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.