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I don't like it when people say that things are "overrated", this word is loaded, it suggests that the popularity of a book says something about its worth when it says absolutely nothing. There are plenty of really popular books which are amazing. For example 50% of the people from the west who learn Russian are learning it to read Dostoevsky.
The fact that a lot of people like the book does not mean that suddenly the book has to contain the meaning of life. It is what it is.
But isn't it terribly normal for a teenager to feel like that? I mean if you think of his teacher quoting Stekel and trying to pass it off as his own, he did that to try and seduce Holden, and the quote he chose spoke somehow put an interpretation on the whole book. "The mark of an immature man" Holden is very flawed but we are all obsessed with youth even though it's green and awkward and overly dramatic and self-absorbed and generally unpleasant to live through or to be around.
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Jul 26, 2012 03:41AM
I come from a country with English as our second language, and had to read it in "high school". It was very hard to follow because of the not so modern English and the lack of plot. I guess it wouldn't be that hard if English where my first language, and maybe I had enjoyed it more. One good thing is how much we evolved trough out the book, learned so much. So I hope they keep forcing the book on the students still..
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I don't like it when people say that things are "overrated", this word is loaded, it suggests that the popularity of a book says something about its worth when it says absolutely nothing. There are plenty of really popular books which are amazing. For example 50% of the people from the west who learn Russian are learning it to read Dostoevsky. The fact that a lot of people like the book does not mean that suddenly the book has to contain the meaning of life. It is what it is.
But isn't it terribly normal for a teenager to feel like that? I mean if you think of his teacher quoting Stekel and trying to pass it off as his own, he did that to try and seduce Holden, and the quote he chose spoke somehow put an interpretation on the whole book. "The mark of an immature man" Holden is very flawed but we are all obsessed with youth even though it's green and awkward and overly dramatic and self-absorbed and generally unpleasant to live through or to be around.
