The Initial Public Reception of J.D. Salinger's Novel "Catcher in the Rye"

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000005548 StartFragment:0000002460 EndFragment:0000005512

Initial Reaction:

Postive: 

It would be hard for anyone to deny the fact that the public's reaction to J.D. Salinger's novel was one of joy. Nash K. of The New York Times declared that it was "an unusually brilliant novel." One of the elements that make the novel so appealing is it's amazing description of the American teenager, as well as it's detailed description of New York in the 1950s. Paul Engle of the Chicago Tribune noted that the novel is “emotional without being sentimental, dramatic without being melodramatic, and honest without being simply obscene. According to Engle, it described an adolescent, in an emotional sense, and unlike most novels about adolescents did not use childish thoughts or common thoughts on youth and growing up. It is “engaging and believable, full of right observations and sharp insight, and a wonderful sort of grasp of how a boy can create his own world of fantasy and live forms.”

            Negative:

Despite widespread positive reception, the novel did indeed receive harsh criticism from certain sources on the basis that it was very obscene in it’s description of adolescent sexuality. It was banned from schools, libraries and bookstores, and such is true even today in certain communities. Due to it’s rejection, the novel has been thrown into the center of the debate of  the definition of the First Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights.

Current Reaction:

Today, the sentiment regarding the novel is generally positive. Because of it’s accurate description of even the American teenage experience, it is still used in schools as an educational tool. The fact that the novel’s main character, Holden Caulfield, is compared to such 19^th century characters as Huck Finn, and even Hamlet, should demonstrate it it’s amazing ability to describe themes central to the human emotional complex. President George H. W. Bush described the novel as a “marvelous book,” and it is among those books that inspire him. This should serve as clear evidence of the fact that the novel with it’s themes of individualism and creativity and the denunciation of rigid demands for conformity and quick rejection of one’s fellow man, will always serve as a inspirational and interesting piece of literature.