After reading a comment, I wish the dude that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
Just finished reading this goddamn book. Then came to this phony channel. Now it's depressing the hell out of me. It really is. But this narrator is nice. He kills me.
The Catcher in the Rye is such a striking novel for me, because it was the first time I read a somewhat aged novel and felt like I could completely relate to the narrator - actually, first time I read any novel and felt that way. And I'm not being a goddamn phony. I mean it for chrissake. I really do.
I just feel like roaming around New York past midnight, going to a crumby bar, ordering a few scotch and sodas and maybe smoking a pack. Holden kills me to be honest.
It's pretty funny how I've also noticed that this is such a love or hate book. This book is black and white with no grey. You either sympathize with Holden and understand him, enjoying the book. Or you despise Holden and hate the book. Pretty funny actually.
Yep. I read it in 11th grade. Couldn't stand the novel. Holden was annoying and just seemed like he tried too hard not to fit in, but exuded that he still wanted to fit in. I mean, as a teenager, that's the state of things, but the fact it was in first person and he couldn't even admit to himself that fact irritated me. Plus, to me he was just plain unlikable. Crass and in-your-face abrupt and blunt - mainly as a front to hide his true self. UNLIKEABLE. Also, wasn't a fan of the prose.
The Catcher in the Rye came into my life at exactly the right place and time. I was seventeen years old and in the midst of what would become a long-term downward spiral. It was almost surreal how intimately I could relate to the mindset of a fictional teenager whose existence predates my own by half a century. In many ways, I was Holden Caulfield. I felt society bearing down on me, my whole worldview having been warped by this sense of urgency that they were trying to instil. The personalities which occupied a portion of my day-to-day life, whether directly or otherwise, had always displayed this veneer of emptiness that seemed lost on everyone else. I was in such a bad way that if you told me the overwhelming majority of people in our society met the diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder - in other words, that the average person was a sociopath - I would have believed it without a second thought. I used to think I was the only one who felt that way (or at least, part of a very insignificant minority). Holden's character made me realize that I'm not.
There's nothing wrong with you at all. Catcher in the Rye is the type of book that's hard to understand or even enjoy unless you can relate to its protagonist.
I dont know why, but I damn near bawled when I realised that old phoebe was the catcher in the rye for Holden, that what he yearned to be, was what he needed for himself all along. Boy, Old phoebe sure did save his life, before he could go down that deep spiral had he left town.
I really hated Holden, really did. He was just so god damn phony. It was kind of ironic, in a way, since he was the one always calling everyone else phony. That damn bastard.
He is the embodiment of American teen angst and pretension, all through the book he wants to be respected and listened to like an adult but utterly refuses to grow the F up, flunking out of school, paying and hooker than chickening out, planning on running away with his little sister, he's a good commentary on adolescence but as a character he's an obnoxious little twerp!
Ruthiel Alastor HONEST TO GOD ME TOO. I READ THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER RIGHT AFTER SO I GOT INSPIRED TO WRITE A MODERN Y/A NOVEL LIKE PERKS BUT IN HOLDEN’S LANGUAGE HFJHCJSJS
Allie´s death drives Holden into a search to discover the meaning of life. Finally, love is the answer, it can´t be otherwise. Phoebe loves Holden. He loves her. This heals him from all the phony guys he mets. Thank you very much Mr. Green for your great lessons. You open my mind to a huge amount of literary concepts.
I've read "Catcher in the Rye" so many times I can't count. Two of the greatest descriptions always jump out at me when I think of it. How things change all the time, like one time you may see a "gasoline rainbow". Phoebe being "roller skate skinny", god I know exactly what that looks like. Thank you, John Green, you really get it.
I'm so glad there's a crash course for this because everyone else in my grade is reading this in English this year but I'm not because I'm taking a college English class, and I really miss stuff like this. I thought analyzing books was stupid until my sophomore year, and now I like it and I don't even get to do it properly.
For those of you who loved this book and identified with the character, I recommend reading "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe, the original Caulfield
Being an aspiring English teacher, showing my students this is amazing. It catches everything that this book and then some cliff notes to go off of. I love this book and this is perfect to start a lesson. I love crash course so much! Good job guys!!!
When I was 16, I read the book because someone told me I was like Holden. I read it. I changed my behavior. He has serious anxiety issues and there’s a reason that he needs someone to listen. It’s an interesting read. I like the book, if not love it, but I do not like when people interpret Holden to be the next coming of a metaphorical Jesus.
Crash course literature has brought me so much appreciation for so many classics; would LOVE for another literature series to be made; thanks so much for all the effort put into these videos.
The passive voice, like many writing no-nos, is less a rule and more a recommendation. In my experience, no writing technique is a cardinal sin, but some of them can be pretty tricky to pull off.
That...Was no joke, the first time that somebody has explained Catcher in the Rye in a way that made complete sense to me. Thank you, Crash Course, my mind has been completely blown.away.
This was amazing; I read Catcher in the Rye by myself and most of it went wayy over my head. Thanks for doing this analysis on it - really helps me to understand what Salinger was getting at! :)
I've just read this book for English 11 and it's the definitely the best book that I've ever studied at school. There's something so intriguing and touching about Holden's narractive.
SPOILERS. I've never been able to figure out if Mr. Antolini is really making an advance on Holden or just admiring/pitying him at that moment. Perhaps he's just drunk and sitting there thinking about the "fall" Holden is about to take and is just rubbing his head in an almost paternal way and Holden misinterprets it because of past molestations or unwanted sexual advances. Or maybe he's ACTUALLY about to try something. I can never decide which I think it is. Thoughts?
fullmetalfunk I think it's a paternal thing, because he was only patting Holden's head rather than... anywhere else. But then again, who knows, really? J.D. Salinger is dead at this point, and he didn't even do interviews when he was alive.
Elizabeth Diener It's funny how his act of trying to seclude himself partly to let his writing stand on it's own, created the sort of cult of personality that followed him and informed his writing in the minds of fans. But yeah, I feel like it's paternal. Apparently though he had been molested or possibly raped before and being still half drunk and half asleep mistook it for a pass and given his past experiences, freaked out. That's what i think, but there's just enough doubt there to always make me wonder every time I read it.
fullmetalfunk I think that Mr. Antolini identifies with Holden and that it is possible he sees this so called "fall" coming because he himself has had one of these falls. We are left to infer than Antolini isunhappy as he is an alcoholic and he is not connected to his wife within the privacy of his own home. This would imply that Antolini is unhappy and the talk he gives to Holden further proves that Antolini is unhappy with his life due to the fact he has not played the game that is life.
"I was standing on the hill," is not an example of the passive voice; it's an example of the past progressive tense. Voices and tenses are different. For that statement to be written in passive voice would be to write, "The hill was being stood upon by me," in which the original subject and object in the sentence trade places and the verb "to be" is added in front of the already-existing predicate. Two show that voices and tenses are not the same thing, note that the same sentence can be written in the passive voice WITHOUT the past progressive tense as, "The hill was stood upon by me." Best wishes! ~A fellow grammar-nazi and quazi-self-taught-linguist.
In literary English, it's a passive voice because action is limited - hence the definition. You just argued tenses and voice is different. No one in their right mind would write "The hill was stood upon by me." - because no narrator would ever speak to their audience like that. In fact, no one speaks that way, much like it's still acceptable to use incorrect pronouns (her vs she) in written dialogue because that is how people actually speak. One would hope, in the end, they'd simply use active voice - "I hill stood firm under my feet, supportive and real, unlike her love that had faded with the wind..." Don't get me wrong, grammar and tense is important, but my point is that perfectly grammatical English is just not realistic or feasible when functioning as a narrator in a story or novel. Moreover, it's not INTERESTING. Writers tend to know about general language rules because we know what we are breaking. In fact, we have to to get our symbolism across in a subtle manner, and it is what gives different characters their own voice and personality. :)
I have a feeling Salinger was kinda like Holden because think about: A writer who wrote a famous book and doesn't allow it to become a film. Holden criticizes movies and Hollywood in the book. My conclusion is that Salinger did not like movies. lol
I feel he didn't like movies because they are linear and goes from one situation to the next and 'advance so dam fast in time' when he really want the time to 'stop!'...
i think he didn't want it to be a movie because, can you even picture it as a movie? it wouldn't translate well into a visual medium. for it to be a movie, 90% of it would have to be narration, so it would be pointless.
apparently i've read somewhere as well that if ever the catcher in the rye gets adapted into a movie, salinger said that he should be the one to play as holden. i can't give a source right now though but yeah
I'd bet my left eye that Salinger was gifted. When you say that word, people think about intelligence, but it's much more about feeling everything times 20, feeling like an alien 'cause no one else experiences the world like you do. I cried my a** off when Holden describes how he wants to be the catcher in the rye!
The whole "appreciating literature for language rather than plot" part is definitely the case with Vonnegut. He was a master of going at length to describe how a certain social situation between his characters should feel. Using in-depth descriptions of characters, clever and humorous analogies, he was basically able to suck you in and hold your attention, even when the plot was moving slowly or not at all lol...
I feel like just listening to you educates our vocabulary. Like you use such immense vocab and it is literally maturing my choice of words. That's why I love this channel
I read Catcher on your suggestion, John, and although it didn't become my new favorite, I really enjoyed it! This analysis is amazing and helpful and I can definitely see from your passion and deep thought why it's one of your favorites!
I loved The Catcher in the Rye when I had to study it but I can understand why some people would hate it. It's probably because I could understand Holden Caulfield when I first read it.
I love this series! English is a second language in my country, hence not many are really interested in classical literature. These videos helped me understand them better in an easy, fun and entertaining way. Having John Green hosting it, what more can I say? Love from Malaysia!
65 years old now, in high school i read this book( well most of it anyway). During a report of the book, while standing in front of the class, the teacher continually interrupted me every time i pronounced the main characters name, HOLDEN, with a long o sound, saying i was incorrect, and that its pronounced Hayden. Obviously she didnt think much of me, as after the end of my short report, she pronounced in front of the class that i in fact was Holden Caulfield. I often wondered how many others have had that happen to them. Shes long dead now, and i almost wish i could leave a text of the above video on her grave,but obviously it wouldnt really make me feel much better nor would it change her mind. Its late at night, but this is where i am at.
All of Salinger's published works (Catcher, Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, Carpenter) were all originally published with imageless covers. In later publications images were added, but not originally.
This is my very favorite video. Not only do I love John Green with a passion that controls my very soul, but because I love this book with said passion.
There was this one time when i had to write a summary. I scrolled down to the comment section and everyone was acting like a phony bastard. It killed me, it really did. I swear i was so angry i could have punched them in the face, only i didn't have the guts to do it. You take someone with a phony behavior and when you have a chance to straighten them, Nine out of ten times you don't have the guts to do it.
Thanks John Green, I like your Crash Course series. On Salinger's writing style, it goes subliminally deeper ---. Salinger was in military intelligence during and after WWII. In Germany. Which should give a clue to why his main stream youth literature is not just a story. Holden Caufield's voice is one of confusion. He tells his tale with a multitude homonyms, malaprops, slang, poor grammar, limited vocabulary, and repetitive cliche's. The result is ambiguity. Consider these expressions; "killing me", "it just kills you", "it just killed me". Each time he means something a little different, from laughter, to sentiment, to anger. Another example is the slang word "PHONEY"; its roots maybe either from PHONE, derived from Ancient Greek, meaning sound. Or it comes from FAUX, from French, meaning fake. FAKE SOUND. Another is "horsing around" used for playful fighting or sexual foreplay. The book is so compromised of wordplay that it's fun to root them all out. ;-) The character, Holden Caufield, is shown to have limited grasp of the English language so his understanding of his experiences is confused and/or his ability to express it to others is ambiguous. Again, ;-) The end result is that the truth remains obscured. This is key to understanding Holden's mind, as he says, "Somethings are hard to remember." He blurs the memory of both actions directed at him (Antolini) or actions he's directed at others (Phoebe). Perhaps Salinger is telling us limited language confuses memory. And, perhaps, by extension to society, ambiguous news equals ambiguous history? This is what gets us conspiracy theorists up in the morning. (Note, CiTR in red cover is featured prominently in Kubrick's "The Shining".) Salinger's masterly misuse of the English language is both poetic and hypnotic. Holden switches voices. First person, I; second, you; objective, they. First person gives a sense of story-telling, with the reader actively imagining a story-teller. Second person, makes it directed more intimately at the reader. Second person voice can also act like a command, hence its use in advertising. The objective allows for details at a distance. Here, distance, like passive phrasing slips beneath our conscious radar Yet, as readers we are subconsciously taking in the "I" and the "you". So I, the reader, becomes I, Holden Caulfield. Scary, with the "people shooting hat" and all. The use of what is termed, confusional statements, is a technique used in creating clinical hypnosis scripts. So I'm not at all surprised so many famous U.S. assistants, like John Lennon and JFK, have been connected to this book. ;-) I could go on and on but it would just about kill me. If you read this far, thanks.
