Catcher in the Rye.

So evidently, I am a blog slacker, but I promise I have been doing some major reading. In fact, I found this fabulous book at the library which analyzes the adolescent woman in literature. It is so helpful for my thesis/idea for this class. It's got a fair amount of psychoanalysis in it, and basically I am in love with it.

I am not however, in love with The Catcher in the Rye. I know it's a classic read for high school kids, but I just can't like it. The only thing I did enjoy was Holden's sarcasm. It felt like a rip off of Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise. Also, it was not particularly helpful in discovering how adolescent women view their bodies. It was helpful in how men view them, as sexual objects, which we already knew. Nonetheless, I wanted to see how Jane felt about her body and how she dealt with her sexuality and body image. She attempts to tap into her sexuality with Holden, such as when she puts her hand on the back of his neck, but she is almost completely closed off when it comes to their relationship, which probably stems from the implied sexual abuse at the hands of her booze headed step father.
The way Phoebe travels back and forth between acting like a little kid and grown-up is remiscent of Holden himself. It's almost as though Phoebe's a younger version of himself; no wonder he wants to protect her so badly.
What is up with the butt-pinching? When Holden sneaks into Phoebe's room, he reaches out and gives her a "pinch on the behind. It was sticking way out in the breeze … She has hardly any behind" When he talks about other women's behinds he always calls them "butts" or "asses." And he spends a lot of time admiring Sally Hayes's cute little ass even if he thinks she's phony for twitching it around in front of him. So, when he pinches Phoebe's behind, is it sexual? Or is he just reassuring himself that she is still innocent?

So basically, book that are written with a male protagonist, are seemingly going to have a male POV towards women, and I'm not going to learn much about how they feel about themselves, because I am learning how the male characters view them. Which, now that I think about it, makes sense, but it's a tiny bit irritating. Added to the fact this book and I are not going to be headed to bed together any time soon.