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'{{other uses}} {{short description|1951 novel by J. D. Salinger}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox book | name = The Catcher in the Rye | border = no | image = The Catcher in the Rye (1951, first edition cover).jpg | alt = Cover features a drawing of a carousel horse (pole visible entering the neck and exiting below on the chest) with a city skyline visible in the distance under the hindquarters. The cover is two-toned: everything below the horse is whitish while the horse and everything above it is a reddish-orange. The title appears at the top in yellow letters against the reddish-orange background. It is split into two lines after "Catcher". At the bottom in the whitish background are the words "a novel by J. D. Salinger". | caption = First edition cover | author = [[J. D. Salinger]] | illustrator = | cover_artist = [[E. Michael Mitchell]]<ref>{{cite web |title=CalArts Remembers Beloved Animation Instructor E. Michael Mitchell |publisher=Calarts.edu |url=http://calarts.edu/news/11-sep-2009/calartsremembersbelovedanimationinstructoremichaelmitchell |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928013312/http://calarts.edu/news/11-sep-2009/calartsremembersbelovedanimationinstructoremichaelmitchell |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 28, 2009 |access-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=50 Most Captivating Covers |publisher=Onlineuniversities.com |url=http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/judging-the-book-50-most-captivating-covers-of-all-time/ |access-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref> | country = United States | language = English | genre = [[Literary realism|Realistic fiction]], [[Coming-of-age story|Coming-of-age fiction]] | published = July 16, 1951<ref name="burgernyt" /> | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]] | media_type = Print | pages = 234 (may vary) | isbn = | dewey = 813.54 | oclc = 287628 }} '''''The Catcher in the Rye''''' is an American novel by [[J. D. Salinger]] that was partially published in serial form 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of [[angst]] and [[social alienation|alienation]], and as a critique of [[superficiality]] in society.<ref>Costello, Donald P., and Harold Bloom. "The Language of "The Catcher in the Rye.." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: The Catcher in the Rye (2000): 11–20. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. December 1, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=November 15, 2000 |title=Carte Blanche: Famous Firsts |work=Booklist |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28671475_ITM |access-date=December 20, 2007}}</ref> The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression. The main character, [[Holden Caulfield]], has become an icon for teenage rebellion.<ref>'' Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions'' By Elizabeth Webber, Mike Feinsilber p.105</ref> Caulfield, [[Coming-of-age story|nearly of age]], gives his opinion on a wide variety of topics as he narrates his recent life events. ''The Catcher'' has been translated widely.<ref>{{cite book |last=Magill |first=Frank N. |year=1991 |title=Magill's Survey of American Literature |url=https://archive.org/details/magillssurveyofa02magi |url-access=registration |chapter=J. D. Salinger |publisher=Marshall Cavendish Corporation |location=New York |isbn=1-85435-437-X |page=1803}}</ref> About one million copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 65&nbsp;million books.<ref>According to List of best-selling books. An earlier article says more than 20 million: {{cite news |last=Yardley |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Yardley |date=October 19, 2004 |title=J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43680-2004Oct18.html |access-date=January 21, 2007|quote=It isn't just a novel, it's a dispatch from an unknown, mysterious universe, which may help explain the phenomenal sales it enjoys to this day: about 250,000 copies a year, with total worldwide sales over – probably way over – 10 million.}}</ref> The novel was included on ''Time''{{'}}s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923,<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Grossman |first1=Lev |last2=Lacayo |first2=Richard |date=October 16, 2005 |title=All-Time 100 Novels: The Complete List |magazine=Time |url=http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/}}</ref> and it was named by [[Modern Library]] and its readers as one of the [[Modern Library 100 Best Novels|100 best English-language novels of the 20th century]].<ref name="ALA" /><ref>List of most commonly challenged books from the list of the one hundred most important books of the 20th century by Radcliffe Publishing Course</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Guinn |first=Jeff |date=August 10, 2001 |title='Catcher in the Rye' still influences 50 years later |work=[[Erie Times-News]] |format=fee required |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ET&p_theme=et&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EDCAD301800C85B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D |access-date=December 18, 2007}} [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6739335_ITM Alternate URL]</ref> In 2003, it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey "[[The Big Read]]".<!-- <ref>{{cite web |title=The Big Read – Top 100 Books |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |website=bbc.co.uk |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml "The Big Read"], BBC, April 2003. Retrieved October 18, 2012.