Challenge Corner discussion

The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it. There are many voices in this novel: children's voices, adult voices, underground voices-but Holden's voice is the most eloquent of all. Transcending his own vernacular, yet remaining marvelously faithful to it, he issues a perfectly articulated cry of mixed pain and pleasure. However, like most lovers and clowns and poets of the higher orders, he keeps most of the pain to, and for, himself. The pleasure he gives away, or sets aside, with all his heart. It is there for the reader who can handle it to keep.

J.D. Salinger's classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It has been frequently challenged in the court for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and in the 1950's and 60's it was the novel that every teenage boy wants to read.

I have made it to chapter 9. It is interesting in how dated the vocabulary, including swear words. Less amusing is its approach to the treatment of women and consent. I didn't read this in high school so this is my first time reading it. (view spoiler)[ He just left the school so it will be interesting to see what happens next. Also, he notes he comes across as very juvenile but he really comes across as very juvenile. (hide spoiler)]

I am now at Chapter 18. So it isn't that nothing happens in this book, things happen but the main character is really, annoying. (view spoiler)[ I guess it is enlightened for the 1950s that the main character stops when women ask him to but his entire thought process afterwards kind of ruins any credit he gets. The entire treatment on women in this is crap. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 24. I think so far the only redeemable part about the narrator is his interactions with his sister Phoebe. I enjoy their interactions and how he respects. her.

Done. Well, I enjoyed the ending with Phoebe. It fit the character arc. It is also a good reminder as a book as a whole how much the 1950s are not nostalgic for women.

Chapter 5
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I'm finding this book really funny so far. Like the way his teacher yelled at him about failing history and he just said yeah, that's right, I sure screwed it up. If it keeps up like this I won't really care whether anything interesting happens plot-wise.
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Caroline wrote: "Chapter 5."

Glad you are enjoying it so far

Chapter 11
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Wow, this guy certainly is acting like a jerk, punching his roommate for no reason and waking up a bunch of people in the middle of the night. And those women he talked to at the hotel didn't seem too interested in talking to him either, so he should have just left them alone.
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Chapter 16
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The way he talked about sex was really sad! Like how he said that he can't have sex because if you try, the girl always says to stop - like not just him, but he assumes that always happens whenever anyone has sex, so the only way to do it is keep going when the girl says stop. :( Poor girls!
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Chapter 21
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It made me really sad that the record broke. I guess Phoebe didn't care though, lol. And it also made me sad when Holden went on that big rant about how he hates everything about life, like taxis and elevators and how boring it is when people talk about cars. I mean, they were all little dumb things, but I feel like you can spend a lot of time thinking about little dumb things you don't like and being sad about it, and that's what he's doing here.

Also, he really needs to stop waking people up in the middle of night!
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Finished!
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When Holden went to his old teachers house and the teacher started lecturing him, I thought maybe that was going to be the main message of the book. But if so, I didn't really get it. It honestly seemed like mumbo jumbo, all that stuff about figuring out the size of your head. But I enjoyed reading the book, and it was funny the whole way through.
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Good job on finishing it

Haha, thanks! I agreed with you about Phoebe - she seemed like the only positive part of the book!

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RESTARTING MAY 5TH, 2020

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I’ll be starting this tomorrow!

Ch 7: (view spoiler)[It’s interesting so far. Sometimes the way they talk annoys me. Or maybe it’s the spelling of some words? No idea lol. Let’s see what’s going to happen next now that he’s out of school (hide spoiler)]

Ch 14: (view spoiler)[I’m a little bored with everything that has been happening so far. (hide spoiler)]
Ch 20: (view spoiler)[Lmaaao at the drunk phone call between him and Sally’s family (hide spoiler)]
Finished: (view spoiler)[The book got a bit more interesting but the ending was kind of lame in my eyes. Weird how I never read this book in school but I’m also kind of glad. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[ 4 chapters into this book, and i still have no idea at all what exactly it is about (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[ I've never read the word godamit or damn this often in my life hahaha (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15 (view spoiler)[ The nuns very quite nice, i'll have to admit that. i still dislike Holden loads though, he is quite boring (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 20 (view spoiler)[i'm so damn ready for Holden's parents to pick him up and give him a lesson for life. at this i'm finishing the book for the sake of doing so (hide spoiler)]