I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around — nobody big, I mean — except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy.
in The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
3 responses so far ↓
The Never Fairy // August 1, 2008 at 5:14 am |
I’ve had this same thought. Or is Holden just suffering from the complex?
Did you know a new Peter Pan novel is out? It doesn’t contradict Barrie’s original stories like the other prequels and sequels. And it’s based on his idea for more Pan adventure!
Look here: http://www.peterpansneverworld.com
Thanks for the literary comparison!
BELIEVE!
hemlock // August 1, 2008 at 11:01 am |
Thanks for the comment, Never Fairy. I’ll check it out.
I don’t think Holden has a Peter Pan complex, though. It’s not that he wants to be a child forever (in fact, he says he’s the only grown up in the rye), but that he wants to preserve innocence, both in children, who he sees as pure, and in himself (Holden doesn’t want to be a phoney, and in a way I think he’s very pure.)
When I was reading that chapter I thought of it more as a Messiah complex — and remember that Jesus too said we should be like little children. Holden really just wants to save everyone from corruption of the soul, to keep them from becoming as phoney as everyone else.
And this was really what Peter Pan did. By providing children with the bliss of eternal childhood this is exactly what he did, catch them in the rye.
Of course, Neverland wasn’t that pure of a place anyway. I stopped thinking of it as such when Peter said he wanted to kill the pirate. But I guess what that really goes to show is that you can’t really keep catching everyone; one shouldn’t be in the rye forever — unfortunately. If they want to go for the gold ring you shouldn’t stop them. Right, Holden?
The Never Fairy // August 1, 2008 at 7:56 pm |
Wow. You’ve given this a lot of thought.
Good for you. (Really.)
It’s nice to see someone delving into Literature.
Believe, always.