"The Catcher in the Rye" Question 6

Why do we still read this book?  What is timeless about its message and characters?  What can we learn from reading this book?  First off, this book has actually been banned by a lot of schools and a lot of parents don't allow their children to read it. Well, at least that is what the internet tells me.  So not everyone still reads this book.  They do quite the contrary actually.  For those of us who read this book still, however, a few things can be concluded as 'timeless' about the plot of "The Catcher in the Rye."  For one it is an extremely relatable book.  The main character's, Hoden, biggest problem is that he is misunderstood and  overall is just straight up horrible at maintaining any type of relationship.  A lot of people struggle with this problem.  It's not just people of today, either.  One-hundred years ago this was most likely a frequent problem for humans and I'm sure it will still be valid in one-hundred years, as well.  So the main character is a relatable person.  He is sad and depressed and on top of that is not sure what to do about it.  He thinks he wants someone to talk to or just to interact with, but every time he is with a person and doing that he bails.  The message of the story is that of life really.  Holden goes through the traumatizing event of his brothers death and slowly begins to just sink until he really hits the low of being kicked out of Pencey Prep School. He ends up bumming around New York City for a few days and just gets more and more depressed.  We can learn from Holden.  We see that just women, alcohol, and judging people get you absolutely no where in life.  An interest in the opposite sex, alcohol, and being judgmental have always been choice favorites and traits of homosapiens.  We like anything that can give us a high or an escape, even if it only is for a short while.  Holden exemplifies this for us very thoroughly.  You could stick this message in basically any time period, changing of course a few variables, and it would still make sense.  A definite lesson to learn from this is that slacking off is not the way to go with your education.  You may not end up in a mental facility but it's generally quite hard to end up anywhere much better than where you would be with a well rounded education.  We also have a wonderful example of how NOT to build relationships with people.  Making plans with them and then giving up on socializing whole-heartidly with them halfway through is not the way to go.  





Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.