I know, I know… the book does not need to be defended. It’s still one of the most popular and relevant books but I guess I’m just tired of seeing posts like this on Reddit every other fucking week. Literature, like any art form, is subjective and people might like it or dislike it for any reason they want to but most criticisms I’ve seen online of Catcher in the Rye feel superficial for some reason.
Caulfield – The OG Angsty Teen
Let’s start with the definition of the word angst. Oxford dictionary defines it as a feeling of great worry about a situation, or about your life.
So basically a very normal feeling that everyone goes through at various points of their lives, right? But why does it feel like the word has some sort of negative connotation to it?
I have never in my life heard people use the word angst in a non-ironic or non-self-deprecating way in the first person. That alone should tell you all you need to know about the connotation of that word. And the negative connotation only increases if you use the word in addition to an adjective used to describe teenagers.
And Caulfield is a character ubiquitous to teenage angst, and this is why, according to my hypothesis, his problems and worries are not taken as seriously as they needed to by the readers or the society his book is based on. Think about it, this kid has gone through extreme trauma, including sexual abuse, bullying, death of his brother and close friend. But he is expected by his society to just shake it off, and most readers don’t provide him as much sympathy as he deserves in this situation. It’s sort of ironic if you think about it – the lack of emotional support and understanding leads him to his suicide attempt – for which he still does not get any sympathy from the readers.
But why can’t we see the themes of lost innocence and alienation in the book, which is not that hidden and instead, most criticism is focused on Caulfield’s “annoying” personality traits. Why is it so hard for most people to read between the lines with this book? I think it’s because the way Caulfield tries to express and deal with his problems and issues is mainly through angst.
But then again, like most teenagers, he does not know how to deal with his issues properly especially considering how his cry for help is ridiculed by both his society and his readers. This is very reflective of how society, even today, treats and invalidates the problems of teenagers in general.
However egocentric and delusional Caulfield might seem, it is clear that he is that way because of how alienated he is from everyone else. This is probably why the character resonates very strongly with teenagers and young adults – another reason why this book is not taken as seriously as it should. Because teenagers, in general, are not taken as seriously and art that caters to them, in general, goes through the same treatment.
But why does that happen? Why is it a thing? Teenage is something we all went through, so shouldn’t we have more empathy for people younger than us who are going through the same thing? Maybe we don’t do so is because we don’t take our own younger selves so seriously. Because it was a time of trial and error where we did not know who we wanted to be. So we sort of assume these other teenagers don’t know who they want to be either.
We feel wiser than them, in some ways, and maybe we genuinely believe that they have not become “real” people yet. I have heard many of my friends state that they felt they hadn’t even become a real person till they were in their mid-twenties.
But is that a fair assessment? Because being a teenager or even being a child does not mean you are protected from the world and its suffering in any way. I would like to put forth a question: Would Caulfield have been the same character if all the adults in his life had not failed him? If he had gotten all the love, support, and understanding that he is so desperately looking for? And, to generalize, would the concept of teen angst be the same if adults finally stopped failing the youth?
If we stopped telling them to stop being so dramatic and to harden up when they complain about phonies and how much the world sucks. Instead treat them with empathy and kindness. Maybe this is something we owe not just to the future generations going through the awkward phase of growing up but to our past younger selves as well – as a token of self-love.
Privilege and Depression
Another criticism that a lot of people have about this character is how ungrateful the kid is about his privilege. As much as I hate rich people with a passion I can’t put into words, I don’t think this is a valid criticism. The privilege he receives has never translated into emotional support and mental health treatment – a sad product of his time. So, I don’t think he should just get over his dead brother and all the other severe problems that he suffers from just because he is rich.
On a personal note, I have always found the concept of privilege to be relative. I have long realized that I will always be more privileged than someone else at any given time. Especially if you consider the culture I grew up in, and this has always been seen by society as a reason to invalidate any genuine problems that I had.
Up to a certain point, I had internalized this logic. 37% of girls in my country are married before the age of 18, most of them in an arranged marriage, and a quarter of the country’s population lives below the poverty line. I was supposed to be grateful for everything I had and complain about nothing because you could see real abject poverty and absolute suffering so close by.
So, not wanting to be an ungrateful little asshole, I did not complain, which in retrospect, we can translate to I did not ask for help or try to solve or deal with any of my problems – as based on what I was told – they were not real problems anyway. What this led to, was a long-term period of disassociation where the world felt too unreal and just not a place for me. Suicide ideation was a heavy burden I carried around in my backpack, and every time a heavy truck was speeding on the road, a tiny voice in my head would tell me to jump.
That was the point in my life when I first read Catcher in the Rye when I was the same age as Caulfield himself. This was one of the few times in my life, I felt understood and represented. And the fact that this book was so popular meant that there were other people – thousands if not millions – which meant that a lot of people felt the same way. This realization somehow tethered me back in a way, and I would always appreciate it for that.
Conclusion
It’s okay not to like this book. Caulfield is an insufferable main character; there is no doubt about it. But if you read between the lines, you can see that his brashness is just a defense mechanism to push people away. Seeing him as a traumatized kid rather than as an angst-filled privileged teenager might help you find compassion for him even if you don’t identify with him.