Jarda Konvička It's really sad how much people think that Czechoslovakia still exists. It happens so damn often to me. It really does. Same here John, You're awesome.
You can also read The elegance of the Hedgehog. It's quite different, but I liked it very much. The little girl of the story, Paloma, is actually similar to Holden in a way. One of the best books I've read.
I was so excited to watch this video, I kept horsing around. But then when I got to the video I turned away. I wasn't in the mood. You have to be in the mood for that kind of stuff. It really knocked me out.
This commentary/ analysis vlog has helped me a great deal! Thank you! Reading this novel was like poking myself in the eye with a stick and I was unable to get into the book. Unable to extract such vivid character from the events and actions of the protagonist. GREAT help!
the tactic itself is used because its psychologically proven to hold the attention of the viewer. When an image quickly cuts like that the mind gets confused as to why the screen just jumped to a totally different position, the mind then will urge you to pay more attention to said jumps in order to keep track of what's going on. its utilized well here on crash course because it encourages the student to listen and therefore the student will be more likely to retain that information. RUclips vloggers use it to create the illusion of interest and in doing so makes their show look better than the pieces of shit they really are.
Butheadbros2 Fair point. Maybe it works for the majority of people, but it just doesn't work for me. I've seen it so much it doesn't hold my attention. I just find it annoying. Surely we can find other creative ways to present an analysis. Every onedoing the same thing is boring.
ShivFrost I didn't like it to begin with but after a while I just got used to it and ignored it as the style of our cinema because our generation's attention is so spread due to the attention seeking ads of capitalism. I just try not to judge it and accept it as it is so I can watch the things I'm interested in without bothering myself.
Salvador Aguilar that doesn’t really make sense if the critique is of something that the book is not. If i, for example, were to critique the book ”crime and punishment” by saying that its main character raskolnikov is ”sick for half the book, which just makes the book more boring and slow paced”, then that clearly isn’t critique That is very valid since it ignores the fact that the reasoning behind the illness is the central theme of the book. It’s like the people who claim that holden is just a whiny teenager who hates everybody, when there are heavy existentialist and nihilistic reasonings behind his behaviour that people either ignore or don’t understand, just like the roscoe guy said
That example was not in fact the passive voice, that would look something more like this "Standing was being done by me..." The use of the gerund here is simply an indication of an ongoing event in the past, which we might liken to, in full, the (past) imperfect tense, in the indicative mood, and in the active voice. Just had to say. That's not to say that the language used does not indicate a passivity, but strictly speaking, it is not the passive voice.
As I read such negative comments about a book that touched me so deeply, I wonder why the comments ARE so negative. Did they read the book at a time in their lives that wasn't fit for the message of the novel? Perhaps Holden IS the whiny child-like brat many make him out to be. All I know is the Catcher in the Rye is sitting in my lap and for the second time Holden will talk to me in the way only he knows how, and I am ready to hear him.
We had to read Catcher In the Rye for school and I watched your crashcourse videos and your videos on the vlobrothers channel from back when it was the blurbing book club book (once I finished reading the book, don't worry!) and I've gained a much deeper understanding. Thank you, John Green! DFTBA and best wishes!
My 15 recommendations - Apocalypse Now - Wizard of Oz - Gone With The Wind - Shawshank Redemption - Dark Knight - Star Wars Trilogy - Psycho - Pulp Fiction - Citizen Kane (First episode or 2 parts) - Back To The Future - Casablanca - On The Waterfront - Lord Of The Rings Trilogy - Metropolis - The Godfather
Mr Green! Mr Green! Sir, sir! How is "The reason I was standing way up on Thomsen Hill, instead of down at the game..." passive voice? Passive voice is where the subject of the sentence is suppressed, as in "posts are updated every Wednesday."
there was absolutely no reason why i watched this....but i loved it and i you totally explained why i loved this book so much when i read it ten years ago...touche sir!
So my teacher today told us that from the first chapter it is obvious that Holden is in an institution, but I really can't find any textual evidence to back that up. Yes, I see on the first page that he got "pretty run-down" and had to "Come out here and take it easy," but what kind of evidence proves that he is at an institution vs a new boarding school or living on a farm for a few months?
a8bit8of8everything Holden calls himself a madman, often describes his feelings of depression, and reveals that he considered suicide. This is probably him admitting to signs of mental illness, but I'm also looking for more evidence that points to him being institutionalized.
+a8bit8of8everything He also talks about probably catching tuberculosis, although the novel can implies to a lot of people depending on how you read it that he was sent to a mental facility it seems like it could also potentially be a medical institution to help him with the "tuberculosis" he was feeling and explains the psychologist he meets with there.
It's in the very last chapter. Some of it is implied. ( Like the creepy bedroom scene with Phoebe, ambiguous implication of incestuous.) Phrases are; "how I got sick"; "psychoanalyst guy here"; "down in the other wing." Implies a long term hospitalization.
I HATED the way this book was written. Not just disliked, absolutely despised. I thought that the "and all", "sorta", and "phony" was just to express that Holden was just a dim, angsty teenage boy. But now i realise that these words are used as symbols in a way. Most authors often use concrete things as symbols; The Great Gatsby's green light, The Hunger Games' mockingjay. I have a new appreciation for Salinger because he used actual diction as a symbol. These symbols are subtle even though some are used nearly 180 times throughout the novel. Anyways thanks Green :)
I get what you mean I absolutely hate the way holden speaks and his redundancy. But you can't help but appreciate the symbolism in the book and the fact that you have to dig deep to find the meaning of the title.the red hunting hat that holden like to wear backwards symbolizes the fact that Cathers (who wear their hats backwards) which quote the tittle "the catcher in the rye"
Wow. This is such a beautiful analysis of one of my favorite books...and made me re-remember why it's one of my favorite books. Seriously made me so damn happy.
im so glad i found this. i read TCITR two months ago and didn't understand why was such a worldwide famous book. so i guess i needed this so as to appreciate it :)
This course reminded me how it was that one analyzed a novel. I studied literature and after 4 years of not analyzing systematically, I read books and novels as a story to be finished and not much more. Thank you.