</ref> --> ==Plot== Holden Caulfield recalls the events of a weekend (Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon) shortly before the previous year's Christmas, beginning at Pencey Preparatory Academy, a [[boarding school]] in Pennsylvania. Holden has just been expelled from Pencey because he had failed all of his classes except English. After causing the fencing team to forfeit a [[fencing]] match in New York because he accidentally lost the team’s equipment on the subway, he says goodbye to his history teacher, Mr. Spencer. He offers Holden advice and embarrasses him by criticizing his history exam. Later, Holden agrees to write an English composition for his roommate, Ward Stradlater, who is leaving for a date. Holden is distressed to learn that Stradlater's date is Jane Gallagher, with whom Holden was infatuated. That night, Holden decides to go to a [[Cary Grant]] comedy with Mal Brossard and dorm neighbor Robert Ackley. Since Ackley and Mal have already seen the film, they eat food, play [[pinball]], and return to Pencey. When Stradlater returns hours later, he fails to appreciate the deeply personal composition Holden wrote for him about the [[baseball glove]] of Holden's late brother Allie who died from [[leukemia]] years earlier and refuses to say whether he had sex with Jane. Enraged, Holden punches him, and Stradlater easily wins the fight. When Holden continues insulting him, Stradlater leaves him lying on the floor with a bloody nose. Fed up with the "phonies" at Pencey Prep, Holden decides to catch a train to New York. Holden intends to stay away from his home until Wednesday, when his parents will have received notification of his expulsion. Aboard the train, Holden meets the mother of a wealthy Pencey student, Ernest Morrow, and makes up nice but false stories about her son. In a [[taxicab]], Holden asks the driver whether the ducks in the [[Central Park]] lagoon migrate during winter, a subject he brings up often, but the man barely responds. Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel and spends an evening dancing with three tourists at the hotel lounge. Holden eventually gets bored of them. Following an unpromising visit to a nightclub, Holden becomes preoccupied with his internal angst and agrees to have a [[Prostitution|prostitute]] named Sunny visit his room. His attitude toward the girl changes when she enters the room and takes off her clothes. Holden, who is a [[Virginity|virgin]], says he only wants to talk, which annoys her and causes her to leave. Even though he maintains that he paid her the right amount for her time, she returns with her [[Procuring (prostitution)|pimp]] Maurice and demands more money. Holden insults Maurice, Sunny takes money from Holden's wallet, and Maurice snaps his fingers on Holden's groin and punches him in the stomach. Afterward, Holden imagines that he has been shot by Maurice and pictures murdering him with an [[automatic firearm|automatic]] pistol. The next morning, Holden, becoming increasingly depressed and needing personal connection, calls Sally Hayes, a familiar date. Although Holden claims that she is "the queen of all phonies," they agree to meet that afternoon to attend a play at the [[Samuel J. Friedman Theatre|Biltmore Theater]]. Holden shops for a special [[Phonograph record|record]], "Little Shirley Beans", for his 10-year-old sister Phoebe. He spots a boy singing "[[Comin' Thro' the Rye|If a body catch a body coming through the rye]]", which lifts his mood. After the play, Holden and Sally go [[ice skating]] at [[Rockefeller Center]], where Holden begins ranting against society and frightens Sally. He invites Sally to run away with him that night to live in the wilderness of [[New England]], but she declines. The conversation turns sour, and the two angrily part ways. Holden decides to meet his old classmate, Carl Luce, for drinks at the Wicker Bar. Holden annoys Carl, whom Holden suspects of being [[gay]], by insistently questioning him about his sex life. Luce says Holden should go see a [[psychiatrist]], to understand himself better. After Luce leaves, Holden gets drunk, awkwardly flirts with several adults, and calls an icy Sally. Exhausted and out of money, Holden wanders over to Central Park to investigate the ducks, accidentally breaking Phoebe's record on the way. Nostalgic, he heads home to see Phoebe. He sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are out and wakes her up. Despite being happy to see Holden, Phoebe quickly infers that he has been expelled and chastises him for his aimlessness and his apparent disdain for everything. When asked if he cares about anything, Holden shares a selfless fantasy he has been thinking about (based on a [[Mondegreen|mishearing]] of [[Robert Burns]]'s ''[[Comin' Thro' the Rye|Comin' Through the Rye]]''), in which he imagines himself as making a job of saving children running through a field of rye by catching them before they fell off a nearby cliff. Phoebe points out that the actual poem says, "when a body meet a body, comin through the rye." Holden breaks down in tears, and his sister tries to console him. When his parents return home, Holden slips out and visits his former and much-admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who expresses concern that Holden is headed for "a terrible fall". Mr. Antolini advises him to begin applying himself and provides Holden with a place to sleep. Holden is upset when he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini patting his head, which he interprets as a [[Human sexuality|sexual]] advance. He leaves and spends the rest of the night in a waiting room at [[Grand Central Terminal]], sinking further into despair and expressing regret over leaving Mr. Antolini. He spends most of the morning wandering [[Fifth Avenue]]. Losing hope of finding belonging or companionship in the city, Holden decides to head out [[Western United States|West]] and live a reclusive lifestyle as a deaf-mute gas station attendant living in a log cabin. He decides to see Phoebe at lunchtime to explain his plan and say goodbye. While visiting her school, Holden sees graffiti containing a curse word and becomes distressed by the thought of children learning the word's meaning and tarnishing their innocence. When he meets Phoebe at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], she arrives with a suitcase and asks to go with him, even though she was looking forward to acting as [[Benedict Arnold]] in a play that Friday. Holden refuses to let her come with him, which upsets Phoebe. He tries to cheer her up by allowing her to skip school and taking her to the [[Central Park Zoo]], but she remains angry. They eventually reach the zoo's [[carousel]], where Phoebe reconciles with Holden after he buys her a ticket. Holden is filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe riding the carousel. Holden alludes to encountering his parents that night and "getting sick", mentioning that he will be attending another school in September. Holden then does not want to tell anything more because talking about them has made him miss his former classmates. ==History== Various older stories by Salinger contain characters similar to those in ''The Catcher in the Rye''. While at [[Columbia University]], Salinger wrote a [[short story]] called "The Young Folks" in [[Whit Burnett]]'s class; one character from this story has been described as a "thinly penciled prototype of Sally Hayes". In November 1941 he sold the story "[[Slight Rebellion off Madison]]", which featured Holden Caulfield, to ''[[The New Yorker]]'', but it wasn't published until December 21, 1946, due to [[World War II]]. The story "[[I'm Crazy]]", which was published in the December 22, 1945 issue of ''[[Collier's]]'', contained material that was later used in ''The Catcher in the Rye''. In 1946, ''The New Yorker'' accepted a 90-page [[manuscript]] about Holden Caulfield for publication, but Salinger later withdrew it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Salzman |first=Jack |year=1991 |title=New essays on the Catcher in the Rye |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9780521377980 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521377980/page/3 3] |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521377980|url-access=registration }}</ref> The school Holden attends is Pencey Preparatory Academy, a [[boarding school]] in Pennsylvania that Salinger may have based on the [[Valley Forge Military Academy and College]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/04/valley-forge-military-academy-problems-hazing-sexual-assault-lawsuits/ |title=Hazing, Fighting, Sexual Assaults: How Valley Forge Military Academy Devolved Into "Lord of the Flies" – Mother Jones |publisher=Motherjones.com |date=2005-10-30 |accessdate=2022-09-02}}</ref> ==Writing style== ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is narrated in a [[First-person narrative|subjective]] style from the point of view of Holden Caulfield, [[Stream of consciousness|following his exact thought processes]]. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events, such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences. Critical reviews affirm that the novel accurately reflected the teenage [[colloquialism|colloquial]] speech of the time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Costello |first=Donald P. |date=October 1959 |title=The Language of 'The Catcher in the Rye' |journal=American Speech |doi=10.2307/454038 |jstor=454038 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=172–182 |quote=Most critics who glared at ''The Catcher in the Rye'' at the time of its publication thought that its language was a true and authentic rendering of teenage colloquial speech.}}</ref> Words and phrases that appear frequently include: * "Old" – term of familiarity or endearment * "Phony" – superficially acting a certain way only to change others’ perceptions * "That killed me" – one found that hilarious or astonishing * "Flit" – [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] * "Crumbum" or "crumby" – inadequate, insufficient, disappointing * "Snowing" – sweet-talking * "I got a bang out of that" – one found it hilarious or exciting * "Shoot the bull" "bull session" – have a conversation containing false elements * "Give her the time" – [[sexual intercourse]] * "Necking" – passionate kissing especially on the neck (clothes on) * "Chew the fat" or "chew the rag" – [[small talk]] * "Rubbering" or "rubbernecks" – idle onlooking/onlookers * "The can" – the bathroom * "Prince of a guy" – fine fellow (however often used sarcastically) ==Interpretations== [[Bruce Brooks]] held that Holden's attitude remains unchanged at story's end, implying no maturation, thus differentiating the novel from [[young adult fiction]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Brooks |first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce Brooks |date=May 1, 2004 |title=Holden at sixteen |work=[[Horn Book Magazine]] |url=http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2004/may04_brooks.asp |access-date=December 19, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20071221100107/http://archive.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2004/may04_brooks.asp |archive-date=December 21, 2007}}</ref> In contrast, [[Louis Menand]] thought that teachers assign the novel because of the optimistic ending, to teach adolescent readers that "alienation is just a phase."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Menand |first=Louis |author-link=Louis Menand |date=September 27, 2001 |title=Holden at fifty |magazine=The New Yorker |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/01/011001fa_FACT3?currentPage=all |access-date=December 19, 2007}}</ref> While Brooks maintained that Holden acts his age, Menand claimed that Holden thinks as an adult, given his ability to accurately perceive people and their motives. Others highlight the dilemma of Holden's state, in between adolescence and adulthood.<ref name="Onstad" /><ref>Graham, 33.</ref> Holden is quick to become emotional. "I felt sorry as hell for..." is a phrase he often uses. It is often said that Holden changes at the end, when he watches Phoebe on the carousel, and he talks about the golden ring and how it's good for kids to try to grab it.<ref name="Onstad">{{cite news |last=Onstad |first=Katrina |date=February 22, 2008 |title=Beholden to Holden |work=[[CBC News]] |url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/bartlett.