Reflection blog: How do the writings of Rowlandson and Bradstreet reflect the qualities of Puritan writing?

Both of these novels reflect Puritan writing in their own ways. A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration Of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson showed Puritan writing more than "Upon the Burning of Our House" in my opinion.

Puritans were very religious people. According to Beginnings of 1800,

"The Puritan society placed God at the center of their point of society, and their literature works which were primary diaries and histories expressed as God as the central theme, or as having a strong presence. The Puritan writing is very strict and simple..."

It also states that some of its characteristics include God is the central aspect, the Bible provides a model for Puritan writing, and used writing to find God in their lives.

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson seemed like a very religious woman. Everything she did, she somehow related it to her religion. Even when she was in a dark place, she still strongly believed in her religion and used it to her benefit. For example, when she was worrying about her daughter and about how she did not even know if she was alive or dead, she went to the Bible. The story states that "...And the scripture came to my hand, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee" (Bradstreet 85). She was going through a horrible time at this point. I cannot even imagine what she was feeling and how depressed she was. To show how depressed she was, she even said that "I did not use wicked and violent means end my own miserable life" (Bradstreet 83). This relates to Puritan writing because she used her religion to stay strong and continue living her life, even though it was miserable at the time.

This story also resembles Puritan writing by all the other references to the bible. For example, she claims that "O the wonderful power of God I have seen, and the experiences I have had!" (Rowlandson 85). She also talks about praying throughout the story. For example, "I pray God he may remember these things, now he is returned to safety" (Bradstreet 84) and mentioned how "No Christian friend was near him to do any office of love for him, either for soul or body" (Bradstreet 84).

"Upon the Burning of Our House" also reflected Puritan writing. Ann Bradstreet references the Puritan religion multiple times throughout this poem. Even though it is a short poem, it still reflects the writing just as well as the previous story did.

For example, she writes "And to my God my heart did cry/ to strengthen me in distress/ and to not leave me succorless" (Bradstreet 91). Once again, the author uses religion to get someone out of a hard situation. When the character is feeling miserable and depressed, he/she turns to religion to get him/her out of her problem. In this situation, the character wakes up to a fire. "In silent night when rest I took/ For sorrow near did I not look/ I wakened was with a thund'ring noise/ and piteous shrieks of dreadful voice..." (Bradstreet 91). She was in a very tough, intense position in her life, and she turned to God. This definitely resembles the Puritan writing style! Another example that the author uses is "Yet by His gift is made thine own;/ there's wealth enough, I need no more.." (Bradstreet 91). In this passage, "His" refers to God. This also greatly resembles the style of Puritan writing.

Puritan writing is very interesting to read about; I personally enjoyed these two readings.

Bibliography

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 89-91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Ms. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 80-86. Print.

Journal #2- Hospitality Rules

In a house on top of a hill lived a polite family of squirrels. The squirrels were big on manners. There family included Ma, Pa, Johnny, and Kit. Ma and Pa taught Johnny and Kit manners their whole life! They were very polite little squirrels. Always remembering to say please and thank you, they were a role model for other children.

One day at school, Johnny and Kit befriended the new student, Buddy. Buddy was a raccoon who came from a family who were no where as near as polite as the squirrel family. Buddy was rude to his teacher and did not treat his classmates with respect. Johnny and Kit decided to invite him over for dinner even though he was not the nicest kid. They figured he still needed some friends!

At dinner, Johnny and Kit started to set the table for dinner. Buddy was surprised that they were helping. He did not want to feel left out, so he helped them.

During dinner, Buddy was curious about manners and how he can use them in his life. By asking Ma and Pa questions, he learned that he should try to be more polite and learn manners.

As soon as he finished eating, he took his plate to the sink as fast as he could and washed it! Ma and Pa were impressed. He then tried to grab the rest of the family's plates, but they were not done eating yet. With a chuckle Johnny explained, "Thank you, Buddy, but you have to wait until we are finished eating!" Buddy sat down and anxiously waited for the rest of the family to finish.

After learning manners at dinner and making friendships with Johnny and Kit, he went home and showed his parents his manners. Buddy's parents were very impressed! He then started using manners at him, in the classroom, and with making friendships. Everyone at school forgot about his first day, when he was rude, and made lasting friendships. Buddy changed for the better by learning hospitality! He ate dinner with the squirrel family once a week. Sometimes he even invited them to his house and cooked the dinner to show extra hospitality skills! They all lived happily ever after!

How the Giraffe Got its Neck

Once upon a time, there was a giraffe named Jefferey. Jefferey loved the leaves from the top of the trees, but he only got a chance to eat them when the birds brought them down for him.
The birds were nice, but when someone was rude to them, they didn't do any favors. One day, all the animals ran to the trees to eat the leaves. The giraffe was slower than the rest of the animals, so we he got there, all the leaves from the area he could reach were gone! The birds felt bad for the giraffe and brought him some leaves for the top. The birds continued to do this for a month, and the giraffe was very grateful.
One day, the birds were a little late for their meeting at the trees. Jefferey did not like this, so he yelled at the birds. "You birds have to bring me leaves! I've been waiting forever. Who do you think you are?" Jefferey yelled. The birds did not need to be treated like this, so they left.
Jefferey did not know what to do after he lost the help of the birds.
This made Jefferey think about what he did. He should have been grateful for the birds.
After days and days of not eating, he panicked. After trying to reach the leaves and failing, Jefferey decided he would have to apologize. Not only was that a problem, but he would also have to figure out what he would do when the birds went south for the winter. After traveling for miles and miles, he finally found the birds. After deeply apologizing and saying how grateful he was for the birds, the birds finally decided to forgive him. They also used their magic and gave him a long neck! The birds decided that he learned his lesson. Jefferey would never be ungrateful again. He also decided that he would use his neck to help all the other giraffes because he was so grateful. They all lived happily ever after!

Grapes of Wrath- 8

The last required question is always the hardest because all I feel like I am doing is repeating everything I already said in the history blog. Once again, this novel reflects history very well.

Once again, money was incredibly tight during this time period. It was also described in this book how money was tight. Money was tight because the bank cut them off. The bank cut them off because people did not have money. People did not have money because they did not have jobs. People did not have jobs because the Dust Bowl ruined all of their crops. The crops were ruined because of nature.

You can tell there is a line between the people in charge and the normal people. You can tell this because the people in charge cut the people who worked for them off when their crops went bad. The relationship was obviously very harsh, but in a way it was fair. No one could account for what nature did.

The journey can symbolize the journey of life. All different sorts of hardships get thrown at you at life. For example, you could have relationship problems, family problems, money issues, or even drug problems. The journey symbolizes how even though your life may suck at the time being, you can get through it. You have to keep moving on and eventually times will get better. The Joad's journey was obviously longer than most life struggles, but with what the readers learns about how to keep staying strong and moving forward, life should be easier.

I assume that the authors were motivated by learning what the people during the Dust Bowl had to go through. I assume they learned a lot about it or had family who lived through it. They probably wanted the world to know how hard of a life it was to live during this time. They did a great job teaching the readers what occurred during this time in an amazing, interesting novel.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grapes of Wrath- 7

The two authors of Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck and Robert DeMott, use a lot of different techniques to engage the audience.

