(From the "Most Overrated Books" Discussion, 12/31/14)
The Catcher in the Rye has been criticized as outdated because modern schoolkids can't relate to what has been described as a "spoiled rich kid" from the 1950s. The following conversation lifted from a discussion on Goodreads.com addresses this issue.
Cemre: Why do you think Catcher [in the Rye] saw such a huge backlash ?
I mean there are so many articles all over the internet about it aging badly. Words "spoiled rich kid" are frequently used, but then aren't most of the main characters of classics are rich ? Why is Catcher the biggest victim of this ? Is it because it is easy to read or is there any other reason that ı can't understand ?
Mochaspresso: Perhaps it's that the internet reaches the reader before the actual book does and influences their perceptions of it? It could also be that other literature, films and music have reached that reader and shaped their pov before the novel. I know of people who read it for the first time because of the movie, "Six Degrees of Separation". I also knew people who read the novel for the first time because it was mentioned in a Green Day song. I haven't read this particular book, but I read an article that claimed that the book "The Collector" references "The Catcher in the Rye" rather negatively.
Cemre: Yes Mocha. Even stranger, people sometimes have negative perceptions of a book without actually reading it, based solely on its representation in popular media. Furthermore, their expectations of the novel can colour their reading and even then, it's arguable if they had actually read it.
I haven't read The Collector, but ı've gazed through it in a book fair, mainly for finding that passage (yes, I'm obsessed.) If ı've understood it correctly, a girl recommends it to a man, because she thinks that man can identify with Holden, but the man doesn't like it because Holden is a rich prep kid who didn't suffer as much as he did, etc. etc. Same thing.
Books sometimes have cultural reputations that doesn't have anything to do with the actual text. People come CitR expecting a novel of a rebellion, a book that inspired the killing of a rockstar, a life changing manifesto. What they find is the life story of a confused 16 years old boy who have lost his little brother. This might have disappointed a lot of them, and made them to see it as worse than it actually is, despite the fact that Catcher is rather good at the thing it's trying to do.
Monty: <Cemre wrote: "Why do you think Catcher saw such a huge backlash ?">
Two reasons. First, I believe the backlash reflects present political realities. Holden representsthe privileged 1%. Wealth and income disparity are reaching new highs every year and there's growing frustration and unrest among the poor and Middle Class who feel victimized by the job-destroying Mitt Romneys and Kochs who pull the strings behind the curtains of government and industry.
I am afraid that Holden has, unfairly, become a literary insult to those suffering the grim realities and hopelessness of the economic disparities of this age.
The second major reason, I suspect, is psychological. The book deals with the transition from juvenile to adulthood, a transition that young readers are still experiencing when they read it for the first time. I suspect reading about yourself as you are struggling with vital issues of personality development can feel theatening. It's also about a guy, and girls have their own issues.
Additionally, many older readers are still wrestling with unresloved issues of an incomplete transition to adulthood themselves. Many were forced by parental expectations into unfulfilling roles and careers, and the book reminds them of it.
A book that sells this well is an easy target. Expect the attacks to grow until the economics and politics reverse their present course. The other issues are timeless, and for this reason CiTR can never become outdated. Attacked for socio-political reasons, but never outdated.
Cemre: Is Holden 1% though ? USA is one of the richest countries in the world, Holden's family seems to do well, but can they represent 1% of United States of America ? Wasn't Holden's father a lawyer? I'm sure they're doing rather well, but c'mon ı don't think they eat money? There has to be richer characters in American fiction.
Monty: <Cemre wrote: "Is Holden 1% though ? USA is one of the richest countries in the world, Holden's family seems to do well, but can they represent 1% of United States of America ? Wasn't Holden's father a lawyer? ...">
True, but corporate lawyers are major facilitators of the Kochs and Romneys, and they're paid immensely well for it. They write the legislation that chains us. They sit on the Supreme Court that redefined money as speech.
It is perception that matters, and Holden, merely by attending prep school, represents that privileged class.
