Journal (Catcher in the Rye)

9-24-07
log in 1
pg 8-9
Several things caught my attention throughout these pages, first I noticed how he said "people never notice anything" my first question towards a comment like that would be do you really know enough people to make that assumption? and in saying that does he mean that he does notice things? another thing i noticed was that he was very hypocritical or another way to say it is he isn't very honest. For example in pg 8 his teacher told him that life was a game with rules that you had to play along with he agreed vocally but he disagreed to himself and the same thing happened again on pg 9 the same teacher told him he thought his parents were great people and he agreed again but then he said to himself that he thought the word 'great' was phony and he hated it, these conversations made me want to judge him harshly it seems to me that he is the only 'phony' person.


9-25-07
log in 2
ch 1
The first thing that caught my attention when I first read through these pages was how he described that everyone seemed to have very different values than others, for example he got kicked out of about three different schools yet he doesn't mind while others would be getting very stressed, when he said that the school football game was very important yet he wasn't there to see it, and he always seems to say things in a brutally honest way as if that was the way of life and there's nothing that can change it while others try to cover up reality. The way he explains things makes him seem as if he isn't really going along with the roles of society, it's as if he doesn't care and he's only a part of an audience watching a movie. Something else I noticed was that the author didn't seem to have any specific way of writing. He would begin to describe something then he would change the subject to something that was not connected to what he was first saying at all. He didn't seem to have self-control or any order at all over what he needed to say and everything he told the readers didn't seem to have a point at all. This whole way of writing confused me, once I had observed this and noticed how strange it was I started to think maybe the point of the novel wasn't what his character was doing it was how he was doing it and how the author was describing it, Is that the reason it was considered a great novel? because of the way he wrote it? or am I just trying to get anything I can out of this novel?


9-25-07
log in 3
pg 14-16
When I first read through these pages the respect I had for Holden as a human being really lowered. I hated how he first said he completely detested phony people like his headmaster Mr.Haas however later he proceeded to tell his readers he was an excellent liar and he is always lying too. Does that mean he also detests himself? He is such a hypocrite,and in writing these thing he also tells me that most humans not only hate liars but are also liars themselves. It gets me so angry how he is always, unconsciously or consciously, talking about people like himself as if they were trash. He is such a phony person he seems to put on a mask over himself whenever he's near anyone he respects. Maybe if I knew why he does that I would have a better understanding over his actions, like in the novel Things Fall Apart when I understood why Okonkwo was doing what he was doing, however not being able to know and have that knowledge of the reason behind the action really gets to me.


9-26-07
log in 4
pg 20-24
It really surprised me how much he talked about Ackeley and Stradlater, he got into so much specific detail, while he clearly didn't adore his time with them, that I started to wonder if they would be important characters later on. He spends so much time thinking about them and how sloppy their habits are, it's almost as if he's obsessed with things that seem so unimportant. But it's not only on his roommates that he spends a lot of time talking about he also spent a lot of time explaining things that didn't seem to make any difference whether they happened or not. His personality really bugs me, I don't understand why he's always 'horsing around', or why he's always cussing, smoking,drinking, and picking fights when he doesn't really care. I can understand why he doesn't respect people who not only lie to the world but also to themselves but if he hates frauds why is he a fraud himself?


9-27-07
log in 5
pg 36
As Holden waits for Ackeley to get ready to go to the movies with him I noticed that Holden got a snowball and packed it and was about to throw it at a car but because he noticed how clean it was he didn't feel like ruining it's beauty, and he did the same thing with a hydrant. He kept packing it and packing it but he didn't want to throw it, until he had to throw it out because the bus Driver made him. But what i would like to know is what would he have done with that snowball? would he have kept it until it melted or would he have kept packing it unable to ruin the beauty of the things around him. And then when the bus driver didn't believe Holden wasn't going to throw it at anyone so Holden chucked it out Holden said something very interesting he said "I told him I wasn't going to chuck it anybody,but he wouldn't believe me. People never believe you" I have noticed very often that Holden makes many general comments whenever he speaks of society as in he speaks of society as a whole with no exceptions. That really irritates me.


9-27-07
log in 6
pg 39
When Holden started to describe Allie's baseball mitt during this page I thought that it was just going to be another long descriptive piece for someone who wasn't even going to take up much space in the novel. But as I kept going I realized that Allie was one of the few people who Holden had really loved and not judged, Holden doesn't seem to admit it to himself but Allie had meant a lot to him, when he lost him, when Allie died a part of Holden most likely died alongside his brother. And in his pain and rage he had not only broken all the windows of the garage he had hurt his hand most likely for life, It's a pain that doesn't go away it only slowly ebbs until It seems as if his hand had never not had the pain. As for Allie's left handed baseball mitt it seems very important yet the reason for that importance hasn't come to me yet.


