You should respond to this post by the start of class on Friday:
You can respond to one of the following questions OR your response can be a fusion that addresses both questions.
Directions:
-You must use at least three quotes (properly cited) in your response.
-Your response can use I, and it can be personal NOT analytical; however, you should make sure that you focus on clearly and aptly articulating your point. Think about what you really want to say--and then the find the best words to say it.
-Your responses should fully articulate what you are feeling; thus, the length of the response is up to you, however, I would encourage you to mine your thoughts, emotions, and ideas for all they worth...simply, do not leave an idea unexplored that pertains to this question.
Questions to consider:
1.) By reading about Holden what are the things you have learned from him? ANOTHER WAY TO ASK THIS QUESTION IS: By listening to Holden's story what ideas have you 'caught' and will keep stored away in your heart long after the book has ended?
2.) In chapter 25, what is Holden so afraid of--do you think he is afraid of writing bad words, do you think he is afraid of Pheobe growing up, do you think he is afraid of missing everybody? What are specific examples of things he might be 'caught' doing, and how is his possible punishment both a good and bad thing?
I would encourage you think deeply about this questions and all you have learned--work humbly when you answer these questions and write truly.
Good luck (Holden would hate the fact that I ended this message like that),
AK
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18 comments:
One important aspect of chapter 25 is definitely Holden’s love for Phoebe and his protectiveness over her. I feel that when Holden is thinking about what he would do if he ever caught the person who had written the bad words on the walls he is trying to keep the bad and evil of the world from Phoebe. He states multiple times in different forms that he doesn’t want Phoebe to see that. Older brothers, although they can be a pain, are mainly out just to protect their baby sisters. They just want to see then succeed and they go about it in different ways than parents do. An older brother for instance might not crack down on his sister for getting a bad grade or something a parent would do but instead they would show their disappointment if their sister did something she wasn’t suppose to do or if she was hanging out with “the wrong crowd.” And I think that the carousel seen represents Holden’s fear of Phoebe getting caught up with other people like when she continues to grab for the gold ring with the other people. Holden says that he was scared that she might fall or something, that could relate to his real life fear of her falling like he is. I find it quite coincidental that when Holden watches Phoebe on the carousel he continues to relate back to the word “fall”, as if he wants to be the one to catch her. I just really found it interesting in chapter 25 how Holden expresses his love for Phoebe.
Not an answer to the question but something I wanted to pass on:
I just read this, and I thought of you:
"When in the opening days of our sophomore year the returning students of the mighty fine class of 2009 gathered together for the first time, my father, who was then our class dean, asked us why you can never step into the same river twice.
But my father then complicated the question with a story about fishing in Montana. When the only way to access a particularly lovely pool was to cross a raging river, he and his two friends had to bounce from one bank to the other on the very tips of their wading boots at what was apparently the shallowest stretch of the river for miles and miles around. It was hardly shallow, though, and with water rushing forward just below his chin, my father could only hope that his toes would find their way back to the gravel between bounces, before the rapids swept him uncontrollably away downstream. He was terrified. But he made it across, and the exhilaration of success made the cross back to the car at the end of the day much easier. The water he stepped into the second time was certainly new and different, but the main reason that he felt more confident crossing the river the second time was that he was different than he had been before. So, he told us, you can never step into the same river twice because by the second step not only the river, but more significantly you yourself, will have changed.
And no matter how the water changes or how they change, those students would probably cross that river in Montana again and again and again, fishing poles held high above their heads, while the current rushed on and away below. For even though it was that current that did eventually sweep Daddy away one sudden winter night and that current that would soon sweep Deerfield away one ceremonious spring day, Deerfield has taught us the awareness necessary to recognize and adapt to such shattering change in the water of our world. Water has the power to flood us away with the flows but it also has the power to buoy us above them; immersed in the water that once carried my father and has until now carried Deerfield, I feel held up by it, and I hope you all do too. I trust that we’ll bounce fearlessly across it on our toes."