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225165543/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/bartlett.html |archive-date=February 25, 2008}}</ref> Peter Beidler in his ''A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"'', identifies the movie that the prostitute "Sunny" refers to. In chapter 13 she says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. The movie is ''[[Captains Courageous (1937 film)|Captains Courageous]]'' (1937), starring [[Spencer Tracy]]. Sunny says that Holden looks like the boy who fell off the boat. Beidler shows a still of the boy, played by child-actor [[Freddie Bartholomew]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Press |first=Coffeetown |date=2011-06-16 |title=A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (Second Edition), by Peter G. Beidler |url=https://coffeetownpress.com/2011/06/16/the-second-edition-of-peter-g-beidlers-a-readers-companion-to-j-d-salingers-the-catcher-in-the-rye/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Coffeetown Press |page=28 |language=en}}</ref> Each Caulfield child has literary talent. D.B. writes screenplays in Hollywood;<ref>{{harvtxt|Salinger|1969|p=67}}</ref> Holden also reveres D.B. for his writing skill (Holden's own best subject), but he also despises Hollywood industry-based movies, considering them the ultimate in "phony" as the writer has no space for his own imagination and describes D.B.'s move to Hollywood to write for films as "prostituting himself"; Allie wrote poetry on his baseball glove;<ref>{{harvtxt|Salinger|1969|p=38}}</ref> and Phoebe is a diarist.<ref>{{harvtxt|Salinger|1969|p=160}}</ref> This "catcher in the rye" is an analogy for Holden, who admires in children attributes that he often struggles to find in adults, like innocence, kindness, spontaneity, and generosity. Falling off the cliff could be a progression into the adult world that surrounds him and that he strongly criticizes. Later, Phoebe and Holden exchange roles as the "catcher" and the "fallen"; he gives her his hunting hat, the catcher's symbol, and becomes the fallen as Phoebe becomes the catcher.<ref>{{cite news |author=Yasuhiro Takeuchi |date=Fall 2002 |title=The Burning Carousel and the Carnivalesque: Subversion and Transcendence at the Close of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' |journal=Studies in the Novel |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=320–337}}</ref> In their [[Salinger (book)|biography of Salinger]], [[David Shields]] and [[Shane Salerno]] argue that: "''The Catcher in the Rye'' can best be understood as a disguised [[war novel]]." Salinger witnessed the horrors of World War II, but rather than writing a combat novel, Salinger, according to Shields and Salerno, "took the trauma of war and embedded it within what looked to the naked eye like a coming-of-age novel."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shields |first1=David |last2=Salerno |first2=Shane |date=2013 |title=Salinger |edition=Hardcover |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=xvi |id={{ASIN|1476744831|country=ca}} |quote=The Catcher in the Rye can best be understood as a disguised war novel. Salinger emerged from the war incapable of believing in the heroic, noble ideals we like to think our cultural institutions uphold. Instead of producing a combat novel, like Norman Mailer, James Jones, and Joseph Heller did, Salinger took the trauma of war and embedded it within what looked to the naked eye like a coming-of-age novel.}}</ref> ==Reception== ''The Catcher in the Rye'' has been consistently listed as one of the best novels of the twentieth century. Shortly after its publication, in an article for ''[[The New York Times]]'', Nash K. Burger called it "an unusually brilliant novel,"<ref name="burgernyt">{{cite news |last=Burger |first=Nash K. |date=July 16, 1951 |title=Books of The Times |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/salinger-rye02.html |access-date=March 18, 2009}}</ref> while James Stern wrote an admiring review of the book in a voice imitating Holden's.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stern |first=James |date=July 15, 1951 |title=Aw, the World's a Crumby Place |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/salinger-rye01.html |access-date=March 18, 2009}}</ref> [[George H. W. Bush]] called it a "marvelous book," listing it among the books that inspired him.<ref>{{cite web |title=Academy of Achievement – George H. W. Bush |work=The American Academy of Achievement |url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bus0int-1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970213181840/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bus0int-1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 13, 1997 |access-date=June 5, 2009}}</ref> In June 2009, the [[BBC]]'s Finlo Rohrer wrote that, 58 years since publication, the book is still regarded "as the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager."<ref name="finlo rohrer">{{cite news |last=Rohrer |first=Finlo |date=June 5, 2009 |title=The why of the Rye |work=BBC News Magazine |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8084931.stm |access-date=June 5, 2009}}</ref> [[Adam Gopnik]] considers it one of the "three perfect books" in American literature, along with ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' and ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', and believes that "no book has ever captured a city better than ''Catcher in the Rye'' captured New York in the fifties."<ref name=":0">Gopnik, Adam. ''The New Yorker'', February 8, 2010, p. 21</ref> In an appraisal of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' written after the death of J. D. Salinger, Jeff Pruchnic says the novel has retained its appeal for many generations. Pruchnic describes Holden as a "teenage protagonist frozen midcentury but destined to be discovered by those of a similar age in every generation to come."<ref>Pruchnic, Jeff. "Holden at Sixty: Reading Catcher After the Age of Irony." Critical Insights: ------------The Catcher in The Rye (2011): 49–63. Literary Reference Center. Web. February 2, 2015.