Some thoughts on Irony

Irony is an increasingly fascinating concept to me. Few situations are actually ironic, but the notion that things (words, concepts, people, etc…) can have irony when considered in relation to one another is plentiful. Lately, I’m particularly fascinated with how Irony turns up in words, and more precisely, in titles. Here is a short reflection on how the title of The Catcher in the Rye is Ironic.

The title The Catcher in The Rye is an ironic one on several grounds. To begin with, it is the result of a mistake that Holden makes regarding the song, “Comin’ through the Rye.” That both Holden and the little boy he sees singing this song on the street misunderstand the very non-innocent implications of the song is a testament to just how innocently oblivious Holden is. His wish to protect children from falling off of a cliff as they innocently run through the rye, a psychoanalytic theorist may argue, is really a fantasy that Holden creates embodying his own experience with sudden loss of innocence, namely the death of his brother Allie. But beyond the psychological reasons behind the fantasy, Holden’s fantasy also speaks to the place that he wants to have in the world. Mainly, he wants to have a symbolic place in the world. An additional irony is how irresponsible Holden is with everything else, yet he believes that he would make a good Catcher in the Rye.