Reflecting on one important or insightful passage.

"I still had to get those damn theater tickets, so i bought a paper and looked up to see what shows were playing. On account of it was Sunday, there were only about three shows playing. So what I did was, I went over and bought two orchestra seats for I Know My Love, It was a benefit performance or something. I didn't much want to see it, but I knew old Sally, the queen of phonies, would start drooling all over the place when I told her I had tickets for that, because the Lunts were in it and all. She liked shows that are supposed to be very sophisticated and dry and all, with the Lunts and all. I don't. I don't like any shows very much, if you want to know the truth. They're not as bad as movies, but they're certainly nothing to rave about. In the first place, I hate actors. they never act like people. They just think they do. Some of the good ones do, in a very slight way, but now in a way that's fun to watch. And if any actor's really good, you can always tell he knows he's good, and that spoils it (Salinger- 116, 117)"

I think that it's weird that Holden would buy tickets to something that he absolutely dislikes. You'd think that maybe he would suggest going somewhere else like sitting at the park and talking because we notice his "hard-headedness" so much. But no, he buys the tickets for the show and he picks the one that he thinks that old Sally would like the most. It's sort of weird... but cute in a way. He cares about her, weather he will admit it or not. He goes on to say that that show is for people who are phony and they're phony because they like that sort of stuff but maybe, Holden only calls people phonies to keep a distance from people. I talked about this before, but Holden is so alone and it makes me wonder so much why he wouldn't just reach out to someone and be close with them. He is afraid that they will be taken away like Allie was but its been years and he needs to get over that.

Later on in the chapter, Holden repeatedly calls himself crazy because he was admitting his feelings for Sally. He is not crazy, he just likes her! He needs to realize that it's Okay to be close with someone and share your feelings. I am interested to read chapter the rest of chapter 17 and chapter 18 to see what happens between Holden and Sally.

Who is Holden Caulfield?

Holden Caulfield REALLY confuses me. Sometimes I see the lonely side of him and it makes me sad that he doesn't really have anyone to confide in. Other times.... I see the jerk side in Holden that sort of turns me off of his character. I just think that Holden would be a lot better off if he stopped judging people. His method of meeting people and relationships with others starts with judging and then he gets to know what type of person they are, by their words and actions to him. I think that the studying on the book that I have been doing has really helped me to realize that Holden is not just some self absorbed jerk that mopes around and feels sorry for himself. He is really trying and that is what makes me like him. I can relate to him on some of his difficulties in life but i just don't really deal with it the way that Holden would. I think that he is just trying to figure out who he is and what hes all about. He needs to make some true friends to help him along the way because the people that you surround yourself with and do things with are a reflection of who you are as a person. Once Holden finds a true friend to help guide him, he will find out who he truly is. The hard thing is that to find a true friend, he will probably need to stop judging the book by its cover. :)

Childhood and Adulthood

Holden often acts childish in the ways that he deals with problems in his life. In chapter six, Holden, was so upset about Stradlater going out with his old friend, Jane Gallagher, that he tried to hit him. He was mad because Stradlater wouldn't tell him if he did anything with Jane. Holden just got so caught up in the situation, that he lashed out at Stradlater instead of just letting it go. He ended up getting his own self hurt even more. Growing up to be an adult requires the ability to be mature about things and with that, you need to be able to let go of things and just move on. Holden is sort of an adult in some moments of the book, like when he just shut his mouth about Ackley being gross and all and went to that movie with Ackley and Stradlater. He was acting like a child though when he wouldn't let it go that Stradlater went on a date with his old friend.

Sometimes its sad when we grow out of things in life and sometimes its for the best. We all know that we don't scream and jump up and down in the living room Christmas morning from receiving a gift of a sled from Santa anymore...most people don't even get gifts from "Santa." Sometimes looking back on the old home movies it is sad. But then, you realize, you see that video of you and your sibling fighting like crazy over a stupid little plastic toy cookie from your mini kitchen set and one hits the other and then the other one cries. Those things are good to grow out of, we are more mature now as in dealing with someone stealing the toy cookie and crying about it.

I think that Holden needs to realize when he is acting like a Child and grow up sometimes. Like in the situation with Stradlater. There are other times, later in the book that shows you Holden still needs to get the hang of growing up. I guess we'll see what happens..

Loneliness

I think that Holden is lonely. He is just wanting someone to talk to. In chapter 13, he has the prostitute come over and he just talks to her... I wonder about Holden though, because, if he is so lonely then why does he shut everyone out all the time? He could be great friends with Stradlater and Ackley if he wanted to. I think that maybe he shuts people out so much because he was so close to his brother Allie before he died and it was just all taken away just like that. Maybe Holden is afraid of getting close to people, in fear that they will just leave him or he will lose them. He needs to open up and get over Allie's death. Its been a few years and he needs to move on and learn to be close to people again. He should try to see Allie's great qualities in others and stop judging people right away. If he tries to find those traits, he will find them in some people and he will become close to them. If he just assumes that everyone he meets is going to be a Phony or is just a bad person, than that is what he will get from them because he doesn't give them a chance. He needs to remember Allie for all of the good things about him and move on and try to see the good in people more often.

sympathy, empathy and judgment

After reading the end of chapter four and all of chapter five, I got to find out why we were talking about those three words in class. Sympathy. We all felt sympathy when we read the page in chapter five that was about Holden's little brother. I sympathized with Holden because I thought it was really sad that he lost his brother to leukemia. It kind of hits you when you read his way of telling us that he punched all of the windows out in the garage. Empathy though, I do not feel. I have never lost a close loved one, so I would not be able empathize with Holden. Judgment though, weather it is on purpose or not, I think that we all did it just a little bit at least when reading more about Ackley and his lack of hygiene. The way that Holden describes it tells us that he is mainly grossed about it more than anything. When we read it from that perspective, it makes us think that way about Ackley, too. I think that it is the same with Stradlater. We think that he is full of himself and also very handsome. That is mainly because of the point of view or the perspective that we are reading all of the descriptions of the events that happen from.