My Favorite Book: “Catcher in the Rye”

the-catcher-in-the-rye-cover

My favorite book is “Catcher in the Rye”. I haven’t read it since the 10th grade, so I decided to read it again to see if it still felt it was interesting. The thing with this book is that you have to come into the book with an open mind. If someone gives you their take on the book before you even read it, you’re screwed. After reading the book people would ask me why I like the book so much because he was either: a spoiled ungrateful kid, a depressed cynical bum who will never become anything or just simply the book was a bore. But I’m not going to get into a critique of the book because obviously I would be biased because I love the book. Oh and the 1950’s slang is so ‘grand’! The narrator/main character Holden Caulfield hates that word ‘grand’. Lol. But ‘crumb bum’ is my favorite! As I digress, I’ll just be posting my favorite quotes from the book, explaining why I like them…simple as that.

 

Chapter 1

“My parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They’re quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They’re nice and all-I’m not saying that-but they’re also touchy as hell.”

This was so hilarious to me! I don’t know anyone’s parents who aren’t private. And for some reason it’s always the dad that is so much more up tight that the mom. My own dad is so private to the point that it’s actually comical.
“Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has-I’m not kidding.”

Very relevant to way the regular world worked and still works.

 

Chapter 2

“”Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”
“Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.”
Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right–I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game.”

The quote is very understandable. Everyone can apply it to some part of their life in some way, shape or form. No one is a hot-shot at everything.

 

Chapter 6

“It wasn’t allowed for students to borrow faculty guys’ cars, but all the athletic bastards stuck together. In every school I’ve gone to, all the athletic bastards stick together.”

Boy, isn’t that the truth. It’s like the school’s cult. Lol…no lie.

 

Chapter 12

“The Navy guy and I told each other we were glad to’ve met each other. Which always kills me. I’m always saying “Glad to’ve met you” to somebody I’m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”

Everyone doesn’t genuinely want to meet everyone. Saying “Glad to’ve met you” can easily go in the same boat as “How are you doing” because hardly anyone genuinely cares. Try answering with “I’m bad.” I need to find these strangers that are going to genuinely sit there and listen to someone talk about why they’re doing badly.

 

Chapter 15

“Then, after a while, right in the middle of the goddam conversation, he asked me, “Did you happen to notice where the Catholic church is in town, by any chance?” The thing was, you could tell by the way he asked me that he was trying to find out if I was a Catholic. He really was. Not that he was prejudiced or anything, but he just wanted to know. He was enjoying the conversation about tennis and all, but you could tell he would’ve enjoyed it more if I was a Catholic and all. That kind of stuff drives me crazy. I’m not saying it ruined our conversation or anything–it didn’t–but it sure as hell didn’t do it any good.”

It’s crazy how you can have a good conversation with a complete stranger. Then all of a sudden they ask you something to see if you guys have any similarities; basically making the conversation sound 10x better in their mind if in fact you guys do share that similarity. And if you don’t share the similarity, the conversation then becomes mediocre in their mind. What a waste of a good convo.

 

Chapter 19

“I was getting a little too personal. I realize that. But that was one of the annoying things about Luce. When we were at Whooton, he’d make you describe the most personal stuff that happened to you, but if you started asking him questions about himself, he got sore. These intellectual guys don’t like to have an intellectual conversation with you unless they’re running the whole thing. They always want you to shut up when they shut up, and go back to your room when they go back to their room.”

I’m sure everyone knows someone like this. If not, then they themselves are this person.

 

Chapter 22

“’Anyway, 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.’”

Kids…aren’t they so precious before they have been corrupted by the world. I totally understood what he was saying because I feel the same way. Kids should be able to be kids as long as they can. I want to be able to protect my young ones for as long as I possibly can before they fall of the edge of the cliff that rips them of their innocence, joyful spirit, and honesty.

 

Chapter 24

“’Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on that score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them–if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.’”

 

I definitely do learn from the men who have kept record of their troubles, especially the ones who have been sickened by human behavior.

 

“’Something else an academic education will do for you. If you go along with it any considerable distance, it’ll begin to give you an idea what size mind you have. What it’ll fit and, maybe, what it won’t. After a while, you’ll have an idea what kind of thoughts your particular size mind should be wearing. For one thing, it may save you an extraordinary amount of time trying on ideas that don’t suit you, aren’t becoming to you. You’ll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly.’”

 

Best quote ever from the book. It took me until my 1st semester during my sophomore year in college to figure this out. Academically what I was learning and observing during college at that time helped me realize the ideas that do suit me and the ones that don’t. I felt as if I had to reprogram 17 years, having to throw out and keep what kind of thoughts my mind should be wearing. You shouldn’t waste time of ideas/thoughts that aren’t becoming of you.

 

Throughout The Book

I loved how Holden Caulfield really wanted to know where the ducks go once the pond has frozen-over. The funny thing was that no one took him serious. The first taxi driver he asked just looked at him like he was crazy. The second taxi driver diverted the attention to the fish in the pond because he felt the fish and the ducks were one in the same. It was hilarious that the second taxi driver just got so ‘sore’ about the question because he didn’t know the answer. So many times do people want to inquire about something that other people feel is stupid. The other people feel it’s stupid because either they don’t know the answer to the question or they just feel in their mind that it’s a stupid question.

 

It also was just so hilarious how ‘yellow’ of a guy Holden was. How can you talk all this crap and never be able to stand up for yourself? That is very contradictrial (yes I made that word up Mr. Webster).

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