To do this, she omits real consideration of Esme' and the fact that one of Salinger's best characters in one of his best stories manages to heal a psychologically wounded soldier, offers generous help to strangers and her brother, and survives orphanhood to find love and marry. The irony here is that Margaret Salinger may have written Dream Catcher in the impossible hope that like Esme', her strange offering could heal her father. As of this date though, he hasn't contacted her in over a year. One of the best sources Ms. Salinger taps is her aunt, Doris Salinger, who believes that the reason her brother hasn't published anything since 1965 is simply that he can't stand criticism. She laments the fact that she will die before seeing the book her brother has been working in all these years, as well as the fact that her own brother did not rush to her side when she had a heart attack because it would interfere with his work.
Few people are what they are on the page.
It's doubtful Christ could live up to his image, and it's clear that Salinger's fictional image as a man quite sensitive to young people and holiness had human problems. However, despite the sad insights to the truth of Salinger's failed fatherhood, it would be wrong to let his fiction fail as well, and that is part of the beauty of Dream Catcher . Margaret Salinger uses her research and literary analysis to enhance understanding of Salinger's fiction. Until the father's later writing is published though, readers can at least use his daughter's memoir to bring interesting biographical insights and new critical realities to the fiction of J.D. Salinger. Used with permission.