</ref> [[Bill Gates]] said that ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is one of his favorite books,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Best-Books-2013 |title=The Best Books I Read in 2013 |last=Gates |first=Bill |work=gatesnotes.com|access-date=August 7, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> as has [[Aaron Sorkin]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://parade.com/76929/parade/books-that-changed-celebrity-lives/|title=Celebrities Share With PARADE: 'The Book That Changed My Life'|date=June 8, 2012|website=Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays}}</ref> Not all reception has been positive. The book has had its share of naysayers, including the longtime ''[[Washington Post]]'' book critic [[Jonathan Yardley]], who, in 2004, wrote that the experience of rereading the novel after several decades proved to be "a painful experience: The combination of Salinger's [[wiktionary:execrable#English|execrable]] prose and Caulfield's [[wiktionary:jejune#English|jejune]] narcissism produced effects comparable to mainlining castor oil." Yardley described the novel as among the worst popular books in the annals of American literature. "Why," Yardley asked, "do English teachers, whose responsibility is to teach good writing, repeatedly and reflexively require students to read a book as badly written as this one?"<ref>{{cite news|last=Yardley |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/jd-salingers-holden-caulfield-aging-gracelessly/2013/08/27/04127c00-0f5b-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html |title=J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2004-10-19 |accessdate=2022-09-02}}</ref> According to Rohrer, many contemporary readers, as Yardley found, "just cannot understand what the fuss is about.... many of these readers are disappointed that the novel fails to meet the expectations generated by the mystique it is shrouded in. J. D. Salinger has done his part to enhance this mystique. That is to say, he has done nothing."<ref name="finlo rohrer" /> Rohrer assessed the reasons behind both the popularity and criticism of the book, saying that it "captures existential teenage angst" and has a "complex central character" and "accessible conversational style"; while at the same time some readers may dislike the "use of 1940s New York vernacular" and the excessive "whining" of the "self-obsessed character." ==Censorship and use in schools== In 1960, a teacher in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]] was fired for assigning the novel in class. She was later reinstated.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dutra |first=Fernando |date=September 25, 2006 |title=U. Connecticut: Banned Book Week celebrates freedom |publisher=The America's Intelligence Wire |url=http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/banned-book-week-celebrates-freedom-1.1060005 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130215192024/http://www.dailycampus.com/focus/banned-book-week-celebrates-freedom-1.1060005 |url-status=dead |archive-date = February 15, 2013 |access-date=December 20, 2007 |quote=In 1960 a teacher in Tulsa, Okla. was fired for assigning "The Catcher in the Rye". After appealing, the teacher was reinstated, but the book was removed from the itinerary in the school.}}</ref> Between 1961 and 1982, ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was the most [[Censorship|censored]] book in high schools and libraries in the United States.<ref name="In Cold Fear review">{{cite news |date=April 1, 2003 |title=In Cold Fear: 'The Catcher in the Rye', Censorship, Controversies and Postwar American Character. (Book Review) |work=[[Modern Language Review]] |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-4139523_ITM |access-date=December 19, 2007}}</ref> The book was briefly banned in the [[Issaquah, Washington]], high schools in 1978 when three members of the School Board alleged the book was part of an "overall communist plot."<ref>{{cite book |last=Reiff |first=Raychel Haugrud |year=2008 |title=J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye and Other Works |publisher=Marshall Cavendish Corporation |location=Tarrytown, NY |isbn=978-0-7614-2594-6 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBPBiaBBF24C&pg=PA80}}</ref> This ban did not last long, and the offended board members were immediately recalled and removed in a special election.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jenkinson |first=Edward |date=1982 |title=Censors in the Classroom |publisher=Avon Books |page=35 |isbn=978-0380597901}}</ref> In 1981, it was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |last=Andrychuk |first=Sylvia |date=February 17, 2004 |title=A History of J.D. Salinger's ''The Catcher in the Rye'' |page=6 |url=http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr559f/03-04-wt2/projects/S_Andrychuk/Content/history_book_catcher.pdf |quote=During 1981, ''The Catcher in the Rye'' had the unusual distinction of being the most frequently censored book in the United States, and, at the same time, the second-most frequently taught novel in American public schools. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928072611/http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr559f/03-04-wt2/projects/S_Andrychuk/Content/history_book_catcher.pdf |archive-date=September 28, 2007}}</ref> According to the [[American Library Association]], ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was the 10th most frequently [[Challenge (literature)|challenged]] book from 1990 to 1999.<ref name="ALA">{{cite web |title=The 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999 |publisher=[[American Library Association]] |url=http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_1999/index.cfm |access-date=August 13, 2009}}</ref> It was one of the ten most challenged books of 2005,<ref>{{cite web |title="It's Perfectly Normal" tops ALA's 2005 list of most challenged books |publisher=[[American Library Association]] |url=http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=News&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=119074 |access-date=March 3, 2015}}</ref> and although it had been off the list for three years, it reappeared in the list of most challenged books of 2009.