Catcher in the Rye

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be"

Unless someone has lived under a rock all their lives, they have probably heard of the Catcher in the Rye by J D Sallinger. It is one of the most controversial yet the most read books of the 20th century. The novel follows the life of Holden Caulfield for a few days after he gets thrown out of his school - yet again. I read this book first when I was fifteen years old and fell in love with it right from the first line in the novel. Holden our protagonist tells us right away that he has no intentions of giving the world his life story like some character in a Charles Dickens novel. And right then and there you realise you are in for an unusual ride with an unusual book. You also know that your hero is yes for the lack of a better word - unusual.

But that is how he likes it. He wants to be different. Holden sees hypocrisy in the lives lead by adults and he detests them for it. The book begins with him leaving his school early because he doesn't want to face his parents with the fact he has been kicked out another school due to bad grades. Alienating himself from the rest of the world, he simply wanders around New York too scared to face the wrath of his parents.

Caulfield has to be one of the greatest teen characters ever created. A teenager in 1950's, He holds the reader completely engrossed in his monologue about his life. He tells us that he hates "phonies", like his elder brother who according to him sold his soul to become a big hollywood screenplay writer. He almost too casually mentions (you know he is trying too hard to be casual) that his younger brother died due to cancer. You can see this has a profound effect on Holden.

This book really an intimate look into the lives of teenagers all over the world. Holden represents every kid who has been told that he/she never works to her "potential". He represents every teen who has struggled with their sexuality. He represents every teen who at one point or the other questioned his/her own identity and place in the world. Holden at one point openly states that he thinks about sex all the time.

As far as narrators go, Holden is extremely unreliable. He tells us right in the beginning that he is a world class liar. He is also a hypocrite himself. While he says he can't stand movies, he convinces a girl to go to the movies with him. He contradicts himself constantly and he is forever lost. The only real and true thing he has in his life is his love for his sister Phoebe. And he fears for her innocence. He doesn't want her to lose it. In fact he doesn't want any child to lose his/her innocence. He wants to be the catcher in rye - the guy on the crazy cliff who prevents each child from falling into the trap of adulthood.

In end,he doesn't really change his attitude about life but he thinks at least about trying to. It is only but obvious that his journey ends with a brief stint in a sanatorium, what isn't obvious is Holden's state of mind. You can't help but wonder if he has lost his mind or if he is the only one with the clear vision. Is he mad for thinking that the society has lost its humanity or is the society mad for not realizing the loss of innocence.

The book ends as simply as it begins - Holden parts with his reader with one final piece of advice. He says - "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody"