| Despite what marketers would have you believe, | | | | both fence. |
| angst is not just a gelled, chiseled, perfectly | | | | The major point of divergence comes when |
| unkempt product of the Twilight phenomenon. | | | | Hamlet subliminates his quiet rage through the |
| Holden Caulfield is king of twentieth-century angst, | | | | death of his uncle... not to mention his mom, his |
| and he was kicking around with a buzz cut back in | | | | girlfriend, his girlfriend's brother, his girlfriend's |
| the 1950's. Søren Kierkegaard set the | | | | father, his two closest friends, and himself. |
| philosophical bar for angst in the nineteenth | | | | Compare that to The Catcher in the Rye, which |
| century and managed to do so while wearing a | | | | ends with Holden apparently having been |
| top hat. And who can forget Prince Hamlet, the | | | | committed to a mental institution with all his |
| skull-carrying, pantaloon-wearing original angst-er | | | | frustrations alive and kicking hard. |
| of the European canon? | | | | If we take into consideration the fact that the |
| Kierkegaard, of course, looked at angst from a | | | | prince of Denmark is just a few rungs below, you |
| strictly Western, Christian viewpoint, but literary | | | | know, Most Powerful Guy in the Country - at a |
| figures like Holden and Hamlet have a much more | | | | time when swordfighting and poisoning are still |
| universal register. (That is, unless you're tired of all | | | | considered fairly run-of-the-mill - the apparent |
| the agonizing and hesitancy, in which case you | | | | audacity of his act diminishes, especially |
| should go read To Kill a Mockingbird for some of | | | | considering it takes all five acts of Hamlet for him |
| Scout's shoot-first-ask-questions-later wisdom.) In | | | | to even work up the nerve to do it. Holden, on |
| fact, despite the potential language barrier (Hamlet: | | | | the other hand, doesn't hesitate to attack his |
| "what / is this quintessence of dust? Man delights | | | | macho jerk of a roommate "right smack in the |
| not me"; Holden: "That guy Morrow was about as | | | | toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat |
| sensitive as a goddam toilet seat") the two have | | | | open." Even though the attack fails, this is pretty |
| a remarkable amount in common. | | | | bold for a 17-year old prep school kid living during |
| Both Hamlet and Holden are privileged, lovesick | | | | the era in US history that coined the term |
| young men scarred by the death of a family | | | | "cooties." |
| member. As a result of their mute suffering, they | | | | Holden's fighting spirit evaporates over the course |
| feel - and make a point of becoming - alienated | | | | of the novel, however, and after losing his second |
| from their respective communities. (Which is no | | | | fight, he imagines he's a gangster with a bullet in |
| big loss, considering that they both think the world | | | | his belly and his best girl at his side. "The goddam |
| is full of hypocrites and imposters.) Lashing out | | | | movies," he laments. "They can ruin you." And |
| through passive aggression, Holden and Hamlet lie | | | | perhaps he's right, considering that our modern, |
| to / generally screw with people until their sanity | | | | civilized notion of catharsis usually involves renting |
| becomes a matter of debate. And if that isn't | | | | movies and letting the scenarios wash over you. |
| enough to convince you of their oddly parallel | | | | Maybe Twilight's onto something after all. |
| lives, just bear in mind the fact that they can | | | | |