Essay, bringing the gap

NATHANIEL CARLISLE

U0459107

Bridging the Gap

How Holden Caulfield’s Experiences with Sexuality in The Catcher in the Rye Encapsulate the Ubiquitous Struggle of Finding One’s Values in Early Adulthood

The novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger is one of the most renowned books in the history of American literature. It follows the misadventures a 17-year-old, Holden Caulfield, as he flunks out of prep school for the fourth time and journeys home to New York City to tell his parents the news. The novel is narrated in the first-person by Holden and deals with the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. Frequently during this time in life, people’s actions and opinions are at odds. This transitional period usually involves an adolescent’s ideals formulated in youth coming into conflict with impulses and realities associated with adult life. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden moves into young adulthood with great reluctance. J.D. Salinger uses Holden’s experiences with sex and sexuality to illustrate the challenge people face during this transition of reconciling one’s childhood with the adult world they will soon be a part of.  

Early in the novel, a conversation between Holden and his roommate, Stradlater, establishes the theme of sexuality as a complicated issue for people in this age group. Stradlater enters the room abruptly and asks to borrow Holden’s houndstooth jacket because he is leaving the football game early with his date. Holden agrees and begins questioning Stradlater about who his date is. Holden asks about an old fling of Stradlater’s, referred to only as Fitzgerald. Stradlater responds “Hell no! I told ya, I’m through with that pig” (34). The omission of this girl’s fist name and the reference to her by Stradlater as a “pig,” indicate that Stradlater may tend to treat women as objects and only pursue them for sex. This idea is reinforced when he cannot remember the name of his date, who happens to be an old friend of Holden. Stradlater says, “I’m thinking… Uh. Jean Gallagher” (35). Holden “… nearly drop[s] dead when he [says] that…” (35) and corrects Stradlater; she is “Jane” not “Jean”.  Holden goes on to tell his roommate intimate details about Jane’s life, including her tendencies while playing checkers and that “She had a lousy childhood…” (37). The depth of detail and enthusiasm with which the describes Jane to Stradlater indicate his affection for the girl. He then adds, “That didn’t interest Stradlater, though. Only very sexy stuff interested him” (37). Holden represents youthful innocent affection with his nostalgic monologues about Jane. Stradlater represents adult sexual lust with his dismissal of his ex as a “pig” and ignorance of both girls’ names. With as much time as Stradlater spends with women, not knowing (or even using) their names indicates that there must be something other than a personal connection he seeks from them. Before we meet Stradlater, Holden mentions, “I was a junior. My roommate was a senior” (19). Holden’s labeling of himself as “junior” and Stradlater as “senior” can be extrapolated to apply to the attitudes they later come to represent.

Shortly thereafter, Stradlater returns from his date and his interactions with Holden demonstrate that childhood ideals about love and affection are difficult to reconcile with the lust and desire of adulthood. Holden says, “You’re back pretty goddamn late if she only signed out for nine-thirty. Did you make her be late signing in?” Here, we once again see that Holden cares about Jane and her well-being. He doesn’t want her to be in trouble with the administration at her school. Stradlater responds, “Coupla minutes… Who the hell signs out for nine-thirty on a Saturday night” (47)? His response reveals no concern for whether or not Jane was in trouble and complains about how her sign-in time affected his night. His grievance that she needed to return too early suggests that he may have had intentions to sleep with her. Their talking turns to bickering and their bickering turns into a physical altercation. Holden attempts to strike the toothbrush in Stradlater’s mouth and “…split his goddamn throat open” (49). Stradlater wrestles and punches Holden into submission. During the fight, Holden shouts about how Stradlater “…thought he could give the time to anybody he felt like…” and that “…he didn’t even care if a girl kept all her kings in the back row or not, and the reason he didn’t care is because he [is] a goddamn stupid moron” (50). Holden is infuriated by the fact that a person could theoretically engage sexually with someone without knowing them intimately. Stradlater had never admitted what he and Jane did that night, but the mere possibility that they had slept together was enough to cause Holden to start a fight. The fact that Holden responds so violently to having to confront the fact that the world does not conform to his innocent sexual ideals is a prime example of how traumatic growing up can be.

Later in the story after Holden reaches New York City on his way home, he has an encounter with a prostitute and her pimp. Holden had just left a club where he encountered a woman and her date who he did not want to interact with. He lied and said he had to go meet someone and started walking back to his hotel. When he arrives, he says “The whole lobby was empty… I almost wished I was dead” (101). Holden is upset about being so alone. On his way to his room, the elevator operator offers him a prostitute. Holden agrees but thinks “It was against my principles…” (102). As previously discussed, Holden does not believe in sex lacking emotional connection, but then he asks, “Hey, is she good-looking” (102)? He “…[doesn’t] want any old bag” (102). His inquiry about the appearance of the prostitute contradicts his personal morality concerning sex. Holden condemns sex that is purely physical, yet the reality is that he is not interested a partner who is physically unattractive. These details once again allude to the challenge of harmonizing romantic childhood convictions with certain true qualities of adult life.