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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#4: Chapter 8

Holden walks to the train station and catches a late train to New York. At Trenton Station, an attractive older woman, who turns out to be his classmate Ernest Morrow’s mother, gets on the train and sits next to him. Holden dislikes Ernest dreadfully, therefore he tells some exaggerated lies for fun as well as attracting this charming lady’s attention. Holden tells her a fake name at first, and then he says to the woman that Ernest is the most popular boy at Pencey and he would have been elected to be the class president if he is not that modest. Holden lies to her why he is leaving Pencey early as well, claiming that he is returning for a brain tumor operation. Holden successfully gets the sympathy from Ernest’s mother before she gets off the train, and reasonably he refuses her invitation because of his hatred for Ernest.

After reading these chapters, I find that I cannot relate to Holden very much. Holden lies to Ernest’s mother for fun in this chapter, and his behavior turns out to be immature to me. Though surely I lie to someone for fun in my life, my lies are more like joking since I will tell them that I am kidding and the lies will not cause any big consequence. As a mature girl, I clearly understand that I should take responsibilities for my behavior and speech and ensure that my lies may bring someone into trouble. However, Holden tells a big lie about Ernest to her mother, and when Ernest knows this he will probably find Rudolf or other students for revenge. Holden merely thinks it is fun to mock Ernest and tell the lie, and he thinks the consequence is nothing to him since he leaves Pencey. By comparison, my reaction will be totally different since I am different from Holden and I care about my classmates even though I hate them in that situation. Nevertheless, I understand Holden because Holden is a childish character and he basically does this for fun like a kid.

In these chapters, some details reveal the traits of the main character. First, from the way he complains about the stories on the magazine, we learn that he is picky and cynical. Secondly, from his thought “women kill me” we know that Holden’s inability to respond to sexuality since he likes women but he does not know what is the suitable way to interact with women. (Salinger, Chapter 8, page 61) Lastly, his lies show that he is a childish boy and lying for fun. The language is causal as usual with slang, and Holden loves using “sort of” as being cynical and he uses cynical words to protect himself from being hurt by others. In addition, the author uses a lot of irony when writing Holden’s thoughts. Holden hates Ernest while he likes his mother; he dislikes Pencey and Ernest while he has to praise them in front of someone for a lie; he thinks the simile would be lousy and phony on other people while it is not lousy on Ernest’ mother. These conflicts further prove Holden’s sexual confusion and his playful heart while adding interest to the readers.

While reading, I am wondering why Holden says he is going to have a brain tumor operation since he can find a better excuse for this question. I think probably Holden wants to get the sympathy from this attractive lady. What’s more, why Holden does not feel like reading the magazine as usual on the night train? By making an inference, I think Holden is thinking of his experience in Pencey and his plan for the days in New York, therefore he is not in that mood and he does not want to read these phony stories and remind himself of some unenjoyable memories. Later I think Holden will arrive in New York and live in a hotel like he planned, and maybe he will meet some difficulty or problems since he is very cynical and innocent.

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#4: Chapter 8 

Source: http://2xdkgz2lrrk81fch3634faa1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/sex-love-page-image.jpg

This picture shows a girl embracing a boy with a beautiful pink rose in her hand. As the picture shows, teenagers are eager to pursue love and explore love since it’s an inevitable process of a man’s life, and sometimes teenagers may have problems and confusions when reacting to love and opposite sex. Holden is an example since he cannot properly respond to love and relationships with women and he cannot figure out his problem. Therefore, Holden struggles a lot in developing a correct sexual identity.

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#3: Chapter 6-7

In chapter 6, Stradlater returns from his date and he is angry to see that his composition, which is written by Holden, is unrelated with the assignment. Holden tears the composition up and throws it away angrily. Afterward, Holden asks Stradlater about his date with Jane. When Stradlater refuses to tell Holden any of the details, Holden attacks him suddenly and insults him, which drives Stradlater crazy and he punches Holden. Stradlater then starts to worry about getting into trouble and he leaves the room. Holden gets up and goes into Ackley’s room.