That was written in a brave voice by Ingrid Kapetyn--a strong young woman who surely knows the sound of one hand clapping--a strong young woman who carries rivers and her father in her heart. A father who once whispered familiar words to us: "Humility is the first step to strength.
I have been ‘caught’ by the idea of not dwelling in the past. Holden’s relationship with Phoebe is not as strong as he would like it to be, and he wishes he had done something about; it instead of trying to start over now. By watching Holden suffer through this hardship, I have realized that I can’t keep thinking about what has happened in the past, I can’t change that. I must look towards the future because I CAN fix that. Holden needs to accept the people he has dropped and move on to catch someone else. “‘You’re going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you’ve got to start going there’”(188). I believe that Holden has been falling for so long, he has given up trying to stop himself. He only wants to escape from his problems. When Holden faces his problems, he will see where he needs to go and who he needs to save—Phoebe. “I was still sitting on the edge of the bed when I did it, and she put her old arm around my neck, and I put my arm around her, too”(179). Holden doesn’t know how to help Phoebe. He wants to catch her so she doesn’t end up like him. Because Holden is always away at boarding school, he feels no true connection to her and doesn’t know how to save her, but I believe that he wants a connection to her and he knows he will have to be the one to save her.
Phoebe wants him to be there for her. She looks up to him. “‘Don’t go now,’ Phoebe whispered”(178).
I think that whenever Holden thinks about Phoebe, he thinks about how many times he has let Phoebe down and not been there for her instead of all of the great memories he can make with her starting now. This brings him down and makes him dwell in the past.
Holden has taught me through his account of his conversation with Mr. Antolini. One of these things, comes at the beginning of Holden's visit to Mr. Antolini, when Mr. Antolini says to Holden, "'Men who... were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they really got started'" (187). This taught me that the only time I have really lost in life, is when I give up, especially when I give up my dreams. This really means that if I try hard enough, I will succeed at whatever I set my mind to, even if it is hard and seems as if it isn't worth the trouble. I know that when I put effort in I get results, and this truly has solidified that in my mind.
Another thing that Holden's conversation with Mr. Antolini taught me, is that "'An academic education will... begin to give you an idea of what size mind you have'" (190). I take this to mean that, through education of any kind, not just academic, my mind will grow. I don't believe that a mind has a size, it is infinitely large, bound only by the limits that an individual puts on it. Mr. Antolini uses academic education as an example because Holden needs that, but as with my first point, I believe that with hard work, the limits can be removed from my mind, and that when that is accomplished, great things can happen, although not just benefiting me, benefiting all. It is through education that can grow.
Holden's encounter with Mr. Antolini has also taught me that an act out of a feeling of family, can turn someone against me, or turn me against another. Holden tells of Mr. Antolini, "He was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddamn head" (192). Mr. Antolini is merely patting Holden on the head, and act of fatherly affection, which Holden misconstrues to Mr. Antolini making a pass at Holden. This shows that you have to be careful as to the amount of affection that you show towards another person, otherwise you may lose a dear friend because of a misunderstanding. This shows that even the best of intentions can end with the worst of situations, teaching me to always be careful of what I say and do, especially with the people whom I hold near and dear to my heart.
1.) By reading about Holden what are the things you have learned from him? ANOTHER WAY TO ASK THIS QUESTION IS: By listening to Holden's story what ideas have you 'caught' and will keep stored away in your heart long after the book has ended
This book just made me sad. “It made me so damn sad when I thought about it… I knew it wasn’t that important but it made me sad any way” (114). This is two hundred and fourteen pages long and half the time Holden has no idea what he is saying but when he figured out what the hell he was saying he really knocked me out. It made my sub-conscience sad; outside it didn’t affect at all. When the last page closed, I was joyful he was gone. Holden was obnoxious and helpless with help available; those are two characteristics that make me so angry; the book shut and so did Holden’s emotions. He obviously cannot handle himself and does not understand his own inner-workings. “Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever 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). He wants to die, that is not human nature, and Holden is the phony. He has such possibility if he just turned in a new direction. I am myself because I always have been told to be, but now I have solid evidence; I do not want to be Holden. I want control of my personality and principles. I absolutely have no choice accept to live now and only now, and although it is immensely difficult, the past is behind, available strictly for viewing purposes only.
