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Train to New York

Chapter 8 Analysis Entry

Everyday Deception by Agnieszka Bloch

This picture summarizes Holden’s behavior in this chapter. He is putting on a mask to hides all his true feelings. The way he uses someone else’s name implies that he is being another person just like how there is a person inside the outer layer of the man in the art piece.

This chapter starts off with Holden waiting for a train to leave to New York. He previously left Pencey earlier than expected due to frustration with friends, Ackley and Stradlater. On the train, an older woman notices his Pencey prep sticker and the two strikes up a conversation. Later, it turns out that the woman is the mother of Ernest Morrow, Holden’s classmate at Pencey. Although in reality, Holden considers Ernest, the biggest bastard at Pencey, he lies to Mrs. Morrow by telling her how her son is excellent and popular at school. Holden also tells her that his name is Rudolf Schmidt, which is the name of Pencey’s dorm janitor. Holden tries to act like an adult by offering the woman a cigarette and later a drink. The woman, confused by his actions, refuses and begins to worry about him. She shows concern and asks him why he is returning home when the school has not ended yet. Holden wraps up his lie with another huge lie by stating that he is going to have a brain surgery soon to remove his tumor. At the end, Holden again refuses the woman’s kind offer for him to visit by saying that he is spending the summer with his grandmother is South America.

Throughout this chapter, Holden makes one lie after another to cover his real information. I cannot relate to how Holden can lie so easily. In contrast to Holden being a terrific liar, I am a terrible liar. When I lie about something, it is really obvious that I lied. Before I even lie about something, thoughts of all the consequences that came after the person finds out overwhelmed me.Therefore, I try to never lie to anyone. If it comes to a point where I really have to, my friends will usually cover for me. Another thing to keep in mind is that Holden lies to keep everyone out of his life; because he cannot connect with anyone. I am different from him. I want to make new friends, so I am open to sharing my stories with others. There is no need to lie about anything. Despite this situation, one thing I can relate to is when Holden tells Mrs. Morrow that her son is excellent at school when he really is not. In my opinion that is more like a white lie. I often try to rephrase situations in a way that is more acceptable to hear which is because I care about other’s feeling and is not a bad thing to do.

In this chapter, the motif of lying and deception is repeated numerous times. Holden does not want to reveal any real information to Mrs. Morrow, as he tells her a fake name, Rudolf Schmidt. He also lies about why he was out of school by explaining that he is going for a brain surgery. This contributes to the theme of alienation as a form of self-protection. He does not want other people to be emotionally connected to him. He believes that he will get hurt that way. Another literary device used is irony. In the previous chapters, Holden emphasized on the fact that he does not like people who acts and pretends. However, in this chapter, he is faking his attitude towards Ernest to Mrs. Morrow. Although he hated Ernest’s gut, he describes Ernest as an excellent and sensitive guy. This is ironic how he is doing what he hates. The irony also helps express Holden’s state of confusion about himself. Also to describe how Holden actually felt, the author used a simile by stating, ““That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a goddam toilet seat.” (55)” Toilet seat does not have any feelings. This is not only to express how insensitive Ernest is, but also to add a dash of comedy in the story.

Questions

1. Why did Holden offer Mrs. Morrow a cigarette and then a cocktail?

Holden himself was stressed about leaving Pencey that he found smoking and drink alcohol a way to escape. He tried to act as an adult and tries to impress Mrs. Morrow by offering her one. We can conclude on Holden’s view of the adult world as he believes that smoking and drinking are “mature” things to do.

2.  Why did Holden Caulfield take his hunting hat off before going on the train?

Holden takes off his hat to avoid being unique. He wants to fit in the society. He lacks the confidence and took down the barrier because he really is not that tough as he wants to be.

I predict that Holden, after arriving in New York, would wonder around the city. It is unlikely for him to return home to face his parent’s fury of his expulsion. Perhaps he will try to meet new people and try to connect.

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“Sleep tight, ya morons!”

