The ratcatcher in the rye
An exploration of the relationship between Catcher in the Rye and Ratcatcher
An exploration of the relationship between Catcher in the Rye and Ratcatcher
I was researching the relationship between the film Ratcatcher and the book Catcher in the rye. One of the obvious relationship between these two coming of age stories is how they are influenced by a death in their inner circles. struggling children growing up while cooping with the gaps in their lives. The original work in print is 110cm by 40cm.
Drivenby death
bymendel agterberg
Thegeneral theme of both Ratcatcher and Catcher in the Rye is centredaround the coming-of-age of both protagonists. In LynneRamsayfilm Ratcatcher the protagonist James is an twelve year old boy thatbyaccident caused his friend to drown.Holden the eighteen year old protagonist of Catcher in the Rye haslost his bother to leukaemia three years ago.In both novel and film death is revealed in the introduction. Thedeath accompanies a traumatic event and is one of the driving forcesbehind their actions. It's become quite apparent throughout bothnarratives that in both Ratcatcher and Catcher in the Rye theprotagonists are haunted by the death of someone in their innercircles.
The events surrounding the death of the brother andfriend are quite different but the phases that both characters gothough are quite similar. For example James and Holden are oftenreminded of the death. In Holdens case a student friend asked him towrite a composition of a room as descriptive as possible. From allthe topics he could chose Holden can only think about one thing; thebaseball glove of his brother. He can recall how it looked and feltvividly that it's the only object he could write about. It broughtback the memories of his brother. He recalls his brother being lefthanded, the green ink of the poems that his brother wrote on theglove and finally he tells in great detail to the reader when andwhere his bother passed away. In the case of James, the main hero inRatcatcher, it's slightly more subtle. Everywhere he goes he isreminded in an indirect way of what happened when his friend drowned.Throughout the movie James is a loner, he seems to distance himselffrom his peers. Where in the beginning of the movie he is playful,enjoying life like a regular twelve year old it takes the rest of thefilm for James to begin to enjoy life again little by little. One ofthe biggest reminders for James about the incident was the river thatruns behind his house. For james the area surrounding the river wasthe playground where all his peers hung out and had to deal with iton daily basis. Where for Holden vivid memories of his deceasedbrother anchor him down, for James its the river.
The riverfor James isn't only a reminder of what happened, he also feelstraumatized by the water. Playfully his friend held him under waterfor a few seconds, when he resurfaced he was scared and angry, pushedhis friend and walked away. From that moment on James was afraid ofwater.
At one point he is wandering alone along the river when hesees his peers throwing a girl glasses in the river. After his peersleft the girl asks him if he can see the glasses in the water.Although in the film they make it quite obvious that he can see theglasses in the water he’s afraid to get them out. He lies and tellsthe girl that he can't find them. After Holden is expelled forfailing five out of four subjects from Pencey Prep school he has tobring his parents the news. But instead of going home to see hismother and father he goes to New York and stays in a hotel for a fewday's. There could be a few reasons he does not want to go back. Forexample Holden leadsme to believe that talking about their feelings is a taboo in theirhousehold. For example he mentions about his mother“Shehasn't felt to healthy since my brother Allie died. She's verynervous. That's another reason why I hated like hell for her to knowI got the ax again.” *. Besidesthat Holden tells us, the reader this: “...My parents would have about two haemorrhages apiece if I toldanything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy aboutanything like that, especially my father”*.Although Holden does no specifiably say that his parents do not talkabout their emotions, from “aboutanything like that”*I conclude that Holden his evasive attitude towards going home wouldforce Holden to think even more about his brother without anyresolution to it. Both James and Holden are confronted with peopleand places that reminds them of what happened.
