Many critics
consider J.D. Salinger a very controversial writer, for the subject matters
that he writes.. J.D. Salinger's works
were generally written during two time periods.
The first time period was during World War II, and the second time
period was during the 1960's. Critics
feel that the works during the 1960 time period were very inappropriate,
because of the problems for which he wrote.
The main characters were generally misfits of society. In most of his works, he has the protagonist of the story go on a
quest for happiness.
Salinger does not
conform to the material happiness; the characters undergo a spiritual
happiness. The characters generally
start out as in bad conditions, through the end of his works they undergone
changes that change them for the better.
The works of J.D. Salinger show the quest for happiness through
religion, loneliness, and symbolism.
Salinger's works often use religion in order to portray
comfort. In Salinger's Nine Stories
Franny Glass keeps reciting the "Jesus Prayer" to cope with
the suicide of her brother Seymour
(Bloom in Bryfonski and Senick 69). Salinger is able to use this prayer as a
means of comfort for Franny. The prayer
stands for the last hope for Franny in this situation. Franny would be lost if their was no prayer.
(Bryfonski and Senick 71). Salinger
shows us comfort in Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caufield, the protagonist, is
very much in despair for losing his girlfriend, so Caufield reads a passage in
the Bible. This helps Holden change his
outlook on life (Salzberg 75). Holden
was all alone at this point and had no one to turn back on, until he found the
Bible (Salzberg 76). In both stories the
characters had found themselves in bad situations. The characters in these works have obstacles
which they must overcome in order to achieve happiness (Salzman 34). Happiness is the very substance which all of
these characters are striving for in Salinger's works. Salinger uses religion in his works to
comfort them so that they can proceed on their quest to achieve happiness.
Salinger uses
religion as a means for liberation.
Salinger uses much of the Zen philosophy, as in the case of Nine
Stories, to achieve this liberation (Madsen 93). In Nine Stories one of the characters,
Seymour Glass, is portrayed as Buddha in the sense that he wants to be
liberated as Buddha was in his life (Madsen 93). Seymour Glass in Nine Stories
has a certain philosophy about life, it
is similar to the Eightfold Path used by Buddha when achieving nirvana (French
in Matuz 212). Seymour Glass is on a
quest to become free from all of the suffering in his life as Buddha was
from his life (French in Matuz 213). Seymour follows the Eightfold path to become
liberated from suffering (Madsen 96).
Seymour achieves "nirvana" by living a good life and end
anything that causes suffering. Seymour
is able to attain nirvana by committing suicide (Lundquist in Matuz 211). Salinger shows us that when Seymour committed
suicide he let go of all of the suffering that he encountered, thus attaining
the happiness he longed for (French, Salinger Revisited 132). Salinger shows liberation as an end to all
suffering, thus creating happiness for the character. (French, Salinger
Revisited 133).
The final
function of religion as a means to attain happiness was to gain peace In "The Young Lion," Salinger uses religion to gain peace through
a fictitious war. In the story many of
the soldiers were dying and the countries were in turmoil (Lundquist 312). The leaders in the story see a vision on the
battlefield that changes them, and stops the war (Lundquist 315). Salinger shows how religion can be a force
used to create happiness in a story, by creating peace (Lundquist 313). Salinger is able to use religion as a means
of attaining happiness through peace.
The story seemed very dismal, until religion intervened and stopped the
conflict. Salinger creates happiness for
the characters by stopping the conflict.
In "The Stranger" Salinger creates peace through a war by
using more of the Zen philosophy.
Salinger's creates a "Pact of Peace" which stops the conflict
between the Germans and Polish during WWII (Hamilton in Bryfonski and Senick
143) . The "Pact of Peace" was
a teaching used by Buddha in the Zen philosophy (Hamilton in Bryfonski and
Senick 143). Salinger uses Zen, in this
case, to stop the conflict between the Polish and Germans(Hamilton in Bryfonski
and Senick 143). In many of Salinger's
works the conflict, becomes a source for much of the unhappiness in the story
(Wenke 212). Salinger uses religion as a
medium to create tranquility, consequently the characters to achieve happiness
(Wenke 215).
In many of
Salinger's works loneliness is used to isolate characters from evil. Salinger portrays all of society to be bad,
and for many character's isolation from society is the only way to achieve
happiness (Grunwald 103). In Salinger's
Catcher in the Rye Holden Caufield's entire plot deals with him trying to
isolate from society. Holden realizes
that society has become bad, and wants no part in this terrible life (French,
Salinger Revisited 192). Salinger uses
society as the source of discord in this case to be isolated from. Holden is
shown as a hermit at the end of Catcher in the Rye (Grunwald 68). Grunwald
explains "Holden's tranquillity, at the end, can be ascribed to his
isolation from society" (68).
Holden only wants to be separated from the society which considers him a
misfit. In Salinger's works a source of
unhappiness is usually the fact that society feels the characters are
misfits. The characters can only become
happy if they isolate themselves from this society.
