Hello guys! In today’s post I’m going to talk about my favourite book
ever: “The catcher in the rye”, written by J. D. Salinger. I’ve heard lots of
opposing opinions on the book: there are the ones who love both the novel and its
protagonist, Holden, and the ones who don’t.
But I’m not here to discuss that,
I’m here to talk about a few very interesting facts about the book, its
protagonist and its author.
It isn’t an ordinary book because behind its story there’s a lot to
know!
But, first of all, let me give you a brief summary of the story:
Holden Caulfield, a sixteen- year-old guy, is the protagonist of the book. He’s
grown up in a false society, full of corruption, conformism and “phonies”, that’s
the way he calls hypocritical people. After being expelled from yet another
school, he gets even more disappointed and frustrated by the world and by people:
the only person he loves is his little sister, Phoebe.
The title
What does “The Catcher in the Rye”
mean? Well, the title refers to the narrator and main character Holden.
We find out its real meaning late on the book, when his sister Phoebe accuses
him of not being satisfied with anything in life and asks him what he’d like to
become when he grows up. It comes out that he’d like to be “the catcher in the
rye” and look after the kids who are playing in a field of rye to save them
from the cliff. Holden misunderstood a line in a famous old song “Comin’ thro’
the rye”, as her sisten Phoebe makes him notice, but what is important is that
it is a metaphor:
Holden believes children’s innocence is ruined by adults, so he feels
like he has the duty to protect them . So the danger of jumping off of the
cliff would represent the evilness of the adult world.
The author’s
mental illness
Due to the Second World War Salinger, the author of the book, struggled
with mental illness and recovered in a hospital. Right after he left the
hospital he started writing the first draft of the story. His state of mind
while writing the book might be an explanation of Holden’s way of thinking and
why it is so out of the ordinary. So we
can say that “The catcher in the rye” is partly autobiographical.
Film adaptation
Salinger has never wanted his book to become a film: that’s why we still
haven’t got a film adaptation of “The catcher in the rye” and we never will.
The author said that Holden wouldn’t love his story to become a film, since he
hates the movies, and he says multiple times throughout the book.
Salinger also thought that no film would represent Holden properly, it is
up to each reader to imagine Holden’s struggle and feelings.
The “empty”
cover of the book
You might have noticed that all copies of “The catcher in the rye” have
a monochrome cover with just title, author and publishing house written on.
This was the author’s decision: he wanted his book to be chosen by its content
and not by its container, so readers wouldn’t know what they were going
through. After all, you don’t judge a book by its cover.
PS: the very first cover was red with a carousel horse designed on, but
Salinger rejected it.
This is a creepy fact but one of my favourite though: when I read it for
the first time I was a little upset. But what’s it about? Well, John Lennon’s
killer was obsessed with this book and when the police arrived at the scene of
the murder, they found the killer while reading aloud “The catcher in the rye”.
According to what the police revealed, he had bought a copy of the book en
route to Lennon’s house and in it he wrote “This is my statement” signed as
Holden Caulfield. The next year the police found a copy of the book inside
Ronald Reagan’s attempted killer’s house. So apparently, Holden has inspired a
lot of killers… that’s odd because I love this book!
Holden’s
slang
One thing Salinger has become famous for is the “voice” he gave to
Holden, the way he made him speak. Critics say “The Catcher in the Rye” have
popularized some idioms such as “screw up” that means to ruin everything; “lmao”
that literally stands for “laughing my ass off” which means to laugh out loud,
and many others curse words. Did you know that for this reason this book is
banned from some American states? But, on the top of this list, we find the word “phony”, the most memorable word in the book. Holden says this word
every time he talks about hipocrites, that’s why it’s used so much in the book…
Nowadays we use these slang words daily, they have become part of our
communication.
MARIA
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