The Atlantic recently featured two articles about this book. One of the article mentions that pop culture has “flattened” Holden Caufield into an “irritatingly male, misanthropic whiner.” The author thinks this is unfair, and I agree, but I wondered if I would feel this way if I read the book now. This has been one of my favorite novels, and I’ve read it once or twice since the first time I read it in my twenties. It’s always held up well. I thought it was a good time to re-read the novel to see if I would feel the same.

After finishing the novel again, here are some random thoughts:

• A part of felt like this would be a novel that would not age well. I mean, the main character is a 16 year old. As I aged, I think there’s a good chance a novel like this would no longer resonate with me. Indeed, when I re-watched a film like Before Sunrise, sadly, I didn’t enjoy it as much, primarily because of my age and where I’m at in life. Catcher in the Rye is different. I think I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I read it.
• Interestingly, I feel like the novel resonated with me because I was socially isolated, and I was not much older than Holden. While reading the novel, Phoebe also made me think of my sister. And yet even at a much older age, and different circumstance, I still enjoyed the novel, and still like Holden quite a bit.
• In the previous readings, the idea of phoniness was a prominent theme. This time I paid more attention to the things that made Holden happy or sad. By the way, he’s constantly mentioning things that make him depressed in a way that people talk now, and I wonder if use of the word “depressed” in this way came from the novel. (I didn’t realize the novel was written in 1945. For some reason, I thought it was written in the 60s.) Anyway, if I had the motivation, I would want to examine all the things that make him sad or happy. Off the top of my head, I would say that I’m mostly in agreement with his reactions, or at least I often sympathize with many of them.
• More than one or two times, the book made me laugh out loud. I didn’t remember it being as funny, and maybe I didn’t appreciate some of the humor. I don’t really favor adapting the novel into a film, but I admit I wouldn’t mind seeing some of these funnier moments.
• The scene with Mr. Antolini was creepy and dark in the previous readings. Now that homosexuality is more accepted, I wondered if I’d feel the same. I think it is still pretty disturbing, but ultimately I think the point captures the struggle and confusion that Holden is going through in his life. Specifically, he has doubts about the real intentions of Mr. Antolini. Did Holden misread the situation? Even if he felt like he didn’t, there was still enough uncertainty to cause some doubt. That can be confusing and destabilizing, especially since Mr. Antolini was the only adult he could turn to at that moment.
• Another item I’d like to explore is the notion of phoniness in the novel. What does Holden actually mean by this? I felt more confident I understand what he meant in previous readings, but I’m less sure in this one. Also, is Holden a phony, at least in some moments, to some degree as well? On a related note, why does Holden dislike movies, while respecting books?

More later.