Re: Cap's bad old days :)
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Tue, 23 Mar 1999 16:51:19 +1100
I guess what Holden is sensitive to is the essential phoniness of
possessions themselves - how they are not extensions of ourselves any more
than a bug on a leaf is an extension of a tree. How does the quote go?
Something like `If you're the woman with the Cartier watch and the Calvin
Klein jeans, if your house burns down you won't only lose your possessions,
you'll lose yourself.' Holden is wary of becoming such a person - this is
why he hides his suitcases; maybe even why he wears his hat back to front.
He doesn't want to be mastered by materialism, he wants to master his
materials.
> Camille, I enjoyed and supported your critique and think it does belong
on
> this list...Holden and his suticase incident for one thing, make me think
> Salinger was likely to understand wealth as part of our culture's
> vulgarity, and I think you are smart to know that there's more to the
> marketplace than merit...
>
> Ever read "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" by Alice Walker? Does
> anyone realize what art is lost to poverty...the next J.D. Salinger may
be
> on welfare and caring for three kids before she's twenty.
>
> will