Hi everyone. Back on the list after summer holidays. Hasn't it been busy, reading the archives was fabulous. I felt so jealous that I missed the debates. In regards to the "smoking characters" of JDS, Bethany's post made me think of Seymour's description of happiness as running down the street with Buddy when they were younger. (I'm at work so my memory is possibly a bit faulty.) I always think of smoking in JDS as a fifties device to accompany characters who basically talk rather than do. The smoking becomes something to do with their hands (as eg Zooey "on stage" with his mother in the bathroom) or accompanies a fairly motionless act (eg Buddy reading Seymour's letter in the bath). Who can forget the ash falling on the damp page? If the stories were being written now then I guess the characters would be retreating to their rooms to sit on their computers - and isn't that a horrible thought? Lesley P.