Chapter 6-7 Analysis Entry

"Holden Caulfield's Journey timeline." Timetoast. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

I think this picture perfectly mimics Holden’s feeling when leaving Pencey. He knew he had to leave the place after all that has happened between him and his friends. However, he really has no idea where he can go.

In these two chapters, Holden features his inability to connect with people even his friends. After Stradlater got back from the date with Jane, he looked at the composition Holden wrote for him. Since he does not understand the baseball mitts importance to Holden, he regarded it as a piece of nonsense. He said that Holden can never get anything right and that's why he is flunking out of Pencey. This statement already pissed Holden off. The topic then transferred to Stradlater’s date with Jane. Although Stradlater did not want to discuss this topic, Holden was fixated on it. Jane is a girl that Holden idolizes, and he is furious at the slightest idea of her having sex with Stradlater. Holden’s persistence eventually pissed off Stradlater and the boys had a fight. Holden’s nose got broken and was bleeding badly. Having nowhere to go, he went next door to Ackley’s room. However, Ackley could not understand Holden’s situation and could not comfort him. Holden feeling lonesome decided that it was time to leave Pencey. He started packing his stuff, counted his dough, and collected items borrowed from friends. After waking up the whole dorm by screaming, he left for good.

I can relate to how Holden is jealous of Stradlater. Holden himself agrees that Stradlater is a handsome dude. Stradlater is popular among both teachers and students. Furthermore, he is experienced with girls. He has all the connections that Holden is desperate to have. This explains Holden’s odd anger around him. In my situation, I am not a very social person. However, some of the few friends I have are very outgoing people. They are friends with everyone. While maintaining a good social life, they achieved excellent academics. Sometimes I just wish I could be them. I actually told my friend about my jealousy towards her. She replied that I don’t have to be her and that people just naturally have different personalities. She explained how people with personalities like her face lots of troubles, too. She has to constantly solve problems and be the middle person for many of her friends. Most of her time is dedicated to everyone that she barely have any time to herself. Sometimes she wishes that she was alone. After hearing that, I’m not as jealous anymore.

In these two chapters, we can conclude on the theme of alienation as well as the recurring motif of loneliness. We can observe from Holden’s conversation with his two friends that they are not connecting in a certain way. It feels as if Holden does not understand them and neither do they to him. This is because of Holden’s depression. In the novel, it is expressed as Holden wants to feel a connection, as he kept on searching for people to be around him. For example, after his fight with Stradlater, he immediately went to Ackley’s room. Holden is lonely but when he meet with friends, he starts being cynical. This is because he does not feel the same way they do. He is more innocent than others. That keeps people away from him, which makes him lonely again. Then he searches for more people. This cycle repeats, furthermore adding more stress, cynicism, and desperation on Holden. A symbol that appeared again was the red hunting hat, or the “people shooting hat” as Holden calls it. Holden put it on after being alone and beaten up by Stradlater. This was to signify his barrier of protection building up. He is more determined to act against the rest of the society.

Questions:

1. Why does Holden annoy people, e.g smoking in front of Stradlater or joking Ackley’s religion?

Again, I think this is because of his inability to connect with them. Therefore, he annoys them to keep them away. This is also ironic because he kept on calling others annoying, while he purposefully annoys others.

2. Why did Holden yell “Sleep tight, ya morons!”  before he left Pencey?

In my opinion, Holden yelled this line for two reasons. One being that he is so furious and depressed about the what just happened (Jane dating Stradlater, the fight, Ackley’s incomprehension). Another being that he wants to be remembered in some way by Pencey or to have some presence in Pencey.

I predict that Holden will go and try to search for people to meet with again. It’s impossible for him to go home because of his fear of his dad. He will probably just wonder around with his money that he counted before he left.

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A People Shooting Hat

Chapter 3, 4, 5 Analysis Entry

Depression of the Young Literati - Hatsune Miku

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bCkJ8oBBS0

I may as well do it soon, go somewhere far away...

Should I really go alone?

My school, my friends, my job,

Just about everything, being thrown away

Starting at the Keio station, a flock of people:

Within, a girl; she's lost her wallet, crying

The train immediately slides into place,

People fail to grab a seat and groan

And suddenly it feels like nothing matters;

I enter into the group of unfeeling people...

