/lit/ - Literature

>>16237993
haven't even read this shit and im kekkin. bump

You're a phony

One of those books I instinctively hate from what I know about it despite never having read it

>>16237993
he certainly isn't Pick-achoo

>>16237993

>>16237993
he cute tho

>>16238900
>>16237993
HE WEARS HIS HAT BACKWARDS. WHY DOES EVERY PICTURE GET IT WRONG

"The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back — very corny, I’ll admit but I liked it that way, I looked good in it that way.”

>>16237993
>Implying this work wasn't added to the American education system's canon to create generation upon generation of smug, rebellious, God-hating, solipsistic idiots

>>16238955
>it’s a conspiracy

>>16239139

>>16238823
Lurk more /tv/ tourist

>>16238939
He also has a crew cut but artists always draw him with shaggy hair.

If you relate to him, you're probably insufferable irl. One of the worst highschoolenglishcore books.

I can't think of this book without cringing. Fuck me why was I such a faggot as a teenager?

Related to Ham on Rye by Bukowski more, didn't really 'get' catcher in the rye despite reading it about 10 times in school.

>>16240458
Can confirm, its one of my favorite books but I was undeniably a hypocritical solipsist who judged everyone else while failing to pass my own tests. Throw in some depression and manic phases, and a pack a day habit by the age of 15 while in a boarding school I hated and you had a recipe for a total shithead. But I that's part of why I love the book, it is a completely accurate look inside the head of a shitty rich teenager like I was. The passage about suitcases always gets me in particular, and in general I love how smoothly the text flows.

>>16237993
He's a shithead but he's pretty funny sometimes

>>16237993
He's intelligent, nihilistic with a wicked sense of humor. What is there not to like about him?

You're not supposed to fall in love with him. You're kind of useless to the literary world if you have to like the characters.

>>16240458
Why would I relate to a child rapist?

>>16240458
Holden had girlfriends though and almost lost his virginity several times

>>16237993
Yeah he's a little prick. I always thought the point of the novel was that he himself was the disingenuous phony getting riled up at people who are actually genuine. Been a while since I read it though, so maybe that reading is off

>>16241668
The point of the novel is that Holden is the "immature man" who wants to fall on his sword just to prove his pointless points of view.

There is a reason why he doesn't understand Mr. Antolini's advice. He's too immature to even know what maturity even looks like. It's why he's imbued with all these false signs of maturity (smoking, drinking, dating/sex, and let's not forget his patch of gray hair). Despite his superficial hallmarks of maturity, he's even more immature than his kid sister.

The whole novel is about the difference between growing old and growing up.

>>16242081
Someone who gets it. You don't have to like Holden, but he's like this because his world shattered upon the death of his brother, and he's still getting sent to a random school across the country to take classes he doesn't care about with people who aren't like him, with no way to work through his emotions, so he cracks and tries to become an adult before he's ready. By the end, you realize all he wanted was to protect the things he loved before they get snatched away, and the reconciliation with his sister at the end is when he finally understands how to deal with it, to accept that life and adulthood can be relentlessly cruel and you can only enjoy what you have while it lasts.

This is not a complex message at all, but a staggering amount of people totally miss it.

When I first read this in middle school I really liked Holden, years later I find him pretty annoying but I can understand why he feels and acts the way he does. I like to think that someday he finally gets over his losses and becomes a decent guy.

>>16237993
Holden has PTSD from being buttfucked in boys school. He is disassociating and possibly borderline schizophrenia. This novel is taking place during WW2. His brother is in the army not Hollywood. Look it up.

>>16242253
>His brother is in the army not Hollywood.

>>16242081
>>16242156
I'll give this book another try sometime. Thank you anons.

>>16242280
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a38173/holden-caulfield-fate/

Unless Vincent Cauflied is the younger brother who died of cancer?!

>>16239206
No

>>16242302
So 6 years before Catcher Salinger writes a story about the older brother. Its entirely possible that he changed directions for the character, and absolutely nothing in that article mentions rape...

>>16242390
He wrote that after catcher was published as series of short stories. So it's still valid. The setting isn't the 50s but the 40s. It changes the narrative completely

>>16237993
Salinger still filtering people 70 years later I see.

>>16242297
Good on you for giving it another chance

>>16242463
Forgive me if im wrong, but didn't you claim the ol 4chan rape analysis, which still hasn't been substantiated

>>16238849
God I want Haruhi to verbally abuse me

>>16241615
Not really, it's pretty obvious he's making it up and exaggerating how close he got.

>>16242302
Caring about authorial intent is for cucks. I only care about what's in the actual book.

>>16242081
Yeah that seems like a good analysis from what I remember of the novel. I'd have to go back and read it again to get a better sense of the narrative I guess

>>16237993
it's a shame because that hat is effay as fuck

>>16243528
I swear to God if winter isn't snowy this year I will be miffed, I'm buying one of those hats just to cosplay Caulfield

>>16240458
Absolutely. Holden is the quintessential pseud who believes he is better than everyone over the most asinine reasons.
>he's pretty much /lit/ to a T

>>16238823
Lurk more reddit nigger.

>>16242081
Good take.

>>16242253
It takes place in 1948 and his brother is in Hollywood writing phony pictures. You're mixing up the Glass family with the Caulfields. Holden has PTSD from his brother dying at age 13. Buddy Glass is in the war.

>>16242463
What piece are you talking about that refers to Holden's older brother?

>>16237993
based

At least it got us John Lennon shot

He rapes his sister, Phoebe.

>>16237993
Absolute fact. Awful book

What an original opinion, I've simple never heard anyone complain about Holden

>>16241220
>it is a completely accurate look inside the head of a shitty rich teenager like I was
Which is why the novel works, it sets out to engender empathy in kids like Holden and sympathy for him in adults.
Never are his actions really condoned, rather they are explain as best possible in the words of the mentally ill teenager who does them. The reader is left with the 'why' and armed with a primary source to figure it out.

>>16243377
Holden is very gay. He tried fucking his elderly professor to get a passing grade. He calls his roommate sexy. He tries hitting on the cabby offering him drinks. He is checking out the the sailor instead of the slut at the club. He can't fuck the prostitute.

Holden IS gay

>>16246492
Only as a bottom. As a top he's a pedophile.