Comments on: Two heroes: A rebel and a recluse http://tamarind18.com/the-rebel-and-the-recluse Just another WordPress site Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:07:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Mumtaz http://tamarind18.com/the-rebel-and-the-recluse#comment-14 Mumtaz Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:28:35 +0000 http://tamarind18.com/?p=445#comment-14 I picked up the book "The Catcher in the Rye" last week and finished reading through it the day J.D. Salinger left us. What a coincidence! I have the same regrets as you do about not having read the book in my teens. However, for the kind of character that I was back in those days, I doubt I'd have understood the depth of it then, had I managed to read through it completely in the first place, that is. So, I am not surprised that your teenaged son abandoned it half way through. We can all identify with Holden Caulfield at some point or another. And, in some way or another (and I hate to admit it), I believe we can also identify with at least one of the other characters in the book. Though most people grumble about the system, I guess when it's decision-making time, most of us walk the path that's well-trodden. Isn't it easier to succumb to the pressures of the society? BTW, I heard it somewhere (haven't verified it though) that a school teacher who tried to recommend this book to her pupils got the ax. C'est la vie! -Mumtaz I picked up the book “The Catcher in the Rye” last week and finished reading through it the day J.D. Salinger left us. What a coincidence!

I have the same regrets as you do about not having read the book in my teens. However, for the kind of character that I was back in those days, I doubt I’d have understood the depth of it then, had I managed to read through it completely in the first place, that is. So, I am not surprised that your teenaged son abandoned it half way through.

We can all identify with Holden Caulfield at some point or another. And, in some way or another (and I hate to admit it), I believe we can also identify with at least one of the other characters in the book. Though most people grumble about the system, I guess when it’s decision-making time, most of us walk the path that’s well-trodden. Isn’t it easier to succumb to the pressures of the society?

BTW, I heard it somewhere (haven’t verified it though) that a school teacher who tried to recommend this book to her pupils got the ax. C’est la vie!

-Mumtaz

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