The Catcher in the Rye Post 4: Quotes

This quote seems to express what Holden probably thinks about his destiny.  He has probably realized that this is his life, and he wants to only live on his terms.  This quote from the Gita seems to be saying that you shouldn't be living your life under someone else's control.  That when you start living your life under someone else's ideals and rules, you're no longer living your life.  I think Holden has this attitude in his personality.  We know that he's been kicked out of many schools, so it seems like he has felt a need to live his life based on what he wants to do, not others.  I think this part of his personality makes him an exciting and pretty cool person because I think he's really trying to live his life to fulfillment, not just someone else's expectation.

"What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else." (Joseph Campbell)

I think this quote from Joseph Campbell also expresses what Holden may believe about life.  I think he believes that each life is a very unique experience, and it's not meant to be lived by anyone else.  He seems to be living his life like he knows that there's no time to worry about people trying to tell him how he should be living.  

Shooting the Crap with Holden Caulfield: Blog Post 3

For some reason, Holden has become an unstoppable chronic lier. He can't stop himself from just making things up to create some type of conversation and connection. One of the mediums through which his lies often radiate is something he calls "shooting the crap". Shooting the crap doesn't always have to consist of lies, but usually, when Holden starts shooting the crap, he just starts making stuff up to engage some type of interest or relation to the person he's talking to. One of the times he does this is when he's talking to Mrs. Morrow on page 56. "Then I really started chucking the old crap around. 'Did he tell you about the elections? I asked her. 'The class elections?' She shook her head. I had her in a trance, like. I really did." I think the main reason he does this is because he enjoys playing with people's heads. He must get some satisfaction from feeling he has created some type of illusion around the person he's talking to. But it only does he shoot the crap with other characters, he also shoots the crap with the reader. One of these times seems to arise as Holden it leaving the school on the subway. "If I'm on a train at night, I can usually even read one of one of those dumb stories in a magazine without puking." (52) He's definitely not lying in his shooting the crap routine with us, but I think he's just trying to create something to distract us from what he's doing. He might also sound a bit nervous about what he's doing, and he's trying to take his mind of what he's doing.

The Catcher in the Rye: Post 2

I think that chapter 5 of The Catcher in the Rye shows a different and somewhat emotional side of Holden. He shows us that he has a side that has seen grief and has to deal with it. He seems somewhat afraid to right out tell us that he experiences sadness, but he gives us enough details that we can see that he really is normal in that regard. "Old Allie's baseball mitt. I happened to have it with me, in my suitcase, so I got it out and copied down the poems that were written on it." (39) He tells us that he has this very nostalgic side by saying that he just keeps this old baseball glove in his suitcase. He tries not to make that big a deal of it, but you can tell that it really does mean a lot to him. Holden then reminisces about how great Allie was, and how much we would've loved him. I can't really relate to Holden in the aspect of experiencing the grief he must've felt when his brother died, but I can understand the idea of trying to hold on to better memories. This is something that he almost seems to feel ashamed of, but he still wants to talk about it. I think he almost recognizes that this is something we all feel and all try to hold on to.

The Catcher in the Rye: Post 1

At this point in the book, I've come to really like the personality of Holden Caulfield. At first in the book, I felt like he might be a little too self-centered for my liking, but I found that while he might be self-centered, he really wasn't ignorant or selfish about it. By this I mean that he was still a nice person. An example of him just being a nice person is how he visited Mr. Spencer. Typically, I'd expect a self-centered teenager to disregard an old teacher who wanted to say goodbye to him, but it seemed to me that Holden really did care about seeing Mr. Spencer before he left even though he wasn't really fond of him. "He had the grippe, and I figured I probably wouldn't see him again till Christmas vacation started." (3)

With him being a pretty nice guy, I really like how he expresses himself in a really direct and courageous way. He doesn't ever seem to really care about what people think of him, and he approaches communication with people pretty directly and with intent. In other words, I admire him for really just "keepin' it real", in the parlance of our times.

I also really enjoy his sense of humor. I enjoy reading about the things he does just for kicks, and I admire the way he really just keeps himself entertained. "So I backed up a few feet and started going this tap dance, just for the hell of it. I was just amusing myself. I can't really tap-dance or anything, but it was a stone floor in the can, and it was good for tap-dancing."(29)

If I had to say I either sympathize, empathize or pass judgement on Holden, I'd have to say I'm closer to empathizing with him. I can understand the concept of entertaining yourself when nothing interesting's really happening. Or being nice to someone for the soul purpose of not being a jerk. And I can't say that I judge him or sympathize him because I really hold him in high respect for who he is.