I didn't like Cather in the Rye. This is one of those books that's so "wrong" that it detracts some people from ever taking books seriously. Another misinformed kid with crappy parents and puberty issues. It's like saying "Hey, it's OK, you know?" Nope. Go read psychology if you want to know what's "OK".
He thinks people are phony. He's absolutely correct. But they don't really tell us the rest of his philosophy. He just turns into an "angsty" teenager. Holden is afraid of changing and growing up, they say. Maybe he's actually realized what a world this is and he needs to define what he is going to be in that world. He's not afraid of anything, he's just misinformed because his parents suck. He has to figure out everything entirely on his own and doesn't know how. Erikson's Confusion vs. Identity
I think the author did a good job of chucking a bunch of made up rubbish about teenagers that isn't really there. This book is written in a lower end of people intelligence. It seems to try to say the he should accept society more. That is not true. "Alienation is just a phase." No it's fucking NOT. Unless... you're at the lower end of people intelligence. But Holden is shown as "bad". And that is how society is taught to see people like Holden. Maybe society should start thinking about stopping to be so damn phony.
The whole digression thing is just "we don't like you because you're different from what we are". There are two things a person could do. Go to the external locus of control (subject to peer pressure), or the internal one (judge oneself from the inside ignoring others).
I don't think Holden did either. The book didn't have the most definite ending.
Moreover, it uses too many symbols too forcefully. I notice this in a lot of books...
I think many people like it because they can relate to the guy. Hell, I can relate to the guy. But I don't like the way the book portrays it at all. I also don't think it says much.
Now I feel like writing a book about the same thing but from the high angle...
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He thinks people are phony. He's absolutely correct. But they don't really tell us the rest of his philosophy. He just turns into an "angsty" teenager. Holden is afraid of changing and growing up, they say. Maybe he's actually realized what a world this is and he needs to define what he is going to be in that world. He's not afraid of anything, he's just misinformed because his parents suck. He has to figure out everything entirely on his own and doesn't know how. Erikson's Confusion vs. Identity
I think the author did a good job of chucking a bunch of made up rubbish about teenagers that isn't really there. This book is written in a lower end of people intelligence. It seems to try to say the he should accept society more. That is not true. "Alienation is just a phase." No it's fucking NOT. Unless... you're at the lower end of people intelligence. But Holden is shown as "bad". And that is how society is taught to see people like Holden. Maybe society should start thinking about stopping to be so damn phony.
The whole digression thing is just "we don't like you because you're different from what we are". There are two things a person could do. Go to the external locus of control (subject to peer pressure), or the internal one (judge oneself from the inside ignoring others).
I don't think Holden did either. The book didn't have the most definite ending.
Moreover, it uses too many symbols too forcefully. I notice this in a lot of books...
I think many people like it because they can relate to the guy. Hell, I can relate to the guy. But I don't like the way the book portrays it at all. I also don't think it says much.
Now I feel like writing a book about the same thing but from the high angle...