F for Effort
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield frequents the habit of bringing a topic up, perhaps even expressing an interest in it, but explaining to the reader that he is deliberately choosing not to engage because he 'doesn't feel like it.'
This attitude is most notable in Holden's school work. The story opens at Pencey Prep, where Holden has just been kicked out of after failing four of his five classes. It's also revealed that Pencey is not the first school he's been kicked out of; presumably, it won't be the last. Why is this? Holden doesn't seem particularly unintelligent and even informs the reader of the initiative he takes when he writes extra-curricular essays.
There could be many explanations.
At first, I assumed that Holden was protecting himself from failure or disappointment. Maybe Holden uses his actively-maintained passivity to convince himself that he only does badly because it's him who refuses to break a sweat. This self-sabotaging mentality is one very familiar to Uni students, and one I've caught myself in more than I'd like to admit;
ie "I only studied 10 minutes"
"I only studied 5"
This thought process is further visible in Holden's relationships with others. Though he interacts with Sally Hayes a lot in the book, it's clear that she's only Holden's backup plan for the girl he truly likes, Jane. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden considers calling Jane Gallagher up many times, but never attempts to contact her until he's thoroughly inebriated towards the end of the novel. While Holden presents the attitude he's taken on as composed nonchalance, I think he actually uses it to shield himself from rejection or failure when it really matters.
Another explanation for Holden's academic negligence is that it's a barrier against growing up. To him, trying in school is just like selling out. Holden praises doing things just for the hell of them, and putting forth his effort to please others would make him a phony. In this regard, Holden's passive boycott of schoolwork is his way of prolonging his childhood.
Ultimately, I think Holden's recurring mindset is intentional and he recognizes that with his connections, he could succeed in society if he made some effort (everyone he knows is relatively 'successful' or goes to an ivy etc). Either way, Holden's obstinate refusal to participate in society is a reflection of his privilege. Holden's coming-of-age takes place without worry because he knows he has his affluence and family's resources to fall back on.
I didn't even think about him having a self-sabotaging mentality, but that makes a lot of sense. I feel like his lack of motivation is a mixture of all of these explanations. Even though he expresses a lot of hate towards "phonies" or becoming a phony, he still actually wants to succeed in life. His lack of motivation is probably also because of his depression and overall negative/cynical view on life.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite fitting that this is the topic considering our current pandemic. Motivation is really hard t come by and I'm sure many people share Holden's sentiments. I like the connection you make with him being afraid of failure and rejection. Shown by his unwillingness to try. Trying and failing is way more embarrassing to him than not trying at all. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you said, especially the last paragraph. The reason that Holden can do whatever he wants is because of his immense privilege and the fact that he knows that he will probably succeed regardless. He also has something to fall on if all else fails and that is his family's money. To be fair, Holden is depressed and this may also contribute to his lack of effort. But I think that his knowledge of his privilege definitely makes his tendencies more extreme.
ReplyDeleteI really like what you said here about Holden's mindset and I think it really does work with lots of different aspects of his life just like you say. It seems like Holden doesn't really understand why exactly he does a lot of the things that he does but this helps shed some light on why he behaves the way that he does in many situations from school to his relationships. But in the end yeah I think he does choose to be obstinate and not participate the way that everyone thinks that he should.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see the connections between Holden's fear of failure and the way he goes about many different aspects of his life. This fear is a major contributor to his lack of motivation, but I didn't even think about how his desire to prolong his childhood might also factor in. The way he deems people who find motivation in others (mostly adults) as "phonies" could also be considered justification for his lack of motivation and unwillingness to grow up.
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot of really good points here! I hadn't thought about his negligence in these contexts but the way you mentioned that it happens at Uni too was really eye opening. It's quite ironic that Holden is subconsciously flunking out of school to prolong his childhood, because his parents are definitely the type to just put him in school after school no matter how hard he tries to fail (kind of like the college scandal with Olivia Jade (?) in a way, the parents have so much money that they can get their children into good schools even if they're "bad" students who couldn't care less about school/ don't want to go in the first place).
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