james castle

salinger'ın başyapıtı olan çavdar tarlasında çocuklar kitabında sadece birkaç paragrafta adı geçen, ona rağmen hafızalardan silinmeyen bir kitap karakteri. hikayesi :

…and this boy i knew at elkton hills. there was this one boy at elkton hills, named james castle, that wouldn’t take back something he said about this very conceited boy, phil stabile. james castle called him a very conceited guy, and one of stabile’s lousy friends went and squealed on him to stabile. so stabile, with about six other dirty bastards, went down to james castle’s room and went in and locked the goddam door and tried to make him take back what he said, but he wouldn’t do it. so they started in on him. i won’t even tell you what they did to him-it’s too repulsive-but he still wouldn’t take it back, old james castle. and you should’ve seen him. he was a skinny little weak-looking guy, with wrists about as big as pencils. finally, what he did, instead of taking back what he said, he jumped out the window. i was in the shower and all, and even i could hear him land outside. but i just thought something fell out the window, a radio or a desk or something, not a boy or anything. then i heard everybody running through the corridor and down the stairs, so i put on my bathrobe and i ran downstairs too, and there was old james castle laying right on the stone steps and all. he was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. he had on this turtleneck sweater i’d lent him