Thursday, October 29, 2015
Catcher in the Rye Reflection
For this post, describe how you felt about Catcher in the Rye as
you were reading it and how you feel about it now that you are done.
Did your feelings change as you read the book? Can you tie your
feelings to any of the major themes of the book? Did the author make
choices that affected you in some way? Try to use scenes and examples
to anchor your discussion.
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ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the Catcher in the Rye I really liked the book. I liked connecting with Holden and hearing his thoughts. Throughout the book though i lost interest. The book was still very good and interesting but Holden started to annoy me. I couldn't read more than a few chapters at a time because Holden's repetition. He would repeat things that happened or words like god damn over and over. As i got towards the end of the book I thought something big was gonna happen so when the book just came to a sudden stop. I became sort of angry and confused. Looking back on the book I think J.D. Salinger did a great job developing Holden as a character.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading The Catcher in the Rye, I experienced a variety of different feelings. When we began reading the book, I was confused by the reputation it had built of being one of the most banned books in the United States. When it came to the book itself, I felt disinterested and apathetic to Holden. However, as I read on, and began to learn more about Holden, I became somewhat uncomfortable. Holden seems to have something wrong with himself, but he doesn’t notice it. However, the other characters did, and you could see it in their interactions. Many characters seemed uncomfortable around Holden. This came to a climax in the scene with Sally. Holden is shouting, going on and on about some idea he has created in his mind, but he doesn’t know that he is shouting. Sally does, and when she confronts him about his idea, Holden snaps and gets angry at her. The author, J. D. Salinger, was very sure of what he wanted to convey, and he did so in the most subtle ways. He made the reader begin to feel like the characters, unsure of Holden’s mental state. It becomes immersive, seeing how much deeper Holden will go into these rants, and how his brain works. Holden Caulfield isn’t crazy, but he isn’t totally sane. There is something going oh, but we will never know what. The author ends the book abruptly, leaving the reader to ponder what may have been afflicting Holden, and where he is telling the story from. The Catcher in the Rye is an expertly crafted piece of literature, and has given me much thought on the characters and situations within it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading "Catcher in the Rye" I thought I would enjoy it, but as I kept going I sort of started getting bored with the whole things. The situations Holden got himself into were ridiculous and entertaining but besides that I didn't really enjoy it. I hate negative things and negative people and he was constantly making everything appear so sad or horrible. I think J. D. Salinger is a fantastic writer but I just didn't like Holden's character. He was loud, pushy and never followed through on his word. When he would get distracted and go on long tangents it was hard for me to want to keep going. For example the scene with Stradlater where he kept pushing his buttons and when it came down to it he truly would not hurt him was very annoying. I either wanted him to stop talking or go through with it. The only thing I liked about Holden was his love for his sister, it seemed like she was the only thing he really liked. The character of Mr. Antolini was one I really liked, even if he was creepy a bit towards the end. The points he was making when discussing with Holden were some of my favorite quotes in the book.The things he told Holden were just really genuine and he had an odd way of putting them. I also felt Holden was disrespectful of people, woman especially. He treated them like objects and never really thought about their feelings. He picked out all of the flaws of a person when he had a lot himself. If the character of Holden was not so blunt and annoying I think I would have enjoyed the book a lot more, it was hard to get through.
ReplyDeleteSince the beginning of school we have been reading “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, and yesterday we finished the book. I have to admit I thought that Holden’s character in the beginning was funny and refreshing in a way. It was a way of getting out of the normal everyday “Everything is roses” attitude. But as the book went on I found myself getting very annoyed with Holden and the book itself. It was very dark and just so negative. Even though I was annoyed with it, after we had finished I realized that I quite enjoyed the book. There were just a few aspects about it that bugged me. For example, I don’t like how Salinger made it so that Holden dropped Phoebe’s record. I thought that that was unnecessary and sad. I don’t see how that could withhold any greater meaning. Although this bugged me about the book, I did love the concept of one of the major themes, which was that Holden was afraid of change. I used to be this way as well, I didn’t like that everything was changing around me. But that’s just one of those things that people need to get over themselves. It’s inevitable. That is how I feel about the book “Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger.
