> he thought Holden was a sad, > depressed, pessimistic hypocrite, and related that to his own > experiences in high school. It was a very refreshing First View of > Holden, since I and everyone I've known personally read "Catcher" in > high school and related to him and made him something of a hero. Only > in the past couple of years have I come to regard Holden as less of an > avatar than a just very troubled young man. I think it's a shame the way a lot of people `fall out of love' with Holden in the way you've said. It's symptomatic with the worldwide gnawing disease of the adult, I put it once in a play as `Having all that lovely youthful marrow surgically drained out and replaced by reams of ways to get rich quick, get rid of plantar warts, prevent baldness, get the best rate on your home loans, prevent independent thought ... the usual.' The reason we all identify with Holden as teenagers is, I think, this sort of raw anger; the first realisation that It's Not Fair. Sooner or later as adults we begin to realise that there's nothing to do about it, so we kind of skim over the world like a flat rock, not feeling inclined to break the surface. I know that when I was about seventeen I felt this great closure in my mind, as if the door to a lot of my creative and mental faculty and all these glorious riches had been shut off forever. I don't know about the rest of you, but it's happened to a lot of people I know. You seem to lose your passion; to loose your anger and your ability to see the world wholistically. It could be the massive amount of information we are bombarded with until our minds, at seventeen, finally fill up, I don't know. But to me, Holden symbolises that little shut-off piece of mind that people don't retrieve when they berate teenagers for being stupid or naive, or not naive enough, or self destructive or depressed. Every adult was a teenager once. It's just such a shame so few adults seem to remember that fact. Do you remember having to change into a completely physically and mentally different person with absolutely no help from anyone ? And how terrifying and exhilarating that was ? I'm always reminded of Kafka's `The Metamorphosis' when I think about it - it's like you come out for breakfast one day a cockroach, and you just have to deal with it. Perhaps if more adults remembered, less teenagers would be doing things like killing themselves. It's a crucial part that everyone should keep in touch with throughout their lives. Camille Scaysbrook verona_beach@geocities.com THE ARTS HOLE @ http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442