"Holden is totally obsessed with Allie and Allie's death."
Spoilers ahead for J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye.
We took a look at analyzing Catcher in the Rye from three different viewpoints: a political, a psychological, and an ecocritical lens.
Political:
Professor had us read a NY Times opinion piece called "How To Fight the Man." (You can read it here.) Brooks believes that, in order to effectively rebel against a society, you need to align yourself to a previously created ideology in order to give your rebellion more strength.
If we're looking at Catcher from a political point of view, Holden would be a very ineffective rebel, despite his clear dislike of the society around him. He would see aligning with something created by adults as "selling out" or being a "phony."
This is one of the reasons he still comes across as a childlike character despite being nearly full-grown. He clings to the ideologies of childhood and doesn't interact with others. Because interacting with others and learning about their ideologies is how a person determines their own ideologies and beliefs, Holden can't figure out his own until he truly interacts with others.
Suddenly that isolationism based tendency doesn't seem as awesome, does it?
Psychological:
I can't help but agree with Professor that Holden is completely obsessed with Allie's death. Out of all of the stages of grief, he seems trapped at the anger stage - possibly because he didn't get to go to Allie's funeral.
He often describes himself as being "depressed," "lonely" or "sad" and openly admits that he uses thoughts of Allie to pull himself out of those ideologies. He associates those thoughts with Allie, which sucks.
His younger sister Phoebe ends up acting as a mini-therapist with Holden during their interactions at the end of the novel. She forces him to confront Allie's death, and once he does that he even acknowledges the potential of the future - even if he actively resists it.
It goes back to last week's assumption that Holden is depressed. It seems to fit the bill.
Ecocritical:
This is my personal favorite viewpoint for Catcher, simply because I love looking at the pastoral things in literature. (I'm writing an essay on it for this class!)
Ecocritical readings of texts means taking texts from an ecological (environmental) point of view and seeing how the landscape shapes the text and the functions of the landscape and so on and so forth.
Catcher seems to use the pastoral trope. Pastoral is a rural old-worldy country literary trope that idealizes country life.
It's quite popular in many things (including McDonald's commercials) and is used often in Catcher. He repeats how he wants to live in the woods or in the country; he idolizes his time in Maine with Jane; even his choice of poem dwells on his ideology of the country.
This probably has to do with his craving for innocence, even if the country isn't actually a more innocent place. It's still fun to look at!
Worthwhile Quotes from the Readings:
Brooks, "How To Fight The Man" [link]
Most professors would like their students to be more rebellious and argumentative. But rebellion without a rigorous alternative vision is just a feeble spasm.
Question for the comments:
In the book, Holden thinks his former schoolteacher ("Ani") is hitting on him. Did you think he was actually trying to hit on him or was he just predisposed to homophobia?
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