In chapter 7, Holden talks with Ackley for a while and then he tries to sleep in Ackley’s dorm. However, Holden cannot sleep because he cannot stop thinking that Stradlater had sex with Jane. Therefore, Holden wakes Ackley and talks with him again but both of them are annoyed by each other’s response. Then Holden decides that he will leave for New York this night instead of waiting until Wednesday and he will live outside school until his parents accept the news that he is being kicked out from Pencey. Feeling lonesome, Holden packs his bags and leaves Pencey forever.

As we all know, Holden really likes Jane and he cares about her very much. As soon as Holden knows that his phony and stupid roommate had sex with the girl he likes when they are dating, Holden beats Stradlater because of jealousy. As a teenager I can understand Holden’s feeling because I used to have similar experience with Holden. I used to be jealous of a girl in my class who is adored by many boys. She is not a top student in our class and she is not the prettiest girl in our class, therefore I think it’s unfair for many girls to be ignored by most of the boys including me. However, unlike Holden, I didn’t do anything to this girl and I even treated her as my friend because jealousy and anger could not solve any problem. Therefore, I discovered the attractive points in this girl and then I successfully made myself a popular girl. From my perspective, Holden should not attack Stradlater because he is being too impulsive by doing so. Still his behavior is reasonable since he is a childish boy.

In order to develop the character Holden successfully, the author mimics Holden’s thought in a realistic way. In the novel, instead of saying his heart is filled with fury and jealousy, Holden merely says “This next part I don’t remember so hot. All I know is I got up from the bed, …and then I tried to sock him…”. (Salinger, Chapter 6, page 49) In common sense we know that we can’t remember our feelings and things well when we are furious enough and want to beat someone. Therefore, Holden’s thought is very realistic hence readers get more involved while reading. In addition, the language and the repetition of the words “moron” clearly shows Holden’s anger in his heart. On the other hand, Holden’s anger reveals his innocence and his hatred of adulthood. Holden gets mad because he values Jane’s personality and he cares about her life and her habits. By contrast, Stradlater starts dating with Jane without clearly knowing her first name because he cares more about women’s appearance and sex, just like most of the adults do. Therefore, Holden resists growing up because he thinks the adults are disappointing and phony to him.

Finally, I come up with several questions while reading the story. Firstly, why Holden tears the composition he writes for Stradlater since the composition is about Allie’s glove? My inference is that Holden is so angry that he does not think about it. Secondly, why does Holden cry before he leaves Pencey? It is reasonable to think that Holden has some memories and affection for his school and people though he thinks he hates them. Later Holden leaves school, and I think that he will contact Jane because he cannot forget Stradlater’s date with her, and maybe Holden will meet some difficulty when he is living outside since he is a very innocent boy.

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#3: chapter 6-7

Source: http://img15.deviantart.net/635b/i/2013/010/8/e/holden_and_stradlater_by_russalad-d5r3ju6.jpg 

The painting shows the scene that Holden is having a fight with Stradlater. Holden is lying on the ground with a bleeding nose, and Stradlater is the strong guy who pins Holden to the ground and looks mad. The painting wonderfully shows the facial expression on the two characters’ faces. Holden is angry but he has no choice but to get smashed because he is too weak, and Stradlater is annoyed because Holden keeps insulting him.

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#2: Chapter 3-5

In chapter 3, Holden is reading a book with his red hunting hat in his dorm. He is interrupted by Ackley, a student who lives next door. Ackley is a sloppy and unpopular guy and he keeps annoying Holden and ignores Holden’s hints that he should leave. However, Ackley returns to his room when Holden’s roommate Stradlater returns because Ackley hates Stradlater. Stradlater is going to date with someone and he starts shaving.

