Catcher In The Rye

Individuality in society is what makes our culture exist. Each person seems to be opposite of the next in their choices and their preferences. What makes one person happy, make not even bring a smile to the next. The one thing that each individual does have in common is the fact that to gain happiness, one much search for it. This quest may involve many different characteristics. Some battle the quest for happiness with the company of others, and some battle the quest for happiness alone. Whether this quest leads to a material happiness or a spiritual happiness depends on the individual who is brave enough to tackle the search. In The Catcher in the Rye, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For EsmeÐ'--With Love and Squalor," Salinger argues that the quest for happiness is not material, but spiritual; he does this by creating characters who cannot cope with the world around them and search for a spiritual happiness through loneliness, by detailing this spiritual quest through religious symbols that form a foundation, which his characters build their lives upon, and by displaying symbols that seem to predict a better life by signifying a turning point which leads to an eventual happiness.

Salinger's characters are generally misfits of society, protagonists that undergo a spiritual happiness by being unable to conform to a material happiness, forcing them to isolate themselves from this society. In The Catcher in the Rye, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", and "For EsmeÐ'--With Love and Squalor", loneliness is used to isolate characters from evil. Salinger portrays all of society to be horrific, and for many character's isolation from this repulsion is the only way to achieve happiness (Grunwald 103). In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield's entire plot deals with him trying to isolate himself from the rest of the world. Holden realizes that society has become corrupt, and wants no part in this terrible life that he is obligated to live (French 192). In this case, Salinger uses society as the source of discord to be isolated from. Holden is shown as a hermit at the end of The Catcher in the Rye. Grunwald explains "Holden's tranquility, at the end, can be ascribed to his isolation from society" (Grunwald 68). Holden only wants to be separated from the society, which considers him a misfit. In Salinger's novels, such as the one discussed above, a source of unhappiness is usually the fact that society views the characters as nonconformists. The characters can only become content if they isolate themselves from this very culture and search for peacefulness within themselves. Salinger uses loneliness also as a means to change in the way that these characters live. Salinger is able to use isolation to change the life of Seymour Glass (Salzman 130). Seymour feels that society has become corrupt and must change his lifestyle in order for him to find a sense of pleasure. Seymour sees that society has no more compassion on people, and that he must do something to change it. In order for him to change he must first isolate from society (Salzman 136, 140). Salinger uses loneliness again to benefit mankind. Salinger in this case makes a person change his lifestyle to separate from the very culture that surrounds him. The benefits of this action are good not only for the person who has changed, but also helps parts of society, which are deeply affected (Salzman 132). Salinger's use of loneliness benefits his characters greatly. He is able to isolate his characters in order for them to attain happiness. Salinger describes Seymour as "A recluse, who will never be part of society" (Grunwald 260, 265). He shows that Seymour wants nothing of this world and wants to be as far away as possible. The characters see that their civilization has become dire, and in order for them to become content they must get away from this society, and live their own lives. In "For EsmeÐ'--With Love and Squalor", Salinger shows that the lead character, Sergeant X considers himself to be a loner. He explains that when Sergeant X was not with his regiment each man, "Pretty much went his own way" (Salinger 132). The regiment symbolized the evil from the Great War that engulfed society and forced man to hate. Sergeant X found peace as an outsider, who often "sat in a dry place and read a book" (Salinger 133). Sergeant X was unable to find a material happiness in such activities as other soldiers engaged. His time spent alone, lost from the crowd, gave him the opportunity to find an inner peace, allowing him the chance to step away from the War and reflect on happier times.

Loneliness benefits Salinger's characters greatly by isolating them allowing the chance to attain happiness. Many of Salinger's characters seem to only find happiness in times of separation from the very culture that attempts to engulf them. The way that Salinger portrayed Holden Caulfield has been a factor in the controversial nature of the book The Catcher in the Rye. Holden is a strong-minded person with strong-minded opinions of the world and the people that function within it. Holden has reached a point in his life where he doesn't care anymore, allowing him a chance to separate himself from the civilization around him. An odd quality of Holden's is that he believes that the world he lives in and the people that function within it with are phony. The center issue of Holden's perception of falseness in this world is his inability to communicate with others. He wants to be a loner and stay to himself:

I figured that I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas in other people's cars. I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people don't know me and I don't know anybody. (Salinger 117)

This depicts Holden's innocence, which is portrayed in a more sincere fashion when he leaves school to be on his own. Holden is able to find a spiritual happiness at a point where he shuts the rest of the world out. Salinger also shows a period where isolation leads to spiritual happiness for his lead character in "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." Muriel, Seymour's wife, is described as very self-centered. Because of her personality, Seymour cannot confide in her or feel any love in his marriage. This is why he turns to the little girl at the beach for companionship. Seymour finds a friend and a listener in Sybil. But the friendship of Sybil cannot mend Seymour's broken heart. He gains some strength in himself when he finds a friend in Sybil, but he cannot seem to get past his failed marriage. Seymour is so desperate for love that he commits suicide:

Then he went over to one of the pieces of luggage, opened it, and from under a