“Most English students make one of two choices: Either they love Holden and go on to have intense, fleeting, and passionate careers in fields like English or...

“Most English students make one of two choices: Either they love Holden and go on to have intense, fleeting, and passionate careers in fields like English or…

  • kersploosh@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    15·
    1 month ago

    First time I read The Catcher in the Rye at 14 or 15: This kid is a whiny bitch. Wtf is his problem?

    Second time I read The Catcher in the Rye in my 20’s: Oh, this kid is battling depression and is getting zero support from anyone. I’m in this book and I don’t like it.

    • dxdydz@slrpnk.netEnglish
      9·
      1 month ago

      Fascinating. I read it at 14 and thought, “I get it, I feel this way too.”

      And reread it in my 20s and thought, “Geez, this kid is a whiny misanthrope. Wtf is Salinger’s problem?”

      • Wildmimic@anarchist.nexusEnglish
        4·
        1 month ago

        I read it at 15 and it felt like an revelation to me. The emotional disconnect between me and my surroundings got as real as it could get. Looks like it hits a lot harder when you got depression and a personality disorder.

        I haven’t reread it since, because i tend to have a very good memory with any visual media - it feels like wasting my time, and a little bit of fear of spoiling it.

    • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      1 month ago

      I think I felt that way reading it in 8th grade or whatever, but I didn’t have the wherewithal to understand why the book made me so uncomfortable.