Assignment 25 Hannah Pauley

I've read many good books over the last year, but one that I found particularly interesting was JD Salinger's Franny and Zooey. Two of Salinger's novels, Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey, deal with the problems of intelligent but immature adolescents and young adults growing up in an environment that their personalities and mentalities cause them to reject. In Franny and Zooey, Franny struggles to relate to others because of the lifestyles those around her choose, and the way others choose to present themselves socially. As a result, she develops an overall disdain for her peers, her teachers, her college, and even her achievements in acting as she begins her crusade on vanity and ego. She remains unsatisfied as she burrows herself further and further into religion to find enlightenment and escape the life that she finds dull and unpromising. She has a series of tumultuous discussions with her brother, until finally he reveals a lesson he learned from their late older brother. The advice gives Franny a new appreciation for people and for the world around her. Franny realizes that her crisis is nothing more than a side effect of a spiteful attitude. Her outlook causes her to pass unfair judgement on those around her and prevents her from relating to others and living to the full extent of her potential. The story teaches a good lesson, that holding grudges and shutting people out only holds individuals back, and you should treat everyone with the same consideration and even servitude. Hate leads to self-involved thinking, and self-involved thinking leads to a life of unhappiness and turmoil.