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2009 |publisher=[[American Library Association]] |url=http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10#2009 |access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref> The challenges generally begin with Holden's frequent use of vulgar language;<ref>{{cite news |date=October 6, 1997 |title=Art or trash? It makes for endless, unwinnable debate |work=[[The Topeka Capital-Journal]] |url=http://www.cjonline.com/stories/100697/snider.html |access-date=December 20, 2007 |quote=Another perennial target, J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," was challenged in Maine because of the "f" word. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606032330/http://www.cjonline.com/stories/100697/snider.html |archive-date=June 6, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Boron" /> other reasons include sexual references,<ref>{{cite news |last=MacIntyre |first=Ben |date=September 24, 2005 |title=The American banned list reveals a society with serious hang-ups |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1792974,00.html |access-date=December 20, 2007}}</ref> [[blasphemy]], undermining of family values<ref name="Boron" /> and moral codes,<ref name="Frangedis">{{cite journal |last=Frangedis |first=Helen |date=November 1988 |title=Dealing with the Controversial Elements in ''The Catcher in the Rye'' |journal=The English Journal |doi=10.2307/818945 |jstor=818945 |volume=77 |issue=7 |pages=72–75 |quote=The foremost allegation made against ''Catcher'' is... that it teaches loose moral codes; that it glorifies... drinking, smoking, lying, promiscuity, and more.}}</ref> encouragement of rebellion,<ref>{{cite news |author=Yilu Zhao |date=August 31, 2003 |title=Banned, But Not Forgotten |work=The New York Times |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E2DF1438F932A0575BC0A9659C8B63 |access-date=December 20, 2007 |quote=''The Catcher in the Rye,'' interpreted by some as encouraging rebellion against authority...}}</ref> and promotion of drinking, smoking, lying, [[promiscuity]], and sexual abuse.<ref name="Frangedis" /> This book was written for an adult audience, which often forms the foundation of many challengers' arguments against it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/09/banned-from-the-classroom-censorship-and-the-catcher-in-the-rye.html|title=Banned from the classroom: Censorship and The Catcher in the Rye – English and Drama blog|website=blogs.bl.uk|access-date=January 30, 2019}}</ref> Often the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself.<ref name="In Cold Fear review" /> Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced objections after assigning the novel in her class, noted that "the challengers are being just like Holden... They are trying to be catchers in the rye."<ref name="Boron">{{cite news |last=Mydans |first=Seth |date=September 3, 1989 |title=In a Small Town, a Battle Over a Book |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=2 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1D7103CF930A3575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 |access-date=December 20, 2007}}</ref> This has caused a [[Streisand effect]], as the incident caused many to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, where there was no waiting list before.<ref name="Whitfield">{{cite journal |last=Whitfield |first=Stephen |date=December 1997 |title=Cherished and Cursed: Toward a Social History of The Catcher in the Rye |journal=The New England Quarterly |doi=10.2307/366646 |jstor=366646 |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=567–600 |url=http://www.northeastern.edu/neq/pdfs/Whitfield%2C_Stephen_J.pdf |access-date=November 2, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912144104/http://www.northeastern.edu/neq/pdfs/Whitfield%2C_Stephen_J.pdf |archive-date=September 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |year=2001 |title=J.D. Salinger |publisher=[[Chelsea House]] |location=Philadelphia |isbn=0-7910-6175-2 |pages=77–105}}</ref> ==Violent reactions== {{further|The Catcher in the Rye in popular culture#Shootings}} Several shootings have been [[The Catcher in the Rye in popular culture#Shootings|associated]] with Salinger's novel, including [[Robert John Bardo]]'s murder of [[Rebecca Schaeffer]] and [[John Hinckley Jr.]]'s [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|assassination attempt]] on [[Ronald Reagan]]. Additionally, after [[Murder of John Lennon|fatally shooting]] [[John Lennon]], [[Mark David Chapman]] was arrested with a copy of the book that he had purchased that same day, inside of which he had written: "To Holden Caulfield, From Holden Caulfield, ''This'' is my statement".<ref>{{cite web |last=Weeks |first=Linton |date=September 10, 2000 |title=Telling on Dad |work=[[Amarillo Globe-News]] |url=http://amarillo.com/stories/091000/boo_tellingondad.shtml |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604005125/http://amarillo.com/stories/091000/boo_tellingondad.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date = June 4, 2011 |access-date=February 12, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Doyle |first=Aidan |date=December 15, 2003 |title=When books kill |work=[[Salon.com]] |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2003/12/15/books_kill/index1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105025510/http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2003/12/15/books_kill/index1.html |archive-date=November 5, 2007}}</ref> Commenting on the fascination of Hinckley and Chapman, Harvey Solomon-Brady wrote: : ''Compared to books lauded by other killers – [[George Orwell]]’s 1984 by [[John F. Kennedy]]’s assassin [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], [[C.S. Lewis]]’s meditations on Christianity by [[Gianni Versace]]’s murderer [[Andrew Cunanan]] and [[Joseph Conrad]]’s The Secret Agent by Unabomber [[Ted Kaczynski]] – The ‘’Catcher in the Rye’’ stands out in its devastating ability to influence without explicit instruction.'' <ref>Harvey Solomon-Brady, WhyNow, "Did The Catcher in the Rye kill John Lennon?," 8 December 2020</ref> ==Attempted adaptations== ===In film=== Early in his career, Salinger expressed a willingness to have his work adapted for the screen.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Hamilton (critic) |title=In Search of J. D. Salinger |url=https://archive.org/details/insearchofjdsali0000hami |url-access=registration |year=1988 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=0-394-53468-9}} p. 75.