Holden and Allie: Who's the Real Catcher In the Rye?
One scene that really stuck out to me in The Catcher in the Rye was the scene after Holden leaves Mr. Antolini's house and is wandering around the streets of New York. All of the sudden in the middle of a telling a funny story about Phoebe, he says, "something very spooky started happening. Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddamn curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me...Every time I'd get to the end of the block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, 'Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie.' And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him" (Salinger 217). When I first read this passage, it reminded me a lot of Holden's dream of becoming the catcher in the rye who saves children from going off the cliff. But in this scenario, it's Allie who's saving Holden from going "down, down, down" as he keeps coming up to the "cliff," or the curb.
I think it makes sense for Holden to be one of the kids instead of "the catcher," because even though he tries to appear very mature, he's still naive and vulnerable at times. Especially in this section of the book when he's desperate for a mentor figure to help him out. I also think it shows a lot about Holden's perception of adulthood that he tells Allie, "don't let me disappear." In his mind, becoming an adult means losing your childhood self forever. He fears that if he grows up he'll become just another phony, and he'll lose sight of everything that's important to him now. He'll never be able to go back to the rye field, or childhood.
It's interesting that Allie is framed as the protector of innocence in this scene when Allie's death was a major loss of childhood innocence for Holden. Throughout the book Allie is a constant source of comfort for Holden because he has so many happy memories with him. However, even though Allie will always be a kid in Holden's mind, Allie also has an inherent lack of innocence because of his death. This combination of being a protector and friend but also more mature and experienced than Holden makes Allie a perfect candidate for the role of the catcher in the rye.
Really nice post! I think you are totally right in your analysis in that Allie is the 'catcher' for Holden. I think definitely cements the idea that Allie's death is the source of a lot of Holden's behavior and beliefs, and that Holden looks up to Allie as a person he wants to be. Really great post and analyzation!
ReplyDeletereally interesting-- i feel like ally definitely has to do with holden's dreams of being the catcher in the rye. maybe its like a passing of the torch? ally was holden's catcher, so now holden is growing up having to act as that catcher for everyone else?
ReplyDeleteYou make a really great connection here! The scene of Holden walking off the curbs always confused me a little, but I definitely saw it as Holden yearning for the comfort of his younger brother, and with that the innocence that he lost when Allie died.
ReplyDeleteThat makes a lot of sense! After all that has happened to Holden these past couple days, what innocence and childhood he has left is pretty bruised and battered. What he went through would probably force a lot of people into the adult world, but thanks to Allie (and Phoebe), he is able to retain some innocence.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I really like how you incorporated that quote into your post. I agree that it really shows the loss of childhood he is experiences as he is growing older. Holden thinks becoming older means conforming to society and having to become a phony. Allie being his protector does make sense because he is younger and continues to stay younger because he died and never got to experience growing up. In Holden's mind I think that makes sense because he wants to stay in childhood and all the memories of Allie he has are in childhood. Good work!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Post! I think your take on this makes a lot of sense and I definitely agree with you on the fact that Allie would be a perfect candidate for the catcher in the rye. Holden always looked up to Allie so I'm sure that Holden already saw Allie as his role model. Also the way Holden talks about Allie makes it seem like they had a great connection and Allie had really good influence on Holden.
ReplyDeleteWow I never thought about Allie being portrayed as the Catcher. Another way to picture the Cather in the Rye in terms of the characters might be having Allie as the person standing below the cliff (he'd already fallen because he died, but he's still looking out for the other children) and Holden as someone standing in the cliff, trying to catch the children - but if Holden falls, Allie is there to catch him. I also like your comparison of Holden to a child. It reminds me of how Holden tries to be the catcher for Phoebe but ends up being the one being saved by her (when Holden gives up leaving when Phoebe tries to go with him).
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