Friday, April 20, 2012
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.
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Yes I agree that Holden has become a compulsive liar. In my opinion. it was unecessary to "shoot the crap around" with Mrs. Morrow. Ya he also lies to the readers too which bugs me because I never know when to believe him or not. I only seem to believe him when he's talking about something sincere like Allie's death. I think he lies to make drama and likes to get a rise out of people. Good job on your blog!
ReplyDeleteI think though in this situation he was lying because he cared, he wanted Mrs. Marrow to feel good about her son because, as Holden said, she knew how her son really was, and he wanted to change her mind even if it wasn't true. Though in many cases his lying is not focused in this direction and it is just because he wants to, like when he tells Mrs. Marrow he has a brain tumour.
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