I think the main thing that engages the audience is truth. Audiences love something based off of a true story. Anything that claims it is based off a true story is automatically ten times more interesting. Just knowing that the story happened to some one some where makes everything suddenly more interesting.

Another thing the authors use is the narrator. Since the narrator is third person, you get to see the facts and not just someone's opinion on the whole plot. You do not have to listen to one person's opinion on everything going on in the story. You get to see what is actually happening and make your own opinion from the facts. There are still some feelings that you do not usually get in third person, but those are good, too. This way you can get the facts, but you can still see how the facts effect the characters in the story. It is magnificently written.

Mystery also helps the story be effective. In the beginning of the novel there was a lot of mystery. It kind of hooked your attention for the whole book. Suspense is also used by making the reader wonder if the Joad family will survive. You wonder what will happen next on their journey. It is a very eventful trip and you are just hooked waiting for the author to tell you what horrible tragedy will happen. You do not know if one of the sick family members will die or if they will find a wonderful place to live on the way and have a unpainful, happy ending. The suspense makes it so you have to finish the novel because there are so many things that could happen. You could not just read and stop in the middle of the journey because you are rooting for them to make it.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grapes of Wrath- 6

We still read Grapes of Wrath for a lot of reasons. The two reasons that I can easily discuss would be the themes of this novel and the life lessons learned.

There are many life lessons that the reader learns about by reading this novel. After reading this book, you realize how lucky you are for having the things you have. You realize that life could be a lot worse. For example, you could be like the Joad family and have to leave everything behind to save your family's lives. The reader is probably lucky enough to have a house that will always be there for you when you want to come home and just relax.

What hit me really hard was when the grandparents passed away. I love my grandparents a lot. I am at their house more than my own, even. I realize how hard it would be to lose them. I also realized that I take advantage of them sometimes. I am lucky to have my grandparents still alive and for them to still be there for me. Luckily for the Joads, their deaths brought the family even closer than before.

Another lesson that the reader learns is that you have to work for things. If you're a normal person, you do not just get things handed to you. You have to earn good in your life. You may not have to work as hard as the Joads, but effort is necessary.

The reader learns that when times are harder than others, you have to pursuer and wait until things get better. Things always get better. When you have a problem, you just get through it the best that you can. Nothing comes easy in life.

The themes are very interesting to read about. A reader reflects well to history because they want to know about the past and they when a story is true, it is automatically more interesting than a fake one. At least that's my opinion.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grapes of Wrath- 5

The Grapes of Wrath definitely reflects history of its time period. This book is historical fiction (Enotes).

You can tell the time period truly represents history as you read.

For example, during this time period in the area that the book took place, money was tight. Jobs were hard to get and even harder to keep. That makes keeping your house, farm, and children harder than it already is. Getting food was very hard, as expressed in this novel. Food was scarce during this time period.

Another example is their way of work. Nowadays, a lot of people's jobs involve sitting in an office. Back when this book was written, the majority of work was manual labor on farms or in shops. This was truly expressed in this novel.

The characters and the detailed story are made up, but the places and general story are the same. For example, there may not have been a Joad family, but there were families in the Joad's position. The Dust Bowl really did kill the crops of many farmers and make them move to California. A lot of families went through what Steinbeck and DeMott wrote about the Joad family. When you are aware that the story is based off a true story, it is easier to connect. You realize how hard it was for the characters in the novel, and instead of just shrugging it off, you think about how people actually went through that. The reader also thinks about how lucky they are to have the life that they have.

Through the hardships, such as when the tractor comes and they have to leave, the reader can feel the emotions of the characters. It is as if the reader is also part of the family and is mad at the bank as well. The reader wants the Joads to be happy and live a good life, just like they do. It is really amazing how the authors wrote this book so that the reader can feel everything the characters felt.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

"Wouldn't the Grapes of Wrath Be Considered Nonfiction? - The Grapes of Wrath - Questions & Answers." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 21 Aug. 2011. .

Grapes of Wrath- 4

I think the hero in this novel is the mother of the Joad family. She had a lot of different characteristics that made her the hero. She accomplished a lot, and she was portrayed in nice ways by the authors. She represents good things.
During the trip, she kept the family together. She was always there to be there for anyone who needed her. She was the rock of the family.
One of her main characteristics was her loving nature. She taught her children many lessons and showed them much love. During the journey, she was always there for them. She always had other people's needs before her own. She was also caring for the same reasons that she was loving.
Another reason that she was caring was that she always helped her husband. When he needed advice or just someone to vent to, she was there. She helped him with his plans.
She helped Tommy and Roseahorn throughout the novel. For example, she helped Tom stay out of jail. She helped Roseahorn by helping her when she was pregnant. She taught her everything she knew about life and gave her advice from her very own experiences.
Towards the end of the novel, she learns to stand up for herself. She is usually right, so she needed to. She stood up to her husband because she knew she was right, and that took effort I am sure. It must have been very hard for her. But everyone listened to what she had to say, so I think she was doing the right thing by standing up for herself.
She represents goodness and strength.
Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grapes of Wrath- 3

There are many different themes in Grapes of Wrath. I will discuss a few of them. Some of them were more important than others, though. Some themes I really want to discuss in this blog is do what you can with what you have, or do your best, and family.

Do your best no matter what is the main theme in this book in my opinion. The Joads were the perfect example for this theme. The Joads had had too many horrible encounters. Life just kept throwing hardships at them, like the bank closing and how they lost their jobs. The Joads had to move before the tractor came, so they were rushed. Even something as hard as being forced out of your home had something negative with it. In this case, it was that they had to rush and figure out where they should go to. They all helped out with everything and were very nice and polite to everyone who deserved it.

The other big theme discussed is the importance of family. The Joads have a big family, and that even includes the preacher, Casy. The preacher counts as family. They are very close with each other. In the three books I discussed on my blog, these characters were the closest. Even though some of the members did not make it to California, they did their best to stay together and survive. They make the statement "Family is the most important thing" true. The more people who work for the family, the more money they make, so it is important that they realize they are in this together and have to work for each other, not only themselves. They all know how important family is. They act like they love each other and care for each other. You learn that family is very important. It is probably the only reason they survived. If each member of the family had to do that alone, I doubt anyone would survive.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grapes of Wrath- 2

The conflict in this book was probably the best in the three books I read for blogging this summer, so this blog should be pretty easy to write compared to the others. There were a lot of causes, gains, and losses discussed in this book.

The main cause of this conflict was "the man," or more personally, the bank. The bad weather caused the destroying of the crops and then the farmers were not able to pay the bank. The bank then just shut everything down. The people caused the bank a monster. They talked about how it was to blame for all of their problems. If it was not for the bank, the farmers could have stayed on their farms. They would not have had to rush to California and be overpopulated. That is what forced the conflict on.

There were so many hardships and not enough gains. As one of my friend's mentioned, the hope of society would be a gain. They never gave up and kept hoping to get on with their lives. They wanted to be happy and successful again. They wanted to start over and get a good society running.

