Catcher in the Raw

I am home today with my son who was too ill at the end of yesterday to go to daycare today, but whom seems to be ok now, other than a serious aversion to clothing. And a lot of whining and crying.

Which reminds me of a certain literary character we all know...yes, Mr. Caulfield enjoys a complaint here and there, that is for sure. He is very concerned about his own well-being, though he plays it off as if he is a very compassionate individual. I don't know, maybe he is compassionate. Maybe he is just a conflicted adolescent, like the rest of them. I have never met an adolescent who was not conflicted. It is very depressing. I am wondering what has happened to old Holden to make him so weary of people. I'm guessing maybe it had to do with his brother dying, like nobody told him Allie was sick until after he had died, or that the doctors had misdiagnosed him or something. Just a guess, I'm not finished with the book yet, you know.

"People are always ruining things for you." This is what I am talking about--either he is deeply scarred because of something, or he just needs to grow up and take responsibility for himself. If you haven't been paying attention, here's what has taken place so far: Holden has been kicked out of Pencey, another prep school. (I tried to count how many others he mentions having been kicked out of, but couldn't keep them all straight--let's just say a lot) He leaves school and goes to New York to kill some time before his parents find out about his expulsion. When he arrives in the city, he meets a host of facinating and shady characters such as three very touristy women from Seattle--two ugly and one decent looking blond who is some dancer (not great PR for the NW, except for the dancing part); a pimp/prositute combo called Maurice and Sunny who end up beating him up and stealing his money; and a couple of traveling nuns with cheap suitcases. One of the nuns is an English teacher who loves Romeo and Juliet, which is, ironically, a classic tale of lust and deceit.

So far it seems like the more people he meets, the lonlier he gets. It's like nobody really cares about old Holden. He keeps talking about his kid sister Pheobe like she is the only one who truly gets him. I hope she is real.