Subject: Stereotypes
From: John Rauschenberg (johnr@uclink4.berkeley.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 25 1997 - 18:34:30 GMT
I think that authors, including Salinger, give us certain traits of
characters, and from these traits do expect us to infer larger things about
the character.
Sure, they are stereotypical traits, but you'd be surprised how
stereotypical traits are used by all authors. When a character speaks like
Huck Finn, for instance, we are expected to infer that the character has
little education. It is definitely a stereotype that people who talk like
that have little education--who knows, there could be someone who talks
like that with a Ph.D.--but it's a stereotype we have to use as readers.
So, from the evidence Salinger gave me I drew the conclusion that Eric was
either extremely feminine or gay (I don't think it matters which for the
purposes of the story). The traits he gives Eric are feminine traits, and
I think Salinger expects the reader to draw a conclusion from them.
John
P.S. On another note, remember that I said that the Biblical quote excited
"hell out of me". Makes more sense on closer reading, doesn't it?
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