Why Does Holden Is Not Going To Tell Readers His Life Story
1. Based on the first sentence of the novel, do you think Holden Caulfield will be providing every single detail of his story? Why or why not?
No, telling on the first sentence of the novel, it is unlikely that Holden Caulfield will provide every single detail of his story.
2. Holden is not going to tell readers his life story. What IS he going to tell them?
Instead of sharing his life story, Holden Caulfield expresses his intention to recount a specific period of his life, spanning a few days leading up to his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a boarding school.
3. The way Holden talks about the Pencey Prep advertisements gets us started with Holden’s personality. How does he feel about the advertisements? Why does he feel this way?
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What’s important about the day the story starts? What is going on with Holden and Pencey Prep? Why is this happening?
The day the story starts is significant because it marks Holden Caulfield's expulsion from Pencey Prep, a school he has been attending. Holden got notice that he has failed four out of his five subjects and will be leaving the school.
5. After telling the story of the cancelled fencing tournament due to Holden’s actions, he says,
“It was pretty funny, in a way.” Is this a funny story? Do we really think Holden finds it funny? Or is he playing it off? What do you think?
Holden might be employing a form of self-hurting humor. By finding humor in his own actions leading to the cancellation of the tournament, he could be showin the consequences and trying to lighten the situation.
6. In this chapter, Holden is trying to say goodbye. What does he say about leaving places? Is it better to know when you are leaving or not? What’s his reasoning?
Holden expresses a strong dislike for goodbyes and the idea of leaving places. He mentions that he is the type of person who likes to stay at places for a while and become comfortable before moving on. He finds it difficult to say goodbye because it makes him feel
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What Holden says…
b. What Holden thinks…
c. Explain how they conflict and what it says about Holden’s character…
What Holden says: "I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot."
What Holden thinks: "I mean I've read a lot of classics, like all of them or something. I know that's a lot, but I swear to God, I've read all of them."
These quotes show a contradiction between what Holden outwardly claims and what he genuinely believes. In the first quote, Holden openly admits that he is "illiterate," suggesting that he lacks literary knowledge and thinks he is not smart.
2. During his conversation with Mr. Spencer, Holden gets distracted thinking about ducks in Central Park in New York City. What are some things he wonders about them? What are some solutions that he comes up with while thinking?
Where the ducks go in winter, Whether the ducks have a permanent home
Whether the ducks return to the park. Holden wonders if the ducks actually live like other beings and care for each other like some humans do.
3. When talking with Mr. Spencer, Holden reflects on a few reasons he hates growing old and old people. What are these reasons?
Hypocrisy, lack of spontaneity and
How Does Holden Present Phonies In Catcher In The Rye
873 Words | 4 PagesHolden for a short period of time attends a boarding school called Pencey Prep, but then states, “They kicked me out. I wasn’t supposed to come back after Christmas vacation, on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself at all” (4). Pencey is the third school Holden gets kicked out of, however it is something that could have been avoided had Holden wanted it to. Since Allie’s death however, Holden seems to stop caring about his life progression as he struggles to face the idea of growing up and conforming to adult society.
Is Holden Caulfield Reliable
1050 Words | 5 PagesHolden's hypocrisy towards this way of acting is unbelievable to the reader. Proving to the audience that he's a sick, unreliable narrator to trust. Another Secondary source coming from Susan K. Mitchell explains how in-depth she is into Holdens hypocrisy in the novel. She states “Holden will not tell much about his parents beyond his veiled opinion that they both are phony hypocrites. The reader is not even told their first names.
Dialectical Journal For The Catcher In The Rye
945 Words | 4 Pages(Salinger 1). This quote shows that Holden is alluding to this character from a Dickens’ novel and although Holden says he is not going to tell the reader his life story, he goes on with his biography. This adds a sense of irony and that Holden is hypocritical. 2. Holden has “forgotten” to mention his dismissal from Pencey likely because he simply is trying to pretend he is indifferent and that it does not matter.
The Satire Of Holden Caulfield
699 Words | 3 PagesHolden Caulfield is one messed up dude. He has so much going on in his life and nothing at all at the same time. He dramatizes the little problems and blatantly disregards his large and prominent issues. The boy has a drinking and a smoking problem at sixteen. He has social anxiety, he's clueless about women, he's a terrible student, and he's on a wild ride on a depressive roller coaster.