There were plenty of losses, though. For example, The Joads and all the other farmers lost their farms. Since they lost their farms, they had no jobs and no hope. After moving to California and getting new jobs, they lost those too. There were so many losses that it was depressing. I just kept hoping for a win throughout the whole story. Every time something good happened, something bad came and made everything worse again.

Another big thing the farmers lost was their dignity. All the California people treated them horribly, almost like slaves. They were treated differently from everyone else.

Also, faith in humanity was lost for a little while. For example, when the bank failed the farmers, they gave up in their society a little. I know I did and I was not even involved.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Grapes of Wrath- 1

This novel was written by two authors. John Steinbeck and Robert J. DeMott were the authors. I am going to talk about their values together because it will be pretty hard to tell their values separately from a book they collaborated on.

This novel was written in third person. Even though it was told in first person, you were still aware of characters feelings and thoughts, as well as their actions. Personally, I like when a novel is written like this because I can understand what is really going on between all the characters. It also helps the plot because you can tell when a character is feeling something even if he does not say it. It is easy to understand the plot this way.

The Joad family had a lot of struggles on their travels. You could really tell this by how they discussed their hardships. You can tell that the authors value hardship.

You can also tell that the authors feel that the people from California were cruel. The authors always described them doing rude things and not caring about the Joad family.

Another thing that Steinbeck and DeMott must value is honesty. They say everything how it is. By reading this, the author learns everything good about the Joad's journey, but they also learned about the bad. Nothing was left out or said differently than they seemed to be.

The authors do not pick sides, either. I found that very interesting. Usually, the author picks a side and shows how their side is better. But in this novel, they showed the sides of both parties and did not show their preference. This shows that they value fairness.

By this book, the reader can learn about what really happened instead of reading a book that took a side who only talks about the bad of the other side. I found this very interesting.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Catcher in the rye- 8

How accurately does this book reflect history? This question is just like number five, and I had a hard time with that one. So this is probably going to be even harder and such and rambling and as;fjad okay.

This book does not really have any working in it. Holden does not have a job, at least that I can remember. So there is nothing I can compare in the work environment.

I guess I will discuss the school system because that has something to do with this question.

The students and teacher's relationships were not really discussed in this book. Holden talked about how he did not like schooling in general, but I can not remember him picking on any teacher. Oh, Mr. Antolini.

According to the one relationship between student and teacher in this book, students are really supposed to get along with their teachers. Holden really looked up to Mr. Antolini. They were obviously close, because Holden went to Mr. Antolini when he had problems with his life. They seemed to get along swimmingly. Maybe back in the day that was how relationships with teachers were. Nowadays, teachers and students are not as close.

What influenced this author? J.D. Salinger must have been influenced by himself because there is nothing I can think of that could have reflected on Holden's mind. Salinger's creative self must have influenced his writing. Maybe he traveled and got to meet some interesting people that influenced his creativity. Overall, though, I think he did not need too much inspiration and influence. I think he wrote this book with his own thoughts.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Catcher in the rye- 7

J.D. Salinger uses a lot of different techniques to keep the reader engaged. Different things work for different people. For example, in The Old Man and the Sea, some people were most interested when the old man was fishing. I was more interested when he was thinking about random thoughts. The thing that kept me most interested in this novel would be Holden's random thoughts. I don't know if that is a technique, but it is what I am going to write about for this portion of this blog. Who knows how long it will go on, but with my rambling, it may never end!

The question asks for examples, so examples are what you are going to get.

For example, when Holden was in the museum he thought about life and what he was going to do. This was one of my favorite parts. Anyways, he thought about how nothing in a museum ever changes, but the people do. I do not think this is humor, mystery, or suspense. I do not really know what symbolism this would be. I do not think there is a symbol, like I mentioned in the previous blog.

What makes this story effective? I think it is Holden. Holden is the story. Holden's way of thinking kept me entertained, so Holden makes this story effective. More "technique" wise, Salinger's random thoughts kept me entertained. Once again, I think that he had these thoughts himself and just wrote them down. I love how his mind can just change from one topic to another. I have never read anything like it. You would think it would be unorganized and boring, but somehow it was the best thing I have ever read.

Okay, so 26 more words. I really do not know what made this so effective. I think it was just interesting, and Salinger must have some magical writing abilities to keep readers entertained as they read about nothing.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

6- Catcher in the rye

The question for this blog is "Why do we still read this book?" For the last novel I read, I find this question hard to answer, just like I did for The Old Man and the Sea. I had to get some different opinions from my friends that time, but this time I think I am just going to ramble on until I think I am on the right track.

Why do we still read Catcher in the Rye? Why do we read anything? For enjoyment, I assume. You would not read something unless you enjoyed it or you were forced.

I would also think it is safe to say the feeling you get from this book is a reason we still read it. It made me think about my life. It's hard to explain in words. It's like I tried to look at my life with the same perspective that Holden has on his. Sometimes I would sit the book down and think about what I just read and how I could write like J.D. Salinger. I just want half of his creativity and I would be set for life. Maybe that in itself is a reason we read this story.

Holden is my favorite character of all time in any book. I already did plenty of blogs on how I love his way of thinking, so I am not going to continue my rant on that.

What can you learn from reading this novel? Well, personally I learned to look at life in a different way. I realized that there is more to life than what is currently bothering me. I need some more words, so I am going to continue rambling about nothing. So, uh, yeah.

I guess Holden's view on life never gets old. Even now people wish they could be more like him. Well, at least I do.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

5- Catcher in the rye

This book reflects history in a lot of different ways. J.D. Salinger makes it clear what time period the book takes place in without saying it. It is amazing how Salinger writes. I am in love with his writing style. I would give anything to write in the same perspective and to be as creative as he. Anyways, back to the topic of this blog.

The setting of this book reflects the history. You can tell this by the descriptions that Holden gives about the places he is in. He describes everything so well that you are able to tell everything and anything. You know everything about things that other authors would not even mention.

J.D. Salinger uses a lot of different adjectives. With these adjectives, you can tell what time period it is from. He does not use adjectives like cool or rad, but he uses other words that are old time words.

You can also tell what time period it is from the way of words he uses to describe their way of dressing. The time period is also easily identified by other phrases with words.

The title of the book is a symbol in itself. He describes that when he grows up he wants to be the catcher in the rye. This was talked about in chapter 13. He wants to protect the children from jumping off the cliff. It is a symbol inside itself. I love how Salinger wrote about this and connected the two.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

4- Catcher in the rye

The hero in this book is definitely Holden. Holden overcomes so much. Even though the conflict is brought on by himself, he still overcomes it in the end.

His accomplishments are realizing that he did need school, reconnecting with Phoebe, and winning some inner conflicts with himself.

Holden has many different traits. Some of his are more positive, though. For example, when he sets his mind to do something, he may or may not do it. He thinks he will definitely do it, but his mind changes so much that you never know what to expect. He has a good element of surprise, I guess. He is a very entertaining person. That would be a positive trait. He is also very interesting. I bet he would be a fun person to have a conversation with if you could not tell that he was secretly bored with you. He seems bored with everyone, but I never knew if the other person could tell or not. I guess it just depends on how much they were paying attention.

I do not think that he truly is a symbol for anything. He changes his mind so much that I do not think he would be very good for a symbol. He changes his mind so much that he would not stand for anything for a long period of time. He could never be something for the government because his opinion would always be changing. No one would support him because he would be unreliable.

