J.D. Salinger: His Own Character?

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We might remember Jerome David Salinger as a man no one really knew. However, we may very well know more about him than we realize. To understand Salinger, we must not search, or invade the privacy he once so treasured, but take what’s right in front of us, and add it up. Looking back at Salinger’s past, we find many answers; but, what is the question? Well, there’s a question I’m here to answer, and that is: What in JD’s life led to how he wrote, what he wrote, and why he was oh-so-reclusive?

Born New Year’s Day, 1919, to the Jewish Solomon Salinger, and his Christian mother, Marie-eventually changed to Miriam, to better fit in with her husband’s side of the family-Jillich. With that, it’s safe to say that even as early as his conception, Jerome already had an identity crisis high-tailing him. As Salinger grew, this mixed religious background caused him to question his own social identity, and to be keenly aware of social divisions and prejudices; considering this, a thought may cross that instantly reminds some of J.D.’s famous literary character, Holden Caulfield, whom readily called out many “phonies”, and claimed to know a lot about anyone he encountered. Not only this, but Mr. Salinger also spent a few of his school years as a prep school student; the same can be said for Holden Caulfield. Keeping that thought in mind, Salinger had a great deal of difficulty with getting along in both public, and prep schools, still reminding us of the critical part of The Catcher in the Rye’s plot: Holden getting expelled, and more-so, mentioning how consistently irritating his roommate, and dorm-neighbors were. Still in similarity to Holden, Mr. Salinger was born to an upper-class family in New York City, as well. Both Mr. Salinger ...

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...at I believe about Mr. Salinger, but in the end, all it really comes down to is what you’ve learned from this, and how your opinion has formed. Just try and keep in mind that maybe, just maybe, Jerome David Salinger wrote what he wrote, was what he was, and lived how he lived, all because of his past, and how, all in all, God knew it would amount to nothing terrible, at all.

Works Cited

Author Unknown, (2010, January 28th) J.D. Salinger. The New York Times

Retrieved from: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/j_d_salinger/index.html

Hochman, Will (2000, September 28th) Dream Catcher: A Memoir. New York: Washington Square Press

Retrieved from: http://wac.colostate.edu/aw/reviews/salinger_2000.htm

Entertainment Weekly, Feb 12, 2010 i1089-1090 p28

“J.D. Salinger.” American Decades. Gale Research, 1998.

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