Back to Catcher...

20 January 2023: "He's so innocent and smart, but he doesn't know how innocent and smart he is." --one of my Young Adults Lit students today talking about Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. 

This class has been on the quiet side, but they had so many fascinating insights on and comments about the book today, including the one above. That paradox seems useful for understanding the character and his dilemma. 

More Holden wisdom...

16 January 2020: “He said he talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving his car. That killed me. I just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs.” -Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Working through some more Catcher this morning and this passage, in which Holden describes a Pencey graduate/benefactor who made his fortune in undertaking, cracked me up. And given the overwhelming hypocrisy on display by so many vocal Christians these days, it sure does seem as relevant a criticism as it was back in 1951.

Gentle reminders...

15 January 2020: "It's funny. You don't have to think too hard when you talk to a teacher." --Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye

Starting Catcher in the YA lit class on Friday, which meant starting to re-read it today. The lines above made me laugh but also made me think about how sometimes when I am teaching or talking to a student, I don't fully listen or hear what I want to hear. A good and humbling reminder from old Holden.

Back to Catcher

5 September 2018: "The trouble with me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It's more interesting and all." --J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

We are reading The Catcher in the Rye again in my Young Adult Literature class. It isn't one of my absolute favorites, but something different jumps out at me each reading. I am thinking about how, when I am talking with my favorite people, I relish all their digressions, little slips of what matters to them..