He stands for something different in every chapter. I mean I still like him, but he is unreliable. He also would not stand for friendship because he is secretly bored with everyone. Well, I guess it is not much of a secret. I guess he could stand for brothership.... if that is even a thing. The best thing that he was in this book was being a good brother to Phoebe. He loved her unconditionally.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

3- Catcher in the rye

I think the universal theme in this novel would be how hard it is to grow up.

Holden makes this very clear with all of his struggles discussed in this story. He makes adults who forget how difficult their childhood was realize that their kids may be needing some slack because they have their own problems.

His main problem of growing up is school. He feels like Pencey is a horrible school for him, even though everyone else loves it. It is supposedly one of the best schools around. It is a private school. He has had a lot of experience with different schools, so I think his opinion being how Pencey is not all it is cracked up to be is accurate. Although I may agree with his opinion on that, I do not think he should just not do his work because he thinks it is busy work and pointless. Even though school sometimes, more than others, seems to be pointless and boring, he still has to complete his work to further his education and in the end it will be better. He just has to realize that. It is hard for everyone to realize this, though.

Another problem with growing up is friendships. Everyone he is "friends" with seems to be secretly hated by Holden. Holden thinks he is better than everyone else. The only person he really got along with in this story was Phoebe and Mr. Antolini, and with Mr. Antolini he started to hate him! So I guess it was only Phoebe that he truly did not complain about being around. With his old "friends" from Pencey, he always complained when he was around them. He never did like anyone from that school or any of his other schools.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Catcher in the Rye- 2

First of all, I just want to express my anger that I have wrote my last 22 blogs with 350 words instead of 325. I thought the required amount was 350! The over achiever I am. Anyways, there are many causes, gains, and losses of the conflict in this novel.

Before I talk about this, I should probably state what the conflict is. I think the conflict is Holden getting kicked out of school for his poor effort and, well, I will tell you in a minute.

The causes of Holden getting kicked out of school (That minute begins here,) are that he just did not care. He gave a very poor effort and rarely completed his assignments. He did what every student claims that are going to do, but chicken out for the sake of their future. He called their bluff with "busy work" and decided not to do anything. Not a good idea, though. Obviously, beings he failed out.

The gains of the conflict are that Holden gets to see Phoebe and have a heart to heart. They have always been close, but they have been away from each other for quite some time beings that Holden was off in the private schooling systems. He also gained some knowledge, in a way. With his plan to skip town and leave everything behind to go travel, Phoebe jumped on the band wagon. She made him realize that he could not go. I think he secretly was not going to go at all with how easy he decided to stay. It was probably just an idea, actually it was just an idea at the time that sounded good.

The losses due to the conflict actually are not too bad. Holden gets kicked out of school of course and has to reevaluate his life. Not being a very happy person, it was hard for him to see the benefit out of what he was doing at Pencey.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Catcher in the Rye- 1

Holden Caufield is the one speaking in this story, or the narrator. The book is told in his perspective.

For me, personally, I think that Holden was an amazing character. I loved him from the very beginning. It is rare that I enjoy a character so much in a story. I think that the things he thought about could not just randomly come to an idea from J.D. Salinger. I personally think that Holden is a form of J.D. Salinger. This book gives Salinger the qualities of jumping from topic to topic, hating the world, and just not fitting in.

I think it shoes that Salinger does not like the private schooling system. Holden speaks very poorly of his school, but he also speaks about how most people he mets tells him how great of a school he is going to when in reality, it is not much different from public schooling systems. There are just more stuck up kids in private ones.

It seems that J.D. Salinger values family. Phoebe and Holden had a very, very close bond. They kept each other's secrets and seemed like best friends. His dad cared very much so about how he was doing in school. I wish for that kind of bond with my sister.

He also seems to value individuality. Holden is a very different person from everyone else he associates with. Holden never exactly says it, but it is clear that he thinks his way of living is better than everyone else's. That includes school and the way he thinks. He has a very unique way of thinking. Although it gets him in trouble, Salinger never fails to give him something interesting to say.

I really do think that Salinger wrote Holden as himself, if only a little. Either that or he is the most creative person I have heard of. All of Holden's thoughts have to come from somewhere. I think that Salinger had these thoughts and nicely wrote them all down to be expressed in this lovely novel.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Starting Fresh

I want to discuss a passage I read towards the end of the book.

“I decided I’d never go home again and I’d just see old Phoebe and sort of say goodbye to her and all, and give her back her Christmas dough, and then I’d start hitchhiking my way out West. What I’d do, I figured, I’d go down to the Holland Tunnel and bum a ride, and then I’d bum another one, and another one, and another one, and in a few days I’d be somewhere out West where it was very pretty and sunny and I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas and oil in people’s cars. I didn’t care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn’t know me and I didn’t know anybody. I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn’t have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody…” (Salinger 198).

Sometimes I feel like Holden does. People suck, and you really can not count on anyone but yourself. I think he has the right idea. He is planning on doing something that I always wanted to do. I want to finish high school and then go to college somewhere far, far away. I want to go somewhere that no one knows my name. I want to make new friends. I want to start over fresh. The only difference between Holden and I is that he is skipping the school section. He is just going to go and get a job. I am going to finish my schooling and then go somewhere and start my very own small business. I just have to wait out this school period where I am stuck in a crappy place with people who are rude and do not like me. No one should stay where their high school is, in my opinion. High school shapes you into people who you are not, and you should not stay like that for the rest of your life. I want to start out somewhere new and find out who I really am. I always come up with these elaborate plans, like Holden, but I hope one day we can both go through with them.

Christmas

I did not realize how close it was to Christmas time until I read this chapter. Salinger did not really discuss the cold or any hints to give you the season besides Holden going back home for Winter Break. I kind of forgot about that, though.

Christmas time is always a favorite for me. Holden seems to like it, too. I thought his story about his adventure in the shoe store with Phoebe last Christmas was very funny. I figured the salesman would be upset, I mean I know I would be with lacing up twenty pairs of boots, but he was not. He apparently knew that they were just horsing around. It was Christmas time and he just let them have fun. The Christmas spirit seems to be going around this year as well for Holden. He could not eat his donuts for whatever reason, so the waiter took them back and did not charge Holden for them. I thought that was very sweet. In this day and age, if you do not eat your dinner that you ordered, you are still charged for it and the food just goes to waste. They can not even give it to someone else because of health regulations anymore.

“So it wasn’t too bad walking on Fifth Avenue. It was fairly Christmasy. All those scraggly Santa Clauses were standing on corners ringing their bells, and the Salvation Army girls, the ones that didn’t wear any makeup or lipstick or anything, were ringing bells too. I sort of kept looking around for those two nuns I met, but I knew I wouldn’t see them…” (Salinger 197). I kind of hoped that Holden would see the nuns again. He seemed to enjoy their presence and think about them a lot. I hope he finds them so they can help him turn his life around. The Christmas spirit on Fifth Avenue seems to help his spirits too, though. I know it always lifts mine! All the lights and happy people cheer everyone up. The happy children do not hurt the happiness, either. Hopefully Holden finds some hope in it all.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Depression and Advice

In this blog, I want to talk about how Holden claims to be very depressed. He did not know what to do or where to go. This feeling would have happened eventually, but it happened sooner because of how he left Mr. Antolini’s house. He did not know what to do.

