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After seeing Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex 1st Gig reference this book a ton, I decided it was time to dust off a book that was in my former high school English class required reading list so many years ago as I remembered so little about it. In essence, this American classic is about a teenager of above-average intelligence desperately trying to come to terms with a world that seems to be based on appearances and surface-level thrills instead of things that are deeper and more genuine. We follow Holden Caulfield right at the end of his school term as he runs out of the school grounds and wanders around New York, getting into all sorts of nonsense while he tries to piece together his life and what the hell he even wants out of it.
There is a constant running theme of what Holden calls, "phonies," and phony behavior, which is to say, fake behavior. False friends. Surface-level assessments by people who don't seem to have any solid sense of judgement to call upon or are simply unconsciously resisting it because society tells them to and/or because they're trying to run away from the truth. Though Holden may not ever admit or even know about it consciously, he is also suppressing a truth inside himself in that he is afraid. More specifically, he is afraid of society. He's scared of what he sees and, in his sadness and isolation, rejects humanity. Hence, the famous sentence,
This all comes to a head as he finally meets up with his little sister, Phoebe. Then, for the rest of the novel, he begins to learn just what he would be leaving behind if he were to leave and isolate himself from society as completely as he wanted to. Phoebe unknowingly shows him this. Before that happens though, this is kicked off and helped along by an old teacher he meets up with near the end called Mr. Antolini. The teacher tells him that he fears Holden will meet with a terrible fate if Holden doesn't learn to manage his cynicism. He also tells Holden that while there is obvious frustrations with the current educational system, there is also much Holden can learn and "try on" as he would a pair of new clothes to see if they fit his mind. Education can make people sound more smart than they really are, yes, but it can also focus and supercharge a person who is actually intelligent and genuine.
A small note though. Since Holden is coming down with the aftereffects of all the damn alcohol he drank, he decides to sleep at Mr. Antolini's for the night. Holden suddenly wakes up though as he feels Mr. Antolini "patting his head." This freaks out Holden enough to decide that he doesn't want to sleep there anymore and books it. Later on, Holden feels pretty unsure as to Antolini's actual intentions and somewhat ashamed, wondering if he should have stayed. Unfortunately though, Salinger never makes it clear to us whether Antolini was actually making a sexual advance on Holden or whether it was simply just a gesture of fatherly affection and nothing more. My theory is that it was not a sexual advance, but that's just my personal take on the situation.
Looking into Salinger's life just a little bit, it seems a lot of his works were almost autobiographical in nature. The guy didn't get out much. Probably didn't approve much of humanity either.
I deeply know the feeling...
But still, I am very glad that he wrote this work. It was very pivotal for many future works down the road and led to the start of counter-cultures everywhere. The only problem with it is that I think it's kinda a one-timer. Once you get all the points the book is trying to make, that's kinda it. The actual plot isn't very entertaining and tends to drag sometimes. But at the same time, if you gave me the chance to rewrite any part of it to my arrogant personal preference, I don't know if I would. All of the events in the book do at least serve the primary purposes of revealing more about Holden, more about society, or both. It may not be a super exciting read, but it is a very important one I think.
In the end, I'd say if you fully remember how this book goes, then don't feel like you need to reread it. But if you don't, absolutely give it a read.