Rhetorical Analysis Of The Catcher In The Rye
532 Words | 3 PagesI don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it.”. Holden is feeling sad that he wants to feel sad and regret of leaving Pencey Prep but he can’t feel anything. In chapter 2 page 11 Holden says “I had to sit there and listen to that crap. It certainly was a dirty trick.”. Holden is feeling annoyed that Spencer is reading his essay out loud to him, you can tell Holden is feeling annoyed by saying “crap”.
Examples Of External Conflict In Catcher In The Rye
668 Words | 3 PagesHolden cannot handle accepting blame for his shortfalls. This is evident in the way he retells his story. Holden repeatedly tells the reader outrageous claims about his character. However when he ends up coming short on these expectations, he backtracks his previous statements in order to shift the blame away from himself. When he first discusses his fight with Stradlater he says, “All I know was I
Catcher In The Rye Chapter 9-14 Analysis
697 Words | 3 PagesIn Chapter 9-14 Holden Caulfield leaves Penecy Prep and heads to New York City. Where he will stay for a couple days before winter vacation starts and he will head home. Delaying breaking the news to his family he got kicked out of school for as long as possible. These chapters are where Holden’s loneliness becomes abundantly clear. The reader is subjected to many long rants by Holden about the company he wants, though he attempts to settle several times.
Holden's Loss In Catcher In The Rye
744 Words | 3 PagesAlthough Holden shows maturity when he agrees to back off from his plans, it devastates Holden, knowing he cannot run away from his problems anymore. He realizes he has no choice but to stay in a world where he doesn’t
Why Is Holden's Phony Wrong
1664 Words | 7 Pages1. Holden Caulfield is a seventeen-year-old boy from a wealthy family, who doesn’t care about many things and enjoys lying to other people. Holden makes a point throughout the first half of the book to show how skilled he is at lying to other people; however, he also hates when other people are phony. Therefore, Holden is a hypocrite, he holds other people to higher standards and considers them phonies, when Holden in fact is a phony considering his tendency to be dishonest and spin tales about himself. Even Holden doesn’t always seem to enjoy or be in control of his lying, for example, he states “Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket.
How Does Holden Caulfield Change Throughout The Novel
693 Words | 3 PagesAlthough Holden is a very intelligent character he finds the hypocrisy and ugliness in the world around him and quickly associates it with the adult world. Holden is a very introverted character who hesitates throughout the book to share information about his life . J.D Salinger makes sure to portray Holden that way to
Essay On Phony In Catcher In The Rye
714 Words | 3 PagesHe is constantly in denial and thinks that everything else is to blame for his own problems. Holden always has an excuse to justify his action. When he left his old school he said, “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That’s all” (17). Holden is basically saying here that he left his old school not because he is not smart but it was because he could not stand the people there.
Examples Of Isolation In Catcher In The Rye
1436 Words | 6 PagesWhat a deal that was. You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear and know how sharp they were (Salinger 98). Instead of talking about the play and appreciating the play, Holden judges the people who surrounded him outside the theater. This suggests his immaturity by making fun of people who are just trying to live
Catcher In The Rye Rhetorical Analysis
828 Words | 4 PagesAs the book starts Holden describes his childhood and how he has been kicked out of several school and once more again from his currently school, giving a sense of irresponsibility and no care in the world. Holden later on mentioned slowly the loss of his brother due to leukemia and how he reacted outrageously by breaking the windows of his garage home. As a reader one would view that behavior as abnormal, but Peter Shaw descried it as a normal behavior for a fictional character in the 1950s and by mentioning that Holden, “is presenting in a somewhat different manner than are the sentimentalized young people in other novels if his period” (par. 3), admitting that Holden was somewhat of an outcast of a character even for its time he is still considered normal. Shaw also challenged the reader’s view of Holden by emphasizing that Holden is not a real person, but a fiction character developed in the 1950s and in fact a mad psychological character is normal and made the reading rather more interesting and acceptable during that time. As readers someone may come across as understanding Holden’s behavior due to a loss and everyone mourns differently and as Shaw said, “ the one period of life in which abnormal behavior is common rather than exceptional” (par.
Theme Of Maturity In Catcher In The Rye
837 Words | 4 PagesHolden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the
Holden Caulfield Reliable Narrator
935 Words | 4 PagesThe three episodes shows his lack of insight in his life, ignorance of himself, and his inaccurate observations which clearly demonstrates why Holden is a unreliable narrator. During his time at New York, as a teenage boy, Holden is unaware and lack the insight in his life so as he narrates, he
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