“I didn’t know where the hell to go. I didn’t want to go to another hotel and spend all Phoebe’s dough. So finally all I did was I walked over to Lexington and took the subway down to the Grand Central. My bags were there and all, and I figured I’d sleep in that crazy waiting room where all the benches are. So that’s what I did…” “It wasn’t too nice. Don’t every try it. I mean it. It’ll depress you.” “…And I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (Salinger 194).

Holden seems to be in a very dark place right now. I feel bad for him because of that, but at the same time, he got himself into a mess on his own. I feel like I can easily relate to him, though. He just does not know what to do. It is just a rough path in his life. Hopefully he can get himself up and realize that he got himself into a mess that he needs to get himself out of. They say time heals all wounds, but that is always hard to believe when you are in a bad position in your life. A lot of times for me, I do not take advice well. I feel like people are just telling you what to do and they do not know what you are really going through. Holden does not feel like that with Mr. Antolini, though. I always think that when people give other people advice, they should take it. It is hard to take advice, though. Life is hard and unfair. Advice always sounds good, but it just takes a lot of effort to actually go forth with. I hope Holden can take Mr. Antolini’s advice, though. I think he can.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Sexual Harassment

In this blog, I want to discuss what happened to Holden at the end of chapter 24.

Holden was sleeping just fine when he woke up in the middle of the night to Mr. Antolini petting his head. I think it was because Mr. Antolini was very drunk. I do not think he was trying to be a pervert or anything. I thought he was just drunk and being odd. It is not like he tried to do anything bad to him. I mean yes, it was weird, but it was not perverted.

Holden thought differently. He jumped right up and decided he was his time to leave. “I didn’t know what the hell to say- I mean I was embarrassed as hell” (Salinger 192). He freaked out. I mean I probably would have found it funny.

Maybe in the old days this was weirder and maybe was perverted. But in this day and age, it is just weird and a little funny. I was confused with Holden’s reaction. “He was trying to act very goddam casual and cool and al, but he wasn’t any too goddam cool. Take my word” (Salinger 192). This was Holden describing Mr. Antolini’s reaction to Holden’s reaction. I do not think Mr. Antolini thought it was a big deal at all. He was drunk, anyways.

The next passage I want to talk about is “Boy, I was ahking like a madman. I was sweating, too. When something pervert like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it” (Salinger 193).I do not know if I just do not recall it, but I do not think Holden ever discussed being sexually abused. Maybe I just missed it, though. I am reading two different books at a time, so I may have gotten them confused. Since he was sexually abused, at least that is what I got out of that passage; I guess his reaction is perfectly fine and explanatory. I would understand if Holden does not come back.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Quote

In this blog, if I can write 325 words about it, I want to discuss what Mr. Antolini wrote down for Holden when Holden came to visit him.

He wrote down a quote from Wilhelm Stekel. It was, “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one” (Salinger 188).

I really debated if I should write a whole blog on this because I personally did not, and do not, fully understand it. But I figured that if I wrote enough of what I thought of it, something would come to me. But being on only my 120^th word, I might regret this.

Mr. Antolini seems like a very bright man. Salinger writes him to be one, and Holden states several times of his brilliant mind. I think I agree with Holden about how smart he is.

A lot of people want to die and be remembered as an amazing person or some kind of a hero. Apparently, that is immature. A mature man wants to live humbly for a cause. I guess what this quote means is that a mature man wants to complete everything in his life that he should complete, be a good man, and do something for a good cause, but instead of wanting to die for that, he wants to live for it. I guess that makes more sense. I knew that if I just started rambling on about it I would understand it more. I do now. Too bad I still have 130 words to go!

I guess Holden is an immature man. Mr. Antolini probably wants him to become mature. He talks about how he thinks Holden is going to go into a falling period in his life. He wants him to get himself out of it before it is too late. I think that Holden does need to get out of his current situation. He needs to figure out what he is going to do with himself. Well would you look at that, that’s enough words.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Excitement

I recently bought a Catcher in the Rye shirt in Florida when I was on vacation. I bought it because I really enjoy this book. In this blog, I want to discuss the following passage found on page 184. This passage was said by Holden to Mr. Antolini about a speech that Holden heard from one of his classmates. This passage is one of the reasons I love this book a bought a shirt with it on it.

“Yes- I don’t know. I guess he should. I mean I guess he should’ve picked his uncle as a subject, instead of the farm, if that interested him most. But what I mean is, lots of time you don’t know what interests you most till you start talking about something that doesn’t interest you most. I mean you can’t help it sometimes. What I think is, you’re supposed to leave somebody alone if he’s at least being interesting and he’s getting all excited about something. I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It’s nice” (Salinger 185).

This passage makes me love Holden even more. I love his way of thinking. I do not care if it is off topic and random and in grave detail. I love it. I too love it when people get excited about things. It’s a marvelous thing. I love to get excited myself. It makes you realize that even after a boring couple of months, or years, there is still something to get excited for. Without excitement, life can be way too dull. Holden just lets his mind run. A lot of people would be annoying when they do this, but he is very interesting. I cannot get over how amazing this passage is. It is one of my favorites in the book.

I get excited when other people get excited. That is why it is good to be alone when there is something to be excited for, like Holden says. I get excited when my friends get excited, and when I get home I realize that I sometimes do not have a care in the world about the reason I got excited for. I love Holden.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Mr. Antolini

In this blog, I want to discuss the following passage found on page 184.

“Holden… One short, faintly stuffy, pedagogical question. Don’t you think there’s a time and place for everything? Don’t you think that if someone starts out to tell you about his father’s farm, he should stick to his guns, then get around to telling you about his uncle’s brace? Or, if his uncle’s brace was such a provocative subject, shouldn’t he have selected it in the first place as his subject- not the farm?” (Salinger 184).

In this chapter, Holden talks about one of his classmates going off topic in a speech. He said his classmate’s speech was very interesting and it was better than the rest of the class member’s speeches. His teacher still failed him, though, because he went off topic. Holden did not realize why he was failed. He thought he should have been given a better grade than everyone else in that class. I thought this was very interesting. It seems as if his classmate’s speech was spoken in the same way as Holden thinks. Holden will start thinking about a certain topic, and I will read a page about something that has nothing to do with anything else. It is still highly interesting, but it is off topic. He will then switch to a completely different, random topic that is slightly attached to the previous and give grave detail about it. I find it interesting, but it is not necessary to make the story. This is the same way that his classmate gave his speech. I find it ironic that he liked his speech so much. It was very interesting to me to see how he felt about it and to see how everything tied together. I assume that he would get along with this classmate of his a little, but he has probably never tried to make a friendship with him. Mr. Antolini caught this as well, I think. He realizes that Holden has a unique way of thinking, and instead of treating him differently, he works with him and finds it interesting.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Holden's Cry

This blog will contain my thoughts and feelings involving why Holden cried when he was getting ready to leave his house.

