The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger Reaction #2

 

    The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger  was filled with many questions. The one that stuck out the most to me was when Holden asks where do the ducks go in the winter? I found this question strange, what was even more strange to me is that he was so focused on finding the answer he was even asking complete strangers. I thought I knew the answer.  I always thought they flew south for the winter. Except where do they REALLY go? I mean gosh, wouldn’t it be strange if you were sitting outside by the heated pool on a hot winter day in Florida, and then out of no where all you hear are a bunch of quacks and honks and all types of noises from the Central Park ducks.  

Something like that has happened to me before, every spring hundreds of crows stop right on my block. They perch on houses and caw, they’re just taking a break from their long journey, they usually leave within an hour. I always ask myself where are they coming from , and where are they going. Holden has it easy, at least he knows where they start from. I had a theory that J.D Salinger was trying to hint that Holden doesn’t know where he’s going to go in life. Like he was connected to the birds in some way.  It really connects with the rest of the story as well. He doesn’t know what path to take in life, he keeps getting kicked out of schools, he tries to decide where he is going to go after leaving early from school. Where will he live now, the only other character in the book that asks that is his younger sister.

Holden really is going through a crisis, he hates everyone, because in one way or another they are all ‘phonies.’ The only people that don't make him cringe, are kids. He relates most to them, he knows they aren’t phonies they don't try to impress anyone of make others see them as better, they are just them. When he saw the boy singing in the street that made him blissful because the kid was doing it just for the heck of it. He wasn’t trying to impress an audience, he sang because he wanted to. He also enjoyed talking to the little girl at the park, she reminded him of when he was a kid, now even he is a phony he admits at one point in the book. Lastly, the one person Holden likes the most was his sister, she was perfect to him. She was so bright, and acted all adult like except she wasn’t a phony like the rest of the adults in his life.

I think my favorite part of the novel is when Salinger has Holden recap on what's happened in his life already. He recaps about his past school situations This really gave me a better perspective of him.  At first I had thought he was mean to everyone, just judging everyone he met, except after this recap I realize he was right to judge everyone the way he had. People are mean, cruel, sarcastic, coincident, disgusting, ect. He believes he’s the only one that truly sees this in people.

         I also now know why the book was titled The Catcher In The Rye It didn’t make much sense during the whole book until Holden says that “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big, I mean-except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-” Holden just wants something to do, he would gladly help out kids, he wants them to be safe and still be able to have fun.  I think He truly just wants to find something he can do correctly that doesn’t involve being smart like his siblings were.