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ReplyDeleteI feel like Catcher in the Rye was constantly negative. Holden was always putting somebody down in his mind, but wasn't "courageous" enough to say it out loud. He would talk about Ackley being a pimply freak and how every single person he meets has the smallest flaw noticeable, yet Holden seems to dislike the person because of it. But when he did say what he was thinking out loud, be would get a punch to the face. As the story went along, Holden didn't change and neither did my feelings for him. Holden remained negative throughout the novel. The only time Holden would be positive is when he was talking about Phoebe, Allie, and Jane. He talks positively about Jane because he is in love with her. He talks positively about Allie and Phoebe because they are his family and they haven't changed in his mind yet. And at the end, I was expecting Holden to contact Jane or for the book to have a big ending, but the book came to an abrupt stop and I disliked that. Although I may not like Holden’s negativity or the abrupt stop at the end, I still liked the book as a whole. Salinger did a great job of creating Holden and I liked how Holden wanted to preserve the innocence of one’s childhood.
Since we have finally come to the conclusion of “Catcher in the Rye” I have various thoughts and feelings on the book. The first chapter we read of the book, I enjoyed the way Holden thought and spoke. I could understand the way he felt about other people and sometimes his parents. But the deeper we dove into the book, the less and less I enjoyed the book. Holden’s thoughts became more twisted and negative, and sometimes even too much to read all at once. He would really start to trap himself in your head and morph the way you would think, and it would get to be too much. The more I read, the more I noticed the little things he did. He repeated the same phrases and thoughts multiple times in not only one chapter, but even multiple times in one sentence. He used the words “phony” or “pervert” in a nonliteral way. These were just some of the things that brought me to wonder about Holden’s mental state. It was clear that he wasn’t completely sane, but not quite crazy. Although we don’t learn exactly how or why Holden is this way, the author makes sure that we all know this. At the end of the book, it ends abruptly. No happy endings, or wrapping anything in a nice bow. But the way the book ended is kind of like the way Holden is. He is very unpredictable. He does what he wants when he wants, just like the end of the book. It came out of nowhere and ended. Catcher in the Rye is an explosive book of unknown answers and blind corners. It may have been a book that got under my skin, I still enjoyed it and am glad that I got got to read it.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading “The Catcher in the Rye” my feelings towards the book frequently changed. My first impression of the story was that it was going to be interesting. Holden’s fancy prep school, Pencey, and adventurous roommate Stradlater seemed like exciting topics. However as I read on Holden’s depressing attitude overwhelmed me. His constant use of “god dam and phony” was overbearing so some chapters were boring and made me aggravated. Now that I have finished the book I’ve realized I enjoyed the book but disliked Holden’s character. J.D. Salinger is a very talented writer that makes your feelings about the book reflect the main themes and topics. They include Holden’s depression and curiosity about his place in society. Salinger specifically used repetition of some words, phrases, and characters to emphasize their importance. For example, Allie is extremely important because he is one of the few things Holden truly likes in the story. That is why Holden continues to discuss Allie and stories about him. Also, Holden says multiple times how he never has anyone to call or talk to about his feelings, this is one sign of his depression. Holden is very confused about life all together because of flunking out of so many schools. He is to a point where he wants to live off the grid and start all over by himself. Every scene in every chapter is significant even though I thought all the small aspects were boring and useless. Without Salinger’s specific details the story would not have had such a strong message about Holden’s struggles.
ReplyDelete“Catcher in the Rye” was overall a good book despite not knowing more about Holden’s parents. Holden’s personality was what made the book interesting because it gave you another way to look at something. I think that the author, J.D.Salinger did a great job at developing the character of Holden. Unlike a lot of people I did not get mad at Holden being a negative person or how the book ended. When Holden does not tell you what happens, after he watches Phoebe on the carousel and why he is in a mental institution, it made me confused. I did not understand why Holden did not want to tell what happened. He always tells you random things that he has experienced, so it was weird that he did not want to discuss what happened. It did not affect what I thought of the book because I think that when a book does not tell you what exactly happens it will allow you to think of what happened. I think that the reason that the author ended the book like that was because it relates to Holden. Holden did not know what he wanted to do in the future and was confused about what he should do with his life, so as a reader you have the same feeling of not knowing what happens.