Catcher and the Rye

[DWill]

I haven't read this book in a lot of years and am at the age of the old farts that Holden sometimes talks of. This is a book that I'd be a little reluctant to read again in case I'd be disappointed with it. As an eighth grader--in a prep school, yet--I can't tell you the impact this book had on me. I was feeling alienated, so was Holden. I was approaching a consistent depressed state, and so was Holden. But Holden was much braver than I was, as well as older, and so his adventures were exciting and inspiring to me; I could live through him vicariously. Does anyone else feel that this is just about the most moral book they've ever read? I think of many parts of it where Holden's rebellion is against the weak morality he sees, in favor of a higher one. Remember the scene near the end where he sees "Fuck you" scrawled casually on the wall and wonders how it would ever be possible to erase the hurt of that curse? If I was teaching religion, I'd have students read this book. At least I think I would. As I hinted, I don't entirely trust my adolescent memory.