Thursday, January 19, 2012

In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, what is it that Jane Gallagher does at the movies that Holden Caulfield likes?

In J.D. Salinger's novel, Catcher in the
Rye
, Jane Gallagher represents someone who he cares for, who allows him to be
comfortable with himself, especially in her company; this is something Holden struggles
with throughout the book: being positive with others and feeling comfortable in the
company of other people.


Holden genuinely cares for Jane,
recalling an afternoon when they were playing checkers and her stepfather arrived on the
scene. It is very upsetting to Jane, though she will not explain why. However, Holden is
very concerned and tries to comfort her as she
cries.


Holden even finds the way Jane holds hands
noteworthy. While other girls fidget, as if they are worrying that they won't be able to
hold hands "correctly," Jane is comfortable with doing it, and Holden perhaps is
more comfortable about himself because she once again makes it so
easy for him to be who he is, without criticizing
him.



Most
girls, if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand DIES on you, or else they think
they have to keep MOVING their hand all the time, as if they were afraid they’d bore you
or something. Jane was different. We’d get into a goddam movie or something, and right
away we’d start holding hands, and we wouldn’t quit till the movie was over. And without
changing position or making a big deal out of it. You never even worried, with Jane,
whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really
were.



However, there is one
thing that Jane does one time at the movie that just about "knocks [Holden] out:" she
casually put her hand on the back of his neck. It is unexpected and shocking, but "so
pretty" that it just about "kills" him.


readability="15">

One time, in this movie, Jane did something that
just a out knocked me out. The newsreel was on or something, and all of a sudden I felt
this hand on the back of my neck, and it was Jane's. It was a funny thing to do. I mean
she was quite young and all, and most girls if you see them putting their hand on the
back of somebody's neck, they're around twenty-five or thirty and usually they're doing
it to their husband or their little kid—I do it to my kid sister...But if a girl's quite
young and all and she does it, it's so pretty it just about kills
you.



Holden is terribly
lonely. He is critical of others and extremely cynical. He is struggling to find where
he fits in the world and doesn't have a great deal of patience with the world. He does,
however, have special feelings and fond memories of Jane, though one wonders why he does
not call her during the story, when she probably could have made him feel better, as she
did before.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What accomplishments did Bill Clinton have as president?

Of course, Bill Clinton's presidency will be most clearly remembered for the fact that he was only the second president ever...