This evening a Chinese factory spoke to me, and it was honesty. It could not change, printed permanently on a slip of paper. “Your principles mean more to you than any money or success”. Holden threw money at us, he threw currency, he threw knowledge; but unlike him I have morals. The difference between us is what I met. I caught the value of listening to the ones who don’t deserve it. I caught the idea of never being a Holden, always being a me and threw it right back in his face. Holden; get help and clear your eyes of the past and clean your ears of the unnatural.
I think Holden is afraid of Phoebe falling and he fears he won’t be there again to catch her. I feel that when Holden is thinking about what he would do if he ever caught the person who had written the bad words on the walls he is trying to keep the bad and evil of the world from Phoebe. “I though how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them…I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it” (pg 201). He states multiple times in different forms that he doesn’t want Phoebe to see that. Older brothers, although they can be a pain, are mainly out just to protect their baby sisters. They just want to see then succeed and they go about it in different ways than parents do. An older brother for instance might not crack down on his sister for getting a bad grade or something a parent would do but instead they would show their disappointment if their sister did something she wasn’t suppose to do or if she was hanging out with “the wrong crowd.” “All the kids kept trying to grab the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse” (pg 211). I think the carousel represents life and how it keeps turning and things happen, but Holden definitely doesn’t want Phoebe to fall because he would be afraid he wouldn’t be able to catcher her. But at the same time Holden knows that he’s got to let her live her life and before he can help her she’s got to make some mistakes too, and that’s what a good older sibling/brother does. “If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (pg 211).
The curses written on the walls of the places Holden goes to causes him to be afraid partly because he fears the time when Phoebe will grow up, but also because he fears the message that the writings send to him personally. These signs force him to see what and who he really is, and this, I believe, is what he fears most.
In our current society, children are forced to grow up faster and faster, due to interaction with older kids, violence in video games, violence in movies and television, and the general feeling of our culture today. As a result, they lose their innocence very quickly. Holden has lost his innocence, despite his attempts to hold on to it, and he fears the same will happen to Phoebe, that she will lose her innocence before she is ready to lose it. “I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them…what it meant, and how they’d all think about it, and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days.” (201) Holden fears that his sister will be forced to begin the path to losing her innocence upon seeing these words, just as he lost his innocence when Allie died. Holden does not want his sister to end up just like him, and therefore becomes fearful when the possibility arises.
Another example for Holden fearing for Phoebe’s innocence is when she tries to come with him when they meet at the art museum. “‘I’m going with you. Can I? Okay?’ I almost fell over when she said that…I got sort of dizzy and I thought I was going to pass out or something again.” (206) Holden plans to drop out of society and leave everything he cares about behind. When he hears that Phoebe wants to follow his path, he freaks out, because he does not want his little sister to follow the same path of failure, loss, and rejection as he does.
What Holden fears most about these writings though, is that they are meant for him. The world is telling him “F*** you”, and he needs to take that lesson and learn from it. This is what Holden the greatest fear. “I was the only one left in the tomb then. I sort of liked it, in a way. Then, all of a sudden, you’d never guess what I saw on the wall. Another ‘F*ck you.’ It was written with a red crayon or something, right under the glass part of the wall, under the stones.” (204) These messages are meant for Holden to find. He sees them over and over, the last one in blaring red crayon, because he needs the message burned into his head. “That’s the whole trouble. You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any. You may think there is, but once you get there…somebody’ll sneak up and write ‘F*ck you’ right under your nose.” (204) Holden thinks he has found a peaceful place with the world and himself, but he needs a rude awakening, and these messages are trying to do that. He is most afraid of leaving what he thinks is his peaceful place.
