"Women kill me. They really do. I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that – although I am quite sexy. I just like them, I mean. They're always leaving their goddam bags out in the middle of the aisle."
J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" was published in 1951 and is definitely a product of its time. It's known as a "Great American Novel", meaning that it is considered the best representation of the American demographic it is depicting in its time (in this case it is a representation of teenage boys). Through this description, we can assume the New York of the 1950s was seedy, busy, easy to navigate, and typically, not a great place to be a woman. However, the attitudes of the main character Holden Caulfield and his classmates towards women are still representative of many of the attitudes seen in society today. Holden's views on women's sexual autonomy (and how it reflects their value as a person), innocence, his values regarding himself and his sexuality, and his perception of other men are all reflective of several patriarchal ideals that have always been taught to North American boys: alpha male inclinations, entitlement to a woman's body, the spoiling of women's purity, and sexual rites of passage.
J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" was published in 1951 and is definitely a product of its time. It's known as a "Great American Novel", meaning that it is considered the best representation of the American demographic it is depicting in its time (in this case it is a representation of teenage boys). Through this description, we can assume the New York of the 1950s was seedy, busy, easy to navigate, and typically, not a great place to be a woman. However, the attitudes of the main character Holden Caulfield and his classmates towards women are still representative of many of the attitudes seen in society today. Holden's views on women's sexual autonomy (and how it reflects their value as a person), innocence, his values regarding himself and his sexuality, and his perception of other men are all reflective of several patriarchal ideals that have always been taught to North American boys: alpha male inclinations, entitlement to a woman's body, the spoiling of women's purity, and sexual rites of passage.