What does it mean to love a fictional character? Because Holden isn't real, what he represents (symbolizes) is what readers love about him. On the flip side, many of my students don't love Holden because they think he complains too much and/or doesn't really do anything worth reading about. I think both statements are valuable critiques. However, when I reflect on the people I've met throughout my life, I've met many, many people who complain a lot and don't do all that much worth reading about. But saying that about someone else means that I, not them, have chosen not to delve beneath the surface and find out why they are, in fact, absolutely fascinating. JD Saligner presents the same choice to his readers: interpret Holden for what he is on the surface, or get to know him as a person.
What makes readers love Holden, then, is WHY and HOW he does what we does or doesn't do what he doesn't do. People love Holden because he's "holding on." What is he holding onto? The time in life when things didn't hurt so much. The time in life before Allie died. The time in life before he realized that adults are (a) full of bologna (his teachers), (b) never there (his parents), and (c) superficial (women at the bar). Readers love Holden because they, too, know that adults are phony. As an adult, however, it’s fun to agree with Holden about adults, but it’s also fun to remember the time when we, too, overlooked the wisdom that adults bring to the table simply because they, too, were once in Holden’s shoes.
From a young reader’s perspective (high school), then, Holden is holding onto his innocence while he’s also confronting the inevitability of life: we all grow up. Teenagers are perfect metaphors to explain the predicament in which Holden finds himself. For example, every teenager deals with a desire to be cared for and a desire to be independent; a desire to play checkers and a desire to have sex; a desire to drink soda and a desire to drink rum; a desire to do well in school and a desire to roll their eyes at their teacher.
What’s most beautiful, in my opinion, and it’s why readers of all ages love Holden, is because he’s in a story about grief and love. Holden wants to be a catcher in the rye to prevent kids from falling. Falling from what? Innocence. To Holden, falling represents a tragedy capable of being prevented. To readers, falling represents the inevitability of growing up. The reason that Holden wants to prevent people from growing up, however, is because he doesn’t understand the importance of grieving in a way that allows an acceptance of the ups and downs of life. Yet, Salinger gives the readers hope: when Phoebe displays a sign of unconditional love (offering to run away with him), Holden is capable of asking for help, and asking for help is the first step toward Holden’s journey into healthy grieving.
Therefore, Holden will not be passé until we’re able to prevent the process of growing up.
Within readers of any generation, tastes in literary themes and characters vary widely. While it is true that many of the cultural references in The Catcher in the Rye are not likely to be well-understood by young people today, the essence of Holden's struggles is timeless and thus makes him relatable, if not lovable, to them.
The idea that Holden rejects many of the ideas, values, and trappings of his family's and social class's lives is still resonant for teenagers. Part of the healthy separation of adolescents and their parents as a stage of development involves questioning, and in some cases, spurning, the choices and expectations of adults. This is true of Holden, who looks askance at his father's profession, the vapidity of conversation with Sally Hayes, and the corruption he suspects of Mr. Antolini.
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