Andrew Waterhouse wrote...
I have no idea which of the questions my response answers. I suppose it is mainly 2.) and 3.)
Throughout the entire book, Holden Caulfield is looking for a goodbye. He is looking for change. He is looking to leave the old version of himself in the unnatural gasoline rainbows in the natural puddles he sees outside of the Museum of Natural History. "You'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in someway-- I mean I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it" (122).
To gain this goodbye, Holden sees his 'old' teacher Mr. Antolini. Holden knows that because Mr. Antolini taught him English, his virtuosity, that Mr. Antolini would know what to do or teach him. For Holden to leave his grotesque past out of his present, see who he is in the moment, say goodbye to who he was five minutes ago, and be caught by someone. "Thanks a lot,' I said. 'G'by!' The elevator was finally there" (193). Mr. Antolini catches him before he hits the ground. For James Castle, Mr. Antolini waited too long so that he hit the ground, but Mr. Antolini tried to catch Holden right before he hit rock bottom. "...I got soaked anyway. I didn't care though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way Phoebe kept going around and around" (213).
One thing that will always stick with me after reading this book, after reading about Holden, after experiencing his life; and that is that everyone experiences setbacks, and the best thing you can do is dig yourself out, or stop yourself from falling and slowly climb back up to where you were. Where you began, back to innocence back in before the Rye when everything becomes confused. Ideas that I ‘caught’ and will keep stored away have to do with the struggles Holden went through throughout his account. I think the one of the most important ways to learn from people, is to learn from their mistakes and understand how those mistakes came to happen. “’Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future boy” “Oh I feel concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure I do.” I thought about it for a minute. “But not too much, I guess. Not too much, I guess.” “You will” old Spencer said. “You will boy. You will when it’s too late”’(14). Throughout the course of this year I have felt myself slipping in some areas, not being able to fully accepting the consequences every fall has on my future. From seeing how Holden doesn’t have grips on his future and needs to buck up and realize: ‘Hey, I’ve been kicked out of four boarding high schools. How am I going to get into college and become successful like every other hot shot.’ ‘” O have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don’t honestly know what kind…” (186). Holden keeps falling and falling, he doesn’t slow, he doesn’t take a break. He is headed for the great fall off the cliff to where James Castle lies. He is suicidal, he is depressed he is going through changes, he is struggling with accepting his brothers death he is going through so much (the Rye) that he can’t come to terms with the fact that the more he struggles the faster he sinks in the quicksand. There are a lot of things going wrong with Holden’s life, and I really feel like I can relate to some of the things he’s going through. But isn’t that the point of the book? Isn’t that what made it so famous; because practically everyone has something that they can relate to Holden? Even though Holden is an extreme, there is something in him that is in all of us, which is where we can learn from him before we get to such an extreme as he is at. Holden lost his brother; I have lost a best friend. There is a difference and that is his case is more extreme. But the way Holden and I handled the death is not so unalike. I struggled, and I mean struggled with schoolwork, everything I did was painful I couldn’t get him off my mind, Holden also had troubles moving on from Allie and that is how I can connect with Holden, I feel like had I read this book earlier in the year, before Marc’s death I would have been able to learn from Holden and be able to handle his death better, but I learned from myself and although it affected my grades I know how to move on. Listening to Holden’s story I have caught a lot of metaphors about the universe being Holden verse everyone else. Sometimes I feel the same way. As if I am all alone, and I have to just struggle with no one there to help me. And even though friends surround me and family the same way Holden is, I, we still feel alone. ‘“…practically all the school was there except me…”’ (2). Holden is a great character, not only because we can connect to him, but we can learn from him. I have learned a lot from Holden and I will most definitely be rereading this to find more.