In chapter 4, Holden talks to Stradlater while he shaves. Stradlater asks Holden to write an English composition for him, because he doesn’t have enough time to do it by himself. Holden asks about the date and knows that Stradlater is dating with Jane Gallagher, a girl that Holden cares much about. He tells Stradlater a lot about Jane including her unique way to play chess, but Stradlater is uninterested. Holden is displeased that Stradlater is dating with Jane because Stradlater is a sexy boy.

In chapter 5, after the phony steak dinner, Holden goes out for a movie with his friends. After having fun Holden starts to work on the English assignment for Stradlater. For something descriptive, he writes about his brother Allie’s baseball glove. Holden recalls the beautiful memories about Allie and the grief of his death. After finishing the composition, Holden cannot fall asleep.

When Holden mentions the death of Allie, I start to feel sorry for Holden and I have the great empathy with Holden. Holden broke all the windows in the garage when Allie was gone. Similarly, on the day that my grandmother passed away, I sat on the ground and cried for a whole day. On my grandmother’s last Chinese Spring Festival, I asked her to give me the red pockets on every single year from now on. These words made me my depressed when I was crying. Holden told Allie to “go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby’s house” when Allie wanted to go to Lake Sedebego with Holden and this made Holden more depressed when he feels bad (Salinger, page 110). I understand Holden’s pain since we both lost our beloved family members and we just see them die of cancer or leukemia but we can do nothing to save them. Thus we lost in thinking and we get even depressed when we think of the things we did that might hurt them or displease them. Therefore, Allie’s death is a great shock to Holden and somehow result in or deteriorate his depression.

In chapter 3 to 5, the main character is fully developed from his conversation with other people, his thought on other people and his action. From his complaints on food and people around him, we learn his hatred to phonies. From his feeling of nervous and depressed, we know that losing his brother, losing innocence and losing a girl he likes are unacceptable to Holden. From the simple conversations and plain words, the author depicts a character that is cynical and desperate while having love and care to the things he values. Furthermore, the author builds his main character from the surface while urging the reader to dig for a deeper understanding. As we can see, Holden is always complaining about the people around them. However, Holden actually strongly desires someone to stay with him, understand him, and comfort him. Even for those people who appear to be phony to Holden, he still need them to take the sadness off his mind badly in his heart. Therefore, the author successfully develops Holden from both the direct and indirect way.

While reading the book, I am wondering why Holden thinks Ackley can take something of this mind, and l get the answer when Ackley is complaining about other guys in Pencey and when he is eating the dry steak. From some aspect Ackley have no friends and there is nothing weighing on his mind, therefore Ackley can company Holden and give Holden some comfort. Besides, there is another question on my mind when Holden asks Ackley and Stradlater about his hat. Since these people are phony in Holden’s mind, why is Holden asking them. In my opinion, Holden is probably testing Ackley and Stradlater or he is finding some topic to talk to them. In the following chapters I think Holden will have an argument with Stradlater because Holden doesn’t follow the instruction when he is writing Stradlater’s composition and Holden is upset to know that Stradlater will probably have sex with Jane while dating.

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#2: chapter 3-5

Source: http://www.speculatorny.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/catcher-in-the-rye-quotes-red-hunting-hat.jpg

The painting shows the main character, Holden, is smoking with his red hunting hat on. Holden calls the hat “a people shooting hat” because he refuses to trust anybody and he uses the hat as a barrier to keep himself away from other people. However, his arrogance and independence brings him the loneliness and depression, therefore most of the time Holden is smoking by himself with his red hunting hat when he feels lonesome.

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#2: Chapter 3-5

Source: https://sites.google.com/site/saypleasethrice/_/rsrc/1368132855757/holden-s-cap/the_red_hunting_hat_by_molluu-d38lp5e.jpg?height=198&width=320

The painting shows that Holden thinking of his dead brother Allie with his red hunting hat on his head and he smiles. The illusion in front of Holden reveals that Allie is one of the most valuable thing in Holden’s mind and his death brings great destruction to Holden’s mind.  