“Then, all of a sudden, I started to cry. I couldn’t help it. I did it so nobody could hear me, but I did it. It scared the hell out of old Phoebe when I started doing it, and she came over and tried to make me stop, but once you started, you can’t just stop on a goddam dime” (Salinger 178). The events before this must have triggered this kind of emotion out of Holden. Holden asked his sister, Phoebe, if she had any “dough” on her. After claiming that she only had her Christmas dough, he decided that he did not want to take that. She still offered, though, and that is when he started to cry. I do not think this is the sole reason he cried, though.

I think that he had this built up inside of him for a very long time. I think that the final straws mainly happened when he visited Phoebe. He realized that his family was not going to be happy that he flunked out of school. He also realized how much he missed Phoebe. When she mentioned that he did not like anything, he probably thought he was messed up. All of these emotions probably led to the big cry at the end of this chapter.

He apparently cried for a very long time. At least that is how Salinger made it seem. I think he was also upset that his parents did not catch him. In the past few chapters, he did not want to be caught so bad that he had trouble tying his shoes, but in other parts, he really wanted to be caught. And in others, he claimed that he did not even care what happened and how it happened. I think Holden is just putting up a front for everyone. It is starting to become real, though. It seems like even he believes the lies that he is telling. He is lying to himself along with everyone around him.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Hating Everything

For this blog, I would like to discuss my feelings on when Holden visits Phoebe. Phoebe says, “You don’t like anything that is happening” (Salinger 169). This is exactly what I have been thinking the whole book.

Holden discussed with her how he hated school, which I discussed in a previous blog. He hates a lot of things, and his sister, Phoebe, notices. After Holden says that he does like things, she states that “You don’t like any schools. You don’t like a million things. You don’t” (Salinger 169). She asks him to name one thing. He claims that he likes a lot of things, but I knew that he would not be able to name anything. In the whole book, all he does is complain. He blamed the heat and the fact that he could not concentrate on why he could not think of something he liked. I think he is not only lying to himself about hating things, but he is also lying to himself it seems. At least in this chapter it does.

After what seems like a long time to a reader, and to Phoebe, he finally says, “I like Allie, and I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking and thinking about stuff” (Salinger 171). Phoebe claims that this was not a good enough answer.

Holden really did not like anything. I think he probably just needed to go somewhere and start fresh or something. Maybe then he would start liking things. I kind of feel like Holden is an annoying person to be around, but at the same time I feel like I am just like him. Maybe that makes me annoying. I mean, I feel like the things he thinks is what everyone wishes they could think by themselves. What I mean by that is, that he has an extremely creative mind. His mind is everywhere. I feel like we would get along, though.

Phoebe just helped him realize that he really does need to get out of that school. School is not for everyone. Some people just do not do well in public school systems. I do not think that I would get along with people in a fancy school like Holden was in, either.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

The Title Mentioned

I am on page one hundred and seventy three. I now realize where the title of the book came from. I’ve been wondering about this for awhile, and the answer interests me. I will start with a passage spoken by Holden:

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and al. thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy” (Salinger 173).

How absurd! When I read this, I had to reread it about five times. It is interesting, but it is also senseless. This job, I mean. Who even thinks of something like this? And why would that be the only job someone would want for themselves? I just do not understand.

The only thing Phoebe replied to Holden was with the same phrase she has been using all night, “Daddy’s gonna kill you.” Obviously she was done listening to him ramble on about nonsense. I know I needed a break. I feel like I am like Phoebe and that I can relate to her. Her actions seem to match my thoughts while reading this story. It is kind of fun to have a character relate to you.

After he left the room, this topic never came back. I find it weird that Holden can rant on and on about nothing, and then when something matters, he does not want to talk about it. It is weird. Once again, Holden never ceases to entertain and confuse me. I do not know if that is good or bad yet. Hopefully the title of the book’s explanation comes up later on as well.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Pencey

For this blog, I want to discuss the following passage after Phoebe asked why he got himself kicked out.

“Oh, God, Phoebe, don’t ask me. I’m sick of everybody asking me that. A million reasons why. It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean guys in your life. For instance, if you were having a bull session in somebody’s room, and somebody wanted to come in, nobody’d let them in if they were some dopey, imply guy. Everybody was always locking their door when somebody wanted to come in. And they had this goddam secret fraternity that I was too yellow not to join, and they wouldn’t let me in. I don’t even feel like talking about it. It was a stinking school take my word” (Salinger 167).

I found this quote very interesting. After he said this, Phoebe did not reply. I assume she had nothing to say. I would not know what to say to this, either. I would feel sorry for Holden and realize that maybe this school was not the best for him. Maybe he needed something else in his life. Maybe traveling was a good idea for him. I think that Phoebe understands, too. I do not think she did until his rant, though. But now I think she does and she feels bad for getting weird with him. I just hope that his parents can realize that school might not be the best idea for Holden. At least a preppy one like that one will not work.

Holden does not like people and he thinks he is better than everyone. He will always have to put up with people, though. He should learn that soon because the longer he just messes up his life to get away from his problems, he will not succeed.

When Phoebe says, “You don’t like anything that’s happening,” I realized that she thinks the same thing I do. Maybe she will talk some sense into Holden’s head. I hope she does, she seems like a smart girl.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Phoebe

I am on page one hundred and sixty seven. I want to discuss how Holden and his sister have different opinions on what their father will do to Holden for being kicked out of school. This is not the first time, so I do not think it will be very pleasant.

First off, Phoebe was able to tell that Holden was lying about getting out of school early. She knew that he got kicked out. They must be close enough where they can tell when each other is lying. That is pretty special. (Salinger 165).

After realizing that he got kicked out, Salinger wrote, “Then she hit me on the leg with her fist. She gets very fist. She gets very feisty when she fees like it. She had her hand on her mouth and all. She gets very emotional, I swear to God” (Salinger 165). I find it weird that Holden finds it annoying and odd how she reacted. That is how I would have reacted if my brother got kicked out of a school. I think what she did was not really emotional. I think it was right.

While Phoebe has a pillow over her head, Holden argues that no one is going to kill him. He thinks everything she said was ridiculous. She kept repeating, “Daddy’s gonna kill you” (Salinger 165). I guess that is a little dramatic, but still, I would be scared for Holden as well. Holden claims that “The worst he’ll do, he’ll give me hell again, and then he’ll send me to that goddam military school. That’s all he’ll do to me. And in the first place, I won’t even be around. I’ll be away” (Salinger 166). I find it humorous how the two have completely different ways that this will end.

Holden thought “Boy, she really gets something on her mind when she gets something on her mind” (Salinger 166). I found this phrase interesting. I really thought about it for awhile. Quite some time, actually. I reread it a couple times as well. What I got out of it was that if you have your mind set on something, you will do it.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Holden and J.D. Salinger

In the next two chapters I’ve read, Holden gets himself very, very drunk. When Holden is drunk, he seems to get even wackier than he usually is!

Once he leaves the bar, he goes to the park. After wondering around drunk for awhile, he gets another idea. His idea is to go back to his house and talk to his little sister, Phoebe, without his parents finding out. He did not want his parents to know that he got kicked out of school just yet, and school did not end until Wednesday. He still had a little more time to kill. But being drunk, he wanted to go see Phoebe.

