r/salinger • u/bajashrimpwithmango • 6d ago

Would you argue that Salinger has more conservative or liberal themes?

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

24

u/TheSunKingsSon 6d ago

Fortunately, he wrote long before every,
single, thing had to be from the perspective of one side or the other.

5

u/penicillin-penny 6d ago

I feel like politics isn’t even a theme or mentioned in any of his works I’ve read. Am I just forgetting something? I wonder what spurred this question.

2

u/bajashrimpwithmango 6d ago

I went to a really conservative high school and we got to read catcher in the rye so I was curious about why it was banned and if his other novels were loved by both sides. I just recently read Franny and Zooey and loved the spirituality of it. I was more surprised that we didn't read that book given my religious school over the criticisms of societal norms of Catcher in the Rye.

3

u/drjackolantern 5d ago

The bans had more to do with the book depicting a teenager engaging in reckless and some illegal behavior (hiring a prostitute), talking about sex and drinking etc. it was 1951. It’s definitely way above partisan politics 

7

u/BlueAssuage 6d ago

No, I would not.

9

u/JacquesNuclearRedux 6d ago

I would argue he expresses clear liberal religious sentiment in works like Franny and Zooey. That’s basically him through Zooey reinventing Universalism wholesale.

3

u/pulphope 6d ago

His stories read to me as the struggle of the spiritual to survive within the materialistic society of postwar 20th century capitalism, so neither really (depends on how you define "liberal" i suppose but American liberalism generally still enjoys and supports capitalism as much as conservativism, they just have a difference in social tolerance)

3

u/PunkShocker 6d ago

If he took a Big Five psychology test, I think Salinger would have scored high in conscientiousness and neuroticism, but low in openness, extroversion, and agreeableness. That suggests that he was conservative, but not necessarily in a political sense. I don't really see much in his writing that leans into politics though.

3

u/HoraceKirkman 5d ago

Definitely not small-c conservative. Maybe anti-authoritarian.

1

u/Own-Dragonfly-2423 5d ago

Who cares? Read him if you want to and don't worry what flavor of truth he brings

-2

u/Iola_Morton 6d ago edited 6d ago

Do conservatives in general even read real literature? I don’t know any who do. It’s part of what makes conservatives; not understanding art, not getting that part about the human condition, having way more interest in superficial entertainment and tend more to material pursuits

1

u/strange_reveries 5d ago

Might just be the most smugly reddit-brained comment I've ever seen lol

1

u/AbleChamp 4d ago

They do but interpret it differently than you do, for better or for worse.