden yells at Phoebe, “You have to go back to school. You want to be in that play, don't you? You want to be Benedict Arnold, don't you?” (pg. 112) Holden ultimately decides to go home instead of leaving.
At this point in the novel, Phoebe seems to feel betrayed by Holden almost like Benedict Arnold betrayed the Americans. Holden was almost going to leave without her and wouldn’t even allow her to go with him when she tried. Similarly to Arnold, Holden tried to escape his home because of how phony he found everyone to be. Holden can be compared to Benedict Arnold in that he was disgusted with certain people except Holden ultimately decided to stay because of Phoebe.
Lord Randall is a story about how a Lord is poisoned by his lover who lives in the woods. This is an old Scottish song similar in many ways to songs like merry had a little lamb and ring around the rosy. It is a catchy folk song. However, it views women in the context of lovers as evil and something to be feared and not trusted. The mother is a parental figure taking care of her son but in the end just wants to know what he leaves each person. Therefore even the character of the mother isn’t necessarily portrayed in a good light.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter two, we are just getting to know Holden and we see that this literary reference in combination with Beowulf shows how you can’t trust anyone. Holden doesn’t trust people; this is evident through the entirety of the book. The only person he really loves is Phoebe who is his kid sister. However besides the relationship between himself and his sister he has a distrustful relationship with women. This is evident as we progress in the book because Holden will go from a state of extreme arousal to an extreme emotional state. This is evident of his inability to connect because he will look at everything in a sexual way when he is around women, however then when he was alone he would reflect on Jane Gallagher and his love for her. Later in Chapter 15 Holden discusses literature with a nun. This is in some ways significant because Holden will only have true conversations with people whom aren’t sexual symbols. Nuns are abstinent and Holden is able to maintain serious conversation with them, however, his classmate’s mother, he found attractive and lied to her for the whole conversation. This difference is an interesting contrast and calls into question Holden’s sexuality for as we know Holden is a virgin and he maintains that during the duration of the book. Unlike Lord Randel Holden never has his “lover in the woods” and in that way he is protected from betrayal.
In the 10th chapter of The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger references "Gary Cooper". When Salinger is in a bar trying to amuse these three woman from Seattle he overhears their obsession of Hollywood Movie Stars so he tries to impress them by saying that he just finished running into Gary Cooper at the bar. However this backfires when the three criticize the idea. Gary Cooper was an American Actor noticed for his authentic, and natural acting performance. He was an actor for 36 years, and became a well known star from the end of the period of silent films to the end of Classic Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteHolden grows depressed at the fact that the women are obsessed with Movie Stars and don't provide him with the attention he wants. He’s shocked at the idea that one of the three girls also mentioned how she saw Gary Cooper at the bar when the bar isn't in a place remotely similar to one that a movie star would attend. The encounter with the three women ends up flat since they end up leaving Holden with the bar tab after their conversation of Gary Cooper.
Holden mentions in chapter 10 page 67 that Phoebe's favorite movie is 39 Steps. It is about a man that was trying help out a counterintelligence agent. The agent was looking for an organization called the 39 Steps. They were trying to steal secret british military secrets for the highest bidder. The groups ended up killing the agent and the main character was blamed. The main character was running away and trying to prove his name. He ended up finding who was the mole in the British Government and was able to expose the organization.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why that it is in the book is because it a reflection to how Holden feels. He doesn’t know who he is and know one really know who he is. He is trying run away from people who are just trying to find him and explode in his face. While there is also a sense of injustice to him. That it isn’t fair that people are getting angry or not even noticing him. While he is just trying to solve everything that is going on in his life and everything around him. He wants to find out who he really is and why does he feel so different from everyone else. The reason why it is Phoebe’s favorite movie is because Holden keeps taking her to see it. It is something that Holden and Phoebe does together, of course she going to start learning all the lines. It reminds her of him and it connects her to Holden.
Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem, composed sometime between 700 and 1000 CE. The poem tells about a kingdom under the terrible influence of Grendel, a giant monster. Beowulf, the hero of Geats, comes and slays the monster then the monster’s even more terrible mother using the sword he found in Grendel’s lair. Some years later, he duels a dragon terrorizing the Danes, and in the duel Beowulf and the Dragon slay each other. His cousin rescues his body and he is buried in a mound by the sea.
ReplyDeleteThe story of catcher in the rye has the mention of this roughly halfway in, during the references to the work in Whooton school. lt appears in this list to show how it was easy for Holden, showing how high heroism and people completing destiny appeals to him as he wants things to make sense to him. The tale’s emphasis on family also appeals to him with the loss of his brother.
The allusion I chose was “Out of Africa”, by Isak Denesen, which was published in 1937. This is a memoir, recounting the author’s seventeen years spent in Kenya, which was then called British East Africa. However, Isak Denensen is actually Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, a Danish woman who traveled to Africa in 1913 to marry her second cousin. They bought farmland which was originally intended to be for dairy cattle, but ended up cultivating coffee instead, which met with varied success (but ultimately failed). When her husband leaves her and they later divorce, Blixen-Finecke stays behind to run the farm on her own, finding she is both good at it and enjoys it.
