Catcher in the Rye vs. Mental Defective League, Round 1

Who doesn’t love teenage angst? Well, it’s possible that teenagers don’t love it, but for adults it brings back memories of youth and hopefulness. Because no matter how angst-ridden a teenager is, there is the promise of a better time and place. J. D. Salinger’s classic, Catcher in the Rye, was the first wide exposure of teenage angst in a literary format. The tone and voice of Catcher in the Rye, while clearly reflecting sensibilities of the mid-twentieth century, are timeless and ring true today. When Holden Caulfield speaks, we understand, and his problems become ours.

Peter Z. Cordovan’s novel, The Mental Defective League, is often compared to Catcher in the Rye. This comparison would probably make Holden Caulfield and J. D. Salinger “have about two hemorrhages apiece,” but it is quite valid. Both novels are ripe with teen angst and frustration, buffeted by flashes of euphoria. The big difference is the context within which these emotions are expressed. Holden Caulfied fights his battles largely within his own psyche. He walks alone in his journey through life. When Holden says in Chapter 5, “People never believe you,” it’s clear that he is a solo act. People don’t believe or fully understand him, no matter how hard he tries to express himself. The world is just not equipped to decode his messages.

Petey Cordovan’s angst expressed within The Mental Defective League is just as vivid as Holden Caulfield’s, but it is played out within the environment of a tight group of friends. Petey, Leo, Detmer, and Robbie refer to themselves as the ‘League’ far more than they identify themselves as individuals. Detmer instructs Petey in Chapter 2, “Call all the puds in the League and tell them we’re going out tonight.” Individually, the young men are nothing more than ‘puds,’ but together they become a League. The members of the Mental Defective League understand each other intuitively, and they could care less if the rest of the world doesn’t understand or agree with their agenda. The members of the Mental Defective League are rarely left to fight their battles as individuals, but as players in a larger drama.

The narrative tone of both novels differs because of the group orientation of the protagonists. Holden Caulfield has nobody else to speak to except you, the reader. The voice is very intimate and direct. Without the direct connection to the reader, there would be no communication at all. This is contrasted with Petey Cordovan in the Mental Defective League. Petey also speaks in first person, but his tone is much more neutral with the reader. The intimacy is saved for the dialogue between other members of the League. The reader is left as little more than a voyeur, observing this strange and wild group of young men in their native element. Holden Caulfied tells you the story, whereas Petey Cordovan simply allows you to eavesdrop and observe. The effect in both cases is intimacy, but we arrive at it in vastly different ways.

The reader can only imagine the possibility of Holden Caulfield being a member of the Mental Defective League. Would that provide a larger and richer audience for the expression of his angst? Yes of course, but it would also make a vastly different story. And the members of the League would probably just end up getting him drunk, chaining him to a telephone pole, and hosing him down--and nobody would want to see that happen to dear Holden.  

--PZC