THE CATCHER IN THE RYE:
David Elsheimer
A DOCTRINE IN EASTERN THEOLOGY
AND ROADMAP TO J.D. SALINGER’S PAST
May 30, 1997
Advanced Placement English III
Mrs. McCoy
PREFACE
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE: A DOCTRINE IN EASTERN THEOLOGY AND ROADMAP TO J.D. SALINGER’S PAST
"That’s the whole trouble, you can’t even find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you’re not looking, somebody’ll sneak up and write 'Fuck you’ right under your nose".(8:264)
"I was lucky though, I mean I could’ve killed myself when I hit the floor, but all I did was sort of land on my side. It was a funny thing though. I felt better after I passed out, I really did".(8:265)
"All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them."(8:271)
"when the disciple comes to the final point where the koan absolutely refuses to be grasped, he comes also to the realization that life can never be grasped, never possessed or made to stand still. Whereupon he ëlets go’ and this letting go is the acceptance of life as life..."(5:52:53)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hamilton, Ian. In Search of J.D. Salinger. New York, Random House, c1988. 212p
Hart, James D. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. New York, Oxford University Press, c1965. page 738
Kunitz, Stanley J., ed. Twentieth Century Authors: First Supplement. New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, c1963, pp. 859-860.
Lundquist, James. J.D. Salinger. New York, Continuum, c1988. 191p.
McGreal, Ian P., ed. Great Thinkers of the Eastern World. New York, Harper Collins Publishers, c1995. 502p.
Pinsker, Sanford. The Catcher in the Rye: Innocence Under Pressure. New York, Twayne Publishers, c1993. 97p
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, Little/Brown. c1951. 227p.
Ungar, Leonard, ed. American Writers Volume III. New York, Charles Scribners & Sons. c1974. pp551-573.
The Catcher in the Rye is a story narrated by it’s lead character Holden Caulfield, a 16 year old who has recently flunked out of prep school. Unwilling to remain in school until the end of the term, Holden travels to New York City, where his family currently resides. Instead of contacting his parents, he drifts around the city for a total of two days, encountering a variety of characters. Eventually Holden abandons his spree and is drawn home by the affection of his sister Phoebe. The Catcher in the Rye has received widespread critical acclaim as a penetrating study of adolescence, and contains many undertones, including preservation of innocence and disillusionment. The success and quality of this work can be credited to the profound ability of it’s author, J.D. Salinger.
As author of such a well loved and extensively studied novel such as The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger has attained a quite prominent role as a public figure. Unfortunately for both history and literary students alike, Salinger has shied from this role as a public figure, and instead has chosen the life of a recluse. Despite this reclusive author’s best wishes, and thanks to the tireless efforts of such biographers as Warren French and Ian Hamilton, a surprisingly complete record of Salinger’s life and times exists.
Salinger was born Jerome David Salinger in New York City on New Year’s Day, 1919. His first published work was a short story (the medium he preferred, with a few exceptions, such as The Catcher in the Rye) used by Story magazine in 1940, when Salinger was 21. In years following this he has provided works for such magazines as Collier’s, Saturday Evening Post, and theNew Yorker, although he has been practicing his trade since age 15. Noted biographer James Lundquist remarks that Salinger’s true genius lies in his role as a "literary ventriloquist".(5:57) In this sense he means that Salinger masterfully transfers his real life experiences to those of his characters, leaving a more seamless and realistic work than available through pure fiction.
When revealing his feelings on The Catcher in the Rye, Ernest Jones, a respected psychologist and also Freud’s biographer, stated that it was "not something rich and strange, but what every 16 year old since Rousseau has felt, and of course what each of us is certain he has felt.(7:20) In overview, he viewed the book as predictable and boring. This negative review simply serves to reveal the fact that Salinger wrote using psychologist level insight, only to have come from personal experience and emotion. For example, at age 15, J.D. Salinger was enrolled at Valley Forge Military Academy, which later served as a model for Pency Prep.(5:7) Of course, Pency Prep was Holden’s educational institution. At Valley Forge, Salinger even managed the fencing team, as did Holden. Also, a cadet did in fact jump from a window at Valley Forge, possibly acting as a model for James Castle within the pages of The Catcher in the Rye.
In addition to rudimentary relationships between Holden Caulfield and J.D. Salinger, Caulfield also draws his psychological characterization from the latter’s personality. This closeness between Salinger and his character is best portrayed through the first person narrative in which the story is written. Within The Catcher in the Rye, Holden experiences a rainbow of emotional responses, not the least of which are isolation, alienation, and at times confusion. And when The Catcher in the Rye was released, many of those closest to Salinger (surprisingly few) recognized the similarities between Holden and the author. Salinger himself is said to have experienced feelings of loneliness, isolation, and ineffectuality, much like Mr. Caulfield.