By reading about Holden what are the things you have learned from him?
Holden is a type of character that could possibly be a FOIL for me. From past experiences, I have learned from people who are very close what not to do by their evident failures. Holden's mistakes are what have given me the greatest lessons from reading this book. The redundant image of Holden lying to everybody set across a clear point to me that lying only sets backwards steps. Mr. Spencer says, "Wouldn't you like a cup of hot chocolate before you go? Mrs. Spencer would be--" Then Holden says, " I would, I really would but the thing is, I have to get going. I have to go to the gym, Thanks though. Thanks a lot sir"(15). Later in this chapter, Holden talks about how he doesn't even use the gym and that has the best liar you'll ever meet. Although lying is somewhat of a skill someone can have. Lying defines being phony so I have learned that in order for me to be as real as possible, I need to speak the truth.
Holden's approach to situations is always pessimistic which causes most things to not be in his favor. Holden is the kind of character that expects someone else to fix his problems and unluckily, nobody has truly fixed anything for him. That is why he approaches life in such a manner. Holden says "you know that song if a body catch a body comin through the rye?""It's if a body meet a body comin through the rye"(173). said Phoebe. Right here shows Holden's dependence on other people to catch him when really, he needs to do his part and meet the people who will be the greatest influences in his life. "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?"(60). When Holden says this to the cab driver it is quite evident that his curiosity is similar in the way of someone catching him. He's always asking other people what he doesn't know and picturing a truck taking them away. He never thinks about the ducks flying away on their own. His loneliness and inability to "fly" on his own is what has majorly influenced his big downfalls in the book. These sections make me understand the concept of being independent and being your own person. Holden has taught me mostly what not to do and I will use his actions to better myself in the near future.
~Conor McFarland.
In chapter twenty five Holden is afraid of losing his connection to his sister Phoebe. He says,“I began to get scared that maybe that old lady in the school had told that other lady not to give old Phoebe my message…I really wanted to see Phoebe before I hit the road” (205). Holden is contemplating leaving, but if Phoebe doesn’t come to say goodbye he fears their connection will be broken. Phoebe is one of the only people that Holden has ever had a strong connection with. This shows how Holden isolates himself from others, and doesn’t trust anyone but Phoebe.
When Holden will not allow Phoebe to accompany him, “She took off my red hunting hat – the one I gave her – and practically chucked it right in my face. Then she turned her back on me again. It nearly killed me” (207). I think that this is an important passage. Holden tries to protect his sister from society, and from growing up. He wants to preserve her innocence as long as possible. When Phoebe throws the hat at his it symbolizes her growing up. Holden is afraid that once Phoebe grows up and understands society she will see Holden’s flaws and break their connection.
“I went up and sort of stood behind her and sort of put my hands on her shoulders, but she bent her knees and slid out from me” (209). This shows Holden trying to preserve their connection, but what he doesn’t understand is that there will always be a connection between them. By forcing a connection between them it is making her push him away.
I think the easiest thing to say is that Holden has taught me what not to do. But I also do not think that that is the “right” answer. Each of Holden’s many mistakes have taught us each many lessons, not all of these lessons were the same for everyone. “You can’t ever find a place that’s nice and peaceful, because there isn’t any” (204). Here, Holden is trying to tell us, the readers, that everywhere you go, you will not be happy. We all know that this is not true but Holden thinks it is. He thinks it’s true because of the many bad experiences he has had with everyone around him. He learned this from those experiences and has taught us to learn from our own as well. I do not think that we should base everything we do, though, on those past experiences. The past is the past and we should remember it but it should not rule our present and future lives.
