From Boy to Troubled Man

Just one year after Salinger published his first short story, he had already had much success in the publishing world. His dream, however, was to publish a piece in the renowned New Yorker. He submitted a short story entitled “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” which featured the character Holden Caulfield, to the magazine in 1941. Though it was accepted, it was ultimately not published due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The editors felt publishing a story about a jaded, cynical boy who had everything was not appropriate in light of the current problems of the nation (Alexander 76-7). 

Soon after, Salinger applied to become an army volunteer. He had always been willing to serve, but a heart condition made him ineligible.  His condition was eventually overlooked due to modifications to the enlistment requirements, and Salinger was admitted to the Officers, First Sergeants, and Instructors School of the Signal Corps in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey on April 27, 1942 (Alexander 79-80).

After many transfers and relocations, writing all the while and meeting with some success, Salinger entered into actual battle on D-day—June 6, 1944 (Salinger 40-1). His experiences would leave him forever changed. Biographer Paul Alexander writes that Salinger’s division “suffered some two thousand casualties a month,” and that Salinger’s division endured and witnessed some of the most savage and bloody battles fought in World War II (100-101). 

His experience was one that would send him on a quest for peace and answers. He would consider becoming a monk (Salinger 11) and would dabble in Zen Buddhism, Vedanta Hinduism, Yogananda’s Self-Realization Church, Christian Science, Scientology, macrobiotics, and more (Salinger 96). His future wife, Claire, would later describe him in the years after the war as having “black holes where he could hardly move, barely talk” (Salinger 12).