</ref> In 1949, a critically panned film version of his short story "[[Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut]]" was released; renamed ''[[My Foolish Heart (1949 film)|My Foolish Heart]]'', the film took great liberties with Salinger's plot and is widely considered to be among the reasons that Salinger refused to allow any subsequent film adaptations of his work.<ref name="Onstad" /><ref name="berg">Berg, A. Scott. ''Goldwyn: A Biography''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. {{ISBN|1-57322-723-4}}. p. 446.</ref> The enduring success of ''The Catcher in the Rye'', however, has resulted in repeated attempts to secure the novel's screen rights.<ref>See Dr. Peter Beidler's A'' Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye'', Chapter 7.</ref> When ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was first released, many offers were made to adapt it for the screen, including one from [[Samuel Goldwyn]], producer of ''My Foolish Heart''.<ref name="berg" /> In a letter written in the early 1950s, Salinger spoke of mounting a play in which he would play the role of Holden Caulfield opposite [[Margaret O'Brien]], and, if he couldn't play the part himself, to "forget about it." Almost 50 years later, the writer [[Joyce Maynard]] definitively concluded, "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger."<ref name="mayn">{{cite book |last=Maynard |first=Joyce |author-link=Joyce Maynard |title=At Home in the World |url=https://archive.org/details/athomeinworld00joyc |url-access=registration |year=1998 |publisher=Picador |location=New York |isbn=0-312-19556-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/athomeinworld00joyc/page/93 93]}}</ref> Salinger told Maynard in the 1970s that [[Jerry Lewis]] "tried for years to get his hands on the part of Holden,"<ref name="mayn" /> the protagonist in the novel which Lewis had not read until he was in his thirties.<ref name="Whitfield" /> Film industry figures including [[Marlon Brando]], [[Jack Nicholson]], [[Ralph Bakshi]], [[Tobey Maguire]] and [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] have tried to make a film adaptation.<ref>{{cite web |year=2004 |title=News & Features |work=IFILM: The Internet Movie Guide |url=http://vgn.ifilm.com/db/static_text/0,1699,5784,00.html |access-date=April 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040906121952/http://vgn.ifilm.com/db/static_text/0,1699,5784,00.html |archive-date=September 6, 2004}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]'', [[John Cusack]] commented that his one regret about turning 21 was that he had become too old to play Holden Caulfield. Writer-director [[Billy Wilder]] recounted his abortive attempts to snare the novel's rights: {{cquote|Of course I read ''The Catcher in the Rye''... Wonderful book. I loved it. I pursued it. I wanted to make a picture out of it. And then one day a young man came to the office of [[Leland Hayward]], my agent, in New York, and said, "Please tell Mr. Leland Hayward to lay off. He's very, very insensitive." And he walked out. That was the entire speech. I never saw him. That was J. D. Salinger and that was ''Catcher in the Rye''.<ref>Crowe, Cameron, ed. ''Conversations with Wilder''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. {{ISBN|0-375-40660-3}}. p. 299.</ref>}} In 1961, Salinger denied [[Elia Kazan]] permission to direct a stage adaptation of ''Catcher'' for [[Broadway theater|Broadway]].<ref name="guard">{{cite news |last=McAllister |first=David |date=November 11, 2003 |title=Will J. D. Salinger sue? |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1082699,00.html |access-date=April 12, 2007}}</ref> Later, Salinger's agents received bids for the ''Catcher'' film rights from [[Harvey Weinstein]] and [[Steven Spielberg]], neither of which was even passed on to Salinger for consideration.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spielberg wanted to film Catcher In The Rye|url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/entertainment/film/spielberg-wanted-to-film-catcher-in-the-rye-124346.html |date=December 5, 2003 |website=Irish Examiner|access-date=August 24, 2019}}</ref> In 2003, the [[BBC]] television program ''[[Big Read|The Big Read]]'' featured ''The Catcher in the Rye'', interspersing discussions of the novel with "a series of short films that featured an actor playing J. D. Salinger's adolescent antihero, Holden Caulfield."<ref name="guard" /> The show defended its unlicensed adaptation of the novel by claiming to be a "literary review", and no major charges were filed. In 2008, the rights of Salinger's works were placed in the JD Salinger Literary Trust where Salinger was the sole trustee. Phyllis Westberg, who was Salinger's agent at Harold Ober Associates in New York, declined to say who the trustees are now that the author is dead. After Salinger died in 2010, Phyllis Westberg stated that nothing has changed in terms of licensing film, television, or stage rights of his works.<ref>{{cite news |title=Slim chance of Catcher in the Rye movie – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) |newspaper=ABC News |date=January 29, 2010 |publisher=ABCnet.au |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/29/2805400.htm?section=justin |access-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref> A letter written by Salinger in 1957 revealed that he was open to an adaptation of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' released after his death. He wrote: "Firstly, it is possible that one day the rights will be sold. Since there's an ever-looming possibility that I won't die rich, I toy very seriously with the idea of leaving the unsold rights to my wife and daughter as a kind of insurance policy. It pleasures me no end, though, I might quickly add, to know that I won't have to see the results of the transaction." Salinger also wrote that he believed his novel was not suitable for film treatment, and that translating Holden Caulfield's [[first-person narrative]] into [[voice-over]] and dialogue would be contrived.