Someone, please, call my name;

Suddenly, I feel sad, but why?

Flying out from the world, beyond the universe,

Playing with a wild, wandering imagination,

Before the tears come

My favorite novelist - you ought to read him too

Though it was a long time ago that he committed suicide

"It was a lifetime filled with countless shames," he said

"Spent with only lies being told," he said

"What a gloomy guy," they laughed, but

No matter what, I couldn't get it out of my head

Let me hear a voice, anyone's, right now;

All alone, I'm shaken as the train jolts

Flying off the tracks, to the dark side of the moon,

Rising to the heavens, and there you were

Reverting to that day

"Dear sir: I, just the same as you,

Will somewhere, someday, die, will I not?"

"It was a lifetime filled with countless shames,"

"Spent with only lies being told,"

But I won't end up like you

I'm just a mere lover of literature...

Someone, please, call my name;

Suddenly, I feel sad, but why?

Flying out from the world, above the sky,

I beg you, shake free from all that you can

Run away... Go...

This song is about a depressed girl trying to feel some sort of connection to this world, but in the end, she realized that she is alone. She loves to read as she mentioned that she felt the same way as an author, who committed suicide, did; that this life is full of lies. This reminds me of how Holden is isolated, lied throughout the story, liked to read and connect with the author just like the girl in this song did. 

In these three chapters, Holden interacted with friends, Ackley and Stradlater. The chapter started off talking again about Holden thinking people are phony. Then Ackley, who was Holden’s dorm neighbour, barged in. From Holden’s point of view, Ackley is a person with poor hygiene and disgusting personal habits. Ackley annoyed Holden until another character, Stradlater, showed up. In Holden’s opinion, even though Stradlater is a popular, handsome guy, he is still a “secret slob”. Stradlater did not care about anything other than what appears on the outside of him. Stradlater, while having to go on a date later with Jane Gallagher, asked Holden to write an English composition for him. Holden, after agreeing, became fixated on the topic of Jane, who is a girl he knew and liked. Holden does not like the idea of Stradlater, who is one of the few sexually experienced boys at Pencey, taking Jane on a date. After the Saturday steak dinner and a stroll out with friends, Holden is focused on writing a composition for Stradlater. Having nothing to write about, he thought of his intelligent, innocent younger brother, Allie. Allie died of Leukemia and that Holden still feels strongly about his death.

I can relate to how Holden cannot control his emotions and have constant outbursts. To be honest, the world we are living in right now puts constant pressure on everyone. When that pressure builds up, there has to be a way for it to be released. In Holden’s situation, he hasn’t found a stress-reliever and he is depressed. He keeps everything within himself because he thinks no one would understand. In my situation, I do cry or scream for no reason at home once in awhile. But after that, I feel so much better. I can calm myself down and rethink the situation I’m in through a positive light. Another relation that I can make with Holden is thinking that life can be bitter sometimes. In life, there are certainly going to be ups and downs. Holden is depressed because of all sorts of things such as Allie’s death, having to grow up, as well as no one to connect with him. In my situation, it is just merely the repeating of the same thing over and over again. Our everyday life is essentially a cycle that repeats on until something major happens and changes it into another cycle. When that cycle goes on for too long, it can get boring and depressing.

2 symbols that appeared throughout these three chapters were the red hunting hat as well as the snowball. The red hunting hat that Holden bought in New York was his way of being different than others. It was also his wall of protection from the ugliness of the world with the long peaks covering him. He also called it the “people shooting hat” meaning he’s going to keep everyone away. Holden made a snowball but he ended up not throwing it at anything because it was “perfectly white” This symbolizes how Holden wants to preserve the purity and innocence of those around him. However, the bus driver later forced him to throw it out, representing the adults killing the innocence of children. A character trait we learned about Holden is that he is cynical to everyone around him, including his friends. Through his interaction with Ackley and Stradlater, we can conclude that they have a good relationship. However, Holden still managed to express negative thoughts (eg. hygiene) about them, giving the reader a horrible impression on them. Holden automatically searched for other’s weaknesses and present them to the readers.

