Holden Should have Killed Himself, Why I Hate Catcher in the Rye
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- čas přidán 25. 06. 2024
- Sooooooo, I hated Catcher in the Rye when I was forced to read in back in highschool. I hated it and it caused me to not like English lit class. I was told "reread it in 10 years, I think you'll actually appreciate it." Well 10 years later, I'm struggling to read the 2nd half, because it was worse than I remember.
Overview of what I don't like:
It should have ended halfway through with Holden killing himself, because this should be a tragedy
The book is self aware it's bad, with characters calling Holden out for sucking
Holden is a horrible person for a number of reasons, such as his raging sexism.
Not realizing Jane Galliger is being abused and only caring that she doesn't kiss him (even after her step-dad verbally abused her in front of him).
Miss interpreting the prostitute scene for not realizing the dramatic irony of the scene (in class we talked about "how Holden thinks he wants sex, but doesn't realize he doesn't," instead of the irony of being objectified in the same way he objectifies women thoughout the book)
Failing basic rules of a paper in English class, mainly good sentence structure and staying on topic (if I turned in a paper written like this, I would fail, because that happened).
Holden is not a roll model. He is in an asylum because he's messed up, and the book is up front about that.
Holden is a pedophile. He talks about Phoebe the same way as other girls he's hot on. How else am I supposed to read that?
The symbols are BS. The ducks are just awkward small talk, and the hunting hat is for practical reasons (wears it when it's cold, takes it off when hot).
It opens basically saying "you shouldn't be interested," it's a bad hook and bad opening.
It does students a great disservice to be forced to read this. Forcing students to read this actively harms them. I didn't go over everything I hate about Catcher in this video (for example, I glanced over the idiotic "religious commentary"). I just needed to get something out there so I could continue on.
I hated this book in High School.
I got so angry that I blacked out all swear words and profanity and it looks like a CIA document released to the public.
This book is a steaming pile of angsty shit.
Suicide game: take a shot every time he says "horrible".
Or goddamn
I’m someone who loved the book first time reading because I was a piece of shit in high school. All your criticisms are valid.
It comforts me to know that I’m not the only one he violently hates this abysmal book with an ever burning passion hotter than the deepest darkest pits of hell.
It's part of why I got into content creation years ago, not enough people saying "Catcher is more than overrated, it's just plain bad."
@@catholiccontriversy you only think is bad because your phony as hell
Thank you 🙏. Glad to know there are sane people out there
South Park did a critique on this book, they nailed it almost as well as you. Whiney kid, nothing substantial happens.
Fun fact, that was the first episode of south park I ever saw, and it got me hooked.
My problem with the book wasn’t so much that Holden was a piece of shit person, it was more he clearly never learns anything, and instead of the book giving off a “young lad learning as he goes” vibe it gave off “Man Child tries to be deep for the umpteenth time.”
It felt like a drag to read because he constantly went in circles with himself, it is just him calling everything “phony” with zero elaboration as to why, do teenagers act like that? Yes, but at least teens are able to give reasons why and will grow from said reasons and further their critical thinking skills on how they view the world. Holden doesn’t do this he refuses to take responsibility, he refuses to grow up, and he refuses to recognize he isn’t the main protagonist of the a movie like some Truman show scenario(great movie btw). He wants to be the “catcher in the rye” but to be as honest as possible he lacks the qualities in every check box, he isn’t “The Catcher in the Rye” he is a child in rye that the REAL CATCHER(the real world) is trying to push out into the real mature world. Yet Holden continues to make excuses as to why he isn’t ready. 22 from Soul is a better representation of what Holden is supposed to convey to the reader.
In my notes I have how he literally had the opportunity to protect a child playing in traffic and he did nothing but laugh.
holden got molested "about 20 times since [he] was a kid" so maybe finish it and you will possibly understand
Holden is a severely depressed 16 year old who recently lost his younger brother to leukemia. Part of his depression is that what once was a joy in life no longer matters. The reader can figure that out in time but Holden is unable to concentrate on school and is flunking out. Your video sounds like you didn't understand most of the book.
But the end when he spends the day with his little sister is him snapping out of his cynicism. I agree that throughout the book he’s a horrible person who views the world as full of phoney people. But what angsty teen doesn’t? Holden is the prototypical goth kid. But the end is where he snaps out of that and grows up. Did you even read the book to the end?
Yes I did, but considering that the book is all written in past tense (Holden telling a story to a therapist) and Holden never says "I used to think that but now I don't," rather he says "this is my opinion on this," I can't agree with you in that he snaps out of the cynicism and grows up.
@@catholiccontriversy Okay, but that's the whole point of the book. To tell the reader that maybe they see the world the same way Holden does, but it's more nuanced than that. It's not just there are genuine people and phoney people. Maybe I should have used a different term than snapping out if it. But the end is him starting to realize that there's more to the world than the way he sees it. For the first time in his life he has a sense of responsibility in taking care of his sister.
@@jeremyboyd6136 maybe, but I sure doubt it, especially with how my teachers were always "Holden is a genius, the way he sees the world is the right way, you get that, right?" Also, all the positives I hear about the book are about everything but the end, and how Holden really "gets them," and at that point I'd say they're missing the point more than I am.