<ref>{{cite news |last=Connelly |first=Sherryl |date=January 29, 2010 |title=Could 'Catcher in the Rye' finally make it to the big screen? Salinger letter suggests yes |work=Daily News |location=New York |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/01/30/2010-01-30_could_catcher_in_the_rye_finally_make_it_to_the_big_screen_salinger_letter_sugge.html |access-date=January 30, 2010}}</ref> In 2020, [[Don Hahn]] revealed that Disney had almost made an animated movie titled ''Dufus'' which would have been an adaptation of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' "with [[German Shepherd|German shepherds]]", most likely akin to ''[[Oliver & Company]]''. The idea came from then CEO [[Michael Eisner]] who loved the book and wanted to do an adaptation. After being told that J. D. Salinger would not agree to sell the film rights, Eisner stated "Well, let's just do that kind of story, that kind of growing up, coming of age story."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collider.com/disney-catcher-in-the-rye-animated-movie-explained/ |title=Disney Once Tried to Make an Animated 'Catcher in the Rye' — But Wait, There's More|website=Collider|last=Taylor|first=Drew|date=August 3, 2020|access-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref> ===Banned fan sequel=== In 2009, the year before he died, Salinger successfully sued to stop the U.S. publication of a novel that presents Holden Caulfield as an old man.<ref name="finlo rohrer" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Gross |first=Doug |date=June 3, 2009 |title=Lawsuit targets 'rip-off' of 'Catcher in the Rye' |publisher=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/06/03/salinger.catcher.lawsuit/index.html |access-date=June 3, 2009}}</ref> The novel's author, [[John David California|Fredrik Colting]], commented: "call me an ignorant Swede, but the last thing I thought possible in the U.S. was that you banned books".<ref>Fogel, Karl. [http://questioncopyright.org/salinger_censors Looks like censorship, smells like censorship... maybe it IS censorship?]. ''QuestionCopyright.org''. July 7, 2009.</ref> The issue is complicated by the nature of Colting's book, ''60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye'', which has been compared to [[fan fiction]].<ref>Sutherland, John. [https://archive.today/20130505075836/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23704887-details/How+fanfic+took+over+the+web/article.do How fanfic took over the web] ''[[London Evening Standard]]''. Retrieved July 22, 2009.</ref> Although commonly not authorized by writers, no legal action is usually taken against fan fiction, since it is rarely published commercially and thus involves no profit.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Fan Fiction and a New Common Law|author=[[Rebecca Tushnet]]|journal=Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal|date=1997|volume=17}}</ref> ==Legacy and use in popular culture== {{main|The Catcher in the Rye in popular culture}} ==See also== * [[Book censorship in the United States]] * [[Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century|''Le Monde''{{'}}s 100 Books of the Century]] ==References== ===Notes=== {{reflist|1=30em}} ===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Graham |first=Sarah |year=2007 |title=J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-34452-4}} * {{cite news |last=Rohrer |first=Finlo |date=June 5, 2009 |title=The why of the Rye |work=BBC News Magazine |publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8084931.stm}} * {{ citation | last1 = Salinger | first1 = J. D. | title = The Catcher in the Rye | location = New York | publisher = [[Bantam Books|Bantam]] | year = 1969 }} * {{cite book |last=Wahlbrinck |first=Bernd |year=2021 |title=Looking Back after 70 Years: J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye Revisited |isbn=978-3-9821463-7-9}} {{refend}} ===Further reading=== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Steinle |first=Pamela Hunt |year=2000 |title=In Cold Fear: ''The Catcher in the Rye'' Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character |publisher=[[Ohio State University Press]] |url=http://www.ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?/books/book%20pages/steinle%20in.html |access-date = March 29, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160331042330/https://ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?%2Fbooks%2Fbook%2520pages%2Fsteinle%2520in.html |archive-date = March 31, 2016 |url-status = dead }} {{refend}} ==External links== {{wikiquote|The Catcher in the Rye}} * [http://www.bookdrum.com/books/the-catcher-in-the-rye/9780140237504/index.html Book Drum illustrated profile of ''The Catcher in the Rye''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928091148/http://www.bookdrum.com/books/the-catcher-in-the-rye/9780140237504/index.html |date=September 28, 2016 }} * [http://www.mansionbooks.com/BookDetail.php?bk=213 Photos of the first edition of ''Catcher in the Rye''] * [http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/06/03/salinger.catcher.lawsuit/index.html Lawsuit targets "rip-off" of "Catcher in the Rye"] – ''[[CNN]]'' <!-- Commercial links to study guides, notes, etc. will be removed. --> {{J. D. Salinger}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Catcher in the Rye, The}} [[Category:Fiction set in 1949]] [[Category:1951 American novels]] [[Category:American bildungsromans]] [[Category:Book censorship in the Republic of Ireland]] [[Category:English-language novels]] [[Category:Fiction with unreliable narrators]] [[Category:Literary realism]] [[Category:Little, Brown and Company books]] [[Category:Novels by J. D. Salinger]] [[Category:Novels about American prostitution]] [[Category:Novels set in California]] [[Category:Novels set in New York City]] [[Category:Novels set in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:New York City in fiction]] [[Category:Obscenity controversies in literature]] [[Category:Controversies in the United States]] [[Category:Trying to prevent adulthood in popular culture]] [[Category:Censored books]] [[Category:1951 debut novels]] [[Category:First-person narrative novels]] [[Category:Novels first published in serial form]]'