Re: Re: teens and Salanger

Brendan McKennedy (the.tourist@mailexcite.com)
Sun, 04 Jan 1998 23:00:13 -0700

it seems to me that teens may
>have somewhat, or somehow, inciteful views on Salinger, and his characters
>(especially Holden, knowing where he's coming from).
>


Wisdom isn't necessarily confined to the Advanced
In Earth Years; I've known plenty of teenagers 
who were many times wiser than the Oldest people
I know...

The general problem I've found, however, with the
General Teenage Reading of Catcher--being a 
rather recently emancipated teen myself--is that
teens DO relate to Holden so much.  I think as
you get a little bit older, you see that Catcher
might not have been intended so much as a Doctrine
of the True and Decent of Heart as an observation
of a very disturbed young man and the very sad adult
world in which he lives.

Oddly enough, Catcher began to mean a lot more to
me after I began to discover that Holden isn't 
necessarily right about everything, he shouldn't
necessarily be followed like a Christ...that he
serves more as a sort of Fresh View of our Society.

Brendan



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