Questions

1. Holden became very fixated and disliked Stradlater taking Jane out on a date, why might that be?

Holden and Jane were friends before and it is possible that she is someone Holden actually liked. However, as a result of Holden’s inability to connect to women, he did not go into an actual relationship with her. Therefore, Holden is protective of Jane when he realized that she is dating a sexually experienced guy like Stradlater.

2. Do you think that Holden is a “phony” himself?

I do agree that Holden is a phony himself. He always criticizes others for not owning up to their mistakes but he acts the same way. He hates when others are faking but he lied many times throughout the book.

I predict that Stradlater will come back from the date with Jane next. This will definitely piss Holden off once again especially when he was just in the state of extreme depression after thinking about Allie.

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Life is a Game...

Chapter 2 Analysis Entry:

This image features a game character with his ability/status labeled beside him. This image reminds me of the idea of life as a game as discussed in this chapter. We are all just different characters with different abilities, aren’t we?

Image Citation:  Emberton, Oliver. “Life is a game. This is your strategy guide.” Oliver Emberton. N.p., 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.

          In this chapter, our protagonist, Holden dropped by his History teacher, Mr. Spencer’s house before he left Pencey Prep.  As he entered the house, we can observe that he is very welcomed there and has a good relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Spencer. Holden and Mr. Spencer started a conversation about Holden’s situation of being kicked out of several schools. Mr. Spencer showed that he is very concerned about Holden’s future. However, Holden expressed that he did not care about the academics that would gain him success. Mr. Spencer also suggested that Holden plays by the rules as life is a game as quoted from the headmaster of Pencey prep, Dr. Thurmer. While Holden did not dispute his teacher, from his thought we can conclude that he strongly disagree with this statement. As a sign of loss of interest, Holden’s mind started drifting to his home back in New York, the park and the ducks.

           I can relate to Holden in some parts of the story where he calls people “phonies”. When I was young, I use to think that way, too. An example is when everyone seems like a family friend when a family is doing well financially, but when they are in certain crisis, it seems like all of a sudden that family has no friends. This is similar to the situation in the book where, Dr. Haas, the headmaster of Elkton Hills, greeted the parents. As Holden described, “old Haas went around shaking hands with everybody’s parents….except if some boy had little old funny-looking parents.”(14) Another important line in this chapter which is “Life is a Game, play by the rules”. While I do agree with life being a game, because we are constantly fighting against obstacles and leveling up, I cannot really relate to why we should play by the rules. In real life, there are many cases where people don’t necessarily play by the rules and still be very successful.

           In chapter 2, we had a chance to know the narrator, Holden a lot better. From his visit to Mr. Spencer’s home, we can make several observations such as he thinks all adults are “phonies”, he feels like he is an outsider to this world, and that he does not like the adult world a single bit. We start to see a pattern of problems reoccurring with Holden. That is not wanting to grow up as he does not apply his talents to the academics to be successful and his minds are easily distracted as a child’s mind would be. Another possible theme is alienation to this world, as his understanding of life as a game was that he is “on the other side, where there aren’t many hot-shots.” (8) He is separating himself from people who are succeeding in life. Therefore we can conclude on a few possible conflicts or themes for the main character/this book that is holding on to childhood as well as going against others surrounding him.

QUESTIONS

1.What is your opinion on Holden’s belief of all adults to be “phonies”?

I think being “phony” is just something that everyone eventually learns to do. Being “phony” while having its benefits and drawbacks, is a trait that is usually developed throughout a person’s childhood. I don’t think there is a single person on this planet that has never acted “phony” in their life.

2.Do you think life is a game? Should everyone play by the rules?

While I agree with life being a game since we are constantly defeating obstacles and “leveling up”, I don’t agree with the statement of everyone should play by the rules. There are lots of cases out there where people don’t follow the general pattern everyone else is adhering to and has achieved success.

          I predict that Holden did not go to the gym because his tone sounded like he was lying to Mr. Spencer to get away from his lectures about his future. He probably just returned to his dorms.