Catcher in the Rye
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“Catcher in the Rye”
“Catcher in the Rye,” is shown in Chapter 16, when Holden admires a boy singing “Comin Thro the Rye,” by Robert Burns and walking on the road, rather than the sidewalk. Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do in his future, and he answers with his version of a “catcher in the rye.” (ch.22) Holden envisions many playing children in a rye field settled high on a cliff. He said he would save the children from falling off the cliff by “catching” them if they were about to. Phoebe stated that he misunderstood a line, as he thinks the line is “If a body catch a body comin through the rye,” but the true lyric is “If a body meet a body, coming through the rye.”
“Comin Thro the Rye” questions the morality two people to have a romantic meeting in the fields, away from the public, even if they dont want to commit. It is ironic that the word “meet,” suggests a meeting that leads to leisure sex, for the word that Holden alternates–“catch”–defines a reverse meaning in his head. Holden wants to catch children before they fall out of the purity of childhood and into the adult world, involving knowledge of sex.
Jane is a character who we never actually meet in the novel. Her importance lies in the way that she is obviously one of the few women in the novel that Holden both likes and has a friendship with, and finds attractive. What is interesting about Holdens relationship with Jane is that he clearly feels protective towards her, and this could mask his own attraction that he is perhaps unaware of. Note what he says after Stradlater leaves for his date with her:
“I sat there for a half hour after he left. I mean I just sat in my chair, not doing anything. I kept thinking about Jane, and about Stradlater having a date with her and all. It made me so nervous I nearly went crazy. I already told you what a sexy bastard Stradlater was.”
Jane then is another example of how un-self-aware Holden is as a character, as he seems blind to his own feelings towards her.
Holden does not reach out to Jane and go down and see her, because he says he is not in the “mood” right at that stage. Perhaps he feels embarrassed or ashamed because he has just been kicked out of his school. He certainly asks Stradlater not to tell her about it. Whatever his reasons, it is interesting to reflect that Jane might have been one of the few people that Holden could actually have told about some of the deep unresolved issues that were going on inside of him. He refuses however to cry out for help until he has a breakdown.
(pg. 30-4, 76-80, 104, 135, 136) (calling, thoughts of calling – 63, 105, 116, 135, 136, 150, 191, 202) (checkers – 31-2, 44,