In The Catcher in the Rye Holden clearly thinks that life is only a
game for the “hot-shots” on the other side instead of him. Since he establishes
himself as a reliable, authoritative narrator, our first instinct is to believe
him. We’re inclined to agree that Holden doesn’t play into the game and that
the game of life undercuts him because he’s not a “hotshot”. However, the more
I learn and think about Holden’s actual character, the less I believe this is
true.
Holden is the type of guy that
likes to be world-weary and criticize everything. It makes him feel superior
and wiser than his peers. In addition, he ostracizes himself. It seems that
most people are too phoney for him to hang out with them, so he simply sticks
to the people around him. Holden seems to think that the world ostracizes him
because he’s different and “out of their league”, but in my opinion he uses the
unjustness of this idea to pity himself and reinforce the idea that he’s
superior. Holden’s sense of superiority clearly stems from insecurity, hence
his self-deprecating jokes, but he masks it from the reader well. Keeping his
superiority and outcastedness in mind, I address his comment about the world
being a game.
When Holden thinks about the world
as a game, he implies that this game does not apply to him because he’s not
popular and loved, and thus life is harder for him. Holden sees these popular,
rich people who take their privilege for granted and play by the rules, using
their privilege and the game of life to propel themselves to even higher
status. He believes that anyone who doesn’t fit in is undercut and left to endure
a much harder and underprivileged life. But is Holden really underprivileged
because he’s not a “hotshot”? Or are his demeanor and actions evidence of
Holden exploiting his privilege to their limits? He gets kicked out of many
schools and doesn’t care about his schools or his future. If he were truly
underprivileged he wouldn’t have the privilege of not caring, because getting
kicked out of school after school would condemn him to an awful future. Instead,
since he comes from a place of wealth and power, Holden is able to play outside
the rules of society without much worry towards his future. So Holden is
clearly not “suffering” in the slightest because of the game of life. In
addition, it is Holden’s choice to be an outcast. He chose to put up this
cynical, distasteful façade that turns people off and to operate outside the
rules.
Perhaps Holden actually doesn’t play into the game of life, but
this is entirely his own choice and he doesn’t suffer because of it, although
he makes it sound like his life is much harder. Personally I think that Holden’s
claim was a way for him to pity himself and to get the readers to pity him as
well. Although, let’s be real, I may just be biased due to my dislike of
Holden. Thoughts?
