Catcher in the Rye  ¢â‚¬“ and Cruising

I ¢â‚¬â„¢m joining these two subjects  ¢â‚¬Ëœcos I ¢â‚¬â„¢m lazy at the moment, and if you ¢â‚¬â„¢re not interested in one you might be in the other…

J D Salinger ¢â‚¬â„¢s The Catcher in the Rye has been on College English Lit. reading lists for half a century, but even with a degree majoring in American Literature I managed to avoid it somehow. These days, in my pre-dotage years, I ¢â‚¬â„¢m catching up with some of these titles. And I must do some more thinking about this one  ¢â‚¬“ from Robert Burns ( ¢â‚¬ËœIf a body catch (meet?)   a body comin ¢â‚¬â„¢ through the rye ¢â‚¬â„¢)…

Holden Caulfield is a mixed-up kid of about 17, who has been sexually abused several  ¢â‚¬“ he says about 20 – times (his exaggerations  ¢â‚¬“  ¢â‚¬Ëœmillions ¢â‚¬â„¢ of this and that  ¢â‚¬“ make it difficult to get the hard facts sometimes), is emotionally immature, and has flunked his College exams  ¢â‚¬“ except for English. He can ¢â‚¬â„¢t bring himself to reveal to his parents that he ¢â‚¬â„¢s being expelled from school  ¢â‚¬“ which is the sub-text driving the whole narrative.

We learn on p. 90 that his parents had  ¢â‚¬Ëœdifferent religions, and all the children in our family are atheists ¢â‚¬â„¢. Now where does he go from there?  ¢â‚¬ËœIf you want to know the truth, I can ¢â‚¬â„¢t even stand ministers. The ones they had at every school I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve gone to, they have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving their sermons. God, I hate that. I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t see why the hell they can ¢â‚¬â„¢t talk in their natural voice. They sound so phony. ¢â‚¬â„¢ My calling is to counsel clergy, and this subject (the English call it the  ¢â‚¬Ëœwhining parson syndrome ¢â‚¬â„¢) comes up sometimes…

A few random quotes which got me thinking:

•  ¢â‚¬ËœAll you have to do is say something nobody understands and they ¢â‚¬â„¢ll do practically anything you want them to do ¢â‚¬â„¢
•  ¢â‚¬ËœShe [his younger sister] was laying there asleep [with her] mouth way open. It ¢â‚¬â„¢s funny. You take adults, they look lousy when they ¢â‚¬â„¢re asleep and they have their mouths way open, but kids don ¢â‚¬â„¢t. Kids look all right. They can even spit all over the pillow and they still look all right ¢â‚¬â„¢
•  ¢â‚¬ËœThe mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one ¢â‚¬â„¢…
•  ¢â‚¬ËœAn academic education, if you go along with it any considerable distance, will give you an idea what size mind you have… After a while you ¢â‚¬â„¢ll have an idea what kind of thoughts your particular size mind should be wearing… You ¢â‚¬â„¢ll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly ¢â‚¬â„¢

Those two sets of wise words from his favourite ex-teacher/mentor were all undone when he later woke to feel the man stroking his head while Holden was asleep, which  ¢â‚¬“ as he might say these days  ¢â‚¬“  ¢â‚¬Ëœfreaked him out ¢â‚¬â„¢.   He decided to get out of New York, hitch-hike westwards, and pretend he was a deaf-mute so he  ¢â‚¬Ëœwouldn ¢â‚¬â„¢t have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody ¢â‚¬â„¢ (which an intervention by his younger sister prevented…).

• Final quote, for now, from the last three lines:  ¢â‚¬ËœIt ¢â‚¬â„¢s funny. Don ¢â‚¬â„¢t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody ¢â‚¬â„¢

It ¢â‚¬â„¢s a dark, sad, ugly, insightful, coarse, sometimes brutal story, which College students who can ¢â‚¬â„¢t/won ¢â‚¬â„¢t live up to their parents ¢â‚¬â„¢ expectations will identify with. I flunked two years at University (except for geography) so I identified with some of the angst here.   I must search for a few essays on the book online… It ¢â‚¬â„¢s a very good read…

~~~

Now, how does all that connect with cruising? Good question, thanks for asking.

I ¢â‚¬â„¢m on the  ¢â‚¬ËœPrincess Dawn ¢â‚¬â„¢ with about 2000 other  ¢â‚¬“ mostly elderly  ¢â‚¬“ passengers, somewhere in the middle of the Tasman Sea en route to New Zealand. Jan and I were looking forward to this fortnight, but her two pastoral colleagues at our church are not around: one resigned to accept a call elsewhere, the other went to hospital for some surgery. So  ¢â‚¬“ conscientious pastor that she is  ¢â‚¬“ Jan decided she ought to forfeit this luxury (and $1000). She takes her pastoring very seriously, and I reckon she does it very well.

So here I am, enjoying some aspects of my solitude, but seeing other lovers walking hand in hand is hard, and even though I do a fair bit of travelling, I always miss the love of my life when we ¢â‚¬â„¢re absent from each other.

Cruising by ship is, I reckon, the most cost-effective way to have a decent holiday. You unpack only once, unless you have to change rooms for some reason or get an upgrade. I ¢â‚¬â„¢m enjoying the best food and dining service I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve ever experienced. I walk 5-10 kms a day around Deck 7 listening on my Galaxy mobile to interesting speakers. I have four or five meaningful conversations a day  ¢â‚¬“ but not at meals, where I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve arranged to sit alone and read/write. (Forgive me, but I ¢â‚¬â„¢m frankly not interested in silly to-ing and fro-ing punctuated by such profundities as  ¢â‚¬ËœThat reminds me of my second cousin who… ¢â‚¬â„¢ and I ¢â‚¬â„¢m supposed to be on a semi-silent retreat anyway). I can hide from schmaltzy musak by sitting out on the deck watching the sea  ¢â‚¬“ and sea-birds (how come those little guys are 500 kms from land?). The resident experts offer some interesting lectures (eg. two talks with brilliant ppts summarizing the last 500 years of Western art!). And I can ¢â‚¬â„¢t wait to see snow-capped mountains tomorrow at the famous Fjordland National Park…

Oh… and I have half a dozen serious books to read about how clergy can avoid the whining parson syndrome and other hazards of pastoral ministry.

Rowland Croucher
October 21, 2011.