The Catcher in the Rye

[여국현]

한 문장 한 문장을 빼놓지 않고 읽었다. 리테에서 처음 시도 한 일. 스킵 없이 모드 읽기. 그럴 만한 일이었는지는 차치하고 나름대로 새로운 시도. 그때나 지금이나 아웃사이더의 자리는 좁다. 피비 같은 아이들이 호밀밭을 넘어 어른들의 세계로 떨어지지 않게 지키려는 홀덴의 다짐은 갸륵하나 그 혼자 지키기에 밭은 너무 넓고 절벽은 사방에서 예고 없이 달려들지 않는가. 무엇보다 홀덴 자신이 스스로 넘어진 지금 제대로 일어나 걸어갈 수 있을까?

어둠 속 피비와 대화, 안톨리니 선생의 모호성과 함께 [젊은 예술가의 초상]의 장면이 떠오르다가 내가 책을 읽으며 어느쪽으로 조금 더 경도될 때가 있는가를 생각하게도 했던 책.

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How would you know you weren’t being a phony? The trouble is you wouldn’t." 

Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.’ ‘Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.’ Game my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right - I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s the game about it? Nothing. No game.”

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be."

"I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy."

"How would you know you weren’t being a phony? The trouble is you wouldn’t." 
"That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful,because there isn’t any."