ReplyDeleteHolden mentions this book in chapter 3, when he first gets back to his room and decides to sit down and read. As he explains, “the book I was reading was a book I took out of the library by mistake...it was a very good book”. And a few paragraphs after this, he relates, “I’d only read about three pages, though, when I heard somebody coming through the shower curtains”. This connects the works in two ways. Firstly, it exemplifies how Blixen-Finecke’s life did not turn out as planned. Not only in this instance, but in many throughout the novel, Holden, too, will attempt to make plans which end up failing, or simply not going as planned. Also interestingly, Holden notes that he’s read “about three pages” when Ackley visits him, similarly to how “Out of Africa” is broken into five parts, and the third relates about the various visitors Blixen-Finecke received while living on her plantation.
Furthermore with the structure, though “Out of Africa” is divided into five parts, it seemingly has no further organization than that. Blixen-Finecke appears not to pay any attention to chronology, or even ideas that would necessarily make sense together. This is like the structure of “Catcher”, which is written in a “stream of consciousness” style (though it is more coherent).
Finally, Holden states once or twice that he really liked this book, and even that he’s reading it for the second time, but doesn’t mind (which calls into question if him picking up this book really was a mistake). This might be because Holden feels he can relate to the author. While she speaks glowingly of her time in Africa for the most part, she doesn’t leave much out, including, in detail, the deaths of at least five people who were important to her. Thus, this book actually takes on a quite melancholic tone, which Holden of course understands at this point. As you might guess, she discusses very heavily people and her relations with them, which is a downright obsession of Holden’s. He is constantly striving to understand people (even though he acts as if he has them all figured out), and spends too much time thinking about why his relationships with others don’t ever work out. Like Holden, Blixen-Finecke even glorifies isolation at times in her efforts to describe the majesty of the world around her. Holden simply likes the idea of isolation and the protection it provides, but possibly would see this as validation for his position. Most importantly, perhaps, both Holden and Blixen-Finecke would seem to be kind of delusional. Blixen-Finecke was so happy living in Africa that, even when she knew her farm was failing, and even when she had been ordered to abandon it, she ignores this for as long as she can. She is nostalgic for Africa, attempting to hold on to her life and memories. Comparatively, Holden yearns for his childhood - the last time he was truly happy - and does so through the possession of objects such as Allie’s baseball mitt.
In the opening of the novel, Holden Caulfield says that his favorite author,Ring Lardner, of course except for D.B. When Holden mentions this author, he is talking about how he likes to read a lot and a lot of the gifts that he has gotten have been books. He says that he thinks a lot of them are going to be bad, but he continues to read them and give them a shot. He goes and describes a story about a police officer and woman who fall in love, but the girl dies. He says,”That kills me”.
ReplyDeleteThis is very typical of Holden. Holden is a very critical and sarcastic person and believe it or not Ring Lardner is a very critical and very sarcastic writer. I think that this is why Holden likes him so much, Holden can really connect with Lardner because they see society the same way, full of fake people and ironic situations that make the world more interesting to look at. Or maybe just bearable because Holden seems to be pretty upset with his life, so making fun of others and being so highly critical is the only way that he can get through it.
Or possibly Holden feels thats how everyone looks at the world; through a critical and unsure lens. He feels that he needs to try and fit in so he looks at people the way that he thinks they look at him. But, in reality, he is so highly critical of himself that he is much more critical of himself and the world than anyone else is and even reading a book where an author has even somewhat of a similar view makes him feel more secure with himself and makes him feel like not so much of an outsider.
Rupert Brooke was a short lived English poet, living and writing most of his works at the start of the twentieth century. Though he died only a year into war itself (World War I in 1915), Brooke was most famous for his idealistic war sonnets.
ReplyDeleteIn The Catcher in the Rye, Brooke is mentioned by D.B. to Allie when he asks Allie if Brooke or Emily Dickinson was a better war poet. Allie's reply is Dickinson, a choice that highlights his ideals, and to a large extent, Holden's as well. The significance of the inclusion of Brooke as a choice is to highlight the differing ideas of him and Dickinson. While he had written idealistically of war, Dickinson had not, being more critical of conflict. The optimism that Brooke has in war is the opposite of the ideals held by D.B., who would rather not use his war experiences as his writing material. Furthermore, Brooke is alluded to to create a comparison with Salinger himself. Brooke was slightly involved in the first world war, and his poems were influenced by some of his experiences in World War One. Those poems are in comparison to Salinger's writings during World War Two, which was the time he was writing The Catcher in the Rye.
In chapter 17 of the novel, you see Holden is on his way to his date with Sally. You then find out that Holden has bought them tickets to see the Lunts. The Lunts was a play that was put on by Alfred Lunt and his wife and professional partner Lynn Fontanne. Alfred was a well-known actor who received two Tony Awards, an Emmy for the Hallmark Hall of Fame and has been nominated as the best actor from The Guardsman (created in 1931). He became well known as a star when he starred in a play created by Booth Tarkington’s named Clarence. In 1922, Lunt would eventually marry his now wife and future business partner, Lynn Fontanne. Together they would later become acting partners and eventually make two films together, The Guardsman (which they starred in together) in 1931 and Hollywood Canteen made in 1944. They also had a few of their own television show productions.
ReplyDeleteWhen Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne are referenced in the novel, Holden is talking about them being at the performance of the play that he takes Sally to for their date. When he describes them he mentions that they didn’t act like they were normal people because he could tell that they recognized their fame. However they also did not act like the average actors. But he also says that they seem to have real brains, which is strange because he says that they acted like Ernie who he says acts like a show off if they receive no attention.