Shelby's Response #1, Prompt #5: The Catcher in the Rye and Great Expectations

Response #1 Prompt #5: Pairing The Catcher in the Rye with Great Expectations

            I must admit that I am continually on the fence regarding the “young adult v. classics” debate. My Bachelor’s degree in literature suggests that I should undoubtedly endorse the classics, yet this may not always be the best option for the students. A partnership of the two, therefore, could effectively engage students in the content while still satisfying an academic need for complexity. In this way, J.D. Salinger’s young adult novel The Catcher in the Rye could be paired with Charles Dickens’ classic novel, Great Expectations; by allowing students to read two separate novels with a familiar protagonist, the students may then feel more comfortable exploring other components of the text, such as plot, narration, environment, and supporting characters, thereby absorbing a better understanding of the all-around text without clinging to the novel’s narrator at face value.  

Too often, students become so enthralled with the protagonist of a story that they ignore all of the other literary components the author has added to their novel, creating a situation where the student loses valuable content and the teacher loses an opportunity to fulfill multiple state standards with ease. These two main characters will absolutely be discussed in termed of their similarities, but my eliminating our societal need to focus entirely on the protagonist, students will become more aware of the text as a whole. This familiar protagonist will also make a comparative analysis accessible for even the most reluctant readers.  Holden and Pip seem very similar, but their many complexities are exceedingly different. This means that the reluctant reader will easily grasp Holden and Pip’s similarities with an inviting hand in which the teacher can then guide into the realm of contrasting characteristics—a terrain the student would not have explored otherwise. Reading two novels of this size may sound like a lot of work for the English classroom, but consider the wide array of core content areas that can be addressed once the student is able to look past the singular, familiar male protagonist.

            In the English classroom, it is the teacher’s responsibility to teach a variety of literary elements including (but not limited to) the use of plot, and narrative structure. The Catcher in the Rye and Great Expectations sit on two opposite ends of the plot spectrum. Seemingly a story of aimlessness, Holden Caulfield of the Catcher in the Rye gives his readers no real indication as to where he is going, what he is trying to accomplish, or what the end goal may be for his story, compiling a story of high content, but little plot. Comparatively, with secret benefactors, murder mysteries, and a goal to become a gentleman, Great Expectations provides enough plot to fill a novel twice its size as Pip learns how to be successful with his newfound wealth. Both young boys sharing a similar attitude, it becomes easier for the students to understand how one character archetype can experience such widely different stories with the use of different creative writing techniques. Also in this way, the reader may understand how this similar archetype can be created within two texts with very different styles of narration: Holden is blunt, foul, and informal with his narration while Pip is formal and self-critiquing, yet both produce the same feeling of animosity in the reader towards their narration.

            By reading two novels, such as The Catcher in the Rye and Great Expectations, the students will have significantly more opportunities to look past the main character and delve into an intro of literary theory. Take, for example, the relationship between Holden and Sally, and Pip and Estella. Both boys find themselves (at least temporarily) in love with girls who don’t actually seem compatible with their personalities. Holden sees Sally and is suddenly overwhelmed with the idea of her:

She looked terrific, she really did….The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I’m crazy. I didn’t even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and wanted to marry her. I swear to God I’m crazy. I admit it. (Salinger, 162)

Holden recognizes that his infatuation with Sally is unrealistic. Later, Holden sporadically asks Sally to run away with him without even realizing that he didn’t actually want her to do so. Holden is driven primarily by hormones and by his self-destructive impulse, making it all-but-impossible for him to let himself become emotionally attached to a girl. Instead, he opts to objectify women like Sally and write them off as stupid as a way to mask his own personal struggles. By making everyone else a victim, he keeps himself safe. Similarly, Pip also shares an infatuation with Estella that seems to be only skin-deep:

The unqualified truth is, that even when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. (Dickens, 179)

Pip is given very little reason to love Estella. She is cruel to him and looks down upon him for his socioeconomic status. Pip nonetheless carries his infatuation of Estella throughout the majority of the novel, sometimes to the utmost confusion of the readers. Where both Pip and Holden have an attraction toward the aesthetically pleasing girl, Holden degrades Sally and chastises himself for giving into his emotions while Pip holds onto his dream of Estella with the hope that his genuine emotions and perseverance may one day bring him happiness.

            When providing such examples to readers, there are a variety of questions (prompts) that the teacher could distribute to get their students thinking beyond the obvious:

1.      Could the relationships between Holden and Sally and Pip and Estella be a stand-in for Holden and Pip’s relationship with money?

2.      What does it mean that both Sally and Estella are seemingly objectified to oblige in the protagonists’ with little to no regard for the girls’ emotions? Review how Holden and Pip interact with other women in the text to draw your own conclusions as to how these characters value women and see their role in society.

3.      As shown by the above passages, Holden can be classified as a cynic in an American novel and Pip more close identifies as a romantic in a British novel. Use the novels’ setting and time period to see how Holden’s and Pip’s environment may have shaped their outlooks on life and love.

When discussing and understanding young adult literature in the classroom, it is unfair to judge a book by its genre, and it is disingenuous to judge a student’s ability by the classics. By pairing J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye with Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, it becomes clear that pairing young adult literature with classic literature is an innovatively collaborative way to get students thinking critically while remaining engaged in the discussion. Weather a teacher chooses to use the paring listed, or one entirely different, the ideas presented within this response are flexible and universal to fit all ELA teaching needs to be beneficial to both student and educator.

Work Cited

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Norton, 1992. Print.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Back Bay, 2001. Print.