Has Holden's abyss happened yet?

In Chapter 19, Holden goes to the Wicker Bar (which is actually a real place in the Seton Hotel) to meet with his student adviser from the Whooton School, Carl Luce. The Wicker Bar is a place in New York where he used to go to a lot. He apparently hated it but as we have seen so far in the book, Holden goes to a lot of places he hates, like how he has said many times he hates the movies but he went anyway waiting to go meet with Luce. This is one of the first chapters in a while that Holden isn't really depressed. Recently in the book, Holden's moods have been drastically changing four or five times per chapter but now he is actually acting pretty normally, like the beginning of the book. This kind of makes me wonder if he is past of his abyss now because he seems to be much more put together than he was before. He is still constantly contradicting himself though, one second he says Luce isa phony, then he says Luce is 'real friendly', then he says he's 'strictly a pain in the ass.'. This chapter also gives some exposition. Before, we didn't really know when Holden's mental problems started or whether the death of Allie triggered it. Now we know he has been acting that way at least since he attended the Whooton School because Luce had suggested he go to a physcoanalyst.

I couldn't get a video on for some reason so I choose this picture so you all could see what the Wicker Bar would look like. I'm not sure if this is actually it but it's from another blog where a guy is writing from the perspective of Holden.

This second picture is what a bar would look like in the 1940's. There are many other pictures of 1930-50's bars if you click here.

Christmas Time

This chapter takes place in New York City during Christmas time! As I am sure many of you know, Christmas time is so pretty and extravagant in New York. There are lights hanging every where, numerous parades and shows to see at all times. Christmas time in NYC has countless traditions. Such as Macy's Parade, the lighting of the Christmas tree and the Rockettes' show. The Rockettes' show is an unbelievable performance. They are a group of dancers that are infamous for their perfectly in unison line dances. This show is a tradition for many people to see every year, including Holden. Throughout the book Holden sticks to his childhood traditions for example, the museum and the Rockettes' show. While watching the show, his eyes gravitate towards the kettle drum player because it reminds him of how intrigued Allie and him were at the kettledrummer.

This is a video of one of the many Rockettes' performances for those of you who have never been to one.

Capter 17 was for extremly sad for me. The reason for this is because we see Holden at one of his most vulnerable states. He is screaming at Sally that they should run away from home get a car and leave. Sally then says by saying "We'll have oodles of tie to do those things- all those things ... There'll be oodles of marvellous places to go to." p. 133 Holden then responds back saying how its not the same and that they'll be bueness people and phonys and in general adults. This is really sad to me beacause it made it abundantly clear to me the reason for Holden's problems and sadness and ones that are real thing that teenagers everywhere can get upset with. He talks the whole time about how much he dislikes Sally and George the kid from Andover. Both these people have embraced their Phonyness i believe and this is why he repeatedly speaks of his hatred for Sally. Heres a video of where they were ice skating for a beter mental image as well. "http://youtu.be/3ztfjtrEmRY">

Soft Side of Holden: Ch. 16

In Ch. 16 Holden expresses his more nice sensitive side to us. He does this when he is talking about when he saw the nuns collecting money for the church, and he starts to get a little emotional. " I knew it wasn't too important, but it made me sad anyway." (114) This shows us that Holden isn't just a tough guy who say "God Damn" a lot, but he actually has a soft side to him that he doesn't usually show. But as the book goes on, he reveals more and more of who he really is, just like we have talked about in class. I think he shows us his sensitive side because he remembered his past that had some speed bumps, and how the nuns were collecting for people in need and he used to be someone who needed help. Also, he decides to buy a record called Little Shirley Beans, which is a popular kids song, for Phoebe. Holden thinks she is really smart for her age and always talks about how she always understands him. I think that this is another example of how Holden is showing us that he is really a nice guy, and will take the time to buy his little sister a record. I think he does this because when he sees the nuns, he remembers his past and doesn't want something happen to Phoebe like what happened to him. Even though Phoebe was alive then, she probably didn't really understand what was happening. Holden wants to be really nice to her, and give her a happy childhood, unlike his past that had a very hard loss, the loss of Allie. I decided to use this video to help you get a picture in your minds about what this song may of sounded like in Holden's dorm, when a student was playing it.

