hair on broadway
Pierrot65@aol.com
Sun, 11 Jul 1999 12:04:14 -0400 (EDT)
Fishes --
"I have scars on my hands from touching certain people. Certain heads,
certain colors and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me."
This is just one (though maybe the most important) of many examples of the
importance Salinger places on character hair color. The talk about Elaine and
the different women in the uncollected stories got us thinking about this
again. Another important mention of course is Holden's grey streak. Does it
mean he has an old soul? Has he been shocked by some horror and marked (maybe
by Allie's death)? Or is he just marked (mottled/piebald) as different from
the rest of society? Or is it something else?
And Scottie, is there any sort of psychological basis or explanation
for a fixation on hair? Salinger isn't necessarily fixated, but it might make
for an interesting investigation.
Mirjam and Rick