Catcher in the Rye 20-26

   I get this ending, it's freaking brilliant. The entire story is basically one giant flashback.
   So, basically, Holden cracks in the last section of the novel, starting when Luce leaves him. I'm guessing it was probably due to the lack of ability for social interaction or feeling alone, but Holden gets drunk as heck, bursts senselessly into tears, and heads to his adored duck pond where he remembers Allie's funeral and decides that when he dies, he wants to be tossed into the river. Also, Holden seems kinda interested in vanishing things in life too all of a sudden. Kinda like how all the ducks in the pond randomly left.

   And then with Phoebe, Holden gets a bit better. But then she demands to know if he actually likes ANYTHING and he starts thinking about the kid who committed suicide in his turtleneck and how

Mr. Antolini picked up the body and got blood all over his coat. Plus, he cries AGAIN when Phoebe loans him her holiday gift shopping money, even though it isn't even that much. Seriously, you'd think he would be in therapy by now.
  I also found out what the title means. The Catcher in the Rye is Holden himself. I did research on rye, and apparently a rye field is the symbol of childhood because the rye plant is so high kids can't see beyond it. The catcher, or Holden, has already ran out of the field and fallen over the cliff or whatever to adulthood, and no one caught him. Therefore, he is living a crappy life of loneliness, alcohol, and sex. Hence, he wants to catch the other kids and save them from adulthood. For instance, Holden really wants to protect children from knowledge of sex. One part that shows this is when he rubs the words “f*** you” off the school wall because he is scared that someone will explain to the kids what it means. Holden really is quite the decent guy after all, in some ways.
   As for the ending, it has a climax but it is more hidden, I feel. It's not like Harry Potter where you know where the climax is right away. I think it starts the day after Holden is at Mr. Antolini's house and runs away. I think it starts at the place where Holden starts to focus on the kids in the streets and where he he calls to Allie and begs to let him cross the road. Holden is then, officially insane and the reader knows it, if they haven't already figured it out.
   Since Holden obviously feels disconnected from life, he decides to run away, only to be stopped by Phoebe. I wondered vaguely if she knew he was crazy, and purposely wanted to go with Holden for his own safety, or was just being a stubborn little child. Anyhow, the story ends with Holden at the carousel, watching Phoebe, and feeling overjoyed about the children around him, and how innocenct they are.
   At this point, I felt something bigger happened, like maybe Holden cracked and had a giant fit of anger or whatever. In chapter 26, I got the impression he was at an institution for the mentally ill or whatnot and had just told his tale to the doctor or psychologist. However, Holden seemed much more at peace in the last chapter as well, more so than anywhere else in the book. After that, I did more research:
   The Catcher in the Rye is, in a way, a perfect biography of J.D. Salinger's own life. 

 

Catcher in the Rye 13-19

   I think these chapters have made me depressed.
   I feel like in a way, everyone has an ideal world built for themselves in their mind, a world that isn't always like the real one. In chapters 13-19, I think Holden just so happened to realise that his ideal world isn't really real at all, and so he kinda becomes an alien in a way, an outcast. For example, I feel his adventure with Maurice and Sunny was a result of feeling like his ideal world could survive in the real world, but everything backfired big-time on him. Holden is really depressed, scared, and alone in this part of the book. Therefore, his view on the real world becomes even more negative, like how he starts to think that everyone his age and above is a phony and stupid.
   Religion, I feel, also had a big role in the reading, a role that I liked. Holden hates people who shove their religion down his throat (I don't blame him, it's freaking annoying) and is an Atheist. He also is a terrific liar. I find it funny that although he was fine with lying to a mother of a former peer who he could easily see again, yet is completely honest with some random nuns who chances are he won't ever run into again in his lifetime. I also think it helped that although Mrs. Morrow was a phony, the nuns didn't fit Holden's concept of organized religion, and hence he respected them in his own way.

   And Sally... poor Holden, the dear's on his way to an emotional breakdown for sure when it comes to love and romancing. Throughout the date Sally asks Holden to stop yelling or screaming, and he claims not to have been doing so, showing that he is unaware of his own agitation. Also, his attempt to convince a rich, shallow, spoiled, socialite girl like Sally to run away with him to wheretheheckistan just shows how far from reality his mind actually is. And being the phony moron she is, Sally says no and leaves after Holden informs her of her status of being, "A royal pain in the ass."    To conclude, Holden's life is pretty sucky right now. He's running away from his own problems, letting them build up, much like our national debt. No one cares about his feeling as long as he is normal, with the exception of Jane and Phoebe, making him feel unloved and alone. If he acts out, people get mad at him. It's a sad world after all...

The Catcher in the Rye 7-12

   Holden is very strange.
   In these chapters, I kind of felt there was a change in how Holden behaved. He seemed more nervous and wired, almost kinda desperate. For example, at the telephone booth, he wanted to call someone, particularly Jane, but gives a list of who he could call instead. This seemed really weird to me, cause in previous chapters all Holden did was complain about how so many people are morons and that he hates them.
   I also think now that although Holden is a mess of problems, his biggest one is loneliness. For example, he calls Faith in the middle of the freaking night, just to talk to someone. That seems really weird to me. Also, how he dances with the three stupid tourist women from Seattle who are complete morons in the Lavender Room. If I were him, I'd just walk away.

  Another part I liked was Phoebe. She, Allie, Jane both sound like the only people Holden really likes or liked so far in the book. She sounded smart, and the kind of person that wouldn't take other people's crap. No wonder Holden loves her so much. I also wish Holden would just call Jane already. I mean, God, it's not like she'll murder him. My guess is he's probably just embaressed about the "necking".
 As for my favourite part of the book this week, it was when Holden met the lovely Mrs. Morrow, and then claimed Rudolph Schmidt and to be going to New York for a brain tumor operation. I don't know why I found this so funny, but it was just ridiculous, especially how she just went on believing it. It makes me wonder what she said to Ernie later that week when he got home...

The Catcher in the Rye 1-6

   I simply adore this story so far.
   I've read the "Catcher in the Rye," before, but I think it's one of those stories that makes more sense the second time you read it. What I like about the story is that Holden is crazy. Although it may be part of his genetic make-up, I think the real reason he is insane is because of his childhood, since it refused to describe it in “all that David Copperfield kind of crap.” Therefore, I think that several big events happened earlier in his life outside of Allie dying. This has made him extremely cynical and negative about everything (kind of like Dr. House, I think). What's really funny about this is that he thinks the rest of the world is the problem, causing him torment. However, it's really just his view on the world, made negative by his own inner torment from earlier years. I got the impression that while he protests his strong hate of school, he kind of has an attachment to it. Holden doesn't like school, but it's like cross country; it grows on you. I also don't think he is stupid, I think he just has a strange view on the world and is too lazy to apply himself.
   My favourite part of the book so far is the relationships Holden has with the people he hates. He hates them. He really does. But at the same time these people, like Ackley and Stradlater, are his friends, it seems. What I like most is that Ackley's habits, like blocking the light while Holden is reading, annoys Holden, and then Holden does the exact same thing while Stradlater is shaving, and it annoys Stradlater. Ackley and Stradlater also, to me, seem to be like opposites of each other, like in their personal grooming habits. Another thing is that Holden is complaining about Ackley being a nosy bastard, and then tells Stradlater how much he hates Ackley for being that way. Right after he says that, Holden starts prying into the personal lives of Stradlater and Jane. He is so awful, yet so hilarious. I am going to read more now.