After having a lucky break with the normal elevator attendant not working, he finally gets to Phoebe. “Then, finally, I woke her up. I mean I couldn’t sit there on that desk for the reset of my life, and besides, I was afraid my parents might barge in on me all of a sudden and I wanted to at least say hello to her before they did. So I woke her up” (Salinger161). There Holden goes changing his opinion again. Just a second ago he did not want his parents to know about his visit, and he did not want them to know about it very badly.

Soon again, though. He seems to care again. I can tell this by a few things he said including “Not so loud,” “Yeah, not so loud, thanks,” and “Wait a second, willya I’m asking you a question. Did they say what time they’d be back, or didn’t they?” He seemed to care greatly about whether he was caught by his parents or not here.

Holden’s way of thinking is so foreign to me. I cannot fathom having the same mind set as him. I wonder if J.D. Salinger was like Holden. I mean he did write the book, so maybe Holden is some kind of J.D. Salinger? I guess we will never know, but if I had to make a guess, I would guess that Holden is like J.D. Salinger.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Exxageration

In chapter 19, on page 141, Holden goes to the Wicker Bar in New York. Salinger writes, “It’s one of those places that are supposed to be very sophisticated and all, and the phonies are coming in the window.” Seems like an interesting enough place.

After discussing how two girls would come out and play the piano and sing, he mentioned how it drove all the “phonies” crazy. If everyone who went there was a phony, why would he be there? Once again, I do not see how he is honestly different from everyone else. He thinks he is above them or something when he is not. Holden said that everyone in the place was a phony, even the bartender. I do not understand why he goes to places when he thinks that everyone sucks. I am betting that he sucks, too. At least in the way he thinks.

Holden met up with an old “friend” who he had indifferent feelings about. Apparently this guy can tell whenever anyone is a “flit,” anyone at all. Holden thinks that he may be a little bit of a “Flit” himself. Holden thinks, “He was a pretty intelligent guy, though. He really was.” This makes me think that he may have respected the gays. I figured with his view on life, he would hate them like he hates everything else. Holden always surprises me with his different opinions.

At the table with him, Holden said, “I bored him a lot. I really did. He amused me, though. He was one of those guys that sort of amuse me a lot” (Salinger 144). But later on, he says, “He could be pretty boring himself sometimes” (Salinger 144). It was on the same page, and only had a paragraph in between. I was amazed, once again, about how Holden can change his opinion so fast. I do not even think he really ever felt like he was “amused a lot.” He was probably just amused a little. When he started discussing school, I think Holden just felt a little bored for a minute. I think he just exaggerates.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Phoebe And Holden

I am on page one hundred and sixty seven. I want to discuss how Holden and his sister have different opinions on what their father will do to Holden for being kicked out of school. This is not the first time, so I do not think it will be very pleasant.

First off, Phoebe was able to tell that Holden was lying about getting out of school early. She knew that he got kicked out. They must be close enough where they can tell when each other is lying. That is pretty special. (Salinger 165).

After realizing that he got kicked out, Salinger wrote, “Then she hit me on the leg with her fist. She gets very fist. She gets very feisty when she fees like it. She had her hand on her mouth and all. She gets very emotional, I swear to God” (Salinger 165). I find it weird that Holden finds it annoying and odd how she reacted. That is how I would have reacted if my brother got kicked out of a school. I think what she did was not really emotional. I think it was right.

While Phoebe has a pillow over her head, Holden argues that no one is going to kill him. He thinks everything she said was ridiculous. She kept repeating, “Daddy’s gonna kill you” (Salinger 165). I guess that is a little dramatic, but still, I would be scared for Holden as well. Holden claims that “The worst he’ll do, he’ll give me hell again, and then he’ll send me to that goddam military school. That’s all he’ll do to me. And in the first place, I won’t even be around. I’ll be away” (Salinger 166). I find it humorous how the two have completely different ways that this will end.

Holden thought “Boy, she really gets something on her mind when she gets something on her mind” (Salinger 166). I found this phrase interesting. I really thought about it for awhile. Quite some time, actually. I reread it a couple times as well. What I got out of it was that if you have your mind set on something, you will do it.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Jane- Catcher in the Rye

My past few blogs have revolved around my opinion, and Holden’s admission, about him being crazy. This one will reflect more about Jane.

Although, so far, I am only on page 140 of the book, I know that Holden has a thing for Jane. Jane has never been seen by Holden in the story, and yet it is something that is always talked about. More the rather, thought about.

So far, I do not know much about Jane at all. I learned that she is a good dancer because Holden was debating if he should call her up for dancing (Salinger 140). Other than that, the only thing that Holden seems to obsess about is that she dates horrible guys.

At the start of chapter eighteen, Holden starts thinking about how he should get a bite. His mind then, somehow, wonders to Jane. “…and I went in the phone booth. I thought I might give old Jane another buzz and she if she was home yet. I mean I had the whole evening free, and I thought I’d give her a buzz and, if she was home yet, take her dancing or something somewhere” (Salinger 135). It seems as if Holden is lying to himself a little here. He seems to act as though he does not really care what happens, but I can tell that he really, really wants this girl to answer her phone and accept his offer.

Too bad she doesn’t. But after she did not answer, Holden’s mind wondered off onto how she used to date a horrible guy. He then switched topics on himself to how girls do not think “that every guy who is strictly a bastard” are bad people. They use the phrase “he has an inferiority complex.” I have never heard this before. It kind of interested me. “Maybe he has, but that doesn’t keep him from being a bastard, in my opinion” (Salinger 135). I do not even know what an inferiority complex is. I would Google it, but I do not have internet where I am. I will Google it when I get home.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

The Mad Man

This blog will also be rambles about how I think Holden is crazy.

I want to start with what Holden says on page 133. He says, “I was starting to get as depressed as hell again.”

This blog is similar to the same topic as my last one. Once again, Holden shows his crazy side. He gets a grand idea to run away with a girl, Sally, who I do not even think he really knows. He gets so excited! I think it is because after leaving school, he has no life plan. I think he just needs to know how he is going to spend the rest of his life. After mentioning how much he hates school and everything wrong with it for him, I do not think he is ever going back. He is running out of money and I think he is starting to get nervous about how the rest of his life is going to go. That is why I think he came up with this “great” idea.

After Sally says no, in a nice manner, she mentions the faults in his plan. He will not hear it and just cuts her off to talk more about it. When she finally gets a word in, he says the line that I started with.

When Sally starts to object again, saying that “I can’t hear. One minute you scream at me and the next—,” She gets cut off again for more of Holden’s crazy thoughts. If I were Sally, I would probably be incredibly annoyed. I hate when people cut me off when I am talking. It is incredibly rude. I wonder if Holden realizes that, though.

After arguing that no one knows what the other one is talking about, Holden says that they each hate each other’s guts by that point (Salinger 133).

After making Sally cry and feeling genuinely sorry for her, Holden busted out laughing. After leaving her, he admits that he probably would not take her along to run away, anyways. But he claims that he meant it when he asked her, which confuses the hell out of me. After admitting that, he calls himself a mad man. I think he is right.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Wacky Holden 2

This blog will be continuing my thoughts on Holden being wacky. During the first half of the book, I was wondering if any of the other characters would notice how Holden rambled all the time. I found my answer in chapter 17!