Holden is afraid of himself, in chapter 25. When he sees the “fuck you” all over the school, he realizes that that has been his attitude towards life for a very long time. This attitude that he gave to everyone who cared about him is one of the factors that pushed them away. Holden grasped that he has written or said this phrase many times and I think he wants to reconcile that. “I kept picturing myself catching him at it,” (201). I think Holden truly wants to catch himself before he falls. He knows that he has been falling for a long time and that phrase on the wall sent him over the edge. All of this finally caught up to him while he was at Phoebe’s school. Holden saw how that phrase could affect everyone around him. He saw that he wasn’t the one who used that phrase and that even little kids like Phoebe can see and hear it. This realization or epiphany causes Holden to try to erase the phrase off of the wall. “But I knew, too, I wouldn’t have the guts to do it” (201). Holden struggles to find out who he really is throughout the book, but here he sees how his actions or the actions of others can influence many people. He wants to be able to erase all of his mistakes, his past, but he certainly will not be able to do that. I think that Holden bringing up his confidence to erase the phrase on the wall shows that he is taking a step forward in his life. By erasing that phrase, Holden is making an attempt to erase his past and all of the bad things that follow those memories.
Jon Malloy wrote...
Holden always critics people for being different from how he is, even if it’s not a bad thing at all. The only people he thinks that are pure and aren’t phonies are the people that he has been in a close relationship for a long time in his childhood. This is the reason he has a very different relationship with Pheobe than with other people he is around such as Stradlater or Ackley. Holden is so protective of her and maybe doesn’t want her to grow up the same that he did now that he has reflected on how his life has really been up to this point. “If I ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a tombstone and all, it’ll say ‘Holden Caulfield’ on it, and then what year I was born and what year I died, and then right under it it’ll say ‘Fuck You.’ I’m positive in fact”(204). Holden’s life has been so bad with the people that he meets and judges right away that when he dies that is what people would want to write on his tombstone if they had the chance to write something on it. He doesn’t want Pheobe’s life the same way and doesn’t want to be exposed to a bad lifestyle so early as ten years old like Holden probably was. I think this is the reason that Holden gets so pissed off when he sees all of the “Fuck You’s” everywhere he goes right before he meets up with Pheobe for the last time. “Somebody’d written ‘Fuck You’ on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Pheobe and the other little kids would see it, and wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them – all cockeyed, naturally – what it meant”(201). I think he wants to make everything right for her before he leaves her so she can grow up far different than the way he did, and be a much better person in what he thinks is a good person. “Everytime I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never make it to the other side of the street. I thought I’d go down, down, down, and nobody’d ever see me again”(197). By saying this I think Holden is trying to sneak in telling us that he is going to miss everybody and he wishes that everybody is going to miss him. Holden is scared that the people that he is close to and that he’s not close to, are going to be more happy than sad when he leaves them.
After reading The Cathcer in the Rye and reading everything that’s gone on through this one kids childhood, has opened my eyes. I see what some kids go through and how life really can be a “bitch”. Holden has gone through four private schools and been kicked out of every single one. His parents have just alsmot completely given up on him. His older brother lives far away, his younger brother died, and he barely see’s his sister. Hes a depressed kid with what seems to be no bright option to go to. This shows me that I am very lucky to have two parents who both take care of me and care about me very much. I’m at a private school where my teachers care about me and make sure they work with me so I do well and do suceed in life. “I got your note. Thanks a lot. He’d written me this note asking me to stop by and say good-by before vacation started, on account of I wasn’t coming back” (chapter 2 pg. 7) Holden looks for a good by from one of the teachers he was failing. It’s almost like Holden was a little upset with himself that he failed that class. He had to of liked the teacher somehwat if he went to go and say good by to him. This shows me that Holden was just to lazy to try in his class, and that it didn’t matter to him if he failed or not.
