Jerome David Salinger was an interesting man. I'm not exactly sure how I reached that conclusion, nor am I sure that you will agree with me. But that is what I have decided, so far. But although J.D. Salinger was slightly eccentric, I believe that it is no more than the rest of the human race. We're all strange.
Anyway, one thing that was very glaringly obvious in my research was the similarities between Salinger and his stories and characters. I won't beat around the bush or anything, because this will most likely become another Long-Winded post; cheers. J.D. Salinger took his own life experiences and molded his stories from those experiences.
JD Salinger (most likely to be referred to as "JD" from here on out) had a Scotch-Irish mother and a Jewish father, and his upbringing was apparently not all that different from those of his characters. Take Holden Caulfield, for instance. He was Irish too; with the Irish last name and red-headed family members. JD grew up in a pretty part of Manhattan, in New York and eventually attended prep schools; Holden lives in New York and attended several prep schools, including and before Pencey Prep. In 1934 JD's father sent him to a Military school, and I couldn't help but connect that and Holden's crew cut; army men often (if not always) have to have their hair in a crew cut.
Ahh...what else:
- JD and Holden were secretive about their private/personal lives
- JD attended Ursinus College*, but didn't agree with the structured and strictness of the college life.
- both JD and Holden were good at creative writing
- they planned on isolating themselves from the world (JD actually accomplished the feat--so far; have yet to finish CATintRYE
- Both JD and Holden are/were perceived as "sensitive and intelligent" people; but as we've seen, they had a bit of a cynical streak
- etc., etc., everything else major we covered in class
After JD successfully got published in the New Yorker, a lifelong dream of his, he shunned all of his previous work which had been published elsewhere. This marked the start of JD Salinger's "retreat from society."
Although, apparently, looking at Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, shortened here to CATintRYE, because I'm bored and I can), JD already had issues with the world. According to TIME, JD was, by the time he had published his story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" he had started to become a man who couldn't stand the world. Sound familiar? JD also raged against Hollywood concerning his precious Catcher in the Rye.
I think JD's dislike of the phony world he lived in pushed him to choose seclusion. I mean, according to TIME, JD actually gave an interview once; to two high school girls, thinking that the story would only make it to the high school page of the paper. When the story appeared as a major article in the regular pages of the paper, JD was outraged, refused to give any more interviews, and completed his isolation from society. He also soon after the incident built a wall around his cabin.
One reason why CATintRYE was banned from so many places for so long is because it rejected "traditional American values." I think that that shows the rigidity of society of the time between when JD published CATintRYE and today. People weren't as accepting, but it was for trivial reasons. Catcher was disliked by the people whose ways of life and ideals were countered by the book. But that's such a petty thing to ban a book for; I think it's phony. I also believe that JD agrees with that viewpoint; this world we've created for ourselves and its society is too superficial; everything is based on surface characteristics.
These are most likely the things that drove J.D. Salinger into his cozy Cornish cabin and kept him locked up away from us, the phonies who wanted him and his ideas for our own personal desires and gains. (Oh, JD didn't like or want fame)
Sources:
http://www.notablebiographies.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960265,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960265,00.html
I think JD's dislike of the phony world he lived in pushed him to choose seclusion. I mean, according to TIME, JD actually gave an interview once; to two high school girls, thinking that the story would only make it to the high school page of the paper. When the story appeared as a major article in the regular pages of the paper, JD was outraged, refused to give any more interviews, and completed his isolation from society. He also soon after the incident built a wall around his cabin.
One reason why CATintRYE was banned from so many places for so long is because it rejected "traditional American values." I think that that shows the rigidity of society of the time between when JD published CATintRYE and today. People weren't as accepting, but it was for trivial reasons. Catcher was disliked by the people whose ways of life and ideals were countered by the book. But that's such a petty thing to ban a book for; I think it's phony. I also believe that JD agrees with that viewpoint; this world we've created for ourselves and its society is too superficial; everything is based on surface characteristics.
These are most likely the things that drove J.D. Salinger into his cozy Cornish cabin and kept him locked up away from us, the phonies who wanted him and his ideas for our own personal desires and gains. (Oh, JD didn't like or want fame)
Sources:
http://www.notablebiographies.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960265,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960265,00.html
"Don't ever tell anybody anything."
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