Jerome Salinger's Journey Home

by Walter James Blumberg

Lucky me, born and raised in the 20th century, not having to fight a war and transitioning from childhood to adulthood with so little damage. Childhood is something special and is different from century to century and from place to place. It barely exists in some cultures, for the time to transition to adulthood is thrust upon some quickly. In other cultures, the luxury of an extended childhood exists. When you fall off the cliff into the adult world, it might be by choice or by necessity.

A twentieth century man hopefully experiencing the last of imposed adulthoods due to World War 2 only to be thrown back to an unfinished childhood wrote a book that definitively tells the 20th century version of this journey and all its universal complexities. The writer, J.D. Salinger's book "The Catcher in the Rye" is perhaps the greatest American book of the 20th century for the reasons I stated above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_xjVgV0N0&t=1s