Original artwork, not a still
The Catcher in the Rye · 1951
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The opening sentence is a challenge and a refusal: Holden promises the story, then dismisses the standard biography before you can ask for it. His casual, wounded, digressive voice is the point, and it sounded like a real teenager to readers in 1951. Generations since have recognised it as the sound of a first-person narrator who will not play along.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Catcher in the RyeShow the scene
The first line of J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel, in Holden Caulfield's voice. Holden recalls the events of a long weekend shortly before the previous Christmas, after he has been expelled from Pencey Preparatory Academy. In the first chapter he sets up the telling: you will probably want to know where he was born and what his lousy childhood was like, and 'all that David Copperfield kind of crap', but he doesn't feel like going into it.
Sources (2)
- The Catcher in the Rye, WikiquoteChapters 1, 3 and 22Reference checked
- The Catcher in the Rye, WikipediaPlotReference checked
Context reviewed