"I was standing" isn't passive voice, it's past continuous, emphasizing for a longer period of time, but it's active. The passive voice wouldn't make sense in that sentence, but to use "stand" in the passive... let me think... "I couldn't believe it, but after 45 minutes in the rain, I had to face facts: I was being stood up." I switched it to a phrasal verb, and you can say it's still awful ('she stood me up' sounds better), but that's the passive past continuous.
Thomas Smith Another example:"When I got there, the statue was being stood into position, propped temporarily with the side of an old VW bus and held by some kid with arms entirely too skinny for the job. It was upside down, although I'm not sure anyone would ever be able tell. It was a disaster."
to be honest, I used to like reading. after puberty I never grabbed any literature but study course books. the way you talk about novels that I need to read for my study make me get more interested in reading and thinking about how and why a writer wrote it that way.
You've made me respect the book more, but I still hated how emo the kid was when I read it. He was so masterful at making you feel how to one wanted to listen to Holden, I couldn't pay attention to him.
***** All book long he wants someone to listen to him, but he wouldn't want anyone to listen to him the way he does, if he just would listen to himself. I think that's the change that hits him at the end, he realizes that innocence is not a binary thing, it's something you can lose and rebuild forever as long as you don't give up on it. That's what he's been missing.
What’s wrong with emo kids It’s not like they want to They’re just scared to do things cause they experienced things more traumatic than you or worse things in life than u experienced
I read this book for my summer reading list, when I finished it I really didn't understand the book. This painted a better picture for me. Thank you cc and dftba!
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
John made a video and all.I was happy.I really was.Boy, was I happy. So I started dancing just for the hell of it.I was just horsing around.
oh my god, this is adorable. it so is
Listen, I gotta tell you that's a sort of phony thing to say. It really is.
He's a little bit like Ackley, that way.
I know this is a weird question and all , but where do the ducks go in the winter ?
are you, like, asking us? us, Rory and me and all?
When I finished reading the goddam book. It made me depressed as hell. It really did.
That killed me.
so goddamn crumby and phony :P
Kanishka Kreaper maybe it's because you can't even spell college
After reading a comment, I wish the dude that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
What grade do you ussually are required to read it? Is it good should i check my high school library or even my local library for it?
Just finished reading this goddamn book. Then came to this phony channel. Now it's depressing the hell out of me. It really is. But this narrator is nice. He kills me.
this comment is gold. like. pure gold.
can we be friends. lol
ConfusedPineapple Lmao, yes. I love phony pineapples.
Hello, add me too. I liked you both.
+Anagha M. +ConfusedPineapple
Anagha M. I see what you did there
"The dead don't stop being dead. They remain dead in the present, and that is how they haunt us." WOW. thanks, John
The Catcher in the Rye is such a striking novel for me, because it was the first time I read a somewhat aged novel and felt like I could completely relate to the narrator - actually, first time I read any novel and felt that way. And I'm not being a goddamn phony. I mean it for chrissake. I really do.
I just feel like roaming around New York past midnight, going to a crumby bar, ordering a few scotch and sodas and maybe smoking a pack. Holden kills me to be honest.
The part where his little sister came with her suitcase killed me.
Killed you as in laughed or cried
I never understood that when i read the book... Was it laughing or crying
cried ;')
He has different meanings to it. Most of the time is was about laughing but not always.
@@jayjung5234 depends on the scene, it can be either but most of the time it's laughing
It's pretty funny how I've also noticed that this is such a love or hate book. This book is black and white with no grey. You either sympathize with Holden and understand him, enjoying the book. Or you despise Holden and hate the book. Pretty funny actually.
I'm proud to state that I belong to the first kind!
Yep. I read it in 11th grade. Couldn't stand the novel. Holden was annoying and just seemed like he tried too hard not to fit in, but exuded that he still wanted to fit in. I mean, as a teenager, that's the state of things, but the fact it was in first person and he couldn't even admit to himself that fact irritated me. Plus, to me he was just plain unlikable. Crass and in-your-face abrupt and blunt - mainly as a front to hide his true self. UNLIKEABLE. Also, wasn't a fan of the prose.
I appreciated him as a teenager and hate him as an adult
I despise Holden and tolerate the book
yeah, it's pretty polarizing for some reason. i personally hated him because i related to him in what i didn't like about myself
I think it's hilarious how everyone is talking like Holden :).
It killed me ;)
The phonies...
It really is.
We are Holden
That just about killed me.
I think its worth pointing out that Holden's questions about the ducks is him trying to figure out how to grow up.
great comment
How??
Ever since I read this, I've been thinking and talking differently and all. It's been making me depressed as hell, it really has.
Juliette Myers it kills me.
+ChaZ Did... You didn't get the joke, did you?
The Catcher in the Rye came into my life at exactly the right place and time. I was seventeen years old and in the midst of what would become a long-term downward spiral. It was almost surreal how intimately I could relate to the mindset of a fictional teenager whose existence predates my own by half a century. In many ways, I was Holden Caulfield. I felt society bearing down on me, my whole worldview having been warped by this sense of urgency that they were trying to instil. The personalities which occupied a portion of my day-to-day life, whether directly or otherwise, had always displayed this veneer of emptiness that seemed lost on everyone else. I was in such a bad way that if you told me the overwhelming majority of people in our society met the diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder - in other words, that the average person was a sociopath - I would have believed it without a second thought.
I used to think I was the only one who felt that way (or at least, part of a very insignificant minority). Holden's character made me realize that I'm not.
Kurtis C. May I ask you a question? I can't understand the book( but I really want to), what's wrong with me? so dumb and lạck of experience?
There's nothing wrong with you at all. Catcher in the Rye is the type of book that's hard to understand or even enjoy unless you can relate to its protagonist.
Same. Im seventeen and Ive just read this book now.
