Forever young!

Forever Young!

Catcher in the Rye is a well-known novel written by J.D. Salinger, who actually did not like how famous his masterpiece became… In this way, he did not like the idea of being famous, he hated being recognized and that its novel became bestseller since it is known that those categories belong to books that actually are not very good, but of course this one is an exception. Nevertheless, that is not the topic that I’m going to discuss now on this post. I would really like to reflect on the fact that causes the protagonist of the novel Holden Caulfield to be so angry with his surroundings and with the people in general because of their hypocrisy. Firstly, I am going to connect the idea of this novel with two different things; one is a relation that I have thought about when starting reading and understanding fully the meaning of this book, and the other one is the relation it has with an author and a novel of the beat generation.

It is not difficult to understand, if you have read the novel, that the enemy this young man was fighting to. Was it Mollock? Haha.. Unfortunately not, it was maybe something worse since it is something you cannot beat. It is useless to fight it. You cannot win it. Can you guess what could it be? No, yes, you’re close! And yes, it is TIME. Who has never thought about freezing time to change something or to have more of it to do something or to enjoy your youth? I think most of us have. But as I have already said, and as you also may clearly know, it is useless. We cannot stop time or prevent ourselves to grow up, and get older. This is one of the reasons why Holden was so upset, because he was feeling helpless. He knew he could not stop himself of getting older and losing his innocence.

Who does not want to be a kid forever? Why do we have to grow up and become less innocent about the world issues that tend to be getting worse? It is nice and comfortable to live in a bubble where everything you do is play and have fun! Why does it have to end? Why do we have to study, and then work, and then get so old that we can’t even have fun anymore because all parts of our body hurt? It is a sad reality. Maybe, or clearly, time has not the fault in all this…but our society that is built that way… can we change it? How? Would exist that day in which this routine of life changes? It is something difficult to figure out certainly.

We all have complained about something as inevitable as time, and it clearly remembers me about a character that refuses deeply to get older and does not want to grow up, and wants to play all the time without having any responsibilities. Does it ring any bell? Haha yeah, it is the famous Peter Pan. What an amazing character. I believe most of us have seen its movie, read the book, or at least heard of him. He is the happiest kid ever, living the everyday life without getting older. Would Holden have wanted to be like Peter Pan? Absolutely, as far as I’m concerned, he would have loved to! But even in this story the time is present and there are kids that want to grow up and live the life as it is established. Wendy is a clear example of that. She knew that being a kid forever is not possible, and that at some time you have to follow the circle of life.

On the other hand, Catcher in the Rye may have some similarities with the other well-known novel Howl by Allen Ginsberg. In both stories there was an enemy, not the same one, but both characters expressed their anger against them. Both showed their desperation in order to catch other people’s attention to demonstrate their frustration and anger. In Howl, the enemy is in a way “fightable” since this novel represents how America is, and how wrong its system works. The point here is to change America’s view of life. Mollock presents the America’s system; in fact it is the worst enemy, and the one that should be changed.

But what moral can we take from Howl? It is possible to state that we should always reflect on the system in which we are immersed. Howl and Catcher in the Rye show us that we should think beyond about everything since we mostly believe that all we have is good enough, but it isn’t. It also has its bad side and that is what these novels wanted us to see. We just live our lives without taking into consideration what is beyond it, which could actually change it to be something better than it is now.

It is important to think about these aspects sometimes, it may be disappointing to realize all this, but it is preferable to be aware of it than being blind and satisfied. It gives us hope to think that maybe we can do something about it; maybe doing little changes can be comforting. One clear example can be the students of Chile that fight for different things, and now for a free education system and other relevant things. It is worth it to fight for! It gives us hope. But is it worth it to fight something as Time? I don’t think so, what do you think?