Of Salinger’s lifetime, the period known most little about is the period between 1942 and 1946, during which time he served as an infantry sergeant within the American military. Two and a half years of this period were spent directly in Europe, he even participated in the Normandy invasion. His main duty was as an intelligence agent involved in the de-Nazification of Germany. Here again another aspect of Salinger’s style becomes apparent. This would be the fact that when Salinger characterizes himself within a work, he many times would divide his personality among multiple characters. This is shown within The Catcher in the Rye by the quote from Holden concerning his older brother D.B., a character who never truly makes an appearance. "My brother D.B. was in the army for four goddam years. He was in the war, tooóhe landed on D-Day and allóbut I really think he hated the Army worse than the War...".(8:95) From this quote a reader can receive a fairly clear picture of how Salinger felt concerning the military.
Furthermore, not only does J.D. Salinger include psychological aspects of himself within his works, but also the breakdown thereof. In The Catcher in the Rye this is shown by the fact that Holden himself has suffered a nervous breakdown (as exhibited by the fact that Holden is narrating the story from within a mental hospital). For many years no such record of mental breakdown by the author was discovered or known, until recently. By further analysis of Salinger’s semi-autobiographical short stories and a discovery of multiple copies of Salinger’s personal correspondence, the conclusion has been drawn that Salinger did in fact suffer a nervous breakdown towards the end of his military service.(2:89) This, like the final piece of a puzzle, fits nicely within, and even serves to further prove, the fact the Jerome David Salinger draws on personal experience for a main characterization element within his literary works.
As can be concluded, Salinger did not favor military service. In fact, his wartime experience confirmed his dislike for the military and brought to the surface an aberration from modern existence.(9:552) This may later add to Salinger’s reclusive nature, but for the current time period it served to drive this renowned author more into the arms of Eastern theology. Salinger studied Eastern beliefs, predominantly Buddhism, or Zen, actively during the decade before The Catcher in the Rye was published (1951) and up to the publishing of his final work "Hapworth 16, 1924". These same Eastern beliefs became extremely important to Salinger, and were featured extensively in the Glass Family short stories, written after the The Catcher in the Rye. Zen is never directly mentioned within The Catcher in the Rye, but profound similarities, much too extensive to be coincidences, between this novel and the fundamentals of Buddhism exist in complex patterns, which lead to the conclusion that a major source of inspiration for J.D. Salinger within The Catcher in the Rye was Eastern theology.(2:96)
To begin with, Holden’s experiences during the period in which the novel takes place greatly mirror the life of Siddhartha Gotama, the founder of Buddhism. Siddhartha was born in Nepal in 563 B.C. He was a prince, and for most of his young life he was shielded from the suffering of the world and was taught not to deal with it. This closely mirrors Holden’s own experience in being shielded by his own role as a student within Pency Prep. The turning point in Buddha’s (Siddhartha Gotama) life occurs when he leaves his kingdom to confront old age, sickness and death. These experiences so shake him that he departs the shelter of his surroundings in search of a guide to help him come to terms with the negative aspects of the world (old age, sickness, etc.). Holden himself first confronts old age and sickness when he visits his ailing professor, Mr. Spencer. As for death, Holden had long since confronted this issue by the passing of his brother Allie. Holden’s pilgrimage within New York closely mirrors Buddha’s own travels, and Holden is also searching for a guide in life, although he does not consciously realize this.
Buddhism, as practiced by Salinger, is basically a set of moral doctrines that provide a system of leading ones life. These moral doctrines are more commonly referred to as Noble Truths. The first Noble Truth within the study of Zen is the fact that life is suffering. This feature of Eastern theology is shown through The Catcher in the Rye in several ways. Examples are the torment Holden undergoes at the hand of Sunny (the prostitute) and Maurice (her pimp), and the death of Allie, which Holden nearly obsesses over. The second Noble Truth is that everyone should treat all beings as one would treat oneself. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s main focus in life is the preservation of innocence, which Holden feels he lost at the death of his brother Allie. In summation of the relationship between Zen and this phenomenal novel it exists the fact that Buddhism urges one to abandon one’s illusions, and The Catcher in the Rye is basically a work of disillusionment.