I dont know why, but I damn near bawled when I realised that old phoebe was the catcher in the rye for Holden, that what he yearned to be, was what he needed for himself all along. Boy, Old phoebe sure did save his life, before he could go down that deep spiral had he left town.
I really hated Holden, really did. He was just so god damn phony. It was kind of ironic, in a way, since he was the one always calling everyone else phony. That damn bastard.
pmsl
That's because you didn't understand his character
+M Bender the joke is that he wrote this in Holden's way of speaking. He does understand the character.
In the book, Holden thinks of everyone as a phony, but the lesson is that in reality, he is probably the biggest phony he knew.
He is the embodiment of American teen angst and pretension, all through the book he wants to be respected and listened to like an adult but utterly refuses to grow the F up, flunking out of school, paying and hooker than chickening out, planning on running away with his little sister, he's a good commentary on adolescence but as a character he's an obnoxious little twerp!
Just finished reading this goddamn book. It made me feel depressed. It really did.
Lmao xD
I see what you did there xD
+Prunus Serrulata After a finished reading the book, i adopted Holden's language for a goddam month.
haha. that was pretty goddamn clever. It really was.
Ruthiel Alastor HONEST TO GOD ME TOO. I READ THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER RIGHT AFTER SO I GOT INSPIRED TO WRITE A MODERN Y/A NOVEL LIKE PERKS BUT IN HOLDEN’S LANGUAGE HFJHCJSJS
But seriously, does anybody know where the crummy ducks go in the winter?
They shoot themselves in the head
South. Some stay and huddle together for warmth.
i was also wondering that.
We want the answer!
I would tell you, but I'm not in the mood. You have to be in the mood for that kind of stuff. It really depresses me.
I think that Holden in The Catcher in the Rye has a striking similarity to Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Yes! I think so too!
I thought this too!!
I could be remembering, but doesn't Charlie himself make that comparison? Doesn't he read Catcher and really identify with it or something?
I believe The Perks of being a Wallflower was inspired by the Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace.
but charlie is not phony
This video killed me.
It was good and all. I don't know what I mean by that, but I mean it.
Rest in peace, then.
I really liked it. I really did. No kidding.
I sort-of liked that the video wasn't phony and all like most things out there. God, I hate that kind of stuffs. I really do. No kidding.
I can't deal with all this crumby stuff, I really can't.
Allie´s death drives Holden into a search to discover the meaning of life. Finally, love is the answer, it can´t be otherwise. Phoebe loves Holden. He loves her. This heals him from all the phony guys he mets.
Thank you very much Mr. Green for your great lessons. You open my mind to a huge amount of literary concepts.
I've read "Catcher in the Rye" so many times I can't count. Two of the greatest descriptions always jump out at me when I think of it. How things change all the time, like one time you may see a "gasoline rainbow". Phoebe being "roller skate skinny", god I know exactly what that looks like. Thank you, John Green, you really get it.
Holden Caulfield would hate this guy
He would 😂😂😂
Trev Mac Such a phony.
Holden Caufield is imaginary...
Who, John Green? Hell no! Watch a little vlog brothers: it's hard to get more authentic in a public life than John in.
A phoney bastard
I'm so glad there's a crash course for this because everyone else in my grade is reading this in English this year but I'm not because I'm taking a college English class, and I really miss stuff like this. I thought analyzing books was stupid until my sophomore year, and now I like it and I don't even get to do it properly.
I really enjoyed this book when I read it, but didn't pick up on most, if any of these things. I'm always surprised by how much others can pick up on.
Why is everyone talking about my goddamn book? I wish I hadn't written that book. Just leave me alone and let me live my life by myself.
Mr. Salinger, i saw you on the Bojack Horseman show i can't believe that you are still alive.
For those of you who loved this book and identified with the character, I recommend reading "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe, the original Caulfield
i love this book even more after watching this video
Holden is my favorite character in the whole fictional world. He kills me. He really does. ❤️😍
Being an aspiring English teacher, showing my students this is amazing. It catches everything that this book and then some cliff notes to go off of. I love this book and this is perfect to start a lesson. I love crash course so much! Good job guys!!!
When I was 16, I read the book because someone told me I was like Holden. I read it. I changed my behavior. He has serious anxiety issues and there’s a reason that he needs someone to listen. It’s an interesting read. I like the book, if not love it, but I do not like when people interpret Holden to be the next coming of a metaphorical Jesus.
Crash course literature has brought me so much appreciation for so many classics; would LOVE for another literature series to be made; thanks so much for all the effort put into these videos.
I want to be an English teacher, if only to be so impassioned about sharing like you. This is nothing short of amazing. Thank you.
The passive voice, like many writing no-nos, is less a rule and more a recommendation. In my experience, no writing technique is a cardinal sin, but some of them can be pretty tricky to pull off.
I just finished this book, and it was beautiful to me. I absolutely loved it.
That...Was no joke, the first time that somebody has explained Catcher in the Rye in a way that made complete sense to me. Thank you, Crash Course, my mind has been completely blown.away.
This is my favorite book of high school so far.
Sounds interesting. This was the one book that I related to the most which is why I loved it so much. Good luck with the story. :)
This was amazing; I read Catcher in the Rye by myself and most of it went wayy over my head. Thanks for doing this analysis on it - really helps me to understand what Salinger was getting at! :)
I've just read this book for English 11 and it's the definitely the best book that I've ever studied at school. There's something so intriguing and touching about Holden's narractive.
SPOILERS.
I've never been able to figure out if Mr. Antolini is really making an advance on Holden or just admiring/pitying him at that moment. Perhaps he's just drunk and sitting there thinking about the "fall" Holden is about to take and is just rubbing his head in an almost paternal way and Holden misinterprets it because of past molestations or unwanted sexual advances. Or maybe he's ACTUALLY about to try something. I can never decide which I think it is. Thoughts?
fullmetalfunk I think it's a paternal thing, because he was only patting Holden's head rather than... anywhere else. But then again, who knows, really? J.D. Salinger is dead at this point, and he didn't even do interviews when he was alive.
Elizabeth Diener It's funny how his act of trying to seclude himself partly to let his writing stand on it's own, created the sort of cult of personality that followed him and informed his writing in the minds of fans.