“I tired to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat open. Only I missed. I didn’t connect. All I did was sort of get him on the side of the head or something.” (chapter 6 pg. 43) Holdens encounter with Stradlatter I think woke him up a little bit. He found out that he’s not this big tough mature guy he thinks he is. Stradlatter, this hot shot who Holden hates but secretly almost idolizes him. He gets all the girls passes his classes without doing much work and is a popular guy around school. Although the day Stradlatter took it to far and took out Holdens girl that he really likes, he had reached his breaking point. He went after Stradlatter and got beat up instead. Holden was almost shocked of what happened he didn’t know that he could ever be beat up or defeated. Holden however instead of learning from this and growing up he did the most immature thing and left campus and went on his own. I can see where he would be mad and upset but he shouldn’t just stick his nose down and run away he should just stay low for a while. “All of a sudden, I decided what I’d really do, I’d get the hell out of Pency-right that same night and all. Imean not wait till Wednesay or anything.” (chapter 7 pg. 51) To roam new york city by himself, and try to escape his past. The only thing he felt he could do was just run away run away from everything and try to forget everything that has happene to him in his past. Real mature Holden, real mature.
-Ricky-
In the Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulfield struggles to find balance, happiness, and tranquility in life. Holden’s struggle is the same feeling of confliction every high school student has felt at one point or another. Salinger’s character makes a point in the early chapters by addressing the fact that he was no talent; however, upon later introspection and examination, Holden discovers his skill as a writer when he is called a “hot shot” (28). Although Holden’s situation is an extreme one compared to most adolescent's lives, there is a relative, mutual, and undeniable connection to him for everyone. From the highpoints in life, to the very rock bottom, Holden’s classic story has taught me three essential lessons that I will carry in my heart after his story has long since died.
Holden Caulfield needed his devastating fall in order for him to succeed in life. I needed the same fall, Holden’s illustrious fall, in for me to understand the most important part of life; failure. “’This fall I think you’re riding for—it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom’” (187). Holden is constantly falling throughout the Catcher in the Rye as his life spirals downward, depicted in instances such as his failure in school, excessive drinking at multiple bars, and his use of a prostitute, his addiction to smoking, and his loss of communication with his family. However, when he seeks out Mr. Antolini’s help, he unknowingly hits the bottom of his fall. Mr. Antolini forces Holden to face, accept, and understand his past, therefore ending his fall. It is only after Holden’s meeting with Antolini that his life begins to change, climbing back up the dark cliff he was unable to avoid. Holden’s fall emphasized a concept many teachers before had attempted to drill into my brain, that failing was okay. Being raised in the competitive commercial, financial, educational and athletic system that is the United States, being told failure was okay was unfathomable. However, after I read Holden’s story I began to see why failure is inevitable, and why hitting the bottom of failure is crucial. No one is perfect, and therefore no one is unable to fail; it was Holden’s constant failure, drawing out numerous examples of failure, which allowed me to realize and acknowledge that I had failed at the very same thing as he had, and surprisingly enough, I was okay. Holden’s story educated me in many ways, and as Earl Shorris stated in his essay titled Education in the Hands of the Restless Poor, education will make you rich, but not in terms of money; in terms of life.
Holden’s failure in all but the subject of English has taught me that the way to find true success is not the many deeds of a straight A student, but rather by the toughness of a boy holding onto his last true possession. Holden Caulfield fails out of four boarding schools in a span of three years, yet, throughout all of his failure, he succeeds in English class. “’How’d you do in English? I’ll show you the door in short order if you flunked English, you little ace composition writer’” (182). Mr. Antolini highlights Holden’s exceptional skill as a writer to show him that he can accomplish greatness. By emphasizing Holden’s writing as the means for which he can succeed, Antolini gives Holden the inspiration he needs to advance in life. At the age of fifteen, two years younger than Salinger’s classical protagonist, I am reaching another critical point in my life where I have reached the crossroad of success and failure. Holden’s ability to use his writing as a tool for achievement shattered my previous belief that the only way to succeed in school, sports, and life, was too superior in everything I attempted. When Holden’s life hits rock bottom, culminating with his departure to Antolini’s house where he come to terms with himself, all Holden possesses is his writing; but throughout his meeting he learns that writing is all he needs. When I hit rock bottom, with my parents divorce, I believed that the only way to erase what had happened was to surround myself with such acts of triumph that everyone would forget I was the child of a divided guardianship; but you can never erase your past because even when it fades away, because it continues to tear in your heart.
