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O'Brother Where Art Thou

Choose one of the following quotes from the movie and then, in a comment, explain what, if anything, it has to do with the Odyssey. Please refer directly to the text if possible.

1. Delmar: [As George "Babyface" Nelson fires his tommy gun into a herd of cattle] Oh, George. Not the livestock!

2. Everett: The treasure is still there boys, believe me.

Delmar: [about the Blind Seer] But how'd he know about the treasure?

Everett: I don't know Delmar. The blind are reputed to possess sensitivities compensating for their lack of sight, even to the point of developing paranormal psychic powers. Now, clearly seeing into the future would fall neatly into that category; it's not so surprising then that an organism deprived of its earthly vision...

Pete: He said we wouldn't get it. He said we wouldn't get the treasure we seek on account of our ob-stac-les.

3. Ulysses Everett McGill: Me an' the old lady are gonna pick up the pieces and retie the knot, mixaphorically speaking.

4. Penny Wharvey McGill: Vernon here's got a job. Vernon's got prospects. He's bona fide. What are you?

5. Blind Seer: You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow... on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation.

6. Pete [to Evertt]: Since we been followin' your lead, we ain't got nothing but trouble.

Subdued

Subdued means "quiet and rather reflexive" or "soft and restrained."

City: Wichita, Kansas is subdued because I've lived there, and it's a lot calmer than most cities, and the farmland is quiet and peaceful.

Song: I picked "Hallelujah" because even though the song is sad, it's still quiet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AWFf7EAc4

Character: Ben from "Lost" is subdued because he manages to appear relatively emotionless in all situations. He could be about to get shot or about to shot someone, and always has the same calm look.

Clothing

Turtleneck sweaters are subdued because they are low key and suggest a calm nature of the wearer. (I don't know why, but it keeps deleting my turtleneck pictures)

Bread is calming to an upset stomach.

The sublimity of oceans and the beauty of nature is often calming and settling for people.

Reflections, Chapter 25

4As I had read this chapter, I couldn't bother but notice the symbolic meanings that had been in the subtext of this part of the book. Holden entered this chapter with fear and depression. Mr. Antolini had supposedly touched his head in a weird perverted way but we don't know if that happened. I think Holden did get touched but maybe not in a weird and perverted way. On the other hand if Mr. Antolini touching him is true, anyone petting your head at night probably is touching you in a weird way. This brought up bad memories for Holden, yet I found this particular section less important and meaning-full than the other half of this chapter. When Holden tells Phoebe that he is leaving, she is willing to leave with Holden and leave school, her play, and family behind. Holden immediately responds with harsh words and keeps telling her to shut up. This might be a sign of Holden being angry with himself for having the idea of leaving. This part also seemed like the abyss to me because for Holden to tell his sister, the person he loves most, to shut up made me feel bad for both Phoebe and Holden. In my opinion Phoebe is almost used as a mirror to show that Holden has matured. He is constantly reminding her of what she would leave behind if she had left and telling her that her leaving is ridiculous. Phoebe is the reflection of Holden's childhood. She wants to leave everything behind and become free again while Holden in his more mature form is talking about how ridiculous the idea was. In this chapter he also makes a rebirth. When he is going to the zoo and letting Phoebe ride the carousel and watching her as an adult to his or her child. This shows he is in control of his emotions once more. It might also be metaphorical for Holden as an adult watching his younger self. The reason I am saying this is because Phoebe seems to attain a character similar to that of Holden's immature and childish version. When Holden is in control of Phoebe again, he therefore is in control of his childish feelings. The picture above is a picture I took a long time ago but I had chosen it for several reasons. First of all the reflection symbolizes what I had previously stated. Second the darkness to the right is beginning to become overcome by the light from the dock symbolizing rebirth. Maybe I am over thinking about the reflection, but tell me what you think. Do you agree/disagree, or do you have another idea? If you do, share.

Ch.24 Is Mr. Antolini a mentor to Holden?

Chapter 24 starts out with Holden entering Mr. and Mrs. Antolini's house and ends with him leaving. Mr. Antolini was Holden's favorite teacher and we find out that Holden used to hang out with Mr. Antolini quite often when Holden left Elkton Hills. All of chapter 24 is basically Holden and Mr. Antolini, and his highball Holden constantly point out, talking about life. In some ways I feel as if throughout the whole book, Holden has been wanting to talk to somebody but the moment he gets that chance he does not want to. I also found it sort of funny how Holden failed Oral Expression class which teaches you how to speak and how if the speaker got side tract from the topic (just like Holden does) the class yells digression. We also get to see a soft side of Holden once again when he says "I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice". He says this when he explains how he felt sorry for Richard Kinsella when everybody would yell digression at him. During this chapter it is obvious that Mr. Antolini knows Holden very well, for example, he states " I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don't honestly know what kind". The way I interpreted it was that Holden's abyss is approaching him and that maybe Holden never really crosses back into the "known" world or at least he never crosses back into in this book. In this chapter Mr. Antolini comes across to me as a mentor, he is constantly giving Holden advice but Holden just doesn't seem to be listening. His excuse for not listening was because he had a headache, then a stomach ache, then because he was just tired but maybe Holden just didn't want to listen. At the end of the chapter Holden wakes up from the feeling of a mans hand and it turns out to be Mr. Antolini's hand stroking Holden. Holden then tells us that he has had more problems with perverts than we can imagine. Do you think Holden over exaggerated the whole scenario?

