The Issue: Smoking

The issue of smoking has appeared in the book. Every character smokes. The mother, the son, the daughter, the boyfriend. It's very strange how accepted it is. In the restaurant it was polite for Lane to light Franny's cigarette and normal for them to smoke 5 or 6 in one sitting. When Zooey was in the bath tub he went through almost an entire pack. Bessie, while talking to Zooey in the bathroom, smokes alot. Almost every time there's a subject change she has a new cigarette. The way they smoke is very different from smoking today. It's sort of taboo.... people hide the habit these days. When my mother smokes (once of year) she tries to hide it going out late. Society forces people to. It's cool that society has the power to do so but, also frightening.

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

I'm reading Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger because it was the only book close to those on my list in my house that I could find and Clark a Paideia English teacher had his class reading it during short term. One of my best friends Charlotte Cloyd is his daughter and is taking his class. Wouldn't it be strange to have your father as your teacher?
Anyhow I finished Franny and am a quarter of the way through Zooey. So, 109 pages to be exact. In one day I'm very proud to say. Bet your not proud to hear that either oh well. Ahhh another strange fact, as I was reading Franny and Zooey, Mr. Skillman unknowingly sat next to me in Dancing Goats coffee shop. I didn't have him as a lit teacher but the rest of your first period class did I had Zimbardo... Um back to J.D. Salinger, I am enjoying his writing a lot. The story Franny made sense in a "got on the wrong subway in New York then sat next a mariachi band" kind of way. Strange right? It was refreshing in it's length of 43 pages. Very short, as that train ride was. There were tons of intricate plot details like; the perspiration on her forehead, what she did in the bathroom stall, or who she looked at before she fainted. On the other hand Zooey is fascinating too. Salinger spends 60 plus pages with Zooey in the bathtub. It seems ridiculous but he manages to make it entertaining. I hadn't even realized I had read so many pages in which nothing ever happened. No that's a lie, stuff happened, lots of stuff. Bessie, the mother and Zooey, the son talked about the family and all the problems. They have many problems. One son committed suicide and, another is a hermit, while the daughter is going through a mental meltdown. The daughter is Franny. Salinger connected the two stories, Franny is back from visiting Lane and she is also going through major religious issues. That's as far as I got but anyways, its very good. Thank you for suggesting the author.
Oh right, I forgot to mention this; in the beginning Franny's letter is a perfect example of what we are studying in drama. The contrast of feelings and emotions all shown in one piece monologues. I'm sorry there is so much random stuff in this post it has been a dreadful day.