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The IUP Journal of English Studies

Interpellating the Misfit: An Althusserian Reading of The Catcher in the Rye

Article Details

Pub. Date	: June, 2022
Product Name	: The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type	: Article
Product Code	: IJES110622
Author Name	:Morteza Yazdanjoo, Mohammad Amin Mozaheb and Ali Rahimi
Availability	: YES
Subject/Domain	: Arts & Humanities
Download Format	: PDF Format
No. of Pages	: 14

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Abstract

This paper endeavors to identify the role of ideology in domesticating the unruly protagonist of J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield. Althusser's educational and familial apparatus, which are the hallmarks of his ideological state apparatus, play an undeniable role in guiding Holden to the right path of life and, therefore, applying himself. As the best representative of educational apparatus, Antolini, a Christ-like figure, provides tutelage for Holden in the absence of his Broadway-investing father. Holden, through idealizing Phoebe and Allie, also reveals an acute sense of belonging which characterizes him as a sibling-fixated protagonist. However, Holden behaves in such a way that it leads him to be stigmatized as a 'madman' and is eventually consigned to an asylum, another example of Althusser's RSA (i.e., Repressive State Apparatus). Overall, we propose that Holden Caulfield, being subjected to the Subject, is 'the caught in the rye' not 'the catcher in the rye'.

Central to understanding J D Salinger's oeuvre is the notion of 'misfit hero', which emanates from his devotion to Zen Buddhism. Salinger's heroes, from Seymour Glass to Holden Caulfield, who are quite detached from the verisimilitude elf-aggrandizing world of adults, seek the achievement of Satori (i.e., spiritual enlightenment). To put it differently, they are immune to "the corrupt, materialistic, loveless world of the grown-up where adult and adultery are synonymous"(Levine 1958, 94). Precocious, sage-like, and recluse, Salinger's heroes live a bohemian and spiritual life, a mode of life which is incompatible within the fictional setting we find them, i.e., New York which is the author's wasteland. Despite