Catcher in the Rye: Re-visited

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” 
J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)


This might be the third time I am reading this book. And every time I do theres something new to discover. Its just one of those books which can very unconsciously trigger so many thoughts in your mind. Every time you read it, you relate it to yourself or somebody you know and it fits right in. 


All morons hate it when you call them a moron. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.


Holden Caufield, the protagonist/narrator of the story is a character to whom I can relate to the least and at the same time, the most. Its because like him I, in-fact all of us for that matter can state bravely that we all hate phonies, but at some part of life we all become one, mostly unconsciously. But some  have the misfortune of knowing this deep down on a conscious level, which is like a burden that they carry, because they themselves fall under the category of the people they hate - "phonies", and they can't help it.
            The least because unlike Holden I will never have the guts to be as bold, as dauntless as to stand up against it and claim that what I want to be in life is just 'a Catcher in the Rye'

"when you are depressed the first thing you throw in the bin is your principles".

 Anyway, among the so many trails of thoughts which this book leaves, heres one for starters - 

Holden always keeps asking random cab drivers about where do they think the ducks in the Central Park go when the lake is all frozen. And as absurd as the question is, he gets all the more absurd answers to it. But he feels like its a quest which he is supposed to follow through no matter what.

When you are lost you tend to find the answers of your being, your existence in the most absurd questions. Do you really think Holden Caufield was interested where do the ducks or the fish for that matter go from the lake when its winter. Its just one of those things when getting the answers of such silly questions gives meaning to your life.

This quote from Catcher is one of my favorites :

"For is not every parent a catcher in the rye?

Is not every teacher a catcher in the rye?

Is not every good business leader a catcher in the rye?

Some of us choose to be the catcher. Some of us, like me, love the responsibility and embraces being a catcher in the rye in business. "

Sure. A little part of me dies a little when I miss someone who mistakenly goes off the edge of that crazy cliff. But, on the other hand, I become a better person for everyone I get to steer clear of the crazy cliff.

There are some of us who don’t really sign up to be the catcher and yet are put in that role. Many parents are that way. Not because they didn’t want to be but rather before you have a child it’s a little difficult to understand that crazy cliff is always there and you always have to keep at least a little eye on it. That is one reason I respect great parents.

And then teachers. Some begin a career as a teacher because they just love to teach. But as time goes on they realize a part of their responsibility is to watch those in the fields of rye to insure those who wander to close to the cliff that they at least know someone is paying attention. 

And then there are business leaders who go, go go. Always forward focused. And yet, over time, they realize to be the best leader a part of their role is to see the crazy cliff and catch people before they go over.

Ok. Maybe I’m nuts for seeing all this in the catcher in the rye but that is what I see.

And maybe that’s why I loved the book even when I was young.  A part of me wanted to be the catcher in the rye. I am sure anybody would have had me put in some institution if I had answered “be a catcher in the rye” when asked “so what do you want to be.”

But. Now that I am here, i.e., no longer that young?

Being the catcher in the rye may be the best job in the world.