Salinger uses
loneliness also as a means to change in life.
In "Raise the Roof Beam High," Salinger is able to use
isolation to change the life of Seymour Glass (Salzman 130). Seymour feels that society has become corrupt
and must change his lifestyle in order for him to become happy (Salzman
134). Seymour sees that society has no
more compassion on people, and that he must do something to change it (Salzman
136). In order for him to change society
he must first isolate from society (Salzman 140). Salinger uses loneliness again to benefit
mankind. Salinger in this case makes a
person change his lifestyle to isolate from society (Salzman 132). The benefits of this action are good not only
for the person who has changed, but also help parts of society which are
affected (Salzman 132). Loneliness in
Salinger's works benefits the character's greatly. Salinger is able to isolate the characters in
his works in order for them to attain happiness (Grunwald 265). Salinger describes Seymour as "A
recluse, who will never be part of society" (Grunwald 260). He shows that Seymour wants nothing of this
world and wants to be as far away as possible.
The characters see that society has become bad, and in order for them to
become happy they must get away from society, and live their own lives.
Salinger uses
many lucky symbols in his works to show to fulfill the quest for
happiness. In "Soft-Broiled
Sergeant" one of the soldiers wears a pair of lucky underwear, which saves
him in battle and helps in finding the love of his life (French, J.D. Salinger
42). The underwear gives the soldier the
happiness he is looking for (French, J.D. Salinger 45). Salinger many times uses funny lucky symbols
like this, but can be found to provide happiness for the characters (Salzberg
121). Another example of lucky symbols
is in "For Esme" Salinger
portrays the sun as a lucky symbol to Joseph Carney (French, J.D. Salinger 63). The sun is lucky to Joseph in that it helps
Joseph turn his entire life around, from the rut it had been into a life of
great prosperity (French, J.D. Salinger 66).
The sun provides inspiration for Joseph to change his life (French, J.D.
Salinger 66). The characters in J.D.
Salinger's works start out in bad situations.
Through the use of lucky symbols their life is changed to what will make
them happy.
Salinger uses
symbolism in his works also to foreshadow a better life. In "Long Debut of Louis Taggett"
the symbol of a cigarette being put out foreshadows the end of a marriage
(Galloway in Curley and Kramer 58). The
end of this marriage for Louis Taggett, means good for his life (Galloway in
Curley and Kramer 61). Louis at the end of the story is able to
concentrate more on his job, where he meets the woman that will really love
him, and find wealth and prosperity (Galloway in Curley and Kramer 59). This
symbolism to foreshadow is one of many examples of how Salinger uses symbolism
to predict a better life (Galloway in Curley and Kramer 61). Salinger many times use subtle, but important
symbols to foreshadow better things (Galloway in Curley and Kramer 62). The character, in this work, has suffered
through hardships. The character's life
is in a total mess at the time. Salinger
also shows foreshadowing to a better life through "The Last Day of the
Last Furlough" (Matuz 157). In the
story John Hendren is able Salinger uses symbolism for the character to fulfill
his quest for happiness(Matuz 148)John Hendren who is in World War II, has
always wore large wooden necklace given to him by his mother (Matuz 148). This same necklace stops a bullet, which
could have killed him(Matuz 149). John
is later awarded a medal of respect for his valiant effort, giving him lots of
fame(Matuz 149). Salinger shows how such
symbols provide happiness to the lives of people (Wenke 237).
Salinger uses
allusion from other works to show how happiness will be fulfilled. In Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Salinger
refers greatly in one chapter to ducks in central park. The ducks are in context to a scripture in
the Bible, which tells of how the ducks are free (Galloway in Bloom 53). Salinger later explains that Holden will
become free as these ducks (Galloway in Bloom 54). In Catcher in the Rye Holden's main purpose
was to be free from the suffering (Galloway in Bloom 58). The ducks represented how he would feel,
being happy (Galloway in Bloom 56).
Salinger also shows his symbolism from other works through the work of
Mark Twain. Salinger portrays how Holden
in Catcher in the Rye changes to a different man when he is at the water
fountain in Central Park, as the case in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn in which
Huck changes when he is on the Mississippi River (Grunwald in Bloom 64). Salinger uses symbolism from other books in
his books to convey how the characters in his works will change for a better
life (Grunwald in Bloom 67). Salinger
uses much of the symbolism to show how the life of the characters has become
happy. Salinger uses symbols to show the
turning point of the character's lives.
He shows that these symbols will change their lives for the better.
The works of
Salinger show the quest for happiness through religion, loneliness, and
symbolism. Salinger's writings deal with
characters fulfilling their quest for happiness. He would have the character's accomplish
their quest by going through obstacles, in which they learned about their
lives. He employed the religion,
loneliness, and symbolism as means for the characters to understand how to
obtain happiness in life. The writings
of the Salinger, become very important for this time period, because he goes
against the grain of society to show how it is wrong. The writings of Salinger, while they may have
been excellent in style, have become very controversial for what he has
portrayed in the society during this time period.
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