I am sure many of you have read this text, its been historically used as the “summer reading” book for many students going into their sophomore year of high school. While it has been years since I fully read the entire text, I know doubt remember the impact it had on my when I initially read it. The story follows Holden Caulfield across a three day time period in Manhattan. Holden was recently expelled from his fourth school and seemingly doesn’t know where to turn. Throughout the novel he runs into people form all sorts of backgrounds whether that is a prostitute, elevator operator, or a cab driver. All of these characters push Holden down even farther than he initially was. Holden also constantly tries to reach out to figures from his past. These include old girlfriends, academic advisors, and teachers. All of these encounters feel pointless, nothing good or bad necessarily come of them. Holden is wasting away in Manhattan, avoiding going home and accepting the fact that his mistake has seriously derailed his life. While on the surface I have no obvious connections with Holden, which is probably a good thing. However, when I first read the novel I felt personally connected with Holden and his inner thoughts. Throughout the novel he narrates his feelings of pain while growing up and facing the real world, he describes how he pushes away others in order to protect himself in a way. Holden is a sixteen year old, in New York City by himself. The personal growth and discovery he experiences over these three days ties in closely with some of the material we have discussed over the course of this semester. Whether its Deming in The Leavers or Marji in Persepolis. Holden determines his self identity through his experiences with strangers, old friends, and authority figures. Much like the Deming and Marji, Holden bases his identity off of their perceived thoughts of the other. I believe in writing this piece J. D. Salinger wants us to take away the perplexity of growing up and discovering who we really are. Holdens journey is long and confusing, as I said seemingly pointless at times. However, you have to remember that every event is a learning opportunity and those are what shape us.