To escape fromthose places James and Holden both create and find a place to escapeto when they don't want to deal with their grief. James is in themiddle a garbage strike in Glasgow. The streets are overrun withgarbage, filth and vermin. In a curious spark he wants to know wherehis sister goes by bus. James takes the next bus to the last stop andends up on a construction side for a new house block. After exploringthe empty houses he finds a window. Climbing through the window intothis other world he ends up in a field of rye, For the first time thebleak sepia toned film turn warm, yellow and golden, giving theviewer the idea that James found a place where he can feel safe,himself, natural and clean. Away from the polluted city and hidingfrom the negative clouds surrounding Glasgow. James escapes to anexternal place but Holden escapism is more focused and internal. Hedoesn't think to highly about the world around him, everything isphony and “people never believe you”* Holden is very outspokenabout the things he hates and finds phony, that is in great contrastwith he does like. He is very fond of his little sister and hisbrother. “Youshould see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart inyour whole life. She's really smart. I Mean she's had all A's eversince she started school.”*and “Hewas terrificly intelligent. His teachers were always writing lettersto my mother, telling her what a please it was having a boy likeAllie in their class.”*The contrast with his negative view on the world and the positivememories of his brother and sister serves as a comparisons tool forHolden. The negative things happening to him is just how the worldworks, the only only exception to this are his brother and sister. Animportant object for Holden is his red hunting cap which he bought inNew York a few days before the beginning of the story. For that timeperiod it wasn't particularity fashionable. Holden is very precisewith writing about the places where the cap is throughout the wholebook. He always mentions when he puts it on and takes it off. Itprotects him from the cold and it makes him unique when he wears it.Holden is careful to take the hat off before he meets with people hedoes know. Being someone else when there are no people around himthat know him and himself when there are. Before Holden returns homehe first stays in a hotel in New York city for a while. In that hotelhe is anonymous, invisible and doesn't know anyone there. To escapethe situation both protagonists find ways to runway, to get somepeace of mind and to deal with it in their own way and tempo.
Thenarrative of Ratcatcher and Catcher in the Rye are both greatlydriven by death but there are quite a few differences between Jamesand Holden. They differ in age, location and the time that they areliving in. But regardless the differences both are youths who aretrying to grow up. Besides that, it's clear that the death of someonein their inner circle changed them profoundly in some aspects. Theyboth had traumatic experiences and still can recall certain eventsaround death vividly. They are unable to let go because daily lifestill reminds them about the deceased. Trying to escape and cope withtheir emotions they both try to escape in a different way.
*J. D. Salinger.Catcher in the Rye. UnitedStates, Little, Brown and Company, 1951
bymendel agterberg
Thegeneral theme of both Ratcatcher and Catcher in the Rye is centredaround the coming-of-age of both protagonists. In LynneRamsayfilm Ratcatcher the protagonist James is an twelve year old boy thatbyaccident caused his friend to drown.Holden the eighteen year old protagonist of Catcher in the Rye haslost his bother to leukaemia three years ago.In both novel and film death is revealed in the introduction. Thedeath accompanies a traumatic event and is one of the driving forcesbehind their actions. It's become quite apparent throughout bothnarratives that in both Ratcatcher and Catcher in the Rye theprotagonists are haunted by the death of someone in their innercircles.
The events surrounding the death of the brother andfriend are quite different but the phases that both characters gothough are quite similar. For example James and Holden are oftenreminded of the death. In Holdens case a student friend asked him towrite a composition of a room as descriptive as possible. From allthe topics he could chose Holden can only think about one thing; thebaseball glove of his brother. He can recall how it looked and feltvividly that it's the only object he could write about. It broughtback the memories of his brother. He recalls his brother being lefthanded, the green ink of the poems that his brother wrote on theglove and finally he tells in great detail to the reader when andwhere his bother passed away. In the case of James, the main hero inRatcatcher, it's slightly more subtle. Everywhere he goes he isreminded in an indirect way of what happened when his friend drowned.Throughout the movie James is a loner, he seems to distance himselffrom his peers. Where in the beginning of the movie he is playful,enjoying life like a regular twelve year old it takes the rest of thefilm for James to begin to enjoy life again little by little. One ofthe biggest reminders for James about the incident was the river thatruns behind his house. For james the area surrounding the river wasthe playground where all his peers hung out and had to deal with iton daily basis. Where for Holden vivid memories of his deceasedbrother anchor him down, for James its the river.
