Subject: Re: George Will on Holden
From: Will Hochman (hochman@southernct.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 02 2001 - 23:41:44 GMT
I'm not surprised at George Will's take on Holden Caulfield.
Generally, Will is conservative and enjoys being an old-fashioned
critic too much not to make Holden an easy target. Will seems to
think Holden affect youth in all the wrong ways, but in another
editorial he will one day write about how young people don't read and
will be too blind to see how Catcher catches a lot of young people
and helps them become readers. Instead of seeing Holden's complaints
as important social criticism (which literally millions of readers
have experienced and understood as valid) Will prefers to call it
whining. First of all, understanding the complaints of people with
insight is not easy and it's simpler to call it whining, and
secondly, Will is twisting what Holden is about to attack Will's
usual targets. I simply don't think this opinion piece is very well
done and read it more as George Will cranking out his usual position
and targeting Holden because the character is very popular and
because George Will knows that Holden can't fight back. I like
George Will's observations about baseball, but as a social
commentator he's stuffy and in this case, lacking real insight. will
-- Will Hochman Assistant Professor of English & Composition Co-Coordinator Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515 203 392 5024 http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html
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