9-28-07
log in 7
pg 40
During this piece something caught my attention that I hadn't noticed before when Stradlater came back from his date with Jane Gallagher he asked Holden if he had finished the composition for him. What struck me from this piece was that even though It was Holden that was being kicked out of the school it was actually Stadlater who was the one cheating to pass, and even though Holden was not passing most of his academic classes he did notice most of the world around him while Stadlater seemed to live life in his own bubble, not thinking of the others around him. Another thing that caught my attention was how when Holden wrote about his brothers baseball mitt as Stradlater's composition he wanted to explain to others how important his brother was yet when Stradlater came and read it he didn't understand the situation and he was very insensitive so Holden tore it up unable to bear Stradlater's ignorant remarks about it.


9-29-07
log in 8
pg 43-47
During this section Holden gets into a row with Stadlater, It begins because Stadlater fooled around with one of the few girls Holden cared about I wouldn't have originally wrote about this if it were any other fight but what really got to me here was how willingly Holden was to fight for her respect even while he was conscious that Stadlater could easily beat him up, that might have something to do with the fact that Holden has nothing (he cares about) to lose while Stadlater does, and after the fight Holden seems to get so exhausted as if all of his anger had gotten him tired. He reminds me of an old man who's gone through so much yet he never seems to learn from his experiences or he learns something that won't benefit him in society. Another thing that strikes me is how his pain seems to have no control over him, as if it doesn't matter to him how much he gets hurt as long as he gets hurt over his beliefs this thought hit me when he went to see Ackley and he was still bleeding yet he didn't care and he talked as if nothing had happened and his bleeding didn't matter to him. The way Holden acts is so hypocritical yet so honest and real that he makes me hate him but like him at the same time.

9-29-07
log in 9
pg 52
Holden is rich. This is a part of Holden's life that just didn't seem important until I thought about it just now. If he's so rich it must be hard on him and all the other rich guys who've been born into that role, and I don't mean it in a sarcastic way because the pressure of a male to become a success, carry on the name, and keep a good reputation is huge. Most people think that people who have a lot of money have it easy but I don't think they do. It's this role that society has tried to push on to Holden that he's trying to get away from, I imagine that's why he doesn't mind getting kicked out of all of his private schools, and why he runs away so suddenly he is trying to get away from the pressure to become a person he does not want to be and find the role he fits into. That is what this novel is about, it is about a boy trying to find the true way to escape society and the roles that are pushed upon them, not about Jane, or the pimp, or his sexual life although those are important pieces of his life it's about his finding his way.

9-30-07
log in 10
pg 58
Holden lies a lot. I realized that from the beginning but as I read on it seemed more and more obvious not only that he lies a lot but also that he's conscious of it and he doesn't really care about the effect it might have on people's lives. Take this page for example he says quite clearly " Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once i get started, I can go on for hours if feel like it. No kidding. Hours." Maybe he lies because he thinks it doesn't matter if he lies about things that don't matter when the society is lying to each other every day about things that are very important. Even when people don't know it they lie to each other and themselves, Ackeley most likely lies to himself and everyone else when he says he brushes his teeth he probably lies to himself when he says that he hates Stadlater for his personality when he it is likely that he dislikes him for what Stadlater said about keeping himself cleaner.

9-31-07
log in 11
pg 67-68
Holden really cares about his sister, Pheobe, even though she's only ten she seems to be the only person who can understand him. This unconditional love he has for his siblings is so strong they must be some of the most important people of his life, and I have an idea of why he appreciates them so much, the main reason that stands out when I think of how much he loves his younger brother and sister is that they are so young that they haven't been influenced by society so their innocence is unstained and they are truthfully honest, this theory of mine is only supported by other things that I have noticed for example when he came home after running away from school he first looked for his sister he found another girl she was also young he took a liking to her because she was so polite when he tightened her skates for her and asked her is she wanted to go with him for some hot chocolate but she said no. The conversation they had didn't seem one between strangers just one between nice people.

9-31-07
log in 12
pg 73
There are a few things that struck me while I was reading through these pages. First of all Holden goes to this really corny club and he keeps thinking it's just about the corniest place but he doesn't want to leave, and when he sees the three women that are sitting in the table next to him he asks them to dance even when it's obvious he dislikes them and they're stupid. He really likes the blond one because of the way she dances he tries to have a conversation with her but she really doesn't care, what really struck me during this part was how obviously uncomfortable he was talking to them yet he didn't want to leave them. Here's a quote from Holden saying that he liked the blond just because she was pretty "That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can."

10-1-07
log in 13
pg 78-79
When Holden describes how Jane cried when her stepfather came asking for cigarettes it really moved me, It made me wonder if he had ever hurt Jane, Holden says she was beautiful, and with him being drunk all the time I wouldn't be surprised if that was why Jane didn't want to talk to him. If that wasn't the reason that Jane had started to cry I would have to say my second best guess would be that she was tired of how much he drank and didn't care about her and how her family was falling apart. This is only my guess but I would say that she was hurt by him in some form or way and she didn't know how to deal with it. It's so sad how she didn't know how to tell Holden what was wrong so she had to keep her silence and deal with her pain, without the comfort of knowing how it would all turn out or even if she would someday get to tell someone and get that burden of her chest.