Throughout the Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s struggle to communicate with the people he loves and cares about most denies him closure on his past, and a path toward his future. When Holden reaches the moment to communicate and connect, he always fails to reach out. “I damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz, though. I certainly felt like talking to her on the phone. Somebody with sense and all… I thought of maybe hanging up if my parents answered, but that wouldn’t’ve worked, either” (66-67). Holden’s struggle in life accentuates and amplifies the discord between him and his parents. The tension lying within their relationship ultimately denies Holden the connection he needs in order to obtain a link through his past. Denis Waitley, an American motivational speaker, said, “There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons.” This was unquestionably true when I thought about the last lesson Holden taught me. His failure to communicate showed me how vital commutation and connection is to the ones you love. Without the bond that my family and I share, we are no longer distinguished people to one another. Through Holden’s narration, I have learned that it is impossible to sever the connection family creates; you can only camouflage it from yourself. I no longer look to deny or hide the connection to my family because of Holden’s loss; he failed to accept his connection, and therefore the help his family could have offered him. I have come to realize this inescapable fact of life, that no matter how the bends of life turn and sway back and forth, up and down, top to bottom, family will always be going through life right by your side.
Thank you for listening,
Chris Richards
Holden is afraid of Pheobe losing her innocence and growing up. Holden wants Pheobe to always be the innocent little child that he can talk to honestly without judgment. Pheobe is the person that he trusts most in his life and he is afraid of losing that. “You’d like her. I mean if you tell old Pheobe something, she knows exactly what the hell you’re talking about” (67). Holden feels like Pheobe is the only person that truly understands him and he isn’t willing to let her grow up. Pheobe is very emotional, and that’s how she shows people she cares, where as Holden can’t find a way to express his care for the people around him. “The only trouble is, she’s a little too affectionate sometimes. She’s very emotional, for a child. She really is” (68). Holden doesn’t want anything to change, and because of that, he won’t change himself. Holden knows that Pheobe will grow up, and he has already seen that side of her, but he cannot accept that. “She’d wear white gloves and walk right between us, like a lady and all” (68). Until Holden accepts that everyone grows up and loses their innocence, he will never grow up himself.
-Hallie
Andrew Waterhouse wrote...
I have no idea which of the questions my response answers. I suppose it is mainly 2.) and 3.)
Throughout the entire book, Holden Caulfield is looking for a goodbye. He is looking for change. He is looking to leave the old version of himself in the unnatural gasoline rainbows in the natural puddles he sees outside of the Museum of Natural History. "You'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in someway-- I mean I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it" (122).
To gain this goodbye, Holden sees his 'old' teacher Mr. Antolini. Holden knows that because Mr. Antolini taught him English, his virtuosity, that Mr. Antolini would know what to do or teach him. For Holden to leave his grotesque past out of his present, see who he is in the moment, say goodbye to who he was five minutes ago, and be caught by someone. "Thanks a lot,' I said. 'G'by!' The elevator was finally there" (193).
Mr. Antolini catches him before he hits the ground. For James Castle, Mr. Antolini waited too long so that he hit the ground, but Mr. Antolini tried to catch Holden right before he hit rock bottom. "...I got soaked anyway. I didn't care though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way Phoebe kept going around and around" (213). Mr Antolini telis Holden that he iS trying to die nOb1y f0r a cause rather than 1ive humbly for one; calling him an immature man. "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one," (188). However, it is not. he wisest thing to of Holden to turn to two extremes: the self-hating mature man or the hubris-possessing immature man. Instead of turning to either of those extremes, Holden must find a balance between the two. It's in his nature to do so.
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