J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [12]
“The Skipped Diploma” was certainly nothing approaching literature, but nevertheless was his first writing in public print and is still read by admirers—although often with a combination of disappointment and forgiveness. If there is anything in “The Skipped Diploma” that remotely connects with Salinger’s own situation, or at least with his decision to attend Ursinus, it is contained in one of his first commentaries, entitled “Story” and dated October 10, 1938: “Once there was a young man who was tired of trying to grow a moustache. This same young man did not want to go to work for his Daddykin—or any other unreasonable man. So the young man went back to college.”
Willing to work for “Daddykin” or not, Salinger remained at Ursinus for only one semester before returning home to New York. Although his grades at Ursinus were not good, he enjoyed the experience immensely and spoke highly of the college and his time there. However, he had found a definite direction in his life: the desire to become a professional writer. It was a decision that required confidence and conviction and one that would also require support from others.
After leaving Ursinus, Salinger did not seek parental approval for the path he had decided to take. Instead, he simply announced his intention to become a writer, presenting them with a fait accompli. His mother, of course, supported him fully, but Sol was less enthusiastic. In 1938, the United States was barely crawling out of the Great Depression. Sol had spent the past nine years successfully protecting his family from the poverty and desperation that surrounded them. He had watched brilliant businessmen crumble under the uncertainty of those years and knew that life offered no guarantees. To Sol, Sonny’s decision seemed foolhardy and dangerous. If a rift existed between father and son, it certainly grew wider now. Later in life, Salinger would still find it difficult to forgive his father for what he perceived to be his lack of vision and confidence.
Salinger found support from a source more objective than his parents. At Valley Forge, he had befriended an older cadet from Staten Island named William Faison. About the time of Salinger’s graduation, Faison introduced him to his older sister, Elizabeth Murray, who had recently returned from living in Scotland with her husband and ten-year-old daughter. Aged about thirty, refined, well educated, and much traveled, Murray delighted Salinger, who soon grew to respect her opinion above all others. In turn, Elizabeth supported Jerry completely. In 1938, they became frequent companions, spending long nights in the restaurants and cafés of Greenwich Village, where they discussed literature and Salinger’s ambitions. He read his stories to her, and she offered suggestions. On Elizabeth’s advice, Salinger began to read the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He found in Fitzgerald not only an author to emulate but also a kindred soul. Elizabeth Murray entered Salinger’s life when he most needed encouragement, and he owed her a massive debt of gratitude. They would remain friends and confidants for years to come. As 1938 came to a close, Salinger had made the firm decision to become a professional writer. As a compromise with his parents, only one of whom supported his ambition, he agreed to go back to school yet again, to study writing.
*Almost a century after its founding, Camp Wigwam is still in operation, practically unchanged from the time that Salinger enrolled there. It still sports the same infirmary where Seymour Glass developed a crush on a nurse in “Hapworth 16, 1924.” It also continues the policy of “spending money” from home that Holden Caulfield so bitterly complained of in “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls.”
*In the spring of 1936, Salinger’s conformity to both the ethos and the curriculum of the academy was rewarded