Ive been in a very holden caulfield mood lately
You know, the more I think about it the more I realize that the Catcher in the Rye was absolutely one of the best and most honest books I have ever read. Its one of those books you never really hear people talk about... along with all the other "classics" that were required reading in high school and promptly forgotten afterward. People wear their love of Vonnegut or Pynchon on their sleeves pretty constantly, but this one always seems to fall through the cracks, other than the "yeah... I read that in high school... just like everybody else." Its always sold as a "classic novel of adolescent rebellion" which I think rather cheapens it, because adolescent rebels are usually anything but. The book is about human rebellion... about disillusionment with everything everyone tells you is true. The absolutely phony bullshit people spew day in and day out... about life... about love... about meaning... and you just want to grab them and shake them and scream at them until they truly understand that they know nothing. People go through life bumping around in the dark looking for anybody that seems to know what is going on.... teachers... poets... musicians... intellectuals... spiritualists... authors... priests... athiests... comedians. Anybody pretty or trendy or confident or stylish or clever. People eat it all up and pretend that they know what is going on. But its all just a big joke... one huge dick-measuring contest. A great pyramid scam of confidence and cuteness and possession and false individuality and bullshit rebellion. People reading this and thinking "thats not me. Im special. I am enlightened... I have a special understanding of other people and life and love and science and art and poetry. In fact, I dont care about any of this." But thats ok, because you are human, the same as me and absolutely everyone else.
"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."
"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."