On Wed, 12 Aug 1998, WILL HOCHMAN wrote: > Peggy makes some good points...I too have experience with black and > hispanics kids zoning into holden despite racial/economic differences and > think that indicates his character reaches beyond most stereotypes of race > and class. will > > Once again, god knows I even know of many people hailing form Latino and African-American backgrounds who adore Holden Caulfield. Truly, JDS probably manages to transcend race and class with his characterization of the very universalized Holden Caulfield, more than any other fictional character in his writings. All of this, however, does not negate the possibility of there being a lot of truth to the initial postulate though, which is simply that race *and* class, *among other* sociological influneces, probably play a significant role in whether or not scores of people are able to relate and like JDS's writings and prose style. --AK