Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Catcher in the Rye

When I was in 12th grade, I took AP English Lit. One of the books we read was The Catcher in the Rye, but I was overwhelmed by the swearing in the first chapter, so I decided to read Jane Eyre instead.

Jane Eyre changed my life. LOVE that book. It's the first truly transcendental/Gothic novel I ever read, and frankly, I look for that kind of stuff these days. In books, not real life. Unless you count religion as transcendental, which I do. I took a whole class on transcendentalism, and another entirely on Gothic literature. Actually, they were both from the same professor, truth be told. Dr. Perry. He wrote this crazy paper on the influence the film Inception had from the work of Edgar Alan Poe.That guy killed me. There were all kinds of similarities, it was pure madness.

One thing you've got to know about me: I'm intensely curious.

As an English major, I've felt like I gyped myself out of an important milestone in my education: reading a controversial, interesting, poetic novel that changed the face of American literature. I mean, reading The Catcher in the Rye. One time my Grandma told me how my Grandpa had to read it when he was in college, which, it was a pretty new book at that time, I think. She felt it was a shame, and it was a dirty book, and all. I guess I believed her. I follow John and Hank Green's video blog on youtube, and they make Holden Caulfield references from time to time. John Green's book Looking for Alaska has been compared to The Catcher in the Rye. I've read some of his stuff, and it's pretty good. I haven't read Looking for Alaska though. But some of his other books are pretty interesting. So, I read it. The Catcher in the Rye, that is.

The swearing didn't bother me as much this time, and I really enjoyed reading it. Holden reminded me of my friend, Enoch: he's an old soul, but still crazy young for real. He feels things deeply, but doesn't really understand what to do with his sympathy. He's funny, and somehow both crude and eloquent at the same time. No kidding.

I'm glad I didn't read it in high school. I didn't know Enoch then. I didn't know John Green, either. I was so much younger: it's funny, because it actually was only a couple weeks ago, but it seems like such a long time ago, like fifty years or something. When I was there, I thought I was so old. I felt old, and I felt mature -- I was, in a way, but not really. Some things really do only come with time. You don't get that when you're young, because you don't know what time is, so when they tell you, "it comes with time," you think they're full of crap, like they're all phonies or something, and you look like an idiot, because you're dead wrong, but you're certain that you're the only sane person in the room.

It's a funny thing, but I actually feel younger now that I'm older. I know I'm wrong most of the time, and I'm better at believing the many, many people who are smarter than I am about basically everything. In a way, was a lot like Holden, and for that very reason, I couldn't appreciate the book for what it was. In another way, now that I'm older, and a little less like Holden, but still able to remember what it's like to have been that way, I'm so much more able to appreciate the novel for what it is.

Up next: Deerskin by Robin McKinley.

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