My favorite author of all time changed my life in several ways. Here are seven aspects of those changes. What was this amazing artifact from the 1950s that still lives on in the minds of many literary buffs and other sensitive souls? It is THE CATCHER IN RYE by JD Salinger, a remarkable book. I will reveal how Salinger’s sensational novel spoke to me from the bottom up, as in 7 to 1:
7. On the cover of the novel I initially read in paperback was what seemed like an impossible promise written by the publishers. It seemed like pure hyperbole, but it would be true or false for me as a teenage reader: “This unusual book may surprise you, make you laugh and break your heart, but you will never forget it.”
6. A book that surprises you with some of its words doesn’t necessarily make it a “bad” book. The novel was banned in certain areas of the country for words like “shit” etc. Second, Salinger also dealt with adolescent sexuality. However, he did write about the way teenagers talked and the issues that concerned them.
5. Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old boy who wanders around New York City, is the protagonist who lies, drinks and does not do well in school. He frequently calls people “fakes” because they don’t live up to his standards. But we’re not sure what Holden’s standards are as we travel through his inner world. He seems very confused, conflicted and angry with life itself, but how is that? Will be improved?
4. How come teenagers like Holden so much if he seems to lack moral fiber? Should I be more caring and responsible? Who, as a teenager, did not break the rules and rebel to some degree? Who didn’t sometimes do exactly what our parents didn’t want us to do? Whose moods didn’t swing wildly from side to side sometimes? What teenage journey didn’t mirror Holden’s in some way in terms of rebellion? For more than six decades, Holden has been a troubled teen that most teens relate to and understand, especially when they turn the last page.
3. Why are we probably wishing Holden an easy route to adulthood as he travels through New York City? In the hands of JD Salinger, we sympathize immensely with his challenges in coming of age. We constantly support this tall, skinny young man with a big heart. He worries about where the Central Park ducks go during the winter. He is obsessed with her little sister Phoebe, and puts her on a mental pedestal, not wanting anything bad to happen to her. He hates saying “goodbye”. He is nervous about beginnings and endings. He deals best with the “means” of life.
2. Once you decide to use your sensitivity for the betterment of yourself and others, Holden will make the world a better place. Holden needs to put away his pink children’s glasses and his dream of catching children in a field of rye, if they fall from above. He needs to put on his adult glasses and see that there is good in the worst adults, and bad in the best of us. Becoming an adult is not simply seeing the world in black and white. It is an ocean colored in gray tones. I can imagine Holden being financially successful as an adult and then, in his later years, building Non-Phonies State University. (LOL?)
1. Drum Roll: I didn’t like to read until I met Holden. Dick, Sally Y Jane weren’t my friends, but I had to read them in grade school. I didn’t even like Spot the dog. I didn’t like the words that spilled out from under his starched illustrations. I struggled to read well in school. (I had invisible friends who were better than me.) He could memorize the words of the story, but he couldn’t read them word for word. The prominent technique of teaching reading at the time was the “look and see strategy.” It didn’t work out for me: a bump in my educational journey the size of Mount Everest.
What did GUARDIAN IN THE RYE do it for me? He transformed me into an avid reader. He wanted to devour everything Salinger wrote, and then other authors like Salinger. I devoured all kinds of books. That classic transformed me as a reader and student. If that hadn’t happened, I never would have graduated from college, become a teacher, and then a children’s poet. And I owe it all to Holden Caulfield. wow! The publishers were right: I never forgot that book! I have some dialogues in my head today like:
“…I keep picturing this big field of rye and everything. Thousands of little kids, and no one’s around, no one big, I mean, except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do is do I have to catch everyone if they start falling off the cliff I mean if they’re running and not looking where they’re going I have to get out of somewhere and catch them I’d do all day.. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and everything. I know it’s crazy…”
I know it’s crazy, but I became a catcher of children in the classroom. He was particularly good at comforting and inspiring lost souls not to hate school and to discover their hidden talents. I did it for thirty-three years. Thank you Holden.