I wish Holden got lost in Harlem or New Jersey. Somewhere so detached from his privileged life, he'd have to actually change meaningfully as a character. A modern day Holden would either be AJ Soprano or Elliott Rodger. No in-between.
@@raultrashlord4404And AJ Soprano was based on David Chase, the Sopranos creator. AJ is such a prejudged character. He would have been more functional not growing up in that house. His sister knew that. I agree AJ has very similar qualities to Holden... and there's a good YTube channel that covers AJ
but I get a C+ in 9th grade for basically doing a 5 min bit about how much this book is a piece of ish..
Yeah, and that's the difficulty.
I didn't read it in high school, but I decided to give it a try & see what was so good about it. It easily turned out to be one of the worst books I have ever read....and all.
That’s because your phony as hell
@@murtamp9828That killed me
Holden’s not in a mental health asylum he’s in a rest-home because he thinks he has tuberculosis. He literally says that in the first chapter. You obviously didn’t read the book, and if you did well you didn’t read it well enough.
noremaK I don’t live anywhere where English is a native language, so this could just be due to poor translations. But I just read the beginning again, and he never says that. All he says is that he’s seeing a therapist, and that J. B. will visit him. He never specifies where he is.
No he thinks it is a sanatorium, he is in an asylum.
Holden is john lennons self insert. Especially the sexism. As butters from south park puts it: "kill john lennon" he also wrote the worst song in history: Imagine.
Oh yeah, Imagine is a very bad song (sounds nice, but the lyrics are evil). Speaking of Imagine, I made a covid parody of it not super long ago (it was like in 2021 after that celebrity cover, but I don't upload super regularly so it shouldn't be too far from my most recent videos).
At first holand was so depressed because his Jane being BANGED by his roomate.
And then holand made us depressed, by being ....
Even Quagmire from Family Guy hates Catcher in the Rye! He even called Brian out on being a huge fan of that book! And the way you described Holden Caulfield is why Brian loves him so much, they're so much alike!
Yeah, that is my favorite scene in family guy, for many reasons including that.
I feel the exact same way. You wanna read a true masterpiece? Requiem for a Dream. It is far more disturbing than..well it is this way because you are not watching the characters, you are inside them. This book affected me so much that I would literally be shaking, heart pounding, and I would get so stressed out that I would have to put it down for a while. That said, if you can handle it and if you are into literature, nothing is better. It is the pinnacle of writing. Nobody ever needed to write anything after it.
Just burnt my school copy of it was worth the suspension
Lol, nice.
@@catholiccontriversyhow could ANY book fan ever condone burning of books? Are you insane dude?
I don't ever remember you being this animated in a video. I like it when you hate stuff. lol
Yeah, anger will do that to you, and Catcher makes me really angry. I'll read like, 1 paragraph at lunch, and then it kind of ruins the rest of my day.
Holden didn’t care that Jane wouldn’t kiss him. He didn’t care about that. He mentioned that she wouldn’t let him kiss her, but he didn’t complain. What he did talk about was the fact that he liked that she kept all her kings in the back row, she was nice to hold hands with and just good to be around. Maybe read the book before you make a video hating on it.
I am reading the book. That's why I'm hating on it. Don't have a cow man.
@@catholiccontriversy This individual is not "having a cow", they are disputing what you said in the video using facts and logic.
What the hell kind of defense is "Holden intentionally sold himself short and was a beta male on purpose"?! And that is supposed to be a great example to the teens?
If this was a book that we were made to read ironically, like "Can you believe we're supposed to root for this shmuck😏", than maybe the main cuck- I mean, character could be excused (as long as the reading is followed up with a hearty discussion on how not to blame the world for everything while you waste away your salad days.) But school systems across America expect people to take this story seriously! 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
@@neosconaarabesca2113 he is saying don’t have a cow bc the guy he’s replying to is named Bart Simpson
@@12yearsa57 Ahhhhh gotcha... me dumb
It’s times like these I wish I was back in school only cause now I understand things a bit better and could properly explain why this book is terrible during the class discussions.
Same here. It's why I initially set-out to make a complete deconstruction, so students could have counter arguments since I remember going to page 5 of google looking for "catcher in the rye sucks/is terrible" but to no real avail. I just realized it would take a lot more work than I had at the moment, so hopefully one day.
I agree always thought it should have ended dark like the joker movie
💀
Agree. Hate Salinger
My channel was Holden Chan YT...
Almost done with the book and it's a really bad book.
My name was also Holden...
Was?
You remind me a lot of Holden......
It just bored me. A really overrated and aimless book.
I thought u r talking about me LOL
Agreed. Horribly overrated pop literature. PS please stop yelling when you talk.
Your right, this guy complains more than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s a literal narcissist
Maybe it’s just my interpretation but I always saw Holden as being mentally ill with severe depression and the reason he’s such a narcissist is because he’s trying to hide that sadness
Bad review....bad character=/=bad person
or its just a bad book
Loved the book because I never took it this seriously. The reason why you won't understand literature is that you ranted about a book for 12 minutes long.
I don't think literature is for you. try sports.