I decided to use this video to help you get a picture in your minds about what this song may of sounded like in Holden's dorm, when a student was playing it.

Holden's Hatred in Chapter 15

Throughout Catcher in the Rye, Holden expresses his hatred toward things in life that annoy him a lot. He does this a lot in chapter 15. For example, Holden says "if there's one word I hate, it's grand. It's so phony" (106). Another example is when Holden is in Grand Central Station and he says that he hates it when people have cheap suitcases. In addition, Holden expresses his hatred when he is eating in a little sandwich bar in Grand Central Station and he says "I hate it if I'm eating bacon and eggs or something and somebody else is only eating toast and coffee" (110). Finally, Holden expresses his hatred when he explains why it drives him crazy when somebody is killed (especially in Romeo and Juliet), and how he hates it how Catholics always try to find out if you're Catholic. It's Holden's strange remarks like these that get me thinking. I think that the origin of all of Holden's comments like these originate from him being very self-conscious. Also, I think that he says things like this because he is very lonely and depressed, and he needs something to make him feel better about himself. It seems to me that Holden hates everything that is different from what he does or says.

Chapter 14: Utterly Confusing: Updated

Chapter 14 of The Catcher in the Rye was one of the more confusing chapters that I have read so far. I have always been able to follow his stream of consciousness, but in this chapter it was really difficult to follow. I think it's because we are starting to see Holden's real personality. It starts off with Holden talking about religion, specifically he targets Christianity and talks about Jesus and his disciples. Holden gets beat up in this chapter and after he lays on the floor for a while. (like with Stradlater) When he gets up to go to the bathroom he has one of his "ADD" moments where we see his stream of consciousness. Holden imagines himself in a movie with a bullet in his gut and walking around with his automatic gun. He finds Maurice and kills him. Holden then would get Jane to come over and bandage up his wounds. Since the book was based in the 1940's, and I'm not 70 years old, I had no idea what kind of movie Holden was thinking of. I thought of something from the movie, Home Alone.

This scene from the movie Angels with Filthy Souls reminded me of what Holden was talking about and it made me better understand what was going through Holden's head, especially considering how confusing Holden can be. I hope this video will make y'all better understand that part of the chapter. Because it really confused me when I was reading it. Now I see that instead of looking at this chapter as confusing, we can look at it as finally getting to see some of Holden's real personality. We finally see that he acts through his actions and we see some of his true personality.

Phonies: Chapter 13

Throughout the entire book up to Chapter 13, Holden has always mentioned how much he does not like phonies, yet he tells us a story that reveals that he actually is a phony. He describes an event where he found out who had stolen his gloves at Pencey because at the time he wished that he had found out you had taken them. In this story, he is too afraid to accuse him of thievery he keeps saying "Nobody's calling anybody a thief. All I know is my gloves were in your goddam galoshes." Holden always says that he can't stand phonies, yet here he is too afraid to call someone a thief, even when it is obvious that he stole his gloves. To Holden, anyone who is not forthright and speaks their minds is a phony, so basically anyone who is a pretender is a phony. There is a video on Youtube from Family Guy that I think commicaly illustrates a pretender.

Holden is a secret phony like Stradlater is a secret slob. He goes around calling everyone else a phony to hide the fact that he is one too. In the video I think that Holden is the guy yelling that Peter is a phony. People act like this all the time. In middle school, there was a girl who was mean to just about everyone and it really hurt people. After you broke through her mean facade, I realized that this girl was actually very soft inside and had gone through much hurt and pain through were early childhood. At this one website, these people write about how they wish more people in the world were genuine, and I think this is what Holden is actually looking for in the world. (note: read the comments too)