On page 131, Salinger wrote that Sally said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You jump from one—,” and then she is cut off by Holden and his rambles (Salinger 131).

During this passage in this story, Holden is rambling about his brand new idea, which is ironic because a few paragraphs earlier he was talking about how he did not like how Sally always had these ideas. He thought they were always bad ideas.

Salinger also writes about Holden’s rambling. Holden rambles on about hating school while Sally just sits there and waits for it to be over. She wants to be a part of the conversation, but Holden just has her as a listener.

After being interrupted, Holden states that Sally is “probably the only reason I’m in New York right now, or anywhere. If you weren’t around, I’d probably be someplace way the hell off. In the woods or some goddam place.” He changes her thoughts on her all the time. It’s hard to follow, but at the same time it is very interesting and fun to follow.

Salinger writes that Holden was “beginning to hate her, in a way” on page one hundred and thirty three. Earlier in the book he says he loves her. I guess Holden just takes emotions for too much than they are.

Something else that can relate to this is Holden’s constant thought of suicide. He mentioned that he would jump off the building if people were not staring at his dead body after the fact. That is not his first thought about it, either. I do not understand how his emotions can change so quickly, which is why I am sticking to my opinion that he is a little wacky. I am not saying that he’s a bad person, I’m just saying that he’s a little crazy.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.

Wacky Holden

The next couple blogs are going to be about how I think Holden is a little wacky.

Holden had an idea to take a girl in New York City to a play. He knew this girl for years and figured since he was in town, he mines well go on a date. He decided to go see a show, even though he was not too fond of them (Salinger 124).

He did not seem too interested in this girl at all, actually. During the show, all he did was complain. This goes back to my thought that he thinks he is better than everyone else. He discusses annoying girls and how they are all going to marry a certain type of guy. After listing a bunch of types of guys, he never really gave himself a type. He really just considers himself better than anyone else (Salinger 125.) Anyways,

Complaining throughout the whole show, he decided to do something crazy afterwards. After arguing with the girl and going skating, he asked her to run away with him. He told her that he loved her, and admitted that he did not, but he did, whatever that means. He also even admitted that he was crazy.

“The funny thing is, I felt like marrying her the first time I saw her. I’m crazy. I didn’t even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt as if I was in love with her and wanted to marry her.”

Throughout the night, he had many mixed emotions with this girl. This chapter made me realize that he really is a little wacky. With his rambles and his thoughts, I do not know what to think anymore. I enjoy this book, but my emotions are changing about Holden. He is a little too crazy for me to love him as much as I used to. I am just getting tired with him thinking that he is better than everyone else. We will have to see how he ends up and how this date ends up. I hope he does something good with his life, though.

The Room Mate

In the very beginning of the book, Holden talks about writing his roommate’s paper for him. His roommate is on a date with a girl Holden seems to fancy, so that is interesting in its own little way.

His roommate asked him to describe something, like a room. Holden states that he cannot think of anything to exactly write about (Salinger 38).

“The thing was, I couldn’t think of a room or a house or anything to describe the way Stadlater said he had to have. I’m not too crazy about describing rooms and houses anyway. So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allie’s baseball mitt” (Salinger 38). He then goes on describing this baseball glove. I think it was pretty amazing how all the poems fit on that glove. He worked so hard on it. I was very upset with Stadlater did not appreciate it. I mean it was not what he asked for, but he still could have thanked him. Holden put a lot of effort into that. I bet it was a beautiful piece, too.

Holden described his brother and told very in detail stories. Once again, I was amazed how something that I would not care about if a stranger told me about, I cared about. Salinger wrote in an amazing way! He just kept getting side tracked on random topics. He would them babble on about them. I cannot believe how interested I was in everything he had to say.

He carried on his rambling for about two pages before he said “anyway,” and got back on topic. I even stayed interested when he talked about how bored he was while he was looking out the window.

This book is clearly my favorite out of all the required reading. I love everything about it. It kept me interested the whole time. I cared about every little detail that Salinger wrote about. Unlike Old Man and the Sea, where I only cared about the old man’s thoughts, I care about everything in this story. It was beautifully written.

Holden's View

Once again, Holden’s view on things never ceases to amaze me. I am always so interested in what he has to say when he rambles on about nothing. He always speaks his mind, well, at least through his head, and he just keeps thinking. A lot of people get annoying when they ramble on, but Holden just gets more interesting in my opinion, at least.

For example, when he went out to dinner, he noticed everyone around him. He talked about a bunch of different things going around him. Most people would seem very boring doing this, but he was very interesting. He kept it entertaining. It amazed me how I could care so much about these fake characters being only a couple sentences long in a fictional story (Salinger 87).

For example, when he was eavesdropping on a couple’s conversation sitting next to him. He rambled on about how disgusted he was with their relationship. The man in the relationship was talking about something horrible (committing suicide) while he was messing around with the girl under the table. Not only is that bad enough, but she was begging him to stop, and he would not. Holden said, “Imagine giving somebody a feel and telling them about a guy committing suicide at the same time! They killed me.” I completely agreed with him.

In another incident, he talked about how he “was surrounded by jerks” (Salinger 85). He called the couple next to him “funny looking.” He talked about how he was bored so he eavesdropped. He had no shame in it! He did not care what other people thought; I was amazed when I read that. While discussing how boring the boy was being, he gave his own opinions.

He thought about how everyone was horrible around him and jerks. Sometimes that makes him sound jerky, being that he is basically saying that he is above everyone else and far more interesting than them. It kind of works for him, though. Usually I would find someone like him stuck up, but I tend to just find Holden interesting.

Holden's Mind

I am amazed about how Holden’s mind works. For example, his view on women is astonishing and odd. Throughout the story, I gain and lose respect for his opinion on them.

For example, I gained respect when he thought about how his “friend” was taking Jane out on a date. He realized that his roommate was going to treat her with no respect what so ever. Holden got furious when he thought about how his roommate would probably take advantage of her. Just thinking about how he would try and make a move in his car freaked him out. Although it never exactly said, it is clear that Holden has a crush on Jane. He shared his past with her throughout the story. I have not finished the book yet, so I do not know if they ever do talk. That will be another blog. Anyways,

I lost respect for him when he bought a prostitute. He just was bored and thought that was an okay thing to do, which is was not. I lost a lot of respect for Holden, who I previously loved. I was actually a little surprised to see how he bought her services with no problem at all.

He realized that he was doing wrong later when he got back to his hotel room. Being all fidgety, I wondered how it would end. I doubted that he would actually go through with anything. I half expected him to just ignore the door when she arrived to his room, to be honest.

Although he let her in and she was completely prepared and ready to do what she came for, Holden did not do anything. He wanted to talk, which kind of freaked the girl out. After they talked for a short period of time, he paid her and she left. I gained a little more respect for him, but he did not have as much as he started with.

Throughout the whole story that I have read so far, Holden always thinks about Jane. I hope that later in the book, he comes in contact with her. That is why I am so confused why he is “never in the mood” to contact her (Salinger 105).