FREE ESSAY ON CATCHER IN THE RYE

CATCHER IN THE RYE

The forthcoming of American literature proposes two distinct Realistic
novels portraying characters which are tested with a plethora of adventures.
In this essay, two great American novels are compared: The Adventures of
Huck Finn by Mark Twain and The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. The
Adventures of Huck Finn is a novel based on the adventures of a boy named
Huck Finn, who along with a slave, Jim, make their way along the
Mississippi River during the Nineteenth Century. The Catcher In The Rye is
a novel about a young man called Holden Caulfield, who travels from Pencey
Prep to New York City struggling with his own neurotic problems. These two
novels can be compared using the Cosmogonic Cycle with both literal and
symbolic interpretations.
The Cosmogonic Cycle is a name for a universal and archetypal situation.
There are six parts that make up the cycle: the call to adventure, the
threshold crossing, the road of trials, the supreme test, a flight or a
flee, and finally a return. There are more parts they do not necessarily
fall into the same order, examples of these are symbolic death and motifs.
The Cosmogonic Cycle is an interesting way to interpret literature because
is Universal or correlates with any time period and any situation.
The Call to Adventure is the first of the Cosmogonic Cycle. It is the
actual call to adventure that one receives to begin the cycle. There are
many ways that this is found in literature including going by desire, by
chance, by abduction, and by being lured by an outside force. In The
Adventures of Huck Finn, Huck is forced with the dilemma of whether to stay
with his father and continue to be abused or to leave. Huck goes because
he desires to begin his journey. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden
mentally is torn between experience and innocence, it would seem to him
that an outside force is luring him to do something but in actuality he is
beginning his journey because of his desire. The Call to Adventure is the
first step in the Cosmogonic Cycle, it is the step at which the character
or hero is brought into cycle.
The Threshold Crossing is the second step, it is the place or the
person that which the character crosses over or through into the Zone
Unknown. The Zone Unknown being the place where the journey takes place.
The threshold crossing is often associated with a character change or an
appearance change. An example of this is in The Wizard of Oz, when the
movie goes from black and white to color, showing a visual symbolic death.
A symbolic death is another part to the Cosmogonic Cycle of which the
character goes through a change and emerges a more complete person or more
experienced. In The Adventures of Huck Finn, a symbolic death is very
apparent during the scene in which Huck sets up his father's cabin to look
like Huck was brutally murder. Huck emerges as a runway child and now must
be careful of what he does, so that he does not get caught. Huck also
tells people false aliases for himself so that no one knows his true
identity. Every time that he does this he is symbolically dying and
reemerges a more experienced person. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden
also uses fake names, but Holden symbolically dies through fainting,
changing the position of his red hunting hat, and is associated with
bathrooms. The bathroom motif, or the reoccurring appearance of a bathroom,
symbolizes death for Holden because he enters bathrooms with a neurotic and
pragmatic frame of mind and exits with a cleared mind. The use of symbolic
death and motifs is associated with the Threshold Crossing, the second step
of the Cosmogonic Cycle.
The Road of Trials is the next step in the Cosmogonic Cycle, which are
the obstacles which the character faces throughout the literary work. In
The Adventures of Huck Finn, Huck's Road of Trials occurs on the
Mississippi River. He faces many obstacles, including moral decisions of
right and wrong, dealing with con-artists, and helping a runaway slave. He
promulgates more experienced from his journey down the river on his raft.
In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden's Road of Trials takes from Pencey Prep
to New York City. Holden deals with his own mental hallucinations,
cognative disotience, and his desire to stay innocence, his Peter Pan
complex. The author does not end the novel with a happy ending, from
analyzing Holden's experiences we can assume he emerges a more complete and
understanding person once he came to the realization. The road of trials is
the third step of the Cosmogonic cycle in which the character or hero faces
hardships or endeavors and becomes more complete and experienced.