But yeah, I feel like it's paternal. Apparently though he had been molested or possibly raped before and being still half drunk and half asleep mistook it for a pass and given his past experiences, freaked out. That's what i think, but there's just enough doubt there to always make me wonder every time I read it.
fullmetalfunk I think that Mr. Antolini identifies with Holden and that it is possible he sees this so called "fall" coming because he himself has had one of these falls. We are left to infer than Antolini isunhappy as he is an alcoholic and he is not connected to his wife within the privacy of his own home. This would imply that Antolini is unhappy and the talk he gives to Holden further proves that Antolini is unhappy with his life due to the fact he has not played the game that is life.
spencer gravelle Thanks old Spencer. I gotta say I agree with you, I really do. You're a helluva guy, you really are.
fullmetalfunk We don't really know. I think he was just being nice, and not a creep. But Holden doesn't.
"I was standing on the hill," is not an example of the passive voice; it's an example of the past progressive tense. Voices and tenses are different. For that statement to be written in passive voice would be to write, "The hill was being stood upon by me," in which the original subject and object in the sentence trade places and the verb "to be" is added in front of the already-existing predicate. Two show that voices and tenses are not the same thing, note that the same sentence can be written in the passive voice WITHOUT the past progressive tense as, "The hill was stood upon by me."
Best wishes!
~A fellow grammar-nazi and quazi-self-taught-linguist.
Lol, you have 1 reply
In literary English, it's a passive voice because action is limited - hence the definition. You just argued tenses and voice is different. No one in their right mind would write "The hill was stood upon by me." - because no narrator would ever speak to their audience like that. In fact, no one speaks that way, much like it's still acceptable to use incorrect pronouns (her vs she) in written dialogue because that is how people actually speak. One would hope, in the end, they'd simply use active voice - "I hill stood firm under my feet, supportive and real, unlike her love that had faded with the wind..."
Don't get me wrong, grammar and tense is important, but my point is that perfectly grammatical English is just not realistic or feasible when functioning as a narrator in a story or novel. Moreover, it's not INTERESTING. Writers tend to know about general language rules because we know what we are breaking. In fact, we have to to get our symbolism across in a subtle manner, and it is what gives different characters their own voice and personality. :)
John, the fondest words of praise I can think of is that your videos are like my favorite books: I cannot imagine not watching them again.
"Isn't life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?"
-Warhol
I have a feeling Salinger was kinda like Holden because think about: A writer who wrote a famous book and doesn't allow it to become a film. Holden criticizes movies and Hollywood in the book. My conclusion is that Salinger did not like movies. lol
Angel the fellow7 Salinger also was in a mental hospital for a period of time.
I feel he didn't like movies because they are linear and goes from one situation to the next and 'advance so dam fast in time' when he really want the time to 'stop!'...
i think he didn't want it to be a movie because, can you even picture it as a movie? it wouldn't translate well into a visual medium. for it to be a movie, 90% of it would have to be narration, so it would be pointless.
David Pierre yeah, but couldn't be made like, i don't know...ew....Dr House or something?
apparently i've read somewhere as well that if ever the catcher in the rye gets adapted into a movie, salinger said that he should be the one to play as holden. i can't give a source right now though but yeah
I'd bet my left eye that Salinger was gifted. When you say that word, people think about intelligence, but it's much more about feeling everything times 20, feeling like an alien 'cause no one else experiences the world like you do. I cried my a** off when Holden describes how he wants to be the catcher in the rye!
The whole "appreciating literature for language rather than plot" part is definitely the case with Vonnegut. He was a master of going at length to describe how a certain social situation between his characters should feel. Using in-depth descriptions of characters, clever and humorous analogies, he was basically able to suck you in and hold your attention, even when the plot was moving slowly or not at all lol...
When we read this in school I literally asked the teacher to tell us what page it said "kill john Lennon"
Every page
do you know the guy who killed J.Lennon (Chapman) was reading this book out loud waiting for the police after he killed Lennon?...
Maswartz226 the part when he calls adults phonies.
I would tell you but I’m not in the mood. You have to be in the mood for that kind of stuff.
That's funny.
I feel like just listening to you educates our vocabulary. Like you use such immense vocab and it is literally maturing my choice of words. That's why I love this channel
I read Catcher on your suggestion, John, and although it didn't become my new favorite, I really enjoyed it! This analysis is amazing and helpful and I can definitely see from your passion and deep thought why it's one of your favorites!
I loved The Catcher in the Rye when I had to study it but I can understand why some people would hate it. It's probably because I could understand Holden Caulfield when I first read it.
John, this is so Bronte brilliant. That last bit about "going around and around" really hit home.
Can you do a crash course on philosophy?
+CARPE DIEM Seize the day boys! Carpe Diem!
THIS.
+DoombugxD It's about damn time!
This is my favourite book of all time.
I love this series! English is a second language in my country, hence not many are really interested in classical literature. These videos helped me understand them better in an easy, fun and entertaining way. Having John Green hosting it, what more can I say? Love from Malaysia!
65 years old now, in high school i read this book( well most of it anyway). During a report of the book, while standing in front of the class, the teacher continually interrupted me every time i pronounced the main characters name, HOLDEN, with a long o sound, saying i was incorrect, and that its pronounced Hayden. Obviously she didnt think much of me, as after the end of my short report, she pronounced in front of the class that i in fact was Holden Caulfield. I often wondered how many others have had that happen to them. Shes long dead now, and i almost wish i could leave a text of the above video on her grave,but obviously it wouldnt really make me feel much better nor would it change her mind. Its late at night, but this is where i am at.
The Catcher in The Rye has an illustrated cover. The red one with the carousel horse.
Bradley Heller No I mean, John says in the video that Salinger's books have imageless covers.
All of Salinger's published works (Catcher, Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, Carpenter) were all originally published with imageless covers. In later publications images were added, but not originally.
This is my very favorite video. Not only do I love John Green with a passion that controls my very soul, but because I love this book with said passion.
There was this one time when i had to write a summary. I scrolled down to the comment section and everyone was acting like a phony bastard. It killed me, it really did. I swear i was so angry i could have punched them in the face, only i didn't have the guts to do it.
You take someone with a phony behavior and when you have a chance to straighten them, Nine out of ten times you don't have the guts to do it.
