He's 'Just Like Me for Real'
Holden is always looking for something deeper than what he sees on the surface, which is why he comes to the conclusion that everyone is "phony", besides the people he cares about the most, who are his siblings, Allie, DB, and Phoebe, and his friend Jane Gallagher. He wants someone to have a meaningful conversation with or for them to genuinely care about him and listen to whatever he has to say, which is why he pours himself out to the reader and is so brutally honest. He truly has good intentions, but they often don't translate very well outside of his own thoughts.
As I was reading, I noticed a lot of myself in Holden. He actually comes off as quite relatable. I could definitely relate to him in the way that he thinks about people being phonies. I sometimes feel the same way about people and it's really confusing to tell who is being truly themselves or whether they really want to be friends with me. The truth is, we don't really know people's intentions. And also, it's harder to be yourself when society expects people to be the exact same person, so it is very understandable why Holden is so mad at the world.
Now that I think about it, I also feel that I relate to the way that Holden looks for meaningful conversation. I can understand the crushing loneliness he feels hidden under his talkativeness. When I was younger I had a few close friends but besides them and my siblings, I kind of felt the same way as Holden. Making friends outside of my little bubble was very hard, and I just didn't feel right. Over the years, I've learned not to force it too much and things have gotten better. My advice for Holden would be to give it some time and go slowly.
I find it interesting how much I relate to Holden. He is a very complex character made to feel human and life-like, and I think that Salinger did very well with creating such a well-rounded character. Holden really is "just like me for real."
Yeah, I think part of the reason Catcher in the Rye became such a popular novel was because of how well it resonated with people, particularly adolescents. Holden feels separate from everyone else and sees through the functions of society, which makes him feel fed up and disillusioned. He is disgusted by the ulterior motives from the people around him, and hates the game of school and life that everyone else seems to playing without any qualms. So, he's set up as this entirely unique character, however, everyone reading can connect with him. I think part of the human experience is sometimes feeling left out, seeing someone or something as fake, and getting tired of going through the motions. And that's kind of the beauty of this book: people see Holden as someone only they can relate to, when really everyone feels generally similar about him (though I'm sure there's many people that actually hate him, so take that with a grain of salt). I think it would be interesting if Holden got to see the reactions to this book, including people like you and me saying "He's just like me fr." I wonder if it would change his feelings of isolation and help him to realize that he is describing a shared experience of teenagers transitioning into adulthood. Loved this post, good job!
ReplyDeletehonestly i think holden would love having like discord or something so he could talk to other likeminded people. the rant channels always hit hard when its just a conversation-- like what you were talking about with the craving intellectual conversation about the flaws of the world. i think holden would benefit from knowing hes not alone in his thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you I've always found it difficult to be able to tell when someone is being genuine and not 'phony' as Holden would say and I feel like that makes him very relatable. I think Holden would really benefit from some sort of social media (like we said in class) because he would be able to see how other people have the same struggles as him. (side note: I think this could backfire because the internet is kinda a breeding ground for phoniness tbh)
ReplyDeleteGood Job! I would agree with you that Holden is a very complex guy. Throughout the Novel we noticed that he was always really negative and he didn't really cared about anything or anyone besides his siblings and Jane. I like how you tried to understand his perspective, and that you made it clear even though he is really negative, he is also just feeling lonely and is just looking for someone who understands him. We have to keep in mind that Holden had a really traumatic childhood and not a lot of people can relate to that, so it might take him longer than others to find real friends.
ReplyDeleteAll of this makes a lot of sense to me, in terms of how easy it is to relate to this deeper feeling of isolation or loneliness Holden feels after pretty much any superficial interaction with another person. And you're right that he sees a lot of incipient "phoniness" among his peers. But the REAL "depressing" thing for him, in my view, is this intuition that his peers are just gearing up for the TRUE phoniness of adulthood--this view that it gets WORSE as you get older, and that the peers he is "losing" to the phony world are in fact "successfully" positioning themselves to be adults.
ReplyDeleteIn this view, his refusal to grow up could be framed as a heroic *resistance* against this inevitable compromise coming down the road. But it doesn't resolve the problem at all, and that's why Holden is not happy--once all the phonies are denounced and renounced, he finds himself alone. And for a guy who claims to hate everyone, he sure gets lonely easily.