Book Facts -- Angst, Bildungsroman, Banned

Utterly fascinating: Kierkegaard believed that from the freedom given to mankind, man is in constant fear of failing in his responsibilities to God, producing a strong sensation of angst. But God wouldn't want deep-rooted spiritual conditions of insecurity and despair. There is nothing to fear; angst is an illusion! So is ennui or boredom, when the mind if fully engaged. Shame, according to John Bradshaw, is an "emotion that lets us know we are finite". Wrong! It's an emotion that conceals and denies our capacity. Shaming destroys dignity, it condemns potential. We can ameliorate any limitations by immmediately absolving ourself from self-induced or external shame. Anthropologists say that shame is violation of cultural values, while guilt is violation of internal rules. Both are unsatisfactory, invalid emotions, but knowing their origins can help pinpoint the origin of those false emotions.

While Holden Caulfield operates as the main character in the bildungsroman (a novel about spiritual growth), it's ironic that he resists maturity, condemning adulthood for its phoniness, superficiality, and hypocrisy. Additionally, this is the ultimate novel to witness the Eriksonian stage of growth "Isolation vs. Intimacy" as Holden is drawn to Sally Hayes, but then pushes her away out of need for isolation. After being the ultimate Holden Caulfield, I understand this book and can attest that there is some veracity in his claims.

Yet there is a rich dichotomy to be divulged regarding the Holden Caulfield to "Phlegmatic adult" spectrum -- neither extreme is desirable. Seizing and connecting with the childhood curiosity and honesty is incommensurately important, but Holden's discrepancies -- over-adherence to isolation and loneliness and reluctance and sexual immaturity -- to that should be discarded, but one certainly shouldn't flip to the other extreme -- a phlegmatic, stodgy hypocritical adult. The message of Catcher in the Rye is not to ridicule both ends of the spectrum. Rather, hypocritical, stodgy elements of adulthood should be harshly criticized and abandoned, and the general milieu of Holden should be embraced, but after dissecting out the intimacy vs. isolation problem and completely discarding notions of irrational fear, angst, and boredom

We must hold fast to the originality, the creativity, and the reality of our childhood throughout adulthood or the plunge down the slippery slope of hypocrisy and superficiality is inevitable. The contradictions lie in how "sex" is an adult (unless you're a member of the twisted Children of God cult), usually an adult concept and act, is a fascination to Holden. Obviously, lying is a form of phoniness, so the them is not resistance to adulthood, nor preservation of childhood, but cultivation of the childhood voice throughout life. Youth, to Holden, is thriving in the honest, curiosity of the great field of rye. Holden's goal -- to avoid the death plunge over the cliff into adulthood -- is right on, but his method should infuse love instead of cynicism. Holden, like myself and a few other inspirationalists out there, devote our time to guarding the death-cliff from the lucid field of rye.

The "safety cameras" put up all around Chicago, combined with the city's feeling of bleakness at times, totally reminds me of Orwellian Big Brother. LA doesn't have any of that; it's rich, from the source, and just pervasively safe, infused with great colors and energy.

Interesting that the number one factor in banning a book (atleast in the 90s decade) is sexual explicitness. 1,607 were challenges to “sexually explicit” material; 1,427 to material considered to use “offensive language”; and 1,256 to material considered “unsuited to age group” (http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/challengedbanned/challengedbanned.htm#mfcb). This is the ALA's Top Ten List of Banned books:
* “It's Perfectly Normal” for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;
* “Forever” by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
* “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
* “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
* “Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
* “Detour for Emmy” by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
* “What My Mother Doesn't Know” by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
* Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
* “Crazy Lady!” by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
* “It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families” by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

I can see where people are coming from; you shouldn't plug a readership into unsuitable age material.