The Catcher in the Rye has been criticized as outdated because modern schoolkids can't relate to what has been described as a "spoiled rich kid" from the 1950s. The following conversation lifted from a discussion on Goodreads.com addresses this issue.
Cemre: Why do you think Catcher [in the Rye] saw such a huge backlash ?
I mean there are so many articles all over the internet about it aging badly. Words "spoiled rich kid" are frequently used, but then aren't most of the main characters of classics are rich ? Why is Catcher the biggest victim of this ? Is it because it is easy to read or is there any other reason that ı can't understand ?
Mochaspresso: Perhaps it's that the internet reaches the reader before the actual book does and influences their perceptions of it? It could also be that other literature, films and music have reached that reader and shaped their pov before the novel. I know of people who read it for the first time because of the movie, "Six Degrees of Separation". I also knew people who read the novel for the first time because it was mentioned in a Green Day song. I haven't read this particular book, but I read an article that claimed that the book "The Collector" references "The Catcher in the Rye" rather negatively.
Cemre: Yes Mocha. Even stranger, people sometimes have negative perceptions of a book without actually reading it, based solely on its representation in popular media. Furthermore, their expectations of the novel can colour their reading and even then, it's arguable if they had actually read it.
I haven't read The Collector, but ı've gazed through it in a book fair, mainly for finding that passage (yes, I'm obsessed.) If ı've understood it correctly, a girl recommends it to a man, because she thinks that man can identify with Holden, but the man doesn't like it because Holden is a rich prep kid who didn't suffer as much as he did, etc. etc. Same thing.
Books sometimes have cultural reputations that doesn't have anything to do with the actual text. People come CitR expecting a novel of a rebellion, a book that inspired the killing of a rockstar, a life changing manifesto. What they find is the life story of a confused 16 years old boy who have lost his little brother. This might have disappointed a lot of them, and made them to see it as worse than it actually is, despite the fact that Catcher is rather good at the thing it's trying to do.
Monty: <Cemre wrote: "Why do you think Catcher saw such a huge backlash ?">
Two reasons. First, I believe the backlash reflects present political realities. Holden representsthe privileged 1%. Wealth and income disparity are reaching new highs every year and there's growing frustration and unrest among the poor and Middle Class who feel victimized by the job-destroying Mitt Romneys and Kochs who pull the strings behind the curtains of government and industry.
I am afraid that Holden has, unfairly, become a literary insult to those suffering the grim realities and hopelessness of the economic disparities of this age.
The second major reason, I suspect, is psychological. The book deals with the transition from juvenile to adulthood, a transition that young readers are still experiencing when they read it for the first time. I suspect reading about yourself as you are struggling with vital issues of personality development can feel theatening. It's also about a guy, and girls have their own issues.
Additionally, many older readers are still wrestling with unresloved issues of an incomplete transition to adulthood themselves. Many were forced by parental expectations into unfulfilling roles and careers, and the book reminds them of it.
A book that sells this well is an easy target. Expect the attacks to grow until the economics and politics reverse their present course. The other issues are timeless, and for this reason CiTR can never become outdated. Attacked for socio-political reasons, but never outdated.
Cemre: Is Holden 1% though ? USA is one of the richest countries in the world, Holden's family seems to do well, but can they represent 1% of United States of America ? Wasn't Holden's father a lawyer? I'm sure they're doing rather well, but c'mon ı don't think they eat money? There has to be richer characters in American fiction.
Monty: <Cemre wrote: "Is Holden 1% though ? USA is one of the richest countries in the world, Holden's family seems to do well, but can they represent 1% of United States of America ? Wasn't Holden's father a lawyer? ...">
True, but corporate lawyers are major facilitators of the Kochs and Romneys, and they're paid immensely well for it. They write the legislation that chains us. They sit on the Supreme Court that redefined money as speech.
It is perception that matters, and Holden, merely by attending prep school, represents that privileged class.