10-2-07
log in 14
pg 81-83
Holden gets very interested about the ducks and during this section he asks the taxi driver if he knows where they all go during the winter, the taxi driver doesn't know but what I thought was so interesting about this piece was how persistent Holden was about the matter he really wanted to know where they went It seemed interesting to me how much he thought about them so I started thinking about why he was thinking about them and I came up with the idea that he wanted to know if they knew on instinct where they were going, if they had their whole lives planned out with no doubts, because his own doubts by know must have been overwhelming. His confusion about his role in life had him reaching for the nearest similar situation for help, but the taxi driver didn't know what happened to the ducks he said it didn't matter, this didn't help but Holden still wanted to know he needed a guide.

10-3-07
log in 15
pg 94-96
When Holden explained why he wanted the prostitute to come up to his room I didn't even think he was thinking about what he was doing, but when I came to the part where he didn't want to do anything with her and he just wanted to talk I got confused, why would he get so depressed, was it because he saw what society had done to such a young girl? It was depressing in a way but couldn't he have thought about the pain that had been brought upon the girl before he ordered her like a pizza? he was so depressed about the horrible life the girl held and had to live and how she was brought up to be so rude, he even got depressed about how normal she must look to other people when she did every day things and then she had to live a different life at night just so she could get by and survive. The way society had made the event of selling the body into something that could seem normal was very sad and indeed depressing.

10-3-07
log in 16
pg 101-102
Once I read through this piece what I didn't understand was when the pimp and the prostitute came back why didn't he just give the man the extra five bucks instead of getting hurt over something that could have been easily just a small argument. All he had to do was give the man five dollars more so that they could both go away he had mentioned before that he was loaded so money couldn't have been a problem but instead he chose to fight (or at least struggle) for what he thought was right. This incident really opened my eyes to the extent Holden was willing to go just to get a bit of justice, to how far Holden would go just to open the eyes of society and to show them a bit of reality. These thoughts that came to me helped me to understand Holden's reason's for the things he did even if for awhile his actions stumped me.

10-4-07
log in 17
pg 106
I got confused during this piece when Holden calls up a girl named sally to go out with her just because he thought she was "good-looking" even when he said he used to date her he said that he once thought she was intelligent until he found out she really wasn't, and he called her a phony and she gave him a pain in the butt because she was so conceded but he still wanted to go out with her and he didn't really mind all of the flaws she had but he still pointed them out.
And when she says "grand" he states to himself that he hates the word grand because it's so phony but he's always saying words that seem just as phony or he'll say he hates something and not soon after he'll do the same thing. He's very hypocritical and he says he hates society but isn't he the part of the community that makes up the society?

10-4-07
log in 18
pg 108
I don't understand why the suit case scenario was so important to Holden? why did it matter if the nun's had cheap suitcases? They were nun's they must have had more important things to spend their money on rather than suitcases. why did he have to notice such a thing? that kind of mind is the mind of someone who has been trained by society to naturally notice the value of things and the financial status a person has. These pages made me truly realize how attached Holden was to the things that were considered "normal" even while he tried not to be Holden would always be support the ideas of the society subconsciously even while he hated them with an intense passion.

10-5-07
log in 19
pg 117
So Holden hates actors. I can semi see why however I'm still confused. He likes actors that are more like people than actors and he hates people who know that they're good actors so they're not good actors at all. He's very confusing yet I can see his point, I also hate it when people act like if they know they're really good and by knowing they're really good it completely makes them horrible and cancels out any real talent they might have owned. I've had various encounters with people like this and my conclusion is that they can be very self-centered and conceited and the only way to deal with that type of people is to try to stay away from them. They're personality completely ruins any compliments you might have had for them and they can really ruin a day.

10-5-07
log in 20
pg 121
I got very interested in what Holden had to say about the indian museum during this piece, I was especially curious about what he had to say when he talked about how the wax statues would always stay in their spot's never moving and never changing always doing the same thing and the only thing that would ever change would be the person themselves, something would be different as in their clothing or the experiances they went through and any other changes that would affect a human being. Holden seemed very intent on expressing how much the statues never change and never would they would always be doing the same thing, I think that's the part that keeps Holden attatched to that museum.

10-6-07
log in 21
pg 132
What I would really like to know right about know is what was Holden thinking when he asked sally, a girl who by the way he thought was stupid and a phony, to come with him to vermont or massachusetts leave everything behind and not look back and only look forward to a life of being married to some guy she didn't like and being a housewife. Seriously what was he thinking? was it another one of those things you had to do when you where in the right mood? I mean I know he wanted to get away from society and all of it's influences but he could have at least asked a girl who he could actually live with, someone maybe like Jane or a girl he actually admired and loved.

10-7-07
log in 22
pg 137-138
This particular piece interested me because of the way Holden intensified the role of the drum player in the orchestra, this drum player sounded so insignificant yet full of power at the same time. His small role in throughout the whole thing made it so much more important when he actually made a sound. And even while the audience most likely didn't pay any attention to him Holden and his brother, Allie, did. He stood out to them for his tiny role in such a big deal. this man had a great impact on Holden, this man's role in the orchestra to me seemed to say that no matter the size of the action it would always be a part of the orchestra and a big one too even if it didn't seem like it at the moment.