Author of The Catcher in the Rye, Jerome David Salinger, creator of the protagonist Holden Caulfield, was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 1st, 1919. JD included many of his personal qualities, and views towards life in Holden’s personality, as well as in throughout the entire book.
JD was son of a Jew and an Irish-Catholic mother who kept her religion hidden from him until his late childhood. His family owned a meat importing business that JD grew up working in. He had struggles with his grades in school, just like Holden, and attended various colleges –that he flunked out of-- and military academies, which helped build his character. He was also called "the worst English student in the history of the college," by one of his professors, which sounds odd to us, knowing he was one of the most influential writers in the 20th century that developed a new course of literature in post World War II, and still remains unforgotten nowadays.
Eventually, this man ended up in Colombia University, and was enrolled in an English class taught by Whit Burnett, who was an editor in a well known magazine. Burnett persuaded to publish his writing and some short stories in the paper. However, just when JD started being recognized by the public, he was forced to join the army, where he began his famous novel.
When in the army, he suffered a nervous breakdown, and was diagnosed with “combat stress reaction,” and did not work productively in the military activities, and was sent home.
In 1946, a short story of Salinger’s was published in the New Yorker, and was the first story that introduced Holden Caulfield to the audience, and was basically a rough draft including similar ideas to The Catcher in the Rye. Later on, he felt that Holden needed a novel to call his own, and this is where the story that made him most famous was published, five years later.
Much alike is Holden, who has a quiet reclusive character, who is at the time attending the school Pencey Prep. In Agerstown, Pennsylvania, which is one of the many schools he later gets expelled from for flunking every subject except for English, which is a subject many of the Caulfield’s share a passion for. His family—mom, dad and little sister Phoebe-- live in New York City, while his older brother D.B. lives in Hollywood, making his dough as a writer over there, according to Holden he’s simply being a “prostitute.”
He once had a younger brother, Allie, who passed away--from leukemia-- four years before this novel took place, and this made a dramatic impact on the person Holden became, and couldn’t change from long after the event. Holden slept in the garage that night, and broke all the windows around him, and even aimed for the car windows, but couldn’t pull it off because his hand was already dislocated already. After this, Holden is hospitalized, and is unable to attend Allie’s funeral.
Holden is always repeating those little things he hates the most, that “kill him,” especially all those phonies “and all,” but says what he really likes is to simply be with Allie, and sit there talking to Phoebe, who truly understands what he’s talking about. Holden is an unhappy, judgmental, lying, untrustworthy, young man.
So many personal experiences of Salinger’s are found throughout the book, like Holden and JD being raised in NYC attended private all-boy private schools, and flunked out most of them. Holden too has mixed emotions about Catholics because of his mother, and according to him, “nuns are always trying to figure out if you’re Catholic,” and thinks they would get along better if he was. But he again, cared enough to make a donation and have a friendly conversation with them, but still managed to blow smoke in their face “accidently.”
Also, Salinger was involved in the war, and Holden states he wouldn’t be able to stand going to war, and would rather sitting on the atom bomb. Salinger was the kind of person who hated being in war not because he had to shoot and kill people, but because the people that were around him.
Another similarity between Holden is that JD also had someone like Jane in his life, that he was deeply in love with and wrote letters to daily while in the army, but left him for a much older man. Stradlater is like the man who stole his girl from him, and is jealous of, and who Holden has so much anger towards especially when he plans on giving her “the time,” in the back of the car.
What seems to have made Holden to dislike D.B. in Hollywood, and actors, and the Lunts in all of those phony productions, is the fact that his first love left him for actor, director, and producer Charlie Chaplin.
JD and Holden can also relate to each other by their failed relationships –and in Holden’s case, most friendships—with women. Like for Holden, with Sally, Jane, and most people he knows, and two failed marriages for JD.
These two characters are reflections of the same feelings, thoughts, and experiences. They hate to socialize, cut conversations with either insults to the other person, or leaving the room because of boredom, are highly irascible, and do not like to share personal details of their life. "… I'm sorry I told so many people about it…Don't ever tell anybody anything."
Salinger did not write a book after “The Catcher in the Rye,” and discontinued writing short stories after it became such a success. He became even more reclusive with all the attention he was getting, and barley ever made any public appearances, or did any interviews. This man even sued Ian Hamilton for writing a biography about him, to make sure no personal letters were included. Just like Holden, they both want to write a story, but they don’t want to be in the public eye.
For these reasons, “The Catcher in the Rye,’ is like an autobiography, and Holden is almost like a mirror image of Salinger himself.
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