Primary Reading: Catcher in the Rye.
Secondary Reading: Donald M. Fiene’s article “J. D. Salinger Links to an external site.” in EBSCO. You may need to sign in. If so, use username and password I have provided. Then enter this link: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=103331DWT11770270000268&site=ehost-live&scope=site, Links to an external site.If you cannot access this article, you may use this one: O’Connor on Salinger. Please note that I have provided a citation in MLA format that you can copy and paste.
Critical Secondary Reading: One original professional research source. See “Notes” link above for full explanation.This must be a source found using EBSCO–not an anonymous source or an encyclopedic source. Actually use this source to provide added interpretation of one of the primary reading. Quote, summarize, and paraphrase. Respond critically to the writer’s ideas.
Supplementary reading. Notes on Research, Citation, Formatting, and Lesson Requirement. Do NOT refer to this source in your lesson.
Writing assignment (3-page minimum): Write a minimum of 1.5 pages on each of the following topics. Use all assigned sources thoroughly.
1. J. D. Salinger was in the first wave of soldiers landing on Normandy Beach in WWII; and though not a combat soldier, he lived through some of the bloodiest and deadliest fighting in the European Theater. He spent time in the hospital after the war with what we would today call PTSD–a condition from which he seems to have suffered for the rest of his life. He carried Holden Caulfield with him everywhere he went, working even in foxholes on the manuscriipt that would become The Catcher in the Rye. Biographers Shields and Salerno argue that this novel was actually the war novel Salinger said no one would ever be honest enough to write. Apparently, they saw the 16-year-old Caulfield as someone suffering from a kind PTSD, perhaps exposed to too much of some poisonous aspect of life. Write about two specific incidents that you believe have somehow wounded Caulfield, and explore how these incidents have shaped Caulfield’s character.
2. The title comes from Holden’s idea that he is in a field of rye where there are multitudes of playing children who are in danger of falling off the cliff and he, wearing his catcher’s mitt, is the only person capable of saving them. Write about at least two specific characters that Holden feels a need to save, making an assertion about what you think lies at the base of this impulse.