Thanks John Green, I like your Crash Course series. On Salinger's writing style, it goes subliminally deeper ---. Salinger was in military intelligence during and after WWII. In Germany. Which should give a clue to why his main stream youth literature is not just a story.
Holden Caufield's voice is one of confusion. He tells his tale with a multitude homonyms, malaprops, slang, poor grammar, limited vocabulary, and repetitive cliche's. The result is ambiguity.
Consider these expressions; "killing me", "it just kills you", "it just killed me". Each time he means something a little different, from laughter, to sentiment, to anger. Another example is the slang word "PHONEY"; its roots maybe either from PHONE, derived from Ancient Greek, meaning sound. Or it comes from FAUX, from French, meaning fake. FAKE SOUND. Another is "horsing around" used for playful fighting or sexual foreplay. The book is so compromised of wordplay that it's fun to root them all out. ;-)
The character, Holden Caufield, is shown to have limited grasp of the English language so his understanding of his experiences is confused and/or his ability to express it to others is ambiguous. Again, ;-) The end result is that the truth remains obscured. This is key to understanding Holden's mind, as he says, "Somethings are hard to remember." He blurs the memory of both actions directed at him (Antolini) or actions he's directed at others (Phoebe).
Perhaps Salinger is telling us limited language confuses memory. And, perhaps, by extension to society, ambiguous news equals ambiguous history? This is what gets us conspiracy theorists up in the morning. (Note, CiTR in red cover is featured prominently in Kubrick's "The Shining".)
Salinger's masterly misuse of the English language is both poetic and hypnotic.
Holden switches voices. First person, I; second, you; objective, they. First person gives a sense of story-telling, with the reader actively imagining a story-teller. Second person, makes it directed more intimately at the reader. Second person voice can also act like a command, hence its use in advertising. The objective allows for details at a distance. Here, distance, like passive phrasing slips beneath our conscious radar
Yet, as readers we are subconsciously taking in the "I" and the "you". So I, the reader, becomes I, Holden Caulfield. Scary, with the "people shooting hat" and all.
The use of what is termed, confusional statements, is a technique used in creating clinical hypnosis scripts. So I'm not at all surprised so many famous U.S. assistants, like John Lennon and JFK, have been connected to this book. ;-)
I could go on and on but it would just about kill me. If you read this far, thanks.
I've just finished reading the book for the first time at the age of 31... it's a great piece of literature and your analysis is brilliant!
So I know this series is over, but I think John should do Crash Courses for his own books.
Greetings from the Czech Republic! Not Czechoslovakia, nor Chechnya. CrashCourse is great! Keep up the good work!
Jarda Konvička It's really sad how much people think that Czechoslovakia still exists. It happens so damn often to me. It really does.
Same here John, You're awesome.
Where are you from, buddy?
thank u for making me realize why i love this book
I loved this godamn book, I really did. Most books are pretty crumby, but this one killed me.
the best book that I've read so far.
You can also read The elegance of the Hedgehog. It's quite different, but I liked it very much. The little girl of the story, Paloma, is actually similar to Holden in a way. One of the best books I've read.
k24bfan May I ask you a question? I can't understand the book( but I really want to), what's wrong with me? so dumb and lạck of experience?
I was so excited to watch this video, I kept horsing around. But then when I got to the video I turned away. I wasn't in the mood. You have to be in the mood for that kind of stuff. It really knocked me out.
It's sad that I am so numb to fowl language, that I don't even notice the foul language until you add the authors name in its place.
I started crying at 8:30 -ish and I honestly don't know why
This commentary/ analysis vlog has helped me a great deal! Thank you! Reading this novel was like poking myself in the eye with a stick and I was unable to get into the book. Unable to extract such vivid character from the events and actions of the protagonist. GREAT help!
Is it just me? or do all youtube vloggers talk fast and edit their videos in the exact same choppy style?
Not just you. They all do it because it's a system that works.
the tactic itself is used because its psychologically proven to hold the attention of the viewer. When an image quickly cuts like that the mind gets confused as to why the screen just jumped to a totally different position, the mind then will urge you to pay more attention to said jumps in order to keep track of what's going on. its utilized well here on crash course because it encourages the student to listen and therefore the student will be more likely to retain that information. RUclips vloggers use it to create the illusion of interest and in doing so makes their show look better than the pieces of shit they really are.
Butheadbros2 Fair point. Maybe it works for the majority of people, but it just doesn't work for me. I've seen it so much it doesn't hold my attention. I just find it annoying. Surely we can find other creative ways to present an analysis. Every onedoing the same thing is boring.
xUberfail I think it's because most people have a very little attention span.
ShivFrost I didn't like it to begin with but after a while I just got used to it and ignored it as the style of our cinema because our generation's attention is so spread due to the attention seeking ads of capitalism. I just try not to judge it and accept it as it is so I can watch the things I'm interested in without bothering myself.
People always dislike books that they don't understand...
What a way to disregard criticism...
Salvador Aguilar that doesn’t really make sense if the critique is of something that the book is not. If i, for example, were to critique the book ”crime and punishment” by saying that its main character raskolnikov is ”sick for half the book, which just makes the book more boring and slow paced”, then that clearly isn’t critique That is very valid since it ignores the fact that the reasoning behind the illness is the central theme of the book. It’s like the people who claim that holden is just a whiny teenager who hates everybody, when there are heavy existentialist and nihilistic reasonings behind his behaviour that people either ignore or don’t understand, just like the roscoe guy said
Mr. Green, thank you so much for speaking at a slower pace. As a result, I was greatly more able to understand your thoughts on a much loved book!
That example was not in fact the passive voice, that would look something more like this "Standing was being done by me..." The use of the gerund here is simply an indication of an ongoing event in the past, which we might liken to, in full, the (past) imperfect tense, in the indicative mood, and in the active voice.
Just had to say.
That's not to say that the language used does not indicate a passivity, but strictly speaking, it is not the passive voice.
As I read such negative comments about a book that touched me so deeply, I wonder why the comments ARE so negative. Did they read the book at a time in their lives that wasn't fit for the message of the novel? Perhaps Holden IS the whiny child-like brat many make him out to be. All I know is the Catcher in the Rye is sitting in my lap and for the second time Holden will talk to me in the way only he knows how, and I am ready to hear him.
