Catcher in the Rye vs. Mental Defective League, Round 2

The boys of the Mental Defective League really love women. Whether they respect them or not is another matter altogether, but there’s no doubting their deep appreciation for feminine charms. Petey Cordovan, the book’s protagonist, tells us in Chapter 1, “A grin began creeping across my face. I tried to suppress it, but I started hearing a voice in my head that said, ‘You’re going to get laid.’” Yes, that is indeed the essence of Petey and his friends’ appreciation for the fairer sex: the chance of having sex. A raw perspective, yes, but unwaveringly honest. These are young men who know exactly what they want and pursue it with laser-like focus.

Holden Caulfield, the immortal protagonist of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, is less focused about women. He certainly admires women and thinks about them often. Holden admits in Chapter 9, “Women kill me. They really do. I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that—although I am quite sexy. I just like them, I mean. They're always leaving their goddam bags out in the middle of the aisle." Holden’s real-life relationship with women is somewhat at arm’s length and cerebral, though. He thinks about women, but he doesn’t necessarily do much about it. “In my mind, I’m probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw,” Holden tells us. We begin to realize that there is a large gulf between the mind and the body as far as Holden Caulfield is concerned.

This isn’t to say that Holden Caulfield doesn’t get his big chances to score. While staying alone at a hotel in New York, he hires a prostitute, but suddenly changes his mind when she actually shows up in his room. The prostitute is approximately the same age as he is, and Holden finds this unnerving. When she pulls off her green dress, Holden confides, “I know you're supposed to feel pretty sexy when someone gets up and pulls their dress over their head, but I didn't. Sexy was about the last thing I was feeling. I felt much more depressed than sexy.” Later in the novel, we learn that Holden Caulfield’s dream job is being the “Catcher in the Rye”—catching children before the run off the edge of a cliff—and having sex with a very young prostitute would certainly not qualify as catching anybody before they go off a cliff. In this manner Holden demonstrates deep emotional maturity and empathy.

The members of the Mental Defective league could not be accused of having the same emotional maturity and empathy. Detmer Steeplejack speaks for the entire League when he says, “I hear a voice,” Det said. “It says, ‘Mental Defective League, stop talking about fags and go where the pussy is. Go to the Clermont and start fucking-up immediately.’” The members of the Mental Defective League rarely close the deal with women, but they badly want to. Opportunities for “going where the pussy is” are always pursued with gusto.

All of this makes Holden Caulfield a far more gentlemanly and sensitive character. He is more mature in many ways, despite the fact that he is 16 years old at the time of Catcher in the Rye, compared to 18 years old for the members of the Mental Defective League. Being gentlemanly and sensitive, however, prevents Holden Caulfield from taking chances. He refuses to pull the trigger with women when he has the chance (rightly or wrongly) and the growth that could possible come from such a decision never materializes. Peter Cordovan in The Mental Defective League seizes the chance of having sex with the older Elizabeth, a decision that clearly turns out to have been misguided. Elizabeth becomes pregnant, Peter un-chivalrously avoids her, and Elizabeth’s son consequently beats Petey to a pulp in a pizza joint. Later in the novel, Petey’s bad decision provides an opportunity for his character to grow. He evolves into a more mature and complex creature by facing the bad decision he made. Holden Caulfield takes the ball to the ten yard line, but then pauses for a cigarette and some rumination. The reader is left wondering how Holden might have changed had he punched the ball across the goal line and actually scored.

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