Holden's philosophy: Is he an Intellectual Genius??
Throughout the novel, we get the pleasure of listening to Holden's rants and critique of society. Holden is a very opinionated and judgmental individual and he makes sure to let us know his thoughts on about everyone and everything. He feels that he is alone in this world, and is the only one who is enlightened enough to notice the phoniness of society. Almost everyone is fake, except for himself, and a select few family members and love interests and he liked the nuns alright. Is he truly correct in his thinking? Is he genuinely enlightened and on a philosophical level above everyone else? I'm inclined to say no.
Holden feels that nobody understands him when he says how phony society is. He explains to his girlfriend/fling thing Sally how he wants to run away and just start a life in the middle of nowhere away from the phony society in which he's been brought up. Sally doesn't understand what he's talking about and Holden gets upset at her and fumbles the bag. To Holden, his idea seems like an idea that only he has, but I don't think that's the case. When comparing it to the present day, I think that the idea of running away to live a secluded life is actually quite popular among teenage boys. Especially with social media, we are able to see anyone share their feelings and views on any subject imaginable. On a normal day on TikTok, I will probably see 2 or 3 videos from fellow teenagers critiquing societal norms and maybe 1 or 2 fantasizing about running away from society and living a secluded life in the forest. If Holden grew up in today's day and age, he would see that there are many other boys like him; aimless, lonely, and yearning for purpose.
The fact that this book became so famous shows how this is a common philosophy that young teenagers have, just that nobody had really spoken about it. I think that Holden falls into this trap of not speaking about his ideas as well. He never really talks to anyone except the reader and Phoebe about his distaste for phoniness as he feels nobody else would be able to understand what he's saying. The problem is how is anyone supposed to understand him if he never explains it to anyone. Plenty of people think the same as him, just nobody speaks about it, so nobody thinks people have similar ideas. Mr. Antolini alludes to this when he tells Holden that once he learns how to convey his thoughts through writing, he will learn that many men and women have been similarly disturbed by the social norms of the world.
Holden is not the intellectual genius he thinks he is, and it's to some fault of his own that he thinks he is alone in his philosophy because of his inability to converse with others about his ideas. However, I do think he is on the right track by the end of the novel. He thinks over Mr. Antolini's words encouraging him to learn to express his thoughts threw writing and is going back to school, hopefully to take the advice to heart.
Good post! Perhaps Holden's avoidance to communicating his real thoughts is his own, unrecognizable form of "phoniness"? I definitely agree with the fact that he is shooting his own foot but I think it's also important to recognize that there isn't any way for him to communicate his ideas to likeminded individuals. If he told any of the adults that are trying to help him, well, who knows what would happen! I think it is also important to recognize that maybe this view isn't universal amongst teenagers- perhaps, it is a plight that inflicts impassionate and lonely ones.
ReplyDeleteyeah, he for sure isn't unique in his struggles. i feel like the biggest thing keeping him from being an "intellectual" is his arrogance in always thinking he's right. i think you're right that if he hails antolini's advice of going back to school he'll do better off, actually putting an effort in could help that.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say he's an intellectual. It's possible that many people recognize this phoniness in society, but they go along with it because that's just how society functions. You can't really get away from the phoniness without escaping society and social norms completely. I think it's interesting how his struggle is supposed to be unique, yet a lot of people (especially teenagers) relate to it. Maybe they don't have as extreme of a struggle as Holden does, but I feel that lots of people can identify with his critiques of society in some way. Interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI find it really interesting at the end of the novel when Antolini subtly pushes back on Holden by saying that many people feel the same way that he does about phoniness, but they simply go with it because them complaining isn't going to make any huge difference. I think that's how most readers feel in general: though Holden does make good, relatable points, he thinks he is smarter than he is because he thinks that others don't notice it. In reality, they do notice phoniness, but just aren't as fixated on it as Holden is.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that teenage culture has changed in the years since the publication of this novel, and that maybe this novel has even had something to do with that? I agree with you that many of Holden's sources of angst are now (often dismissively or ironically) derided as "teen angst," but I know of virtually no literary or cinematic representations of this apparently universal teenage experience before _Catcher_. Even when I was a youngster, decades and decades ago, I never heard the phrase "teen angst" or understood that I was "supposed to" feel rebellious and discontented in various ways. I just *felt* that way, and those feelings were validated by punk rock music in a bunch of ways. But I certainly didn't have the feeling that most other kids my age felt the same way: everyone acted (in a rather Sally Hayes kind of way) as if everything was fine and the system was generally okay. School was a "terrific bore," but most people didn't experience it as some kind of dystopian thought-control setting.
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, clearly Holden's cri-de-coeur DID resonate with a LOT of young readers, so Salinger must have been on to something larger than a personal sense of angst. Maybe he did tap into something that had existed all along, but few had the vocabulary to talk about. For better or worse, these Tik-Tok kids have all inherited a rich vocabulary for satisfying the cultural expectation that their teenage years will entail a measure of "angst." A real chicken-before-egg conundrum!