The Supreme Test or the Ultimate Test, is the forth step of the
Cosmogonic Cycle where the character or hero is faced with a dilemma of
enormous proportions, often found in the Zone of Magnified Power. The Zone
of Magnified Power is found within the Zone Unknown but is a place which
has mystical and mysterious powers, such as the Emerald City in The Wizard
of Oz. Huck is faced with the moral predicament of slavery throughout the
entire novel. This test or question continues to arise many times
throughout the novel. Huck is torn between right and wrong, in fact he
almost turns Jim, the runaway slave, in during his quest on the river. In
the end, Jim is captured and Huck decides to free Jim by breaking him out
of the confinement. In a sense Huck accomplishes his Supreme Test by doing
what he feels is morally right. On the other hand, Holden's Supreme Test
is to accept growing up. He does not want to grow up but takes in
experience. The novel shows his dilemma through the glass motif, the
reoccurring presence of glass, glass being the symbol through which one
stops watching through and experiences. He consistently tries to erase the
f—k yous written everywhere and comes to a realization when he can't
erase one because it is out of his reach and behind the glass. The glass
motif also appears when his brother, Allie, dies. When he is in the garage,
he breaks the glass garage door windows, essentially trying to escape his
anger. The consequence is that he ends up more confused than before even
though he now has a realization. The Supreme Test is often the high point
of a literary work and the character or hero usually receives some kind of
reward after being successful.
The fifth and sixth parts of the Cosmogonic Cycle, the flight or flee
and the return, can be combined into one instance. After the character
completes his obstacles and Supreme Test, he is allowed to return to
reality, the real world. Huck and Holden are both social misfits and want
to escape civilization. Huck chooses to leave and light out for the new
territory. On the other hand, Holden has nowhere to light out to,
because the Twentieth Century America has no new territory, consequently he
is placed in a mental institute. The return home is the reinstitution to
reality as a more experienced and whole person.
William Wordsworth emphasizes in his Ode to Intimations of Immortality
From Recollections of Early Childhood, using the following lines:
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
That we must put our idealistic picture of the world behind us and must
look at the world behind us and must look at it in a more realistic plane.
Children have an innocent perception of the world around them, but as
adults we realize the world is not black or white but various colors. The
Cosmogonic Cycle can be compared to the metamorphosis which a caterpillar
goes through. The caterpillar starts out innocent (black and white) and


  
    
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Seamus Heaney`S Digging
The Modernist theme of mechanization, brought on by the beginning of World War I and the
technological revolution of the era, manifests itself powerfully and completely in the
language of Seamus Heaneys first poem, Digging. From various literary devices, as well as
graphic imagery the mechanization of the human spirit comes to life in the form of his
father, and grandfather. The past and present become one, with the common bond the honest
work of the Irish poor. In his own way, and with his own pen, Heaney develops the idea of
mechanized men who, through the drudgery and repetition of their lives, create a life for
them and their families, taking pride in their work, and acceptance of their fate. He
develops seamlessly the idea of a man-machine, a hybrid of automation and human, married
by toil and tool. Likewise, Heaney writes this as a way to tie himself to his ancestors
in the British Isles, illustrating the power that they wielded with shovel and sweat,
making their contribution no less enlightened than his own. In his first poem, Heaney
develops the image of mechanization and automation that follows the poor of his country,
through graphic imagery, sound, and literary mastery. Heaneys imagery throughout the poem
echoes the automation of the workers, illustrating the type of work that they do as
something that could be done by machinery. Titling the piece Digging immediately
highlights for the reader the verbal connotation of the work, and puts the theme of work,
and of manual labor into the limelight. As well, Heaneys use of the word gun to describe
his "squat pen" in line 2 places the emphasis on machinery allowing a comparison of the
human condition to present technology. This theme continues throughout the poem, as
Heaney likens his fathers act of digging to that of a machine, "as his father nestled on
the lug, the shaft/Against the inside knee was levered firmly." (ll.10-11) These words
take the labor out of the realm of man, by using mechanical terms to describe the
marriage of shovel and man, creating an altogether different image of a type of robot
tearing up sod. While he describes this straining rump, Heaney takes this man out of the
realm of men, and into a realm of manufactured workers, a realm of repetition, a realm of
stooping workers, their humanity set aside to finish the job at hand. However, while
