Ramblings! (#1)

As a no-name student, I'm going to have to say that, at least in terms of the general public, Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is awfully misunderstood. A lot of kids read it in school because it's deemed one of the the first "teenage" novels, but a lot of people seem to read it and get nothing out of it but that Holden Caulfield is a whiny little brat that overreacts to everything and can never make up his mind. Yes, he whines, and yes, he is something of a brat, but to leave it at that is to ignore many more essential questions. Why is he a brat? How has he become so disillusioned with everything? 

John Green, (of, if you've been living under a rock, The Fault in Our Stars fame) in an online lecture on Catcher, says that for a much of the younger generations, books have become flash entertainment, a transcription of Hollywood movies, in which simple plot and character likability have become the sole determinants of a book's quality. It's worth a watch.

I think the fact that even a book that is literally all about the struggles of growing up is so unpopular with young people speaks to the depth of the aforementioned problem: a culture that only appreciates the readily obvious. 

Thankfully, there are quite a few things that will help. Changing the education system comes to mind. This is an important step, but before gleefully jumping into that machine-gun turret, we should probably remember that simply keeping an open mind is just as effective. It is inevitable that some things will not be for everyone. That's fine. But even when something is not of particular interest to you as a person, it's incredibly important to realize the significance it has. You might just learn something!