A. The Catcher in the Rye is about a young man named Holden Caulfield. Who basically has something wrong to say about others, he also claims how everybody around him are phonies and fakes. He is very lonely, foolish and selfish at times. The story begins were he goes to a school called Pency. Where we learn he has just been kicked out for flunking four out of five classes. He refuses to go home and hopes after a couple days of his family getting the news of him getting kicked out of another school. They won't be as angry. He leaves Pency early after getting in a fight with roommate, which ends him getting slugged in the face. He stays at a hotel where he tries to get drunk and lucky with various women. Though when his elevator man suggest a prostitute for him to go meet at his room, is where things went bad to worse. Holden wasn’t a confident man and really only wanted to talk to the girl. Later the guy and girl come back and beat Holden and take money they thought they deserved. Through out the story Holden meets up with old friends, only to have each reunion end badly with them getting annoyed or angry with him. He gets drunk and makes more foolish decisions. He goes to visit his sister Phoebe late at night, because he needed to talk with someone and was also low on cash. After the encounter he leaves, with extra money, and goes to an old teacher’s house. Where he plans to stay the night. In early morning he is woken by his teacher stroking his head. Holden flips out and leaves immediately. Where he gets his bags from the station and has came to the decision of running away. He informs his sister Phoebe what he has decided, and she comes and surprises him declaring she wishes to run with him. After him blowing up at her he tells her he will stay and takes her to the zoo and ends where he sits and watches her ride a carousel.
B. I believe a major theme for this story would be solitude. Throughout the story I believe Holden is very lonely. One point in the story he has a prostitute sent to his room, but wants nothing more then to have a conversation with her. He called up a person he knew from college but referred to him as a phony, but nevertheless he wanted to get drinks with him. He always tried to strike up conversations with others, he even talked with a nun about Romeo and Juliet, he says though he didn’t really like the play, but was glad he could say something to her they both could discuss. These events show Holden only wanted to talk with others and have company, even if he didn’t fancy them.
C. The author tone changes around in the story. The tone always had a negative aspect, cynical. He always was pointing out the negatives of others. Like when he went to the bar and pointed out how the piano player was too good he started to sound phony. He says the same thing at a play he went to where the actors where so great at performing it started to disgust him. Another scene would be how he explains the reason he flunks out of school is because he hated the rules and all the phonies there.
D. In the book there are many literary elements.
· Metaphors where used in the book. The teacher in the beginning told Holden “Life is a game that one plays according to the rules. Another metaphor is when Holden is with the taxi driver, and he asks where the ducks go when it gets cold. I believe this is him trying to wonder where he should go. Comparing himself to the ducks in needing a place to fly to. Another metaphor is when Holden compares the suitcases and uses them to compare to the owners. Saying you can tell a roommate is rich or upper class when they have nice leather suitcases, rather then if you see poor looking ones. You know their owner is not wealthy.
· Symbols: The ducks can also be used as a symbol. A symbol of how Holden feels, a place he needs to go to, where no one knows where they leave too. The red hunter hat is a symbol of his lost brother Allie and reminds him of his red hair. His brother’s baseball mitt was a symbol of his lost brother as well, and gave us a more deeper side of Holden and saw him as compassionate.
· Setting I think played a key role in the story. The hotel not being the best and was at the bad side of town. Gave the feel and helped set the tone with it being cynical. A lot of the bars were dark and nothing was described as bright. Another setting that added to the dark affect when he was walking around the streets at night and phoned Sally. The setting was gloomy and him being drunk acting like he was shot, had the setting be perfect for the character's actions.
Ahh I remember reading this book! I really enjoyed it; it's a great choice. But for tone, maybe try adding a few key quotes to enable your readers to actually see for themselves what is going on. But what did you like and dislike about the book?
ReplyDeleteI liked how the author was descriptive. My favorite part was when he described Allie's glove. Something I dislike was how Holden was a hypocrite. He always called people phonies, when I think he himself is phony. He is always trying to mislead people and gives false appearance.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think Holden was a hypocrite? Can you give an example from the novel.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Patterson
Well Rebecca, a phony is someone who is misleading or gives false information. Which I think Holden does all the time. One point during the story when he rode the train, he gave a lady a false name and then told her, her son was liked by everyone. Even though Holden says he didn't care for her son, and disliked him.
ReplyDeleteAnother example, is him failing his classes. He is smart he declares and if he wanted to he could probably pass his class. His teacher even states that he knows he can do better and that he is smart. Holden says he flunks his classes to get kicked out because he doesn't like his school, because there are so many phonies. He is misleading people in thinking he is dumb, even his roomate thought he was not smart. Example when he asked him to do an assignment, he didn't do what he told him and he says, "No wonder your getting kicked out."
So I think Holden is a hypocrite when he points out others flaws and calls them phonies. When he himself is not perfect and is also a phony.
Good suggestion Jolissa-- Stephanie, how does Holden's sense of isolation relate to the way he sees other people, particularly "phonies"?
ReplyDeleteI think Holden always isolates himself and calls others phonies as more of a self-defense. He hates how others are fakes and he chooses to avoid them or dislike them. His dislike for others, gives him a turn-off from society. Where no one really wants to hang with him, causing him to be isolated by them. Where in the end he chooses to talk with strangers that don't know him. They relate in a sense that he is the problem of both. Him being isolated is his fault since he gets others to dislike him. Him calling others phonies is another problem and he starts to see things he dislikes about a particular person. Flaws that sometimes sound ridicules. For example when he called the piano player a phony for being too good. Maybe he is intimidated by them and has the sense to protect himself (self-defense), where he isolates himself and calls others phonies.
ReplyDelete