Slight Rebellion

Just re-read Slight Rebellion... And here's my take on it:

This is really a preface to Catcher. Not only due to Pency Prep, but also
because of Holden's state of mind do we know that his brother is already
dead. The family and Holden are collapsing. Holden's wearing a hat, but it
doesn't say it's his hunting cap, rather it's apparently rather fashionable,
with a crease at the top. Sally goes sans hat.
People thought they saw Holden and also Sally but it was "usually someone
else". I'm a bit puzzled by this. Does this mean he's often on other
people's mind?
He and Sally go dancing, and "Dance a lot", cheek-to-cheek.
He's quite put out about the Lunts being "angels" and I wonder if it's
because he's thinking of his brother on a higher plane, a real angel.
Sally's mittens are red. JDS loves red & green.
"I'm in bad shape. I'm in lousy shape." He's well aware of how bad things
are, and, no doubt also aware of how badly his family is doing.
He's desperate for escape, as he is later in Catcher, and wants to run away
with Sally, though she's clearly not his emotional or intellectual equal.
More of a social butterfly. Shades of Seymore here.
He gets drunk and calls Sally in the middle of the night, desperate for
human connection.
He's breaking down emotionally and begins to tear up. Then he heads out
into the cold, another strong JDS theme. This could be only a week or so
before Catcher. It's an interesting story, but because of the lack of
background, we have no idea how to be compassionate because we don't know
what's wrong with him. I think too many people read Catcher without ever
catching that it's a family breakdown due to the death of a son, and simply
chalk it up to adolescent angst, which is the only conclusion we can come to
here.
In short, it would have been better incorporated into Catcher rather than
left to stand on its own.
tina

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Received on Tue Jun 24 12:57:11 2003