Subject: Re:Question about reading Catcher
From: Cecilia Baader (cbaader@cubsmvp.com)
Date: Mon Apr 02 2001 - 00:09:20 GMT
Will Hochman <hochman@southernct.edu> wrote:
>Yes, I agree (before I'm spammed) that Catcher is best read when one
>wants to read it, not as an assigned book, but the reality of
>American students is that many simply do not like to read books and
>do so only with strong prompting...so what do you think--is there a
>suggested age for reading Catcher? Does it make sense to read it in
>college?
Dear Will,
I'm not sure if I can give you a real answer, but I can relate my
own classroom experiences.
The first time that I encountered THE CATCHER IN THE RYE was in school.
It was my junior year of high school, and it was assigned to us in Honors
English (the regular classes didn't get to read it-- I'm still trying
to decide if they thought it was too difficult for them or just plain
subversive) by my teacher, KB. (So called because she felt that we
should address her in the same manner as the rest of the world. We were
equals, you see.) The weeks that we spent reading Catcher were filled
not with deconstructions of the book, but with her reminiscences of
driving an ambulance in World War II and giving up her rubber girdles
for the war effort and drawing lines down the back of her legs when
her last pair of stockings wore out. Then she took us through the
post-war days of joy and despair and worries about Korea. She told us
that they were living in a time when everyone wanted to believe everything
was fine, but everyone knew that it wasn't.
I can't remember, though I'm sure we must have had at least one, a
single classroom discussion about THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. We were left
to discover it on our own inasmuch as assigned reading COULD be. I do
know that it was the first time that I realized that "Literature" could
be something that I related to, that I wanted to read.
KB was a wise, wise, woman. It feels to me, has always felt to me,
like a book that could not be taught. Those who do not "get" it will
never do so, no matter how well it is introduced in a classroom
environment. Certainly it's suited to in-depth study; I think we've
proved that around here several thousand times over. However, I think
that, given my druthers, I'd pull out NINE STORIES and teach that a
thousand times before I'd teach THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. Why?
Because I think that I could never do it justice. You cannot
teach soul.
Except maybe if you're a sixty-four year old former ambulance driver
who managed to get a roomful of sixteen-year-olds to understand about
a nation's soul. Maybe then. But not all of us can be Kathleen Brossmer.
Certainly not me.
And so it goes.
Regards,
Cecilia.
Common Sense. http://www.geocities.com/c_baader
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