Line #4 YMMV/TheCatcherInTheRye


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Holden is either a shining beacon of morality amongst all that was wrong with the 1950s, or a whiny prototype EmoKid (and a rather hypocritical one at that) who refuses to let himself see anything good in the world, or someone who has good insights and potential but is weighed down by cynicism and bitterness, OR just one of the first examples of teenage disillusionment in a post-World War II world. Or you think he's telling you to kill pop-culture icons (see MisaimedFandom below). It really depends on the reader.
3	** Holden's line about how he has suffered like twenty times in his life the situation that makes him run away from Antolini's house (namely, that Antolini strokes creepily his head while he's sleeping). In a bit of FridgeHorror, this comment and his subsequent reaction might mean Holden has suffered frequent ''sexual abuse'' even if he does not acknowledge it as such. His recollection about how his schoolmate James Castle comitted suicide after being attacked in a room in a way that Holden uncharacteristically refuses to disclose (he only describes it as "repulsive") only adds to the interpretation.
4	** Was Phoebe serious about wanting Holden to take her with him out west? Or was she trying to make him realize how reckless he was being?
5	* GenreTurningPoint: At the time there was no such thing as "young adult" literature, and the book was simply marketed as being for adults. But Holden's characterization really struck a chord with readers his own age who bought the book in droves, causing the industry to start realizing there could be a profitable market in books targeted specifically at that age group.
6	* HardToAdaptWork: Being very monologue-centric, along with the fact its [[NoAdaptationsAllowed author J. D. Salinger forbids it]], is why there have been no screen adaptations of ''The Catcher in the Rye''... Although he did suggest that he wasn't opposed to the idea of a film being made after his death, according to his letters.
7	* HypeBacklash: Considering its reputation as both one of the most controversial and most loved books in history, it has led to quite a few people being a little underwhelmed when they read it the first time.
8	* JerkassWoobie: Holden is a pretty bitter character who goes on about the "phoniness" of society but it's clear that his past has left some lasting trauma on him. Even worse, depending on how you interpret some of his lines, he might be even a sexual abuse victim.
9	* MemeticMutation: Holden Caulfield thinks you're a phony. It's on t-shirts. Just Holden's usage of "phony" all the time is memetic.
10	* MisaimedFandom: In general, many readers identify with Holden to the point of seeing his misanthropic worldview as something to emulate and even idolize as an appropriate reaction to the world around him, missing the point of the story that his scorn and loathing mask a deep unhappiness. Tragically, a few people who missed the point of this work often go on to commit violent acts because of it.
11	** Music/JohnLennon's murderer Mark David Chapman loved this book and claimed to use it as an inspiration for committing the murder. Whilst this certainly helped the already considerable controversy surrounding the book, it also meant that many later readers approached the work expecting it to be more brutal, violent, and dark than it necessarily is.
12	** John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to kill UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, had a copy in his hotel room. He's been reported to be obsessed with it, but that might just be in confusion with Mark Chapman.
13	** Robert John Bardo, who shot and killed actress Creator/RebeccaSchaeffer, was also carrying a copy of the novel when he committed the murder, and threw it on a rooftop as he fled. However, he insists that this was a coincidence, and that he was not trying to emulate Chapman.
14	** More recently, Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter in the Virginia Tech Massacre, sent videos to news agencies in between the two bouts of murdering. One of these videos included a rant of how he related to ''The Catcher in the Rye''.
15	** It got to the point that the Creator/MelGibson blockbuster ''Film/ConspiracyTheory'' made it a plot point that government-trained assassins were brainwashed into buying copies of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' as a tracking method. It's become ''that'' ubiquitous.
16	* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
17	** The book is uncontroversial by today's standards and developed an undeserved reputation as a dark and controversial book. Its current 'tame' status was referenced in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS14E2TheTaleOfScrotieMcBoogerballs The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs]]", where the boys, disappointed by the book's content, try to write the most disgusting story imaginable.
18	** In TheFifties, Holden Caulfield probably was a great character, just for being so ''[[DarkerAndEdgier different]]'' from other literary protagonists of the time. Today...not so much. Considering that so many characters are like him nowadays, he [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation can sometimes come off]] as the UrExample of a Jerkass Stu. This was referenced in the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Recap/FamilyGuyS3E8TheKissSeenARoundTheWorld," which featured a one-shot character based on Holden's likeness shouting "big fat phony" as a RunningGag.
19	* OvershadowedByControversy: Whenever the novel is brought up, oftentimes it's less for its actual content and more for its association with a number of shootings, such as the assassination of Music/JohnLennon, the attempted assassination of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, and the killing of Creator/RebeccaSchaeffer. Note that at no point in the book is such violence ever actually advocated, and analysts agree that the book has had a more positive impact on society than a negative one.
20	* RonTheDeathEater: Holden is definitely not the easiest kid in the world to like but his personality flaws tend to be grossly exaggerated by the book's detractors who see him as a raging narcissist rather than a flawed but well-meaning young man dealing with serious trauma from his brother's death and his angst is implied to be the result of untreated depression and they ignore both his troubled past and his sympathetic traits, mainly his genuine love for his sister Phoebe, his soft spot for younger kids in general and his happy moments with Sally and Jane. It's far too common to see people take the book's portrayal of Holden as cynical, pessimistic and egotistical and ignore all context around ''how'' he ended up that way, how unhappy his world view has made him and his redeeming traits outside of it as well as treating the book as a validation and endorsement of such a mindset rather than a harsh take down.
21	* SignatureLine: The very last lines of the book: ''"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody".''
22	* SignatureScene: Phoebe riding on the carousel in the last chapter of the book. The scene has the most fan art out of every other scene in the book and nearly every ''Catcher in the Rye'' book has the scene as its cover picture (like the one on the Main page).
23	* {{Wangst}}: The nonstop swearing and pessimistic, holier-than-thou type of attitude that the narrator had (due to ''everyone'' being a "phony") made the book completely unbearable for some.

Context YMMV / TheCatcherInTheRye