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading “The Catcher in the Rye” I felt very annoyed, yet interested with the character Holden. In the beginning of the book it was very hard to read because I was not used to reading about a character like Holden and how he interprets everything in life. Though, this caused me to be very interested in reading the book because it was from such a different perspective. Although, as the book went on I just became more frustrated with Holden and the choices he made for his life. The whole time I was reading the book I was always trying to figure out why Holden is the way he is. The only reason that I kept thinking of was because of the death of his brother Allie. An example that Holden still thinks about his brother and misses him was when Holden would talk quietly to Allie, though in reality it just looked like he was talking to himself. Even though Allie is dead, Holden still sought him for advice and to talk about issues going on in his life. A scene I very much liked in the book was the scene when Mr. Antolini was talking to Holden and basically explained Holden’s character and how his life would end up if he continued on living the way he was.This was definitely a favorite scene because finally someone in the book gave Holden some useful advice about making good and poor choices. Another thing that I did like about this book was how much Holden loved his sister Phoebe and how he just wanted her to keep her innocence. I liked these parts because I was able to connect to it with my life and how my brothers always try and protect me from the bad in the world. Overall I would say that “The Catcher in the Rye” was an okay book because it had many good qualities, though the main character, Holden, was very frustrating.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the course of reading The Catcher in the Rye, my emotions and overall opinions were constantly shifting. Towards the beginning Holden was a somewhat typically teenager as it seemed, but his sarcastic and negative view on just about everything really became severely prevalent not too far into the novel. Holden also goes into highly descriptive detail picking apart a character's flaws or imperfections, for example he said that Ackley was ugly, and had severe acne. My views on Holden and the book in general cannot tie into the main plot, because my views and understanding of Holden were constantly changing, and one of the main themes of the novel is Holden’s incapability and his disappreciation of change. The author J.D Salinger in some instances made some choices that affected me. I can actually almost relate to Holden in the sense that I sometimes do not know how to handle my emotions, sometimes when I am feeling sad I convert that to anger, but not to the extreme that Holden does when he becomes aware of Allies death. I can also relate when Holden buys the record for Phoebe and then he ends up breaking it, a majority of the time when I try to do something nice for people it backfires or does not go to plan.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of the book, The Catcher in The Rye, the protagonist, Holden was more relatable and enjoyable. He was presented as an adolescent trying to figure out who he was. Holden experiments with alcohol, uses vulgar language, is moody and rebellious. He struggles with the death of his brother and as readers we can relate. As a teenager it is understandable that the loss of his brother may lead to negative feelings. Immortality is not a concept that is easily understood by teenagers. Of all people, Holden understands the preciousness of life, but he can not allow himself to live it. He refuses to grow up and live a “typical life”, that is the reason he rebels against traditional education. Unfortunately with every chapter my dislike for him grew. His rebellion and distrust of adults is more than a stage, it continues and becomes how he is identified. Perhaps he sees himself as a phony and it is his was of coping. Holden is complex and Salinger’s goal may have been to open the reader’s eyes and take notice there is a lot of pressure to fit into a certain mold.
ReplyDeleteDuring the novel Catcher in the Rye, I was very uneasy. It had abnormal scenarios for young teens like us and it mad me quite angry. There were some parts that were very relatible such as coping with a loss of someone. Also, as students, know the struggles of going to school and trying our best. Holden rarely tried his best resulting getting kicked out of school. After finishing the book, I was mostly upset by the ending. I thought it was very sad to see him and his sister fight. Overall, the book was okay but my feelings had remained the same towards Holden. From the start to the finish, his use of the word phony did not grow on me. It was very annoying and it did not make allow the author to get the point across. The definition of phony and Holden's definition I think is different, but we will never know.
ReplyDeleteThroughout Catcher in the Rye, I had mixed feelings about the plot and about Holden Caulfield. In the beginning, the book somewhat bored me, but I didn’t mind it (although it was kind of confusing to keep up with). But as the book progresses, I became more and more annoyed with Holden. The way he talked and his actions pushed each of my buttons in ways I didn’t know were possible at the time. The plot I found wasn’t as bad, but I had a hard time staying with it as we went on through the chapters. In addition to that, I found myself sympathizing with the characters that interacted with him because of his immature and confusing mindset. The things about him that annoyed me seemed to do the same with the characters as well. His overuse of “phony” “goddamn” and “moron” made it hard for me to keep reading, seeing that he used them in almost every. Single. Sentence. Sometimes even twice (or maybe not, but it felt like it). But, one thing I found surprisingly amazing was the way J.D. Salinger was able to make a large group of people feel such strong feelings for a character by just writing about him.
ReplyDeleteThroughout reading the book, “The Catcher in the Rye” I have felt various emotions. Such as, feeling annoyed with the character Holden because of all of the motifs he uses, feeling like I can understand the point of the book and what the author is trying to express, and feeling sort of inspired by all of the different characters and they way their personalities are towards each other and Holden as well. During the time reading the book my emotions changed almost just at the same time as Holden’s changed. For example, when he realizes things about himself, I can also realize at that same moment what he is realizing and I put that towards my life, like text to self connections. Also, when I was done reading the book it’s almost like I felt refreshed because I feel as if Holden felt refreshed. This book really connected to me in various ways.
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