Peace Through Isolation: J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in The Rye

J.D. Salinger created a story of an adolescent attempting to deny the mortal truths of growth and aging in his novel The Catcher in The Rye. Through the angst-ridden eyes of teenager Holden Caulfield, Salinger shows the trials of the young character's attempt to obtain peace through isolation. According to Holden, isolation appears to be the only way he can remain safe and protected. Through the use of lying, labeling the adult world by it's phoniness, the symbolic red hunting cap, his numerous dysfunctional relationships, and attraction to the Museum of Art, Holden attempts to push away all interactions with the outside, grown-up world around him.

All throughout the novel Holden refers to how he likes to "shoot the bull"(pg. 13), or in other words compulsively lie. By deceiving others, Holden thinks that he will be able to remain detached from them and be isolated. In this way he will not have to share a part of himself while finding out information about other people. The best example of Holden's lying ability is when he has escaped from Pencey and Mrs. Morrow joins him on the train. His lies about Ernie, her son, are merely euphemisms about the "bastard"(54) Holden considers her son, to be. Holden has already realized that mothers, "all they want to hear about is what a hot-shot their son is"(56). So, Holden continues to lie about her son and his tumor being the reason he has to go home because "once [he] get[s] started, [he] can go on for hours"(58). Through his lies, Holden is able to create any sort of identity for himself that he could want without divulging any truths about himself.

Across the pages of the novel, Holden labels the adult realm surrounding him as phony. The shallowness and hypocrisy of the adults surrounding him gives Holden excuses to not want to join the grown-ups and continue acting like he's "thirteen" although he's really "seventeen"(9). During his brief escape from captivity, Holden runs into an old friend of his brother's, Lillian Simmons. "Strictly a phony"(86), Lillian Simmons represents the people in society that have to have the attention. After Lillian notices Holden, she blocks the aisle. Holden observes that she is type of person that "liked to block up a lot of traffic"(87) and become the shallow center of attention. Another phony person Holden names is Sally Hayes' mother. In contrast to the nuns Holden met previously, he tries to imagine this superficial woman collecting money for the poor and realizes that she would only do charity work if "everybody kissed her ass for her when they made a contribution"(114). Unless this woman is receiving superficial compliments and homage to her beauty and good will, there is nothing she can get out of charity work. Doing good for good sake does not seem to be a common trait among the upper classes in the society Holden classifies as phony. In addition to Sally Hayes' mother, Holden also focuses on the yuppy crowd that hangs out during intermission of the Lunts play. He sees "so many phonies"(126) discussing the play loud enough for the benefit of everyone else in order to impress all others. The cardboard cut-outs of Ivy League boys during this scene shows how Holden sees all the guys that continue on in that sort of education, his type of private education. Each one is being conformed to a specific mold and is unable to exert any sense of originality. Holden resents this and the fact

that the boys schools create homogeneous "dirty little cliques"(131) that determine the boys' futures. Thus, Holden's escape from such labeling and cataloguing to show his desire to obtain originality and truth.

Additionally, Holden's red hunting hat is a major symbol of individuality and his desire to remain outside the grown-up world. Not only does Holden continuously mention his hat throughout the entire novel, but he tends to "get a bang out of it"(27). Also, Holden enjoys the obvious discomfort of his room mate when Ackley jeeringly refers to the hat as a "deer shooting hat"(22), because Holden then wittily returns that it is now his "people shooting hat"(22). Attempting to be original appears to be Holden's desire with his red hat. He does not want his hat to be associated with something as mundane as hunting deer, so he makes it more sinister and creative by calling it his "people shooting hat"(22). Holden shows that his hat is not only his claim to individuality but also in order to disassociate himself with those around him.

By labeling his hat as an accessory to violence against people, Holden is also showing a way he approaches his relationships. Always on the defensive, Holden holds a significant lack of relationships with other people that are not children. The only people he appears to have any sort of caring association with are his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Allie. It is because his sister and brother are the only ones assumed to obtain their innocence. It is this loss of innocence in others that keeps Holden from keeping an affinity with them. Even his older brother DB sells out and becomes a "prostitute"(2) of Hollywood. By refusing to claim friendships, Holden also hides from relationships as a way to protect himself from the responsibility of growing up. In the beginning, Holden refuses to attend the big game at his school(2). Instead he is on his way to visit a teacher he does not particularly care for. As he conceals himself from the friendships forged at school activities, Holden denies himself the ability to bond with others. Additionally, Holden even seeks out to destroy what connections he could have made. After a date with a girl he once cared for, his room mate Ackley returns only to be attacked by Holden (45). Irrationally, even Holden cannot justify what he did in the bathroom. Rather, it is his innate desire to remain isolated from all outside associations. Holden's immature reaction to his roommate is proof of his wish to refute all claims to responsibility that results from interactions with other people.

Finally, Holden's fascination with the Museum of Art is also evidence of his inability to deal with the real world. The appeal of the museum is the static characteristics of the displays inside. In this one building everything remains the same. Here is the only place Holden feels he can return to without worrying about the changes wrought through time and experience. "The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move"(121). Protected behind the plates of glass, the innocence of the museum is infinite. The Eskimo would always be fishing, the birds would always be flying south, and the squaw would always be weaving the same blanket(121). Holden wishes for "certain things [to] stay the way they are"(122). The museum is the only place that preserves rather than destroys and it calls to Holden. Rather than accepting that things change and people grow, he continues to hope for a way to protect himself from the overbearing outside world.

All in all, Holden's story is a quest for self-identity that is never fulfilled. On the other hand, Holden never seems to be searching for himself, only a way to block out the rest of a corrupt and "phony" society. Holden sneers at others attempts to lie and appear as a facsimile of the person that would be accepted by the people surrounding them. Instead of adapting to the rules which seem to govern the actions of others, Holden rejects the ritual of accumulating relationships within the same class structure. By deceiving others, accusing them of phoniness, and declining all attempts at making friends, Holden desires isolation as a means of peace and happiness. His symbolic red hat and museum also support Holden's inability to conform to the norm. To Holden, other people represent the follies of maturity and society, and in his own way, Holden fights against all attempts to conform him to the views of those other people. Therefore, the only way for Holden to obtain peace is to destroy their associations with him and remain in an innocent isolation.