Jerome David Salinger (1919 – 2010)

A herald of things to come in the 1960s, Salinger has portrayed attempts to drop out of society. Born in New York City, he achieved huge literary success with the publication of his novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951), centered on a sensitive 16-year-old, Holden Caulfield, who flees his elite boarding school for the outside world of adulthood, only to become disillusioned by its materialism and falsity (фальшь).

When asked what he would like to be, Caulfield answers "the catcher in the rye," misquoting a poem by Robert Burns. In his vision, he is a modern version of a white knight, the sole preserver of innocence (единственный хранитель невинности). He imagines a big field of rye so tall that a group of young children cannot see where they are running as they play their games. He is the only big person there. "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." The fall over the cliff is equated with the loss of childhood and (especially sexual) innocence -- a persistent theme of the era. Other works by this reclusive (recluse – затворник, отшельник), spare writer include Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters (1963), a collection of stories from The New Yorker. Since the appearance of one story in 1965, Salinger -- who lives in New Hampshire -- has been absent from the American literary scene.

He wrote: "I almost always write about very young people," a statement which is his credo. Adolescents are featured or appear in all of Salinger's work, from his first published short story, "The Young Folks," to The Catcher in the Rye and his Glass family stories. One critic explained that Salinger's choice of teenagers as a subject matter was one reason for his appeal to young readers, but another was "a consciousness [among youths] that he speaks for them and virtually to them, in a language that is peculiarly honest and their own, with a vision of things that capture their most secret judgments of the world." Salinger's language, especially his energetic, realistically sparse (редкий, разбросанный) dialogue, was revolutionary at the time his first stories were published, and was seen by several critics as "the most special thing" about his work.

Salinger identified closely with his characters, and used techniques such as interior monologue, letters, and extended telephone calls to display his gift for dialogue. Such style elements also "[gave] him the illusion of having, as it were, delivered his characters' destinies into their own keeping." Recurring themes in Salinger's stories also connect to the ideas of innocence and adolescence, including the "corrupting influence of Hollywood and the world at large," the disconnect between teenagers and "phony" adults, and the perceptive, precocious intelligence of children.

Another critic wrote that rereading “Zooey” and its companion piece "Franny" is no less rewarding than rereading “The Great Gatsby”.

“THE CATCHER IN THE RYE” was originally published for adults, but it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. The novel's protagonist and antihero, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion.

PLOT: the 17-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel, Holden Caulfield, is in the hospital and recalls in his memory one crazy story that happened with him last Christmas. According to him, after this story he nearly died, he was ill for a long time, but now he undergoes some treatment and hopes to return home soon.

His recollection starts from the day he runs away from his public school. He leaves it not by his own will – he is sent down for academic failure. This school is not the first one he leaves. He left the previous one because he felt false, sham and show all around him. Actually, he feels this all the time. Adults, as well as his peers, annoy him, but at the same time he can’t stand loneliness.

The last day in school is filled with conflicts. For example, when his roommate asks Holden to write him a composition about a house or a room, Holden writes about his late brother’s baseball glove that was all covered with this brother’s poems. The roommate reads it and becomes angry that Holden strayed and did the dirty on him. Holden is also angry because this roommate had a date with the girl Holden liked. They start a fight that finishes with Holden’s broken nose.

Holden runs away from school and comes to New York. He can’t go home and tell his parents that he was expelled from school that is why he takes a taxi and rides to a hotel. He also asks the taxi driver his favorite question: “Where do the ducks in Central Park go when the water in the pond freezes over?” The taxi driver is surprised and thinks that the passenger pokes fun at him. But this question is most likely the display of the boy’s confusion, not his wish to mock at somebody or his interest in biology.

This world oppresses him and attracts him at the same time. He feels hard with people and he feels hard without them. In New York he has adventures. He tries to have fun in the night club, but nothing good happens and the waiter refuses to bring him some alcohol. Then he takes a prostitute with the help of the lift boy, but he can’t find the strength to have sex, to give up his innocence. The next day he meets his friend Sally and spends time with her. But he’s not happy. Everything makes him angry, sad and annoyed. As his friend doesn’t share his negative attitude to everything, she starts to annoy him as well. When he suggests taking a car and riding somewhere for a couple of weeks, she refuses, saying that they are only children. Holden sees red and spells out a lot of rude words. Sally cries and leaves him.

When he finally comes home, his parents are absent. He talks to his little sister Phoebe who is young, but very understanding. Holden talks to his sister and tells her about his dream. It is to look after little playing children in the rye and to ensure that they don’t fall off the brink. Holden believes that to be a "catcher in the rye" means to save children from losing their innocence.

Holden is not ready to meet his parents and Phoebe gives him some money. He takes it and goes to his old teacher. The teacher tries to give him advice, but Holden is too tired to listen to reasonable sayings. He falls asleep, but wakes up and finds his teacher patting his head in a way that he regards as "flitty." He thinks that the teacher has some filthy intentions and runs away. He later wonders if his interpretation of teacher's actions was actually correct.

He thinks what to do next in his life and decides to rise west and to try to start all over again. This is by the way an old American tradition. He wants to meet his sister and give her money back, but she wants to follow Holden in his journey. She acts just like Holden himself: refuses to go to school, claims that she is sick and tired of this life. At that moment Holden has to accept the common sense and to forget about his denial of everything. He shows himself as a prudent and responsible young man and promises little sister that he stays with her and they both don’t go anywhere.

The story ends when Holden takes Phoebe to the zoo, she rides a carousel and he admires her.