#222 | Does ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ Still Speak to Modern Youth? Maybe More than Ever.

episode SUMMARY:

Douglas Vigliotti dives into the classic coming-of-age novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, exploring the iconic character of Holden Caulfield and the timeless themes of phoniness, loneliness, and the desire for human connection. Discover how this 1951 literary masterpiece has captivated readers for generations and left an indelible mark on pop culture. Whether you're a longtime fan or discovering the book for the first time, this episode offers insightful analysis to help you see or revisit this poignant story in a brand new light.

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Welcome back to “Books for Men”, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week we have a classic piece of literary fiction. It's a YA novel. It's a coming-of-age novel. It's A Buildings in Roman, which is just the fancy literary term for a story that features a young adult changing into adulthood and that change is really important to the story, all of which I will talk about in the book that I'm sharing today—"The Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger. It's around 220 pages or so. It was published in 1951. It's quite likely that you've heard this novel before. Maybe you were told to read it at some point in your education going through school. There's been a lot said about it. But before I talk more about this book, the author, and some of my larger takeaways, I did want to remind you that if you weren't already aware, “Aristotle for Novelists: 14 Timeless Principles on the Art of Story”, my new book is available.

(01:18)

You can now purchase it in all of its formats. However, the discounted pre-order price has been extended for this week only. So you can still purchase the ebook at a severely discounted rate. So if you're interested in that, I would definitely go and pick it up because by this time next Monday, the ebook will be listed at its official price. So consider this your last warning. Thank you to everybody who has purchased the book, already shared the book, and left reviews on the book. You are just as integral in the release of this project as I am or anyone is, so I can't thank you enough for your support in the various ways that I have received it. If you've read the book already, I want to encourage you to head over to Amazon and leave a review because reviews are the best way that you can further support the project.

(02:24)

Just think about all of the things you purchased. You probably read those reviews first. Okay. So I think you've endured enough self-promotion there. Let's jump into the reason why you are listening to this episode to hear more about “The Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger. So interestingly, this is the one and only novel by the author JD Salinger, which is even more interesting considering how famous he is as an author and well-regarded. He is historically, for any trivia buffs out there, the initials stand for Jerome David. So put that under your hat in case you ever play in a game of Trivial Pursuit or something. Or maybe I'm dating myself, I don't even know if Trivial Pursuit still exists. But anyway, he's also the author of many short stories, most famously is collections, “Nine Stories”, and the two-Parter, “Franny and Zooey”. I've only read nine stories.

(03:19)

I haven't read “Franny and Zooey”, although I do have a copy of it. And so I am planning to read it at some point in the future. Early Salinger was actually influenced by another author that I've featured on “Books for Men”, a very famous author named Ernest Hemingway. Some of you might've heard of him before. He actually met him while he was deployed in World War II, which is a pretty essential part of understanding JD Salinger. But the apple of his eye really was always being published in the “New Yorker”, and so he began submitting to them while he was at war. And finally, after the war, he got published by them in 1946, I believe it was, with a short story called “Slight Rebellion Off Madison”, which featured none other than the character Holden Caulfield. And so this was actually the starting point for the book that I'm sharing with you today, “The Catcher in the Rye”.

(04:13)

Because most of you may know that Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of this story, and I think Salinger wrote another eight short stories or something like that with Holden as his protagonist. It's also said that during Salinger's time at war, he actually carried the first six chapters, I believe it is, or some early portion of “The Catcher in the Rye” in his knapsack. So this book actually was on the shores of Normandy. Sort of hard to talk about the man JD Salinger without talking about World War ii, although I won't get into it too much in this episode just for the sake of time. But he is a complicated individual as one might expect from someone who was in the heat of battle in World War II and had a hit book that affected millions and millions of people and also has been a cultural touch point in some of our hardest pop culture moments.

(05:12)

He ultimately pulled away from society and lived as a recluse pretty much for the remainder of his life and not that he didn't write. There's a wonderful documentary called “Salinger” that I highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about the author. And I think that all complicated figures, some things are admirable, and some things that might leave you scratching your head. We’re not infallible people. And the truer something is the more recognition of imperfections and flaws and faults. There should be, and I think this is something you've heard me talk about before, but I also think it's a strength of the documentary that I just mentioned. Alright, so I've been going on long enough and I haven't even told you what “The Catcher in the Rye” is about. So it features Holden Caulfield, as I've already mentioned as the protagonist, and it's specifically about his time in New York City after his fourth expulsion from school.

