Keeper of the Fields

Author: J.D. Salinger
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-11-18
Features: The protagonist Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old high school student, is one of the earliest antiheroes to appear in contemporary American literature. Holden comes from a wealthy middle-class family in Midtown New York. Teachers and his parents force him to study hard to achieve success, so that he can buy a Cadillac in the future. Yet, all he does in school is talk about women, alcohol, and sex. He is disgusted with everything around him and has no intention of studying diligently, which leads to frequent punishments. By the time he is expelled for the fourth time, he is too afraid to go home. He wanders alone in the most prosperous city in America, New York City, for a day and two nights, staying in small motels, visiting nightclubs, and indiscriminately associating with women. He spends his time idly in movie theaters, accidentally hires a prostitute, and uncontrollably embraces with his vain girlfriend. Meanwhile, his inner mind is filled with deep suffering as he attempts to escape the hypocritical adult world to seek purity and truth. This extreme and irreconcilable inner conflict eventually leads to his complete breakdown, and he lies in a mental hospital.
The protagonist of this book, Holden, is a high school student, a 16-year-old boy from a wealthy middle-class family. After being expelled from school for the fourth time, he is too afraid to go home rashly and wanders alone in the bustling New York City for a day and two nights, staying in small motels, visiting nightclubs, and indiscriminately associating with women, drinking excessively. He witnesses the ugliness of capitalist society and encounters various kinds of people, most of whom are "phony" hypocrites. Holden can hardly stand what is happening around him and even wishes to flee this reality to pretend to be both deaf and mute in a poor, remote area. However, he cannot truly do so, and as a result, he lives in constant conflict: he has always hated movies, yet out of boredom, he has no choice but to spend his time in movie theaters; he despises sexual relationships without love, yet he foolishly hires a prostitute; he dislikes his vain and vulgar girlfriend, Sally, yet he is obsessed with her beauty and uncontrollably embraces her. Therefore, though he despises the world, he can only be tormented and confused, comforting himself with unrealistic fantasies, deceiving himself, and ultimately still has to compromise with reality. He fails to become a true rebel, which can be seen as the tragedy of both the author J.D. Salinger and his character Holden.