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#1: Chapter 2

In Chapter 2, Holden leaves the game to see Mr. Spencer to say goodbye to him. After greeting Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, he walks into Mr. Spencer’s room. Seeing the poor condition of the house and his old history teacher with grippe, Holden feels depressing. Mr. Spencer asks about Holden’s talk with the headmaster and he approves of the headmaster’s assertion that “Life is a game” and tells Holden that he should “play according to the rules” (page 11). Afterwards Mr. Spencer starts lecturing Holden on his failure of his study by reading his awful essay and his note to Mr. Spencer out loud while forcing him to listen and pointing out his irresponsible attitude to study. Finally, Mr. Spencer tries to persuade Holden to concern about his future, but Holden is thinking of something else and he finds an excuse and leaves since he does not want to be lectured by Spencer. Mr. Spencer yells his blessing at the time he leaves, which arouses Holden’s disgust.

It is notable that the narrator’s animosity towards phony things tugs my heart strings. Though I have a different understanding of phony, sometimes the lies from others really bother me. Being isolated and bullied by my classmates, I used to have the same feeling with Holden. The misunderstanding of my behavior urged my “friends” to malign me furtively and act as my good friend in front of me. By the time I found the truth it was hopeless to solve the misunderstanding and I felt terrible. Though they are acting for maintaining a relationship, their hypocrisy made the misunderstanding deeper and the truth hurt me deeper, therefore I think people should avoid deceiving others in a relationship. Similarly, in the novel, Stradlater pretends to like Holden’s hat and he won’t mention Holden’s regards to Jane even he says he will. Apparently, Stradlater’s behavior is reasonable because he would concern about Holden’s feelings about the hat and Jane while Holden thinks his behavior is phony. Therefore, with the example in the book and the connection to my personal experience, I think fake actions from people would be annoying since everyone has a different opinion towards fake and truth.

In chapter 2, the protagonist is fully developed by the author as the novel is written in first person point of view. The languages, the tone of speech and the thoughts from the narrator inform us clearly that the narrator Holden is a cynical teenager who thinks everyone are phony and refuses to lose innocence. However, the development of other characters is biased and incomplete since the readers are learning these characters of Holden’s perspective. The language of the novel is simple and informal, which accords with the language of a cynical seventeen-year-old teenager. In addition, symbolization is used in this chapter. Holden is thinking about the ducks in the Central Park lagoon when Mr. Spencer is lecturing him, and this detail reveals some concealed characteristics of the narrator. The youthful imagination and curiosity displays the innocence in Holden’s mind. Furthermore, the ducks in the lagoon in a frozen weather symbolize himself. He has no idea about his future, just like the ducks don’t know where to go; and even someone may bring the ducks away, just like someday Holden may lose his innocence that he tries to protect.

Finally, as a reader, I am wondering why Holden feels sorry when he walks in Mr. Spencer’s sickroom. Holden feels sorry is probably because he cannot understand the poverty as a boy from a rich family and he cannot understand illness as a healthy man. Besides, there is a second question about Holden’s reaction to Spencer’s “Good luck!”. Why Holden feels terrible hearing that? Holden may have that feeling because he thinks the word is empty and can do nothing to help him. Later in the novel Holden may return back to his school and then to his home. Being kicked out by Pencey, Holden should return to his home, and he would return to his school first to move out and Holden mean to say goodbye to the school. 

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The Catcher in the Rye Entry#1: Chapter 2

Source: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0c/d6/9a/0cd69ab9429df24d4e1af25bd6d97f12.jpg

This picture shows the ducks on the lake and Holden’s thoughts when Mr. Spencer is talking to him about his study. Holden is is thinking about where the ducks will go if the lagoon is frozen, and he gets a few ideas. The author of the book uses symbolism here to give the readers a further understand of the main character.