Salinger's only creation is the first book in English I read, studied and analysed in depth. It has opened a new horizon for me and taught me to experience literature in a whole new perspective.
It was 1997 and I was back in Mr McNamara's literature class trying to literally understand the words Salinger put into sentences. My English was rudimentary, and I was clueless at what I was supposed to do. The Catcher in the Rye was one of the two books we studied that term (the other was Sophecles' "Antigone", which will always rhymes with "agony" in my head). I set a goal of finishing at least 30 pages full of new words, mainly American teenage slangs, per day and got up from 5:30am to work the dictionary (yes, the big book with black prints in them, at the time Lac Viet and the likes were foreign to me). Then I spent my one hour lunchtime everyday in Mrs Lee's tutorial where she helped the English challenged students understand main plot of the book and where I learnt that "dough" means "money" admist mixed smell of lunch boxes.
Language barrier aside, I had difficulties approaching the novel. I had always been a good student in literature in schools in Vietnam and I was well read. But I lacked the analytic skills and the cultural bacground to understand the themes and the motifs of the novel. Mr McNamara came and with his lectures changed the way I read forever.
The Catcher in the Rye was Mr McNamana's favorite book (in fact our reading list was consisted entirely of his favorites, which was dark and serious, but I'll come back to that in another post). It was he who told us about the serious public implication of this book. John Lennon's muderer was under the influence of The Catcher in the Rye when he shot the famous star. He wanted to save John's innocence, he wanted to be the catcher in the rye for John. No need to mention that after hearing the story, I got all the more interested in the book and determined to decode it.
I chose the topic "Sometimes in life one has to struggle" for the term paper and used Holden Caufield as an example of self struggle. The essay was too long I didn't have time to finish the conclusion. I got 100% for it nevertheless and our tutor, the beautiful Kathleen, copied it for my group for reference. But what I was happiest about was that I have discovered a whole new world of new ideas, new perspectives, new points of view. I've discovered what literature's review and interpretation truly is about, "the way our world was, is and will be presented", not as a means of propaganda. I approach books now not only with feelings but also with an analytical eyes, trying to read between the lines, and see novels in terms of themes, motifs and characters, trying to see the message the authors keep hidden underneath. I've discovered what interpretation really means. I will always credit this happiness to Mr. McNamara.
It was 1997 and I was back in Mr McNamara's literature class trying to literally understand the words Salinger put into sentences. My English was rudimentary, and I was clueless at what I was supposed to do. The Catcher in the Rye was one of the two books we studied that term (the other was Sophecles' "Antigone", which will always rhymes with "agony" in my head). I set a goal of finishing at least 30 pages full of new words, mainly American teenage slangs, per day and got up from 5:30am to work the dictionary (yes, the big book with black prints in them, at the time Lac Viet and the likes were foreign to me). Then I spent my one hour lunchtime everyday in Mrs Lee's tutorial where she helped the English challenged students understand main plot of the book and where I learnt that "dough" means "money" admist mixed smell of lunch boxes.
Language barrier aside, I had difficulties approaching the novel. I had always been a good student in literature in schools in Vietnam and I was well read. But I lacked the analytic skills and the cultural bacground to understand the themes and the motifs of the novel. Mr McNamara came and with his lectures changed the way I read forever.
The Catcher in the Rye was Mr McNamana's favorite book (in fact our reading list was consisted entirely of his favorites, which was dark and serious, but I'll come back to that in another post). It was he who told us about the serious public implication of this book. John Lennon's muderer was under the influence of The Catcher in the Rye when he shot the famous star. He wanted to save John's innocence, he wanted to be the catcher in the rye for John. No need to mention that after hearing the story, I got all the more interested in the book and determined to decode it.
I chose the topic "Sometimes in life one has to struggle" for the term paper and used Holden Caufield as an example of self struggle. The essay was too long I didn't have time to finish the conclusion. I got 100% for it nevertheless and our tutor, the beautiful Kathleen, copied it for my group for reference. But what I was happiest about was that I have discovered a whole new world of new ideas, new perspectives, new points of view. I've discovered what literature's review and interpretation truly is about, "the way our world was, is and will be presented", not as a means of propaganda. I approach books now not only with feelings but also with an analytical eyes, trying to read between the lines, and see novels in terms of themes, motifs and characters, trying to see the message the authors keep hidden underneath. I've discovered what interpretation really means. I will always credit this happiness to Mr. McNamara.