We had to read Catcher In the Rye for school and I watched your crashcourse videos and your videos on the vlobrothers channel from back when it was the blurbing book club book (once I finished reading the book, don't worry!) and I've gained a much deeper understanding. Thank you, John Green!
DFTBA and best wishes!
Do crash course film
Yesssss
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.
you'd love Every Frame a Painting on youtube. :)
My 15 recommendations
- Apocalypse Now
- Wizard of Oz
- Gone With The Wind
- Shawshank Redemption
- Dark Knight
- Star Wars Trilogy
- Psycho
- Pulp Fiction
- Citizen Kane (First episode or 2 parts)
- Back To The Future
- Casablanca
- On The Waterfront
- Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
- Metropolis
- The Godfather
I believe they're working on it now... but I could be misremembering.
So, does it say to kill John Lennon?
man you have a great ability to bring out ideas with single words which is not hard but to do it so fast and abundantly is amazing
Mr Green! Mr Green! Sir, sir!
How is "The reason I was standing way up on Thomsen Hill, instead of down at the game..." passive voice?
Passive voice is where the subject of the sentence is suppressed, as in "posts are updated every Wednesday."
You should make a video on Slaughterhouse five, good book.
there was absolutely no reason why i watched this....but i loved it and i you totally explained why i loved this book so much when i read it ten years ago...touche sir!
"and all"
I just knew in my goddamned guts that I'd get all this phony stuff in the comments. I just knew it. But when I actually read it all, it killed me.
The Fault in Our Stars in Bulgarian is a very nice touch. I loved the book as well!
So my teacher today told us that from the first chapter it is obvious that Holden is in an institution, but I really can't find any textual evidence to back that up. Yes, I see on the first page that he got "pretty run-down" and had to "Come out here and take it easy," but what kind of evidence proves that he is at an institution vs a new boarding school or living on a farm for a few months?
a8bit8of8everything Holden calls himself a madman, often describes his feelings of depression, and reveals that he considered suicide. This is probably him admitting to signs of mental illness, but I'm also looking for more evidence that points to him being institutionalized.
+a8bit8of8everything He also talks about probably catching tuberculosis, although the novel can implies to a lot of people depending on how you read it that he was sent to a mental facility it seems like it could also potentially be a medical institution to help him with the "tuberculosis" he was feeling and explains the psychologist he meets with there.
It's in the very last chapter. Some of it is implied. ( Like the creepy bedroom scene with Phoebe, ambiguous implication of incestuous.) Phrases are; "how I got sick"; "psychoanalyst guy here"; "down in the other wing." Implies a long term hospitalization.
Mr. Green! Mr. Green! PLEASE be my English Language Arts teacher?
This basically just rescued my English coursework, cheers John Green 🙌
What a great book. I love the way he...
catches all that freakin' rye!!!
I HATED the way this book was written. Not just disliked, absolutely despised. I thought that the "and all", "sorta", and "phony" was just to express that Holden was just a dim, angsty teenage boy. But now i realise that these words are used as symbols in a way. Most authors often use concrete things as symbols; The Great Gatsby's green light, The Hunger Games' mockingjay. I have a new appreciation for Salinger because he used actual diction as a symbol. These symbols are subtle even though some are used nearly 180 times throughout the novel. Anyways thanks Green :)
well said
i dont have the education to understand what you are saying but it sounds good though
i loved that it was written that way
I get what you mean I absolutely hate the way holden speaks and his redundancy. But you can't help but appreciate the symbolism in the book and the fact that you have to dig deep to find the meaning of the title.the red hunting hat that holden like to wear backwards symbolizes the fact that Cathers (who wear their hats backwards) which quote the tittle "the catcher in the rye"
Fitzgerald used "old sport" as a symbol... Why do you think Gatsby always said it?
Wow. This is such a beautiful analysis of one of my favorite books...and made me re-remember why it's one of my favorite books. Seriously made me so damn happy.
Does anyone realize that the captions options are hilarious and have their own jokes within them?
I was literally just about to post that, but you beat me by eight hours. You're right, they're hilarious.
this is my favorite book. it really is. it killed me.
im so glad i found this. i read TCITR two months ago and didn't understand why was such a worldwide famous book. so i guess i needed this so as to appreciate it :)
Please do After Dark by Haruki Murakami! please please
Is that blue book the Bulgarian translation of The Fault in Our Stars, or am I going crazy? :D
This course reminded me how it was that one analyzed a novel. I studied literature and after 4 years of not analyzing systematically, I read books and novels as a story to be finished and not much more. Thank you.
Why do I want to reread all the high school lit books now
"I was standing" isn't passive voice, it's past continuous, emphasizing for a longer period of time, but it's active. The passive voice wouldn't make sense in that sentence, but to use "stand" in the passive... let me think...
"I couldn't believe it, but after 45 minutes in the rain, I had to face facts: I was being stood up."
I switched it to a phrasal verb, and you can say it's still awful ('she stood me up' sounds better), but that's the passive past continuous.
Thomas Smith Another example:"When I got there, the statue was being stood into position, propped temporarily with the side of an old VW bus and held by some kid with arms entirely too skinny for the job. It was upside down, although I'm not sure anyone would ever be able tell. It was a disaster."
to be honest, I used to like reading. after puberty I never grabbed any literature but study course books. the way you talk about novels that I need to read for my study make me get more interested in reading and thinking about how and why a writer wrote it that way.
Well, it's referenced in Stand Alone Complex at least.
You've made me respect the book more, but I still hated how emo the kid was when I read it. He was so masterful at making you feel how to one wanted to listen to Holden, I couldn't pay attention to him.
Its funny I want to embrace Holden and smack him at the same time!
***** All book long he wants someone to listen to him, but he wouldn't want anyone to listen to him the way he does, if he just would listen to himself. I think that's the change that hits him at the end, he realizes that innocence is not a binary thing, it's something you can lose and rebuild forever as long as you don't give up on it. That's what he's been missing.
What’s wrong with emo kids
It’s not like they want to
They’re just scared to do things cause they experienced things more traumatic than you or worse things in life than u experienced
I read this book for my summer reading list, when I finished it I really didn't understand the book. This painted a better picture for me. Thank you cc and dftba!
"I was standing" is merely past tense, not passive voice...