The Catcher in the Rye

Background 1950’s

1950’s Slang

• Back Seat Bingo• Bad News • Big Daddy• Cranked • Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’• Fake Out• Get With It• Pooper• Razz My Berries

• Making out in a car• Depressing person• Older person • Excited • Looking for trouble • Bad date • Understand• No fun at all• Excite or impress me

Background 1950’s

• Homogenous Society – “Nuclear family”– Father as dominant role – Mother as subservient

• Conforming to what is socially acceptable

• Unrealistic perception

Background 1950’s

Post WWII America

• Economy in upswing after WWII

• Start of Hollywood prominence – Full length films, news clips – Films were escape from reality

Background 1950’s: Television

• I Love Lucy

• Happy Days

• Westerns

• Leave it to Beaver – Encouraged father as head of household,

breadwinner – Presents life free from problems

Background 1950’s:Fashion

• Women– Poodle skirts– Saddle shoes– Pedal pushers – Cashmere sweaters

• Men – Black leather jacket– Sweater vests – Rolled white t- shirts – “Peg legs”

1950’s Clothing:Women

1950’s Clothing: Men

1950’s The Cost of Living 1958

• House

• Income

• Gas

• Stamp

• New Ford car

$30,000

$4,650$.24$.04

$1967-$3629

1950’s Music

• Elvis• Buddy Holly• Perry Como• Frank Sinatra

1950’s Culture

1950’s Home Economic Book• “Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night

before, to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking of him and are concerned about his needs.”

• “Prepare yourself. Take fifteen minutes to rest so that you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your makeup, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day might need a lift.”

1950’s Culture • “Some Dont’s: Don’t greet him with problems or

complaints. Don’t complain if he is late for dinner. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day. Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest that he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft soothing pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.”

• “Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other pleasant entertainment. Instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to unwind and relax.”

J.D. Salinger

• 1919- 2010 • Dropped out of college• Dad sent him to Austria to learn sausage

making • Left only 1 month before Hitler took over

– Jewish

• Served in the military- WWII– D-Day, concentration camps

• 3 brief marriages- 1 daughter and 1 son

J.D. Salinger

• Little known about him

• Practiced Zen Buddhism & other obscure branches of Hinduism

• Unwanted information published about him– Said to have suffered from post traumatic

stress syndrome from the war

• Lives as a recluse

J.D. Salinger

• Published short story in the New Yorker– “Slight Rebellion of Madison”

• Short story spawned Holden Caulfield and The Catcher in the Rye

• Refusal to sign rights for film adaptation

• “Nine Stories” 1953

J.D. Salinger

• Published 1951• Immediately successful- 30 weeks best seller list • Somewhat autobiographical • Most frequently banned book from 1966-75

– language and content – parents and religious groups

• Said to corrupt youth – 237 "goddamn," 58 "bastards,” 31 "Chrissakes," and 6

"fuck”.

• 1970’s teacher fired for teaching it

The Catcher in the Rye

Bildungsroman

• Novel of education; moral, psychological or social development and growth of the main character, usually from childhood to maturity – Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, A

Tree Grows in Brooklyn

The Catcher in the Rye

• Praised for capturing the voice of an adolescent prep school boy

• Voice of depressed and isolated teen

• Holden: idealist, moralist, romantic

Background

• 48 hours in life of Holden• Fails out of Pency Prep -

– leaves for NY city

• His disgust with the social norms of society • How easily man accepts vulgar environment• 1948-1949