Catcher in the Rye

Catcher in the Rye

Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented.

If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it.

I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will. ~Chapter 18

Existence as it is. Well, based on Holden Caulfield's twisted neuro-functioning that is. Being the main character, the speaker and the only voice for an in-depth critique perspective in the book, Holden is the lone door to his realm. Recognized that it is a book in the first person point of view, I am forced to listen to him and move with him alone. Effective? Most definitely yes. Because it comes out all too natural and too authentic that it is very hard to escape his attention traps. His life is too dark, too negative, and maybe even traumatic that the given POV works very well as he recounts what is probably one of the darkest days of his life. Imagine somebody else doing all of these recordings of his time not very well spent? It'll just be another book of the same sort that involves people watching other people and then crazily gets it published. Luckily however, Catcher in the rye is a story of a hard-hitting veiled reality that is written in a way that is not too overrated neither is too much of a bogus; being it fiction. The POV was utilized in a very reasonable manner that it seems flawless in a sense that inconsistencies with the characterization cannot be found because it is all too finely established and made clear. Holden's life is intricately woven by the POV that it just comes out equally mixed and easy to digest as a reader and as a spectator to his harsh living.

However, with this kind of POV combined with the fundamental nature of the book, there are actually more shortcomings than there are features. Knowing that Holden is living in his own little world of negativism, his POV on the situation he is trying to picture out is beyond doubt not the leading basis. Personally, I have never encountered such a dark character in any of my readings. And I most certainly do not believe that the time he's at was really in survival the way he says it to be. Because he only saw the loopholes of each person he is encountering and basically for him all the people around him are all more than a notch less than perfect.

On the regularity of our lives we criticize a person by his background--family, school, environment, experiences and all that. And in Holden's character it is no different. How can a reader be able to trust his account when he is a shady person with an unappreciable childhood? This all counts when it come to determining how qualified he is as a chronicler whether of his life or not. Putting it in context, what good can he say about another person's life if he thinks that all people are just plain nosy, phony and pathetic? What he is manifesting is a perfect example of the twisted and the unimaginably weird and psychotic workings of a man of less maturity.

Yet, how this book is critically acclaimed despite its disturbingly strong main character Holden and his equally disturbing distorted POV in life is a wonder. The book's been banned, been talked bad at, been the touch ball of controversies, and was even made a momentous part of a famous person's untimely death. And to all these I believe that the POV used and manner that the characters are presented are undoubtedly the rational reason behind the book's long term success. Catcher in the rye's unfiltered reality exudes an atypical kind of sensibility coming from Holden. By using the 1st person POV, one of the strength of the book is that it is able to present itself as told by the Holden and what he is. No holds bar. This is very obvious even just in the first few chapters as Holden tries to fight and correct all the evils of his world--the phony, nosy, the hypocrites and the obscene.

Almost certainly there is no other way of describing this book other than it is the real deal