Will Jason grow up to be Holden?

When Mr Mitchell put up that blog about whether The Catcher in the Rye should be replaced with Black Swan Green, it struck home with something I had been thinking about recently. I have been thinking a lot about BSG lately (in large part because I am doing my semester project on) and also about Catcher (I am doing the revision on a Catcher paper) and the difference between Holden and Jason. I realize this is kind of a cop out answer to the question of should one be taught in place of the other, but I think they work really well together. The reason I say this is because I think they work at two different stages in development, and I could easily see Jason Taylor growing up into Holden Caulfield.

One example is in their comfort with their own physical bodies. Jason has a stutter that he can't help, and because it is weird and unusual he is ashamed of it and tries to hide it. One of his greatest fears is that it will be discovered. Holden also has an unusual physical trait, a patch of grey hair. But instead of being ashamed and self-conscious about it, Holden owns it and brags about it. He voluntarily shows it to people like his classmate's mother on the train. To me, this is the sign of an older character and a more developed one. I could see Jason in three or four years totally owning the stutter and being comfortable with it.

Another way we could measure this is in their comfort with girls. At the beginning of the novel, Jason is very awkward around girls and doesn't know how to act around Dawn Madden. Later in the book, however, Jason is able to deal surprisingly well with the situation with Holly Deblin, and we can see him grow increasingly more comfortable and confident around girls. Holden seems to be comfortable and describes himself as being "seductive as hell" at one point when he is with Sally Hayes. This is another instance where Holden seems older than Jason, but someone whom Jason might become.

But probably the most important instance we see this is in how they treat the mainstream culture. Both are outsiders to the mainstream culture at first, but they respond very differently to it. Jason tries to conform to the culture, by acting "hard"and trying to become a spook. He accepts the culture as correct and finds fault in himself for not being able to fit in. In contrast, Holden confidently condemns the mainstream culture. He acts like there is nothing wrong with him, that the reason he can't fit in is the culture's fault, not his. While Holden's reluctance to share blame is not necessarily a good thing, his willingness to criticize others and believe in himself seems the trait of an older kid; Jason just does not have the experiences yet (or at least, at the beginning of the novel) to be able to confidently criticize the rest of the world. I could easily see Jason developing this, though, and I think we do see him start to develop this by the end of the book. I guess I would say this has been true of myself as I have grown older. I have become more comfortable with being an outsider to certain parts of culture, willing to believe more strongly in my own convictions rather than think there is something wrong with me.

So I did not really answer the question of which would be better to teach to kids nowadays, because I don't think one is simply a better version of the other. They are portraying different periods of development and are very different books. I identified very strongly with both of them, in different ways. Holden appealed very strongly to who I am now and Jason appealed more strongly to my memories of a few years ago, but Jason also appeals to who I am now and Holden would have appealed to me years ago as well. I hope teachers will be able to teach both of the books and not have to choose between the two.