Heaney describes the toil of his father, he also ties it to the alike labor of a past
generation, namely his grandfathers, "used to nicking and slicing neatly, heaving
sods/Over his shoulder."(22-23) This juxtaposition of past and present illustrates the
monotony of the work involved, and how things take time to change. Heaney creates the
transition between his father and grandfather in a two-line stanza that highlights the
pride of these men, and how their automation gave cause for praise from their descendant,
Heaney. Their legacy of hard work, however mechanized, illustrates the value placed on
labor in their society. While Heaney creates the idea of men-machines through visual
images and parts, he also creates a very auditory world, one that echoes the act of a
factory, or a piece of farm machinery. From the first stanza, with its "clean rasping
sound," the readers ear can almost hear the whir of a lawn mower, or something of that
nature, cutting and slicing. (3) The rhythm of Heaneys fathers digging highlights the
monotony of the act, the incessant meter of his practiced spade. This coincides with the
sounds in the prior stanza, as the authors first recollection is an auditory one. Later
in the poem, "the squelch and slap/Of soggy peat", continues the idea of a machine
chugging away at the turf, creating again the essence of a machine oblivious to the
conditions of the work men. (25-26) Heaneys workers are extremely vivid, both physically
and mentally, even after so many years, and the trials and hardships that they endure,
day in and day out, add to the essence of their existence, one that lends acceptance to
the fact that they are somewhat more than men, that their labor, however menial, is
somewhat mechanized, somewhat heroic, and altogether driven by a pride and ethic valued
among their people. While Heaney emphasizes the automation of their existence and the
tediousness of their work, he still illustrates their humanity with the same type of
imagery that likens them to machines. On lines 15-16, Heaney uses the phrase, "By God",
something that emphasizes their humanity, for the words "old man" are also used in these
lines, perhaps to create the idea of man in the image of God--something that reminds the
reader of the essence of mankind, and that even though these men may become mechanized in
their labor, nevertheless they retain that very core of their being that makes them men,
something that no amount of work can drive out. This two line stanza that ties
grandfather to father highlights the faith of this tough people, one untainted by the
hard work that is the signature of their existence. Along with his reference to God, to
show his awe, and disbelief at the skill of his forebears, Heaney also emphasizes their
humanity, when he carried his grandfather's "milk in a bottle/Corked sloppily with
paper." (19-20) This moment, where his grandfather gives in to human needs, reiterates
the fact that while he may be sublimating his humanity when he is "nicking and slicing",
he is nonetheless still a man, needing nourishment--though the image is equally potent as
a machine, perhaps a lawn mower, refueling. This double meaning connects Heaneys idea of
men-machines nicely, creating the ideal of a hybrid race, one that can drive down all but
the base urges of man to get the job done, day in and day out. Seamus Heaney finally ties
himself to the legacy of his father and grandfather in the final stanzas. While he cannot
pick up a "spade to follow men like them", nevertheless, he is able to dig with his
"squat pen." (28-30) This ties him to his relatives, though twenty years removed, and say
something about the nature of work in general. In essence, Heaney is saying that any type
of labor done causes man to sublimate his humanity, in such a way that each and every man
has the mechanical side of a manual laborer. Poetry takes on the same idea of harvesting
potatoes, the treasure of Heaneys lavish island. Thus, the tone of this work lends an
almost enlightened tone to the essence of these men-machine, in the sense that through
their work, they create a poetic dance of sight and sound, one that visually and audibly
reflects that of a machine, working day after day in monotony. Thus, Heaney finds beauty
in the commonplace, and brings it out in his Digging, creating with his "squat pen", as
if it were a spade, and not a gun, as in line 2, as active as his imagination, not
resting in the least, as in the first stanza. Seamus Heaney makes a potent statement
about his heritage, and his work, in his first poem of his first book. His forebears,
tough as the peat that they cut, take on the image of machines, through repetition and
monotony, such that their visual image in his mind, and their sounds echoing in his ears,
combine to create his hybrid of man and machine, a marriage recognized by God in its
potency. Heaney juxtaposes their images to illustrate the constancy of their hard work,
and ties them to him to create the cycle that his heritage lives and works in, active and
proud. Through Digging, Heaney captures the essence of the Irish people, a people that
works hard, tough, proud, and persistent, unable to be swayed by circumstances not under
their control. Theirs is a plight of survival, of walking the fine line between man and
machine to survive. Theirs is the plight of the Irish, caught eloquently by the "squat
pen" of poet Seamus Heaney.