Isolation (Places – Nathan Kaneshiro)

In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, there are two very opposite places: one is the bustling city life in New York City, and the other is a getaway that is imagined by the protagonist/narrator, Holden Caulfield. Holden is a very, very cynical and antisocial type person, and finds that almost everyone he encounters in the Big Apple is a phony and basically not worth his time or even a conversation. To counter this, he thinks up a nice wooden cabin in the middle of a forest while he is a deaf mute to ignore all of the stupid people that surround his cozy house. Obviously, the “deaf-mute” house is not tangible, but it is easy to imagine for such a character as Holden. NYC however, is a little more difficult to visualize, as popular as it is. The social scene and social culture there is not as spotlighted as the skyscrapers and cabbies.

NYC, being one of the more famous cities in the US, has weight to carry as far as its population is concerned. Being that it is so full of people, it seems that Salinger almost mocked Holden by placing him in such a social arena. Holden could have been just as easily placed in a small town in the southwest, but instead his cynicism and doubt kicks in almost every second he spends in the busy city. Being Holden, he creates an impersonal, impenetrable getaway in his mind which eliminates all contact from other humans, and thus effectively eliminating any risk of running into and interacting with phonies. This “deaf-mute” getaway represents Holden’s “deaf-mute” personality. However, although he rarely talks to strangers, he does seem to have a lot of judgmental thoughts of them and their actions. This relates to his “deaf-mute” personality in the way that he doesn’t want to talk or hear people, but he wants to be able to see them so he can make fun of them in his head. Notice, he isn’t blind in his getaway house.

Salinger’s complex settings and very thought out representations of the different aspects of character and personality definitely add depth to the novel. Holden’s way of thinking is very unconventional to most people, and adds that sort of interesting, curious, “what-if” point of view. Add a surrounding, stunning social life that New York City has, and a wonderful irony arises. Salinger’s use of a quirky character and his symbolic getaway house combined with his unforgettable cynicism make The Catcher in the Rye what it is: an amazingly beautiful avant-garde success.