J.D. Salinger 2
Jerome David Salinger, known as J.D., is an American short story writer and novelist. He was born on January 1, 1919 and is still alive at the age of 81. J.D. Salinger was born and raised in Manhattan. He went to prep school at Valley Forge Military Academy from 1934-1936. He spent 5 months in Europe when he was 18 or 19 years old. Then, in 1937 and 1938 he studied at Ursinus College and New York University. From 1939 to 1942, he went to Columbia University where he decided to become a writer. Salinger published short story collections and one novel. His best known work, The Catcher in the Rye, was published in 1951. The short stories he wrote were "Nine Stories" in 1953, "Franny and Zooey" in 1961, "Raise High the Roofbeams, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction" in 1963, "Young Folk" in 1940 and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in 1948. Many critics have considered J.D. Salinger a very controversial writer because of the subject matters he wrote about. For example Salinger wrote about religion, intellectuals, emotional struggles of adolescents, loneliness and symbolism (Jones). Some critics feel his writing was inappropriate because of the topics he wrote about. The main characters were considered misfits of so
Green, Becky S. Biographical Sketch. Pennsylvania University. 7 February 2000. French, Warren. J.D. Salinger. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc, 1963. Salinger also shows a quest for happiness through loneliness. He isolates his characters from society. This is also a controversial point for critics. Keeping his characters isolated helps to keep them away from evil. Salinger looks at society as a bad thing. He keeps his characters away from it because he thinks that is the only way to achieve happiness. The entire plot of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, revolves around this. The main character, Holden Caufield, is isolated from society. Salinger uses society as a bad and evil thing. It is something that Salinger feels his character should be kept away from. Eventually this main character ends up totally alone at the end of the novel -in isolation. He finds happiness through this isolation. According to Salinger, it is this isolation that brings happiness to his character. This misfit character needs to be isolated from a society that looks at him in a strange way. Salinger uses loneliness as a way to change his life (Foskett). Salinger is able to use loneliness as a way to change the life of Seymour Glass in a short story "Raise the Roof Beam High." Seymour sees society as corrupt and has a need to change his lifestyle to become happy. There is no compassion for people in society and he feels he must change it. In order for him to do that he must first isolate himself from that society. Salinger uses this loneliness theme to make his characters change their lifestyles. This loneliness theme benefits the characters because they attain happiness by living their own lives (Green). In "Franny and Zooey," Franny and Zooey Glass are an example of Salinger's misfit characters of the 60s. They are brother and sister who are super-intelligent freaks and cannot deal with society or reality. The controversy comes when they must chose between Salinger's two worlds - the real or phony. Their older brothers teach them Zen Buddhism and many other religions and philosophies. Salinger uses this religious theme with these two characters to show how they have to deal with the
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JD Salinger, Noble Truths, JD Salinger's, Soft-Boiled Sergeant, Catcher Rye, Louis Taggett, Beam Seymour, Zen Buddhism, War II, Zooey Glass, jd salinger, salinger symbolism, bad situation, february 2000, franny zooey, happiness religion, example salinger, short story, catcher rye, louis taggett, funk wagnall's encyclopedia, wagnall's encyclopedia 1986, 7 february 2000, religion loneliness symbolism, loneliness change life,
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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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