The Catcher in the Rye: Post #4

There probably is way more symbolism in Catcher in the Rye but I just don't see it all. I was talking to my friend about it and he said that it was pretty all there is. I think there isn't anything as symbolic as the green light in The Great Gatsby which may be the reason why I don't find anything too symbolic. I do think his sister symbolized his hope because it seems as if that was the only person he really cared for, during many parts of the book he seems really depressed to the point where I was left thinking he was going to be suicidal but I sort of think his sister kept him from going that far because he really wanted to see her. As for literary or stylistic devices, I thought I thought writing it in a sort of journal style kept it sort of interesting because I can't imagine it not being that way.

Since the last time I read I finished to book, I read from page 60-214. What happens is Holden Caulfield the main character leaves his school after his fight with his roommate and goes to New York. What he does there is pretty much just drink a lot, smoke too many cigarettes and call up people he knew that were there. Some couldn't talk but others planned things with him, he went on a date with an old friend and that didn't end well, he also met a few new people and talked to some guy he thought was a phony, well he thought everyone was a phony. He really wanted to talk to his sister but thought it was too risky since his parents still didn't know he had left school because he had been kicked out for failing classes. So eventually he ends up seeing her and they have a sweet little reunion, then he stays at an old teachers house and decides to leave and just go west, but he leaves a note at his sisters school to meet him at a museum. She comes with a suitcase ready to leave with him and they sort of had a row but in the last chapter they make up and he just talks about how that's all he's going to tell us (so it seems way more like a journal) and how he doesn't know what the future has in store for him. The style as I stated in earlier blogs seems like a journal and the theme that sort of runs to the end is Holden trying to figure himself out without really trying, I noticed that his sister is his go to person if he has problems, which he has many but I think she sort of in a way symbolized his hope if that makes sense. When he walked through her school and saw vulgar words on the wall he got really upset over the fact that his sister may see it so that shows how much he actually cares.

The Catcher In The Rye: Post #3

During winter break I began to read my first American Author book by J.D. Salinger, which is the Catcher in the Rye. I read pages 1-59 which were chapters 1 through 8. In those first chapters I was introduced into the main character Holden Caulfield's life (I say this because in my opinion the book has a sort of journal feeling to it) which begins with him talking in first person while he was attending college. He seems like a very touchy person, he doesn't seem to like anyone because he talks bad stuff about everyone (except his little sister) and how they are all phonies, it gets really annoying. Basically he doesn't like going to school there and it seems like a waste of time to him so he decides to leave but is not ready to go home until winter break officially starts because he knows his parents will freak out about it. I have noticed a lot of contradiction in the way Holden the main character talks about everyone else when really he seems to be describing himself. There is also as I said a journal feeling to the book, what I mean by that is that it feels as if it is someone's journal that I am reading and not a book.

The Catcher in the Rye : Post #2

"I don't see how D.B. could hate the Army and war and all so much and still like a phony like that. I mean, for instance, I don't see how he could like a phony book like that and still like that one by Ring Lardner, or that other one he's so crazy about, The Great Gatsby. D.B. got sore when I said that, and said I was too young and all to appreciate it, but I don't think so. I told him I liked Ring Lardner and The Great Gatsby and all. I did, too. I was crazy about The Great Gatsby. Old Gatsby. Old Sport. That killed me. Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's another war I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to god I will." (141)

I chose this passage from The Catcher in the Rye because I thought it showcased the way J.D. Salinger writes and I also thought it was funny that there is a mention of The Great Gatsby in there. I am not sure if this is how all the books J.D. Salinger writes are like since this is the first I've read by him but every time I read this book I feel as if I am reading the main characters journal since it is told from first person. So I guess what is unique about the way Salinger writes is not only the "journal style" but the fact that it feels real, I have really gotten annoyed by the main character and all his talk about everyone and how they are phony, and that is not something that happens often. Usually if you read someone's diary or journal it doesn't give you emotion, it's just there but Salinger adds life to it.