A depiction of Salinger's Holden Caulfield by Paige Menees
R.I.P. J.D.: Author Dies at 91.
Jerome David Salinger was born on January 1st, 1919 and died on January 27, 2010.
In It has been almost 4 years since I read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time. At that time, I had no choice but to read it in my high school English class, which was featured in classic American literature. I was quizzed on Holden, his antics and what being the “Catcher in the Rye” really meant; however, no test or essay could ever really extract the impact the book really had on me.
I picked up The Catcher in the Rye, like others have, many times since that first reading. I read it through a couple of times, skipping to my favorite scenes and quotes from Holden. Somewhere along the way, in the almost 60 years from the books publication, it has become stereotypical to cite Salinger’s masterpiece as one’s favorite book. In fact, I just read a blog post about J.D.’s death that claimed he started the cliché regarding the “alienated and misunderstood teenager thing.” The truth of the matter is that J.D., like all good artists, did not invent the theme, but rather captured it brilliantly.
For me The Catcher in the Rye is a piece of literature that is both comforting and unsettling. It feels to the reader as though they are not by themselves – Holden represents the countless people in the world who feel as though they are held down or alone. On the other hand, “The Catcher” pinpointed the word I had been looking for at that time in my adolescence to describe the people with which I had made contact. Holden taught me they were phonies. He taught me never to be a phony, but he also taught me that there was nothing I could do about it. No one could ever catch all those kids running through the rye, and so all I could hope to do was to never get too close to that cliff that Holden talked about.
The world will miss J.D., not to mention the countless high school students all over the world that will soon learn all there is to know about him. It is my hope that the book will continue to touch youths the same way it touched me. I hope it will be used as a stepping-stone for ambitious young people to recognize what they dislike in the world and be inspired enough to change it.
Rest in Peace J.D., and know that you will live forever through the world of Holden Caulfield.