The riverfor James isn't only a reminder of what happened, he also feelstraumatized by the water. Playfully his friend held him under waterfor a few seconds, when he resurfaced he was scared and angry, pushedhis friend and walked away. From that moment on James was afraid ofwater.
At one point he is wandering alone along the river when hesees his peers throwing a girl glasses in the river. After his peersleft the girl asks him if he can see the glasses in the water.Although in the film they make it quite obvious that he can see theglasses in the water he’s afraid to get them out. He lies and tellsthe girl that he can't find them. After Holden is expelled forfailing five out of four subjects from Pencey Prep school he has tobring his parents the news. But instead of going home to see hismother and father he goes to New York and stays in a hotel for a fewday's. There could be a few reasons he does not want to go back. Forexample Holden leadsme to believe that talking about their feelings is a taboo in theirhousehold. For example he mentions about his mother“Shehasn't felt to healthy since my brother Allie died. She's verynervous. That's another reason why I hated like hell for her to knowI got the ax again.” *. Besidesthat Holden tells us, the reader this: “...My parents would have about two haemorrhages apiece if I toldanything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy aboutanything like that, especially my father”*.Although Holden does no specifiably say that his parents do not talkabout their emotions, from “aboutanything like that”*I conclude that Holden his evasive attitude towards going home wouldforce Holden to think even more about his brother without anyresolution to it. Both James and Holden are confronted with peopleand places that reminds them of what happened.
To escape fromthose places James and Holden both create and find a place to escapeto when they don't want to deal with their grief. James is in themiddle a garbage strike in Glasgow. The streets are overrun withgarbage, filth and vermin. In a curious spark he wants to know wherehis sister goes by bus. James takes the next bus to the last stop andends up on a construction side for a new house block. After exploringthe empty houses he finds a window. Climbing through the window intothis other world he ends up in a field of rye, For the first time thebleak sepia toned film turn warm, yellow and golden, giving theviewer the idea that James found a place where he can feel safe,himself, natural and clean. Away from the polluted city and hidingfrom the negative clouds surrounding Glasgow. James escapes to anexternal place but Holden escapism is more focused and internal. Hedoesn't think to highly about the world around him, everything isphony and “people never believe you”* Holden is very outspokenabout the things he hates and finds phony, that is in great contrastwith he does like. He is very fond of his little sister and hisbrother. “Youshould see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart inyour whole life. She's really smart. I Mean she's had all A's eversince she started school.”*and “Hewas terrificly intelligent. His teachers were always writing lettersto my mother, telling her what a please it was having a boy likeAllie in their class.”*The contrast with his negative view on the world and the positivememories of his brother and sister serves as a comparisons tool forHolden. The negative things happening to him is just how the worldworks, the only only exception to this are his brother and sister. Animportant object for Holden is his red hunting cap which he bought inNew York a few days before the beginning of the story. For that timeperiod it wasn't particularity fashionable. Holden is very precisewith writing about the places where the cap is throughout the wholebook. He always mentions when he puts it on and takes it off. Itprotects him from the cold and it makes him unique when he wears it.Holden is careful to take the hat off before he meets with people hedoes know. Being someone else when there are no people around himthat know him and himself when there are. Before Holden returns homehe first stays in a hotel in New York city for a while. In that hotelhe is anonymous, invisible and doesn't know anyone there. To escapethe situation both protagonists find ways to runway, to get somepeace of mind and to deal with it in their own way and tempo.
Thenarrative of Ratcatcher and Catcher in the Rye are both greatlydriven by death but there are quite a few differences between Jamesand Holden. They differ in age, location and the time that they areliving in. But regardless the differences both are youths who aretrying to grow up. Besides that, it's clear that the death of someonein their inner circle changed them profoundly in some aspects. Theyboth had traumatic experiences and still can recall certain eventsaround death vividly. They are unable to let go because daily lifestill reminds them about the deceased. Trying to escape and cope withtheir emotions they both try to escape in a different way.
*J. D. Salinger.Catcher in the Rye. UnitedStates, Little, Brown and Company, 1951