Furthermore, Buddhism contains a set of five principles of morality, which are also addressed within the pages of The Catcher in the Rye. These five points of moral attention are: taking life, taking what is not given, misconduct in pleasures, false speech, and intoxicating drink. The first two actions mentioned, namely taking life and taking what is not given, are related to Holden’s desire to preserve innocence. Although not directly related to the original Buddhist doctrines, in Holden’s eyes stealing a child’s innocence is as horrible as "killing" this same child. In Buddha’s (and Salinger’s) eyes, another moral evil was "the pursuit of desires and indulgence in sensual pleasures, which is base, low, depraved, ignoble, and unprofitable."(6:162) This sexual paranoia is shown within The Catcher in the Rye by Holden’s lack of understanding of the topic, and also in the vulgar scene in which Holden is confronted by Sunny and Maurice, or the prostitute and the pimp. As for the final anti-moral actions (false speech and intoxicating drink), these were shown as flaws in Caulfield’s own personality. With this character’s array of "goddams" and stories of drunken mishap, the reader vividly receives Salinger’s message on morality. By following Zen moral conduct, Buddha aimed at promoting a happy and harmonious life for both the individual and the society.
Thus J.D. Salinger stressed the proper moral action to be followed by individuals, as according to his Eastern beliefs. In addition, towards the end of the book, Salinger also portrays a path to ultimate Zen illumination. According to Buddhism, suffering stems from a failure to accept change. The climax is reached within the story when Holden is waiting to meet his younger sister Phoebe, and notices the several places that someone had vandalized various walls with the phrase "Fuck you". Trying to erase this vandalization he becomes frustrated and remarked that "if you had a million years to do it you couldn’t rub out all the ëFuck you’ signs in the world".(8:262) After experiencing this frustration, Holden nearly gives up all hope for innocence in modern society and states,
Thus far, indirect themes of Zen within The Catcher in the Ryehave been discussed. However, this novel does contain more direct uses of Zen. For example, the use of koan is featured prominently towards the end of the work. Koan are riddles designed to present intellectual impasses that serve to indicate, strengthen and define the elusiveness and indefinability of life. Alan W. Watts describes koan in the following way,
True, Eastern theology had a great impact on J.D. Salinger, and consequently the writing of The Catcher in the Rye, but other factors must be noted when analyzing the bonds between this novel and author. Foremost would be the mood of post-World War II America, or the period in which the book was written. To begin with,The Catcher in the Rye was written at a time when "black" or dark humor was a prevalent theme. This dark humor was known to contain elements of irresponsibility, cruelty, design, and insanity, and fits quite nicely into the theme of harsh reality, which is a main point of the literary piece. For example, J.D. Salinger’s novel many times shows the ironic and absurd ways in which modern language has changed its original meaning, such as "Hold the sonuvabitch up! Hold it up, for Chrissake!"(8:192) Also affecting Salinger in his writing was the anti-conformist movement which came to head in the 1960s. In fact, The Catcher in the Rye is considered one of the many books published in the post war era that serve as significant cultural criticisms of conformity in a mass society.
In addition to Western culture, Western religion can also be considered as a point of inspiration for Mr. Salinger. Note that J.D. Salinger had a Jewish father and Christian mother, and followed no true religion. Thus he was quite open to religious persuasion. And although he did eventually turn to Buddhism, he was still open to influence from Western religion. This influence is apparent within the pages of The Catcher in the Rye, although on a much more subtle level than is Zen. As explained by Kenneth Hamilton, "the quest upon which his (Salinger’s) characters are engaged is either implicitly or explicitly, a religious one."(5:32) For the record, The Catcher in the Rye contains implicit religious themes. As an example, it can be quite logically inferred that Holden is a Jesus type character, as did literary critic Helen Weinberg infer. In this sense, the children of innocence act as Holden’s "flock" and his quest is one of saving them. Eventually Holden returns to his family in a quest of "saving" Phoebe, and by this action places himself in society’s hand. Also, since Holden did leave Pency Prep in search of relief and guidance, he can also be considered a fool for Christ. The only time religion is directly discussed within The Catcher in the Rye is when Holden makes the statement, "If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tomb and kept cutting himself."(8:130) In this Holden also reflects characteristics of the lunatic in the tomb. Like the lunatic Holden continues to hurt himself and is possessed by demons, such as the memory of his dead brother Allie following Holden and hurting him emotionally.
J.D. Salinger, one of America’s forefront authors, created a truly spectacular work in The Catcher in the Rye. He drew upon his personal experiences and religious beliefs to create a highly realistic and emotional work that is considered by many to be the epitome of literary artistry. Due to Salinger’s reclusive nature, no definite aspects of his religious convictions can be ascertained. Although, there is almost indisputable evidence supporting his love for Buddhism, and similar evidence that he was influenced, at least in some part, by Western culture. The greatest piece of evidence that can be given to beginning writers is to write about that with which they are familiar. Jerome David Salinger masterfully blended these features of his own life and beliefs to miraculously compose a work viewed by many intellectual critics as the greatest American novel ever.
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