J D Salinger uses The Museum, Profanity on the walls, and the Carousel to express that the loss of innocence is inevitable as the harsh realities of the world are encountered in his novel, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. The novel, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ was written by American author Jerome David Salinger in the year 1951. The novel gathered a huge controversy once it was published because of its realistic and explicit portrayal of youth and related issues. Born in a wealthy family, Salinger witnessed all luxuries in his life and he portrays a number of events from his own life in the novel.
In his novel, J D Salinger portrays a number of things in the novel that got wide acclamations, as well as, criticism from different sects of the society. Youngsters liked the novel more than anything but at the same time Salinger was blamed for encouraging and spreading profanity. Salinger created a character Holden Caulfield and portrayed his own life through this character. The author does not care of using vulgar words and what he only cares is the expression of his feelings in absolutely pure manner. The author portrays a conversation wherein Holden describes about Jane in these words, “She's a dancer," I said. "Ballet and all. She used to practice about two hours every day, right in the middle of the hottest weather and all. She was worried that it might make her legs lousy—all thick and all. I used to play checkers with her all the time” (Salinger, p.31). “You used to play what with her all the time?” (Salinger, p.31). “Yeah. She wouldn't move any of her kings. What she'd do, when she'd get a king, she wouldn't move it. She'd just leave it in the back row. She'd get them all lined up in the back row. Then she'd never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row” (Salinger, p.44). Holden talks about Jane in good faith and describes her nature and behavior while his friend, as well as, roommate Stradelater is talking about Jane’s sexuality.
Museum is one more important aspect of the novel. Salinger writes about museum, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and they're pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket” (Salinger, p. 121). Salinger expresses his feelings about museum in these words, “When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn’t have gone inside for a million bucks” (Salinger, p.122). The author mentions museum in a symbolical manner. The author connects museum in his novel with time, old age and death. Sometimes Salinger criticizes museum and sometimes he presents it in a despicable manner.
After observing the novel ‘The catcher in the Rye’ it can be concluded that the novel is very well written and expresses feelings of the author in a realistic manner. Salinger has a unique way of expressing things and has portrayed his views on museum, profanity and carousel in a manner that attracts and entertains readers. Uncensored description, communicative style of expression and realistic portrayal of youth related issues have made this novel popular and this luminous piece of literature earned a unique place in the history of English literature. The novel is criticized by some but appreciated by many people. Many people say that J D Salinger portrays various incidents from his own life in the novel in order and that makes it more vivid. The novel earned even much acclamation after decades of its publication and today youngsters find it more fascinating and thought provoking.
Work Cited
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. USA: Little, Brown and Company, 1951.
