When I took upon myself the task of reading one classic a month in order to floss my mind, the Catcher in the Rye seemed like a good start for me. Indeed! It most definitely was good. I have always been of the opinion that classics are not very interesting and most people have read them because their syllabus demanded them too.

 So I began J.D Salinger’s book with the notion that I may have to force myself to read a chapter every day. However while it took me more than a month to finish due to prior commitments, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the part I enjoyed the most was how the idea of forcing myself to read never occurred even once.

Holden Caulfield is a character that you can easily relate to the minute you are acquainted with him. Holden is the protagonist and sometimes his own antagonist. His thoughts and feelings are spread all through the book in a first-person narrative. However, he is not an ordinary teenager going through the mundane confusion we all seem to go through with life and love. Caulfield is neither a teenager nor a grownup. He’s somewhere in the middle and sometimes his reflection and take on life could put a well-lived adult to shame.

The plot begins with him being expelled from yet another school on account of not applying himself in his academics. But he doesn’t seem too sorry for his actions. His teacher seems more upset than him.  As he won’t be coming back for the next semester and since his parents are unaware of his expulsion, he decides to leave school four days early and go to New York. He hasn’t planned anything for himself in New York. He comes from a well-off middle-class family so checking into hotels and visiting some known haunts in New York is something that doesn’t require any second-guessing.  Although it must be noted he may be the only teenager or even person you may ever know to hate the movies.

Loss intertwined with death is one theme running through the book with memories of his brother often being brought up by him. The loss of his brother Allie has affected his perception and reason to fight for normalcy in life and hence he seems to have given up on expressing and experiencing life the way a normal teenager would.

 Caulfield has no love interest as such and the only woman he expresses fondness for is his nine-year-old sister Phoebe. He absolutely adores her and will go to immense risks like sneaking into his own home to see her or spending a small fortune on presents for her. Phoebe on the other hand is a doting younger sister and seems to do what no other professor, parent or peer was able to do, that is, talk her brother into not giving up on himself.

Holden Caulfield’s adventures in New York were for nothing more than four days spanned across two hundred plus pages keeping me also interested to know how it would end. Whether he would finally quit wandering around New York looking for life’s purpose rather than his purpose in life?

The only vocation he can see himself being fruitful and carrying out meaningfully is being a protector of children in the field of rye. This for me symbolizes his need to protect not only his sister but also other children from the evil truths of this world. This shows that he is not some rebellious teenager looking to give his parents and teachers a hard time but someone who believes that this world maybe spiraling into materialism and hypocrisy and the younger generation needs to be protected from it.

J.D.Salinger captures the angst and confusion of a teenager with brilliance considering he was in his thirties when we wrote the book. And adults seem to quickly forget the life of a teenager. Salinger with his references to the edifice of capitalism taking over life makes one ponder on whether we too have been caught up in life’s routine, ignored our inner voices and continued to be superficial beings playing no real significant part in this world.

Also, I wonder if I’d ever be interesting enough to be Holden Caulfield’s friend.