Catcher In The Rye Research Paper
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The Catcher in the Rye : An American Koan
Joseph Dewey
America, it appears, is in the uneasy twilight of the Age of the Novel. Even the most ardent readers—and the most dedicated English teachers—acknowledge that. Given the sheer reach that visual tech- nologies have achieved in just fifty years—film, advertising, televi- sion, video games, and, supremely, the Internet—the act (and art) of reading the printed word has been gracelessly shuffled off to the mar- gins. Americans are now pixel-fed and image-fat. Novels themselves seem bulky, impractical, clumsy, ink pressed on paper fast becoming like Morse code and cathedral radios, rotary phones and print newspa- pers, quaint relics of ways we use to communicate. And serious litera- ture—those …show more content…
The experience of reading Catcher, specifically frustrations over defining Holden, shifts dramatically if we factor in Salinger’s bur- geoning interest in Buddhism. The problem, of course, is that contem- porary Americans have little interest in spiritual complexities. Evan- gelical Protestantism, Christian Catholicism, Judaism, Islamism, even atheism—all are simplified into T-shirt slogans and bumper stickers. Zen Buddhism is no exception. Enjoy the Ride; Less Is More; Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . It’s All Small Stuff; It’s All Fun and Games and Then Someone Loses an I; Meditation—It’s Not What You Think!; Be Mindful; See the (insert any noun); be the (insert the same noun). Indeed, the mention of Zen Buddhism to a contemporary audi- ence is likely to be associated with feng shui templates for interior re- decorating using elaborate gardening layouts and tumbling water; or paramilitary martial arts academies in strip malls where suburban kids are drilled with concepts of mentaltoughness; or low-key exercise reg- imens in which, to soothing instrumental music with gauzy sound ef- fects such as rain or ocean waves and glass wind chimes, practitioners assume pretzel-like positions on floor mats; or the power motivation bromidesofknockoffZenmastersfromNBAcoachPhilJacksontoca- ble news spiritual healer Deepak Chopra. The profound wisdom litera- ture of centuries of Buddhism has been simplified, popularized as the wit and wisdom of a succession of pop-culture icons, the Tao of Pooh or Mr. Spock, Eric Cartman or Dwight Schrute. Buddhism’s rich sense of paradox, its celebration of insight, the Zen moment, has long been a punch line for comedians who, in exaggerated broken “Oriental” syn- tax, offer nonsensical phrases that inevitably
The Catcher in the Rye : An American Koan
Joseph Dewey
America, it appears, is in the uneasy twilight of the Age of the Novel. Even the most ardent readers—and the most dedicated English teachers—acknowledge that. Given the sheer reach that visual tech- nologies have achieved in just fifty years—film, advertising, televi- sion, video games, and, supremely, the Internet—the act (and art) of reading the printed word has been gracelessly shuffled off to the mar- gins. Americans are now pixel-fed and image-fat. Novels themselves seem bulky, impractical, clumsy, ink pressed on paper fast becoming like Morse code and cathedral radios, rotary phones and print newspa- pers, quaint relics of ways we use to communicate. And serious litera- ture—those …show more content…
The experience of reading Catcher, specifically frustrations over defining Holden, shifts dramatically if we factor in Salinger’s bur- geoning interest in Buddhism. The problem, of course, is that contem- porary Americans have little interest in spiritual complexities. Evan- gelical Protestantism, Christian Catholicism, Judaism, Islamism, even atheism—all are simplified into T-shirt slogans and bumper stickers. Zen Buddhism is no exception. Enjoy the Ride; Less Is More; Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff . . . It’s All Small Stuff; It’s All Fun and Games and Then Someone Loses an I; Meditation—It’s Not What You Think!; Be Mindful; See the (insert any noun); be the (insert the same noun). Indeed, the mention of Zen Buddhism to a contemporary audi- ence is likely to be associated with feng shui templates for interior re- decorating using elaborate gardening layouts and tumbling water; or paramilitary martial arts academies in strip malls where suburban kids are drilled with concepts of mentaltoughness; or low-key exercise reg- imens in which, to soothing instrumental music with gauzy sound ef- fects such as rain or ocean waves and glass wind chimes, practitioners assume pretzel-like positions on floor mats; or the power motivation bromidesofknockoffZenmastersfromNBAcoachPhilJacksontoca- ble news spiritual healer Deepak Chopra. The profound wisdom litera- ture of centuries of Buddhism has been simplified, popularized as the wit and wisdom of a succession of pop-culture icons, the Tao of Pooh or Mr. Spock, Eric Cartman or Dwight Schrute. Buddhism’s rich sense of paradox, its celebration of insight, the Zen moment, has long been a punch line for comedians who, in exaggerated broken “Oriental” syn- tax, offer nonsensical phrases that inevitably