An apology and Re: particulars

PlungerBug@aol.com
Fri, 17 Jul 1998 23:01:00 -0400 (EDT) 

I wrote this earlier, but my inbox went into convulsions whenever I tried to
send the message, so I had to use another address.

Scottie Bowman wrote:
> 
>         And in this connection, I read Cheryl's strictures on racism, sexism
>         & agism with misgiving.  I certainly hope she won't apply them to
>         her creative writing.  If she does, her characters will be simply
>         inoffensive ciphers.  It seems to me we come to convincing life
>         more through our prejudices & failings than our good intentions.

Actually, I'm currently writing a short story about a female Neo-Nazi
who dates a queer-basher on weekdays and a former sex offender on the
weekends.

But, on a serious note, Holden is not much of a racist or a violent
sexist, and he is far from being an "inoffensive cipher."  No one could
argue that he isn't prejudiced.  Who could be more biased than Holden? 
Kids good, phonies bad.  I do, however, have a problem with texts that
present the idea that men exclusively are good, etc., (not evident in
Salinger's works, of course) or when people with those kind of values
evaluate a text or character unfairly.  I don't think Salinger wanted Franny
to be thought of as "insane" and "knocked up," any more than he wanted Holden
to be seen that way.  

However, Erinn mentioned that she was merely echoing what other people
have said about Franny.  An apology to Erinn here-I'm sorry if I
misconstrued your post, and I'm sorry for talking down to you because of
your age.  Certainly you're much more coherent than I was at 14.  

My problem was with the use of those words, by anyone, to evaluate
Franny's character.  It is generally more common to dismiss women as
hysterical when they're suffering and to apply demeaning terms to their
sexual behavior.  By the way, I had made another mistake in an earlier
post-I didn't know that "knocked up" meant pregnant.  I thought it was a
moderate way of saying "harlot" or "trollop."  I still think it is something
of a vulgar term, but it's not as if Franny was called a slut and her
boyfriend a stud.  

I also don't mean to say that we should eliminate bigoted characters
from literature-where would The Color Purple be without all the
woman-haters in the novel?  The book's message about the patience and
strength of the human spirit would have been lost if Mr.___ was an
ardent feminist.  

Finally, I think one can sympathize as much with Franny's quest for
spiritual enlightment as with Holden's angst over Allie's death, without
calling either of them crazy. 

Whew.  What I've learned today:  check dictionary more, rant less.

Cheryl