(06:14)

So rather than going home and telling his parents and admitting to being expelled, he attempts to navigate the streets of New York. And this is the story of that. Most notably, I think this book and this story were so popular due to the wittiness and the voice of the main character. Despite Holden's flaws and unreliable nature, there was a lot to like about Holden, as many have depicted in the past. His voice was charming, it was funny, it was off the cuff and for so many young Americans was a voice for them As a statement on phoniness and duplicity and the hypocrisy of the adult world, it really speaks to the heart and wounds, I would say, of so many young men. One of the defining characteristics of Holden is that he is depressed and he's lonely. This is sad but perhaps makes this story even more resonant today than it was back in the fifties when it first was published.

(07:19)

To me, the story is about the need for human connection more than it is about the hypocrisy of the world, but it's also about the desire of American institutions to neatly fit people into a box, which I think more than ever today, we are more aware is not necessarily the case to be a productive human. One of the things I mentioned earlier was this book being potentially the trigger for one of the saddest moments in pop culture. And that was of course the murder of John Lennon, his murderer, John David Chapman was carrying this book at the time of Lenin's death. And also the same goes for the person who shot at Ronald Reagan. The reason why I bring this up is because, to me, one of the saddest aspects of the interpretation of this novel is that so many looked at it as hopelessness. Where I think if you really look at the story, you can see the positive aspect, as I had mentioned before, the desire and the need for human connection and to be seen by somebody.

(08:27)

All things that I think are extremely important for the modern individual today, especially as technology promises to bring us together. But in reality, based on the functionality of how all of the technology that comes out today works, it drives us further apart from each other. So I know it took me a long time to get to my big takeaways, maybe I've already been sharing a lot of them throughout the episode. One of the things that I promised that I would do moving forward is tie some of these books back to Aristotle for novelists and some of the ideas in that book. And while I think that this book is certainly a character study, it definitely is a good example of how the plot still rules the roost and it has a definitive narrative arc. There are three defining things for a story, a protagonist who wants something and something standing in their way of getting it, both internal and external.

(09:26)

All things I talk about in “Aristotle for Novelists”. Holden, he wants to be left alone or he wants to escape certainly, and he does so when he leaves school and he gets to be left alone. But to do so, he has to battle the cold world or all that Manhattan has to offer in all of its characters and harshness and just the realities of life. He also is battling his internal obstacles, which are his flaws, the fact that he's a liar and he has depression, low self-esteem, and past trauma. That's a really big one. And when act two begins, he sets out into this new world and new stakes trying to get what he wants. But the question is, will hold in, wind up back home, or venture out on his own? I should spoil it, but I won't. And let you decide if this book ends up a comedy or a tragedy, as in does he end up better off or worse off at the end of the story?

(10:24)

So I didn't mention anything about the title of this book, but to me, it's emblematic of how Holden sees himself. There's a passage later in the novel that says, “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—I mean, if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to catch them. That's all I do all day long. I will just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.” And so there are a lot of ways that you can interpret this quote, but I think it gets at the moral goodness of Holden despite all of his flaws, like I had mentioned earlier, he's a really big liar and it's hard to trust what he says on face value because he's pretty straightforward early in the novel saying, “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say the opera. It's terrible.”

(11:39)

The reason why I bring this up is just because I think that this is a good example to see that despite what a character says or thinks, it's what he does that is more important. And this gets at another Aristotelian idea of the importance of actions over words. And so I will urge readers to pay close attention to the difference between Holden's thoughts and speech, and his actions. For me, there are a lot of examples of him saying and thinking things that would make him a bad person, but in action, him not necessarily follow through on those things, showing the reader that there is a sliver of goodness there. It's just that he needs some direction and he needs that connection.

(12:29)

And every time he gets it, he's disappointed in some fashion and it's hard to tell if this is him succumbing to those flaws and the difficulties based on who he is as a character or if they're actually happening in real life, so to speak. And despite the sadness in the inevitable struggles of our protagonist, there are so many great excerpts and I will be sharing my top quotes in the newsletter that comes out at the end of the month. Alright, so I think that this is a good place to leave off. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. I did want to remind you that my new book, “Aristotle for Novelists”, is now available. If you'd like to find out more about it, find out where you could purchase it, or take advantage of the discounted pre-order while it's still available, all you have to do is visit AristotleforNovelists.com.

(13:25)

And of course, the link will also be in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on because it's the best way to show these algorithms that it should be in front of more eyeballs and ears, and that in return is the best way to inspire more men to read. If you'd like to connect with me, there are two ways that you can do so, either on my website, DouglasVigliotti.com, or on Instagram @DouglasVigliotti. It is the only social media that I have. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to thank you for listening. If you'd like more information on this podcast or perhaps sign up for that monthly newsletter that I referenced just moments ago, then all you have to do is head over to the website BooksforMen.org.