Holden Caulfield is feeling kind of blue

Holden has gone and gotten himself kicked out of yet another all pretentious, all white, all upper class, all male boarding school. It is going to kill his mother.

I didn't know anything about old J.D. Salinger going into this, so I took it upon myself to do some research. The following information has been gathered using Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia!). One facinating bit of fact is that his father, Sol Salinger, was a Jewish man who sold kosher cheese. No kidding. That is just about the most depressing thing I have heard in about 14 years. Apparently his mother was not Jewish and this came as a big surprise to him shortly after his bar mitzvah; he went to prepretory and military schools himself as a teen; he dated the daughter of American playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene O'neill; and eventually became a follower of Zen Buddhism. Oh wait, this next part is interesting, I will quote it as not to take away from the nice wording: a 1979 study on cesorship stated the The Catcher in the Rye "had the dubious distinction of being at once the most frequently censored book across the nation and the second-most frequently taught novel in public high schools" (after Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men). So basically that means that simultaneously nobody and everybody wanted their adolescents to read it. Brilliant.

I will admit that that Holden sure has a mouth on him. I pretty much thought he was an arrogant jerk until page 39 when I found out that his brother died of lukemia and I could tell that that has been really hard for him and maybe he has never gotten over it. I love that Allie wrote poems in green ink all over his left-handed fielder's mitt so that he would have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up to bat. Holden loves this too, and that is endearing to me. I am also a sucker for a guy who fights for the honor of a lady--as good old Holden tried to do for Jane. Obviously he didn't really accomplish anything since Stradlater pretty much broke his nose and all, but it is a beautiful sentiment.

Well, I have read up to page 109, but am realizing that I can't really expect you to read all of my thoughts so far in one posting--I just hate it when somebody goes on and on and doesn't include any pictures. So I will end with this: nobody wants to feel lonesome, it is just about the most depressing thing ever. So find someone you think might be feeling lonely and figure out a way to make them not feel that way, even if it is just for a minute.

P.S. If you have been reading along, you will know that I am trying to imitate Holden by inserting certain phrases and exaggerative statements. Bonus points if you picked up on it! Or shame on me if it just sounds silly.