Ch.24 Is Mr. Antolini a mentor to Holden?

Chapter 24 starts out with Holden entering Mr. and Mrs. Antolini's house and ends with him leaving. Mr. Antolini was Holden's favorite teacher and we find out that Holden used to hang out with Mr. Antolini quite often when Holden left Elkton Hills. All of chapter 24 is basically Holden and Mr. Antolini, and his highball Holden constantly point out, talking about life. In some ways I feel as if throughout the whole book, Holden has been wanting to talk to somebody but the moment he gets that chance he does not want to. I also found it sort of funny how Holden failed Oral Expression class which teaches you how to speak and how if the speaker got side tract from the topic (just like Holden does) the class yells digression. We also get to see a soft side of Holden once again when he says "I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice". He says this when he explains how he felt sorry for Richard Kinsella when everybody would yell digression at him. During this chapter it is obvious that Mr. Antolini knows Holden very well, for example, he states " I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don't honestly know what kind". The way I interpreted it was that Holden's abyss is approaching him and that maybe Holden never really crosses back into the "known" world or at least he never crosses back into in this book. In this chapter Mr. Antolini comes across to me as a mentor, he is constantly giving Holden advice but Holden just doesn't seem to be listening. His excuse for not listening was because he had a headache, then a stomach ache, then because he was just tired but maybe Holden just didn't want to listen. At the end of the chapter Holden wakes up from the feeling of a mans hand and it turns out to be Mr. Antolini's hand stroking Holden. Holden then tells us that he has had more problems with perverts than we can imagine. Do you think Holden over exaggerated the whole scenario?

Chapter 22- Catcher in the Rye

When Phoebe asks Holden to name one thing that he really likes, he responds by saying, “I like Allie. And I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff- (pg. 171).” I think that one of the reasons that Holden might treasure his memories with Allie (other than the fact that just loved Allie) is that those memories remind him of his childhood. Holden’s childhood got taken away from him when his brother died. He was forced early on to enter into the adult world and deal with the adult problem of death. Therefore, when he thinks of life with his brother, he thinks of a time where he didn’t have to deal with the darkness of the adult world and some of the harsh realities of life. Do you think that this is where Holden became so obsessed with the idea of childhood or do you think it originated somewhere else?

Later on in this chapter, Holden discusses what he wants to be when he grows up. He said that he knew it was ridiculous, but he wanted to be the catcher in the rye. “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d be the catcher in the rye and all (pg.173).” I think that the reason Holden finds doing this so appealing is because he wants to save children from things that can hurt him, and in his mind, one of those things is growing up. Holden has all these problems with the adult words like dealing with phoniness and death, and he wants to save other children from suffering through that alwell. I think that the children falling off the cliff could be symbolic for children that start to become too much like adults for some traumatic even or by learning to be fake or phony. It could be metaphorical for not letting the child within each person die by falling off a cliff; he wants to preserve the child within the person. Do you think this is what J.D. Salinger’s intentions were when writing this section of the book or do you think he had a different reason for Holden wanting to be the catcher in the rye?

This is a picture of a rye field. Holden may have pictured something like this when imagining where the children would run around, and this is where he'd spend his day in his dream job.

Phoebe also tells us that Holden's song saying "If a body catch a body comin' through the rye," is based on a poem. I thought it might be interesting to read the rest of the poem. This is Robert Burns piece Comin Thro' The Rye.

