Wednesday, March 4th American Literature Finish Watching The Great Gatsby Review for Test on Modernism and The Harlem Renaissance Quiz next class Check out The Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger Background Information Shy Guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf1h89f5KeM Read the first two chapters.

Test Review Modern Literature: “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway “If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso” by Gertrude Stein “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Elliot “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott Fitzgerald Harlem Renaissance: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston “The Heart of a Woman” by Georgia Douglas Johnson “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes “Harlem” by Langston Hughes “I, Too” by Langston Hughes “The Black Finger” by Angela Weld Grimke “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes “Dust Tracks on a Road” by Zora Neale Hurston This is everything we have read so far this semester. Know how at least one text exemplifies modern literature and how one text exemplifies the Harlem Renaissance.

Notes to study: American Modernism The Lost Generation The Jazz Age Disillusionment Hemingway’s Iceberg Theory The Harlem Renaissance Great Migration The notion of “twoness” Prose poetry Free Verse Stream of Consciousness Syntax Dramatic Monologue

Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger “Among other things, you’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You’re by no means alone on the score, you’ll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them—if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry. Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

J.D. Salinger Born in 1919 to a prosperous Manhattan family After flunking out of several prep schools, he eventually graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania in 1936 He studied briefly at Ursinas College, New York University, and Columbia University After taking a short story course at Columbia, Salinger began writing short fiction that appeared in a variety of publications including Collier’s, Saturday Evening Post, and The New Yorker

J.D. Salinger Salinger was drafted after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945, earning five battle stars. He fought during the Normandy Invasion and Battle of the Bulge. It was during this time he began writing Catcher in the Rye. He also suffered a nervous breakdown around this time. In addition to The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger is best known for three short story collections: Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zoey (1955), and Raise High the Roof Beams (1963) The mysterious Salinger lived in seclusion on 90 acres in Cornish, New Hampshire from the 1960s until his death in January 2010 Rumor has it that there are still five unpublished works written by Salinger.

The Catcher in the Rye Published in 1951 While many parents objected to the main character’s obscene language, erratic behavior, and antisocial attitudes (not to mention the presence of sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution in the novel), it became the “forbidden fruit” for many young readers, and was listed number one on The New York Times best-seller list and stayed at that position for thirty weeks With more than 60 million copies sold, it is one of the world’s top sellers

The Catcher in the Rye The book is the account of three disoriented days in the life of a troubled sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, after he is expelled from his Pennsylvania prep school, Pencey Prep.

Key Thematic Concepts Alienation and Loneliness Emerging Sexuality Difficulty of Becoming an Adult

Trivia The man who shot John Lennon, Mark David Chapman, was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye when he was arrested. He said Holden Caulfield represented the better part of his personality, while Satan represented the other part. John Hinckley, Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 was also an avid fan of the novel. There were numerous requests to create film versions of The Catcher in the Rye, but Salinger turned them all down. Some believe that the 2002 film, Igby Goes Down, is based on The Catcher in the Rye In Conspiracy Theory, Mel Gibson’s character is put on a watch list because he buys a copy of the book.

Catcher in the Rye & the 1950s

The classic American family Family roles were fairly traditional in Salinger’s day: Dad was the sole provider and the head of the household Mom was most often a homemaker – cooking, cleaning and taking care of her husband and kids

And the kids? Education was much less of a priority than it is today. If the kids finished high school, college was a relatively rare option. Getting a job and getting married straight out of high school were much more common. How does this compare to your plans?

What changed? After World War II ended (1945), the old-school family structure and roles started to change a bit Victorious war effort left the U.S. much more financially stable…people had money again! Woohoo! And what do people do when they have money?

Spend it! In the late 1940s/early 50s, there were two consumer products that helped to create our modern concept of the teenager: The television The automobile

Hmmmm… So, how would an increase in TV and car purchases change American families? And more specifically, how would these purchases impact teenagers? (insert brainstorm here)

TVs/Hollywood Advertising split Americans into demographics (men, women, old, young, teen, etc.) “Family time” changed Different shows appealed to different ages Attractive people – the pin-ups

1950s 2000s Marilyn Monroe Paris Hilton Tom Brady James Dean

2000s Justin Timberlake 1950s Elvis Presley

Cars More accessible + more affordable Detract from family Sense of freedom Images of “cool” Emergence of fast food Possibilities for drinking + sex

The new teenager So all in all, the 1950s saw the birth of “the modern teenagers,” as we think of them Holden Caulfield, the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye, is arguably the first modern teenager of literature.