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).

Holden

The main character in The Catcher In The Rye is names Holden. Holden has a very interesting view on life. For example, his view when he went to the museum really interested me (Salinger 122).

He thought about how nothing ever changed in the museum. When you would go there, you would see things like Indians weaving a blanket like he saw. Overtime you would visit multiple times, but nothing ever changed. The Indian would always be weaving the blanket, and the people in the boat would always be paddling. Their facial expressions would never change. They were just statues, but they looked so real.

Although they never changed a bit, the people in the museum were always changing. I would go to the museum as a little girl and look at all the statues. Going back, they are exactly the same. I am the one who has changed. I have changed physically and emotionally. Before I was amazed and a little scared, and now I am not too impressed and even sometimes bored. It’s the exact same thing that I’m looking at. The only thing that has changed is me. It is amazing how a person could feel two completely different things about the exact same thing just because you are at a different part in your life.

Holden explained this very well. Salinger wrote, “Then a funny thing happened. When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn’t have gone inside for a million bucks.” He feels the exact same way that I do. He used to love the museum, and now he has no interest for it at all. He actually does not want to even think about going in the museum. I am sure he is exaggerating on the money part, because I know that if I was offered that much money, I would live in a museum. But you catch the drift.

I just think it is so interesting how this works. Holden really makes you think about things that you would not think about normally. It is really an amazing thing.

Old Man and the sea: Old man and the young boy

The old man and the young boy have an interesting relationship. The narrator often refers to these characters as the young boy and the old man. They are very close and seem to have a father- son relationship.

Santiago, the old man, is a great influence on the young boy. He is very protective over the young boy. He seems to care deeply for the young boy. They seem to have had a friendship for a long time. The young boy had parents, but they do not really get mentioned too much in the book. The boy seems to be the closest person of the old man.

Santiago seemed to think of the boy a lot when he is out at see by himself. The young boy once cried when Santiago passed out. Their relationship seems very strong.

The only person that the old man seems to associate with is the young boy. Luckily the young boy likes the old man and appreciates his mentoring. Even though his parents do not like the old man for his bad luck and inability to catch any fish, the young boy still pursues him. The boy also helps the old man. He feeds him and brings him bait for their fishing journeys. Even though his parents do not allow him to go on the long journey, he still helps him get ready for it. The old man misses the young boy so much. I feel bad for him and his loneliness. I assume the young boy was thinking about how hard it would be when the old man passed away. I assume he would be very said. I think about my relationship with my grandpa and think of how said I would be if something like that would happen. I like being able to relate with characters in a story. In this book, I feel as if I can relate to the young boy as if my grand father was the old man (Santiago). I can not imagine how bad the young boy was feeling when he passed out. I would never want to go through that. That just proves how strong their bond is and how great their relationship is.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.

Old man and the sea: Santiago

Santiago is the main character out of the few characters in this story, unless you count the fish. He is an elderly fisherman living in a small village. He mentors a young boy. The young boy likes the old man, but his parents do not. Santiago teaches him lots of things about fishing and the young boy helps Santiago by bringing bait and such to the fishing site of the day.

He is a very courageous man with dedication to the things he loves. He didn't catch any fish for a long time so he worked harder to get one by traveling further and using all of his strength that he possibly could. He had a lot of mental strength as well.

Personally, I really enjoyed his thoughts about life. He would randomly talk about his opinions on things, and even if I didn't agree with them before, I would tend to agree because of his wording. Everything he said sounded true. He probably could have been the type of person to talk someone into a very important business decision. I felt like he was a very deep person who anyone could connect to. I found myself excited and sitting at the edge of my chair more when he was talking about his thoughts of life more than when he was fishing and fighting the marlin.

He also had a lot of determination. Whenever he set out to do something, he would do it. A lot of people in this day and age would just quit when they had such bad luck for so long. Santiago did not quit, though. He worked harder and harder until he reached his goal. Some of the villagers made fun of him and thought less of him, which would have also set a lot of people back and forced them to give up. But with Santiago, it did not bother him. He kept going. It was as if he did not care about anything that people were saying. I wish I could be more like that. I am sure a lot of people wish they could be more like him in that way.