Holden's Compassionate quality: CH. 23

In chapter 23 Holden is still in D.B.'s room visiting Phoebe. While here, he tells Phoebe about his somewhat plans for the future including leaving New York and moving out West alone. However, he steps out of Phoebe's room for a while to call and old English teacher he had, Mr. Antolini. To Holden, this teacher was only the best because Holden could talk to him in a casual way and kid around without losing his respect and all. To me that shows a huge part of Holden because maybe all Holden needs is to be able to talk to teachers, kids, and others in just a casual, kidding way on occasion in order to learn or even just want to hear what the teacher or person is trying to say. On the other hand, Holden calls Mr. Antolini, which he later assumes he might have woken him and his wife up, "because it took them a helluva long time to answer the phone." as Holden says. When Mr. Antolini did answer the phone Holden thought he was very nice to invite him over after he was surprised to hear Holden had been expelled from Pency Prep. When Holden describes and example of Mr. Antolini's kindness he talks about how he went over and picked up James Castle, after he committed suicide, checked his pulse, and wrapped his own jacket around his bloody body, and picked him up. This situation truly showed something to Holden, however I'm not quite sure what it showed to him. Anyways, Holden goes back to Phoebe and dances with her for about 4 counts raving about how good her dancing was compared to other young kids, that she could follow every step you did even if you did the jitterbug, as in the video below, she would still follow right along. Then when they heard the door open because his parents were home from dinner Holden put out his cigarette and fanned away the smoke, then he ran in the closet to hide until his mother left from tucking in Phoebe. When Holden came out it was about time for him to head out to Mr. Antolini's house, so began his good bye to Phoebe, whom made sure he wouldn't leave New York until after her play. Phoebe lent Holden her Christmas money, but he did not want to accept her money she got as a gift, however, Phoebe insisted and she said he could bring the extra to her when he comes to her play. Nonetheless, Holden began to cry, not just a little, but he cried and cried and kept crying on the edge of the bed. His crying freaked Phoebe out but she only sat next to him and comforted him until he stopped crying. Those tears represented the soft side of Holden and it showed how much he truly does care about Phoebe. Then Holden left, giving Phoebe his red, hunting hat, and didn't care much about being super quiet because a little part of him kind of wanted to get caught leaving.

Holden's imagination vs. his actions

Chapter twenty is all about how Holden leaves the bar and drunkenly stumbles home. And in this chapter I can say best something that I've noticed throughout the book. Holden's actions and words have a mind of their own. He consistently makes excuses for doing the things he does, for whatever reason. He is constantly criticizing everything and everyone around him, but never says anything out loud. This leads me to believe he would look like a very quiet boy, but his mind was that of a cynic, like Groucho Marx. Groucho, hence the name, always notices the flaws and errors of people in life, and makes fun of them in a witty way. An example of Holden's mind and actions being separate in ch. 2o could be when he says that "sort of" gave old Valencia the old eye, but she "pretended" not to see him. This is how he would have liked it to happen. In reality though, based on Holden's extravagant story telling, I think we can say that he never gave her the eye. It was probably more like one of those situations where he pretends he's been shot, except he's pretended to give Valencia the eye, and for whatever reason, she chooses to ignore him. I think I found a nice example of how Holden is acting, at least in his head.


The only difference between this video and Holden's imagination is that its happening out loud. Because Holden's mind and actions are separate, people may perceive him as boring and quiet just as he perceives others as phony and fake. And furthermore, since Holden is a quiet person on the outside, he doesn't talk to and get to know many people very well. I think this is the reason he thinks so many people are phony, because most people are boring, annoying, or phony until you get to know them well.

Home at last: Chapter 21

We have finally reached the part where Holden gets home. In this chapter, we read about how Holden gets to his parents' apartment. We also get to learn more about the little sister, Phoebe, that Holden is always talking about. Surprisingly, there aren't any depressing moments in this chapter, which makes us wonder if Holden has finally gotten out of the abyss. As I was reading this chapter, I could clearly see how much affection Holden has for his sister. We see her personality, and we also get to see how much she missed her brother. You can also see how much she cares about him. This reminds me of when my brother would go away for UT debate camp. When he could return after a few weeks away, I would be continuously talking to him about my experiences while he was gone.
Similarly, Phoebe tells Holden about the movie (The Doctor) she went to watch at the Lister Foundation, and also about the play she is going to be in (A Christmas Pageant for Americans). I was curious to see what relevance the play and the movie had to the book. So I searched them up on google and found a book. It's called A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye by Peter G. Beidler. In the book, I found that the refrences to the Doctor and A Christmas Pageant for Americans were completely fake. Why do you think J.D. Salinger made these up? In The Catcher in the Rye Phoebe tells Holden that " it (the movie) was all about this doctor in Kentucky and everything that sticks a blanket over this child's face that's a cripple and can't walk. Then they send him to jail and everything...He fells sorry for it, the doctor. That's why he sticks this blanker over her face and everything and makes her suffocate. Then the make him go to jail for life imprisonment, but this child that he stuck the blanket over its head comes to visit him all the time and thanks him for what he did. He was a mercy killer." What does this segment mean to you? Do you think this is foreshadowing for ahead? If not, why do you think the author specifically explained what the movie was about in the book?

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)

Subtext

Choose one of the following sentences and re-write it so that the SUBTEXT changes. You may add sentences, move words around, or shift the rhythm (like Shakespeare!) to change the subtext.

Remember, subtext is an underlying theme, meaning, or relationship between characters, not what is said by a character or author, but how, when and why.


1. How am I supposed to do this without you?

2. "So nice to see you", she says, and lifts her eyebrows.

3. He interrupted her briefly to say he could hear sirens down the street.

Never Did Run Smooth

Lysander observes that the "course of true love never did run smooth" (1.1.134). Why? What are the obstacles to "true" love in this play? What are the social (cultural/historical) or psychological aspects (motives/bases) of such obstacles? Is it the "nature" of love to be bumpy rather than smooth? Can one avoid choosing "love by another's eyes" (1.1.140)?