Adolescent Remembrances

There are two novels that resonated with me when I was in junior high school, The Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace. While my friends were off learning about elves, dwarves and hobbits, I was imagining myself dealing with "serious" issues of identity, discovery and friendship. I also longed to go to prep school, so that I could experience Gene and Finny's world. I longed for the city (Washington, DC specifically), because I thought that I might see some of the things that Holden saw. It was clear that I wanted to leave my corner of Virginia behind. Alas, the idea of going off to prep school (I thought that I might have been a good fit for Woodberry Forest or Lawrenceville) was immediatly removed from the realm of possibility by my family (the schools in my town were rather good), and my dreams of the city would have to wait until I was an adult.