J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger died on Wednesday. He was 91 years old and living in seclusion. Salinger was one of my many heroes. He was somehow able to write the one novel that captured the workings of the teenage mind. He produced a piece of art that portrayed our souls. Some would disagree. Their opinions in this case, however, don't matter because those are the people who had happy teenage years. J.D. Salinger showed the world what goes on in the mind of your typical dark and twisty angry teenager. This is incredibly important because the typical dark and twisty angry teenager knows not how to express him or herself which is usually why they are dark and twisty and angry in the first place. Yes, J.D. Salinger did the impossible, and now he is dead. And he never had a chance to sign my copy of his book.
This is not the only reason he is one of my many heroes. Not only did he write the impossible novel, he refused to sell out. He could have gone off and made his book into a movie and made bank off of it, he had plenty of offers. But he didn't. Because he understood that selling out would ruin the integrity of the book and insult the integrity of literature itself. We do not write novels in order to turn a profit (although we hope for the best) we simply write novels in order to inspire someone, to get a message or deeper meaning across, to express what others cannot. So thank you J.D. Salinger for showing the world what it means to be a writer. You will be missed.