Unit One: Early American Writing

In the years of Europeans first visiting the Americas, there were already natives. Native Americans were full of culture that I'd truly love to know more about. Unfortunately for me (and everyone else), the natives of our land had no written language. This means that when they contracted European diseases and many died off, much of their literature (in oral tradition) died off with them. But there are some documentations of this time. Explorers like Christopher Columbus kept journals describing their voyages to the Americas.. There were also the Puritans, some of the first settlers of the Americas. There hard religion and little tolerance for fun was supposed to grant them access to heaven. I, personally, think this attitude toward life is ridiculous. Life is to be enjoyed in any way possible. Disagreeing with my philosophy, many puritans wrote about a god who was waiting to send them to the burning pits of Hell. Not only did He wait, He waited anxiously. He was excited to send people to Hell. I think it was this picture of God that made the Puritans so strict. And, of course, many years later, there were the writers of the American Revolution. Notably, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. He borrowed some ideas from other thinkers of the time, but described natural law exquisitely. Of course, another important document written during the times was the United States Constitution. It's probably the most important piece of literature our country has.

Catcher in the Rye, Post 6: A Reflection on Holden's Relationship with His Sister

As much as I disliked the majority of the book, (and trust me, I did) the last thirty or so pages redeemed much of the novel for me. I loved Holden's relationship with his sister, Phoebe. I made a few notes earlier on, about how sweet he was to think of his sister from time to time, notably when he went out of his way to find the record for her. But, the last thirty pages did me in. He was drunk, of course, when he went to see her at night and they squabbled in the ways siblings do, but he was excited for her play, and just to be there, talking to her. Then, he came up with the ridiculous plan to hitchhike out west, but he had to tell his sister first, which I find incredