The Reception of the Taoist Parable in Jerome Salinger's Story "Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters"

Abstract

To this day Jerome David Salinger has primarily been popular with his first novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, which is not surprising as Holden Caulfield has become a beloved hero for almost all tee­nagers of Salinger’s time onwards. However, Jerome Salinger deserves equal attention for his Glass family stories as well. Especially, that the Glass family protagonists share their perception of life and provide much food for thought by navigating through Oriental and Occidental philo­sophical realm. Jerome Salinger’s distinction is mostly caused by his fascination with eastern religious and philosophical teachings, part­ic­ularly Zen Buddhism and Taoism. These philosophical systems ass­ist him to openly criticize materialistic and superficial lifestyle of the Am­e­ricans. The article deals with the parable as a literary genre illu­strating the Taoist tale given at the beginning of the Glass family story “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters”. It describes how the parable assists the reader to evaluate the protagonist’s fate through the moral of the Taoist teaching.