The Catcher in the Rye could be described as a one of a kind story. J.D. Salinger, the author of the story has the character Holden Caulfield narrate the novel. Caulfield is a sixteen year old boy and by reading the book you truly get the feel that you are communicating with a teen of his age. Throughout the whole book Caulfield tells different “tid bits” of his life, always sidetracking and expressing his thoughts that he had a some point in time .This is what made the book unique .Many may not like the book because they say that it is just a book of conversation with barely any point or story, but you have to look deeper into the life stories Caulfield tells to be able to connect with him.
I see Caulfield’s attitude towards life including how he acts towards himself, his peers, family and the environment around him as negative, cynical and even scornful at times. I do not think that this is his self born personality. I believe that this outlook on life grew over time after the death of his younger brother Allie. I know that this tragic event affected Caulfield greatly because he refers to his brother several times. He tells us different stories about Allie such as how he carries around Allies baseball mitt that had all poems on it. Also, at the end of the book Caulfield refers to how he always asked Allie to guide him safely to the other side of the street when he crossed one.
Holden Caulfield had a very funny personality in my opinion. His problem was that he didn’t let anyone in. Throughout the book I saw two characters that really tired to help him out and lead him in the right direction as he was taking the wrong path by getting expelled from Pency Prep. They were Mr. Antolin and Mr. Spencer; both of these men were former teachers of Holden. I personally believe that Caulfield is lonely and thinks that everything surrounding him is phony. This explains why he doesn’t like the movies too much and why he has a strong opinion about everyone he knows. Caulfield can’t relate to anyone directly because of his different outlook and views.
Childhood seems to be of importance to Holden. As he watches his sister Phoebe go around the carousal at the zoo several times while experiencing a day in the life of childhood, Caulfield became able to have innocent thoughts and communicate with people around him a little better, although he never talked about the stories he told us again. He ends the book talking in the same tone that he did throughout the story, which makes you wonder if he really began to change. He also just simply filled in details about what was currently happening to him and told of a plan for his future without getting into a list of ranting stories. These ideas both contradict each other. The last sentence Holden says is “Don't tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” which completely supports my idea. It seems that he still has hard feelings about communicating with others, but at the same time shows value towards the people around him.
· Comments can be based on the ideas and organization of my overview. Also, you can take into consideration the idea of focus as you read this paper.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
"The Death of a Salesman "
The Death of a Salesman was a play/movie that truly depicted and gave me and idea of how times in the 1920’S were. The story line was very basic in my opinion, but it had deep meaning behind it all. I clearly saw throughout the book that Willy Loman had some type of illness or was just tired and warn out from life. I sometimes wondered why none of his family members tired to look deeper into his actions, but then I remembered the time the story took place in and the time I live in and realized that difference is the reason I thought so much deeper into his ways then the book did.
One problem Willy had was how hard he was on everyone including himself .He had big goals and dreams that he wanted to live by, but it came to the point where he pushed this “American Dream,“ to be a great Salesman too far. He even pressured his sons to do the same and considered them failures when they weren’t doing what he wished they would do. Biff was constantly changing jobs and looking for new options in order to make his dad happy. Happy on the other hand loved being around woman and was very pleased with himself, which is why he didn’t have many boundaries. Although the way Willy acted towards his children seemed a little hard and pushy, when it boils down to it , it makes sense because most parents want what they think is best for their child. Willy pushed this idea too much though. He was never satisfied with himself, let in known his kids. Willy always wanted everyone to think highly of him but this couldn't’t happen because he was always hesitant in trusting himself which caused him to lose respect from others. He needed to come in terms with reality, and realize that no one person can satisfy everyone.
A theme that I saw throughout the book , which turned out to be a life lesson in my case was to always remember to keep reality and hopes and dreams separate. Hopes and dreams are great things to strive for and use as guidelines but sometimes they can prove to only be illusions. Willy never came in terms with life how it is. He thought he had to be always thriving to be well liked which is why he put so much pressure on himself and everyone around him. Instead of working in the business world it seems to me he tried to beat it. Also, the way the story was written showed that Willy had flashbacks and sometimes even had literal conversations while picturing people from the past in his present. Although this can have something to do with him being mentally ill, it still is a way of him not coming in terms with realism. At one point Biff even says "We never told the truth in the house for ten minutes." This can support Willy’s problem because he could never come in terms with the actual truth to tell his kids.
A part of the book that really touched me emotionally was when Willy went to his boss asking for a job that required less traveling but got turned down. This was very upsetting to me because he was confident that this would pass as ok with his boss, but was shot down and fired instead. He had his traveling job for many years and just wanted to continue to peruse his “success” in the business world. I don’t know if it is out of pity for Willy or if I really firmly believe it, but I strongly think that he should have got his request granted.
At the end of the book Willy died due to one of his moments where he more or less “went crazy”. He went driving and got into a car accident which is what caused his death. The end of the play was very descriptive and because of that I had pity for Willy’s family even more when they had the funereal and only his wife, Biff, Happy, Bernard, and Uncle Charlie showed up. This story literally was “The Death of a Salesman”.
* Concepts you can focus on can be
1) organization
2)style
3) ideas and how they are described
4) my overview of the book ( opinion and fact )
One problem Willy had was how hard he was on everyone including himself .He had big goals and dreams that he wanted to live by, but it came to the point where he pushed this “American Dream,“ to be a great Salesman too far. He even pressured his sons to do the same and considered them failures when they weren’t doing what he wished they would do. Biff was constantly changing jobs and looking for new options in order to make his dad happy. Happy on the other hand loved being around woman and was very pleased with himself, which is why he didn’t have many boundaries. Although the way Willy acted towards his children seemed a little hard and pushy, when it boils down to it , it makes sense because most parents want what they think is best for their child. Willy pushed this idea too much though. He was never satisfied with himself, let in known his kids. Willy always wanted everyone to think highly of him but this couldn't’t happen because he was always hesitant in trusting himself which caused him to lose respect from others. He needed to come in terms with reality, and realize that no one person can satisfy everyone.
A theme that I saw throughout the book , which turned out to be a life lesson in my case was to always remember to keep reality and hopes and dreams separate. Hopes and dreams are great things to strive for and use as guidelines but sometimes they can prove to only be illusions. Willy never came in terms with life how it is. He thought he had to be always thriving to be well liked which is why he put so much pressure on himself and everyone around him. Instead of working in the business world it seems to me he tried to beat it. Also, the way the story was written showed that Willy had flashbacks and sometimes even had literal conversations while picturing people from the past in his present. Although this can have something to do with him being mentally ill, it still is a way of him not coming in terms with realism. At one point Biff even says "We never told the truth in the house for ten minutes." This can support Willy’s problem because he could never come in terms with the actual truth to tell his kids.
A part of the book that really touched me emotionally was when Willy went to his boss asking for a job that required less traveling but got turned down. This was very upsetting to me because he was confident that this would pass as ok with his boss, but was shot down and fired instead. He had his traveling job for many years and just wanted to continue to peruse his “success” in the business world. I don’t know if it is out of pity for Willy or if I really firmly believe it, but I strongly think that he should have got his request granted.
At the end of the book Willy died due to one of his moments where he more or less “went crazy”. He went driving and got into a car accident which is what caused his death. The end of the play was very descriptive and because of that I had pity for Willy’s family even more when they had the funereal and only his wife, Biff, Happy, Bernard, and Uncle Charlie showed up. This story literally was “The Death of a Salesman”.
* Concepts you can focus on can be
1) organization
2)style
3) ideas and how they are described
4) my overview of the book ( opinion and fact )
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