What does r9k think of Holden Caulfield? Is he a robot, cyborg or normie?
>>27478960
Whiny little bitch. So yeah basically a robot.
>>27478960
I really enjoyed this book as a teenager, I remember I always carried a copy in my book bag, good times.
>expecting robots to have actually read any book
>expecting robots to be able to give an intelligent opinion on anything.
>>27478996
If Holden was alive today do you think he would browse r9k?
>>27478960
Normies that became self aware for about four hours.
Holden loves innocence to much to be considered a robot. His character doesn't make sense in the 21st century; adolescent males today are saturated with hardcore porn and innocence is basically non-existent in our culture.
>>27478960
I hate people that bash on this because "omg holden is so whiny :("
he's supposed to be realistic, not likeable
What would Holden's favourite board on 4chan be?
>>27479104
Holden would have hated 4chan.
>>27479104
Probably would not like 4chan. Being a 1950s teenager he would have probably been shocked at all threads about trannies and homosexuality. If I remember correctly he mentions he feels sorry for ugly girls. He wouldn't have liked the misogyny on 4chan.
He would be a robot if it weren't basically impossible for him to actually fuck up his life. I'm not saying his problems are illegitimate, and I don't hate him (he's pretty funny at times), but he would be reviled on this board. If he were just a little bit more edgy he could be a Supreme Gentleman, though.
YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKING PHONIES REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE PHONIES GET OUT, OUT OUT OUT!
>>27478960
i think a lot of people forget that Holden's like 17 at the time of the novel.
actual /r9k/ books:
-the conspiracy against the human race
-Steppenwolf
-notes from underground
-the world as will and representation
-everything from nietzsche
The dude's younger brother died and he was grieving. The thing is though, he dealt with it in this very detached way, trying to ignore it. That's actually a very realistic portrayal of how many people deal with loss, and how PTSD usually manifests himself. I mean, shit, this guy was going through a lot. He had to drop out of school. He had no idea where he was going, or who he was, or how to deal with his feelings. You see his struggle for identity, any kind of identity, throughout the novella.
But Salinger handled all this very subtly, so people only see the surface, "whiny pubescent male wanders around the city", without digging deeper. As a result, this book has been labeled as "high school required reading" instead of serious literature. You think your goofy sophomore English teacher is gonna tell you about all these nuances hidden between the lines? Fuck no, he's only used to books where the message is really fucking obvious and shoved in your face, like Animal Farm. Might as well be giving you picture books. Since Holden doesn't go into long monologues where he yells out, "Wahh! My brother's dead! Where am I going? What will I do?" none of that stuff gets touched on.
Like fuck, I really liked rereading this book once I left high school and had been reading more "difficult" literature. Like, this is a pretty good book. There's a lot to dig into with Catcher in the Rye. Salinger's interest in Eastern religions is pretty obvious. He writes in a very Zen-like way, where truths are given with images (a holistic view) rather than words (a dualistic view). I found myself getting that "whoa, what!" kinda feeling, where your mind blanks out, like the one you get when reading Buddhist koans. He also criticizes a lot of modern society, showing our maltreatment of the outcasts of society and the alienation of consumerism. I like Franny and Zooey a bit better, but Catcher's good reading.
>>27478996
I hated it. He doesn't learn anything at the end, he's still a depressed little bitch. What's the fucking message? Life sucks?
>>27478960
It's stupid how people think he went to a mental hospital when he really just had tuberculosis
>>27478960
He represents something that average people are supposed to but don't always go through when they're growing up, imo
He's too universal to be any of those silly /r9k/ labels
>>27479026
No, this place is full to the brim with phonies. /r9k/ posters are more like ackley.
>>27479769
He's depressed because his brother died. Phoebe saves him, she "catches" him, because she interacts with him on a more meaningful way than a depressingly large amount of people ever get to interact with anyone. Yes, he hasn't changed much by the end of the book, but the chance to change and get back on track in life is there.
>>27479749
So to answer OP's question, the dude was definitely a robot. He sperged out when this guy was treating his oneitis poorly, he dropped out of school, he paid a hooker just to talk to him, and he was dealing with some heavy mental shit. To me, that's just a definitive robot right there. The dude was definitely not a normie, he was an outcast.
In every robot I talk with, I always see the same thing: you're all unsure about who you are or what you should do. You all desperately crave romantic engagement because you want someone to reassure you that you're someone, that you mean something. You try to hide it behind a veil of irony, sarcasm, and "epic meems", but I can always see right through it to what you guys really are: someone very lost, afraid, and needing to find meaning as much as you need to breathe air. You're all too ashamed to admit it, but you shouldn't because there's nothing wrong with any of these things.
Salinger's age was a turn in man's humanism, where existentialists were seeking meaning in their post-industrial worlds. There's no doubt he wrestled with a lot of the philosophical questions writers like Sartre and Camus were asking. So he had to be very well acquainted with this insatiable lust for, fuck man, just a single vague purpose here in this lonely world. It's the very same one you guys have a hard time with. Holden is a reflection of that lust, an existentialist hero, a broken yet admirable human with very real desires and emotions and flaws.
Christ, this speed is some good shit. I haven't read this book in years and I came up with all this on the fly.
Hope I've convinced you robots to give the novella another shot, bearing in mind everything I've said. There are a lot of layers, so maybe you'll come up with your own conclusions. It's a very quick read, so it's not gonna hurt to try, y'know? I'd recommend reading some Heidegger and Schopenhauer too (if you wanna tackle Schop-dog, read the Bhagavad Gita first though).
>>27480174
He's a failed normie because he's got friends, even if he doesn't get along with them he still has them to attempt and have conversations with. at the end of the story he has his little sister who cares about him. A robot doesn't have any of that, there's no saving them, to be a robot is to be one who can't be helped. The guy in the story was but a failed normalfag.
>>27480400
Yeah, but really look at his "friends". These guys aren't his best buds, they're not his bros, they're just forced to stand Holden's presence because he's Stradlater's roommate. They're always messing with him and they obviously don't like Holden.
