Re: BANANAFISH digest 223
Jessica Lynn Becker (beckerj@uwec.edu)
Mon, 26 Jan 1998 18:35:36 -0600
Hmmm...I'm afraid that I will have to agree with Scottie on this one. My
first experience with Catcher was entirely positive. I never actually had
it assigned to me...it was more that I was in this mexican restaraunt and
the waitress sat us down in the Beatle booth. (Beatles being one of my
favorite groups, I was ecstatic) There were all these newspaper articles
about John Lennon's death and Mark David Chapman blaming his actions on the
Catcher in the Rye.
Well, no big deal, I really didn't think about it again until I was in
Senior Advanced History and some girl behind me (one of those Advanced
Placement English lucksters) made a comment about how Catcher was a banned
book in some places, what a laugh! Well, not to be outdone by the little
snots who were able to get into the class I so wanted to be in I ran to the
library and picked up a copy. (That and I wanted to see if there was any
truth in the accusations that a passage in Catcher was enough to make
Chapman kill Lennon) I looked at the cover, ho hum. Oh did I learn my
lesson about not being able to judge a book by it's cover! I was hooked
from page one! I even photocopied (shhh!) the passage where Holden tells
Phoebe that he wants to be the Catcher in the Rye, laminated it, and hung
it up in my locker. It was my inspiration for the rest of the year. Every
book we read afterwards was held up on the pedestal of Catcher. The quote
now hangs over my desk to remind me how much I love Salinger. (in the busy
life of a college student, it is often hard to keep in touch with your
roots).
Have any of you ever had a book that you just instantly clicked with?
Catcher in the Rye was one of mine. Another was A Seperate Peace by John
Knowles (which I read before Catcher but now recognize as a distinctly
Salingeresque piece of literature).
jessica :)