Catcher in the rye

In Chapter 22 of J D Salinger's celebrated (1951) novel The Catcher in the Rye, Phoebe Caulfield asks her sixteen-year-old brother Holden what he wants to   do with  his life. Holden responds with this image:

“Anyway, I keep picturing  all  these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.

Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. ”

Picture: Jon Hicks

Search Amazon.com for Catcher in the rye

Related articles by Zemanta

• Salinger copyright case appealed (news.bbc.co.uk)
• J.D. Salinger letter to Hemingway on public display for the first time (huffingtonpost.com)
• JFK Library to show Salinger letter to Hemingway (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The life you can save

Peter Singer: The Life You Can Save - Late Night Live - 4 February 2009

“Imagine you are on your way to work when you pass a pond where you see a young child drowning. There is no one else around but you are wearing new shoes which will be ruined if you wade in to save him, and the rescue will make you late for work. What should you do?

We don't hesitate to answer 'save the child!', but Peter Singer argues that when it comes to the plight of millions in the developing world we are all letting the child die. His new book is a call to action for individual responsibility in ending world poverty.”