Meredith, I'm so glad you passed your driver's test...I'll bet your car is banana colored, right? Anyway, a good article for your thesis is "The Language Of The Catcher In The Rye" by Donald P. Costello (whose name must rhyme with jello for some good reason, eh?) will ps I was in saratoga springs on Friday-what a lovely town--I found hardbacks of 9 stories, catcher and F&Z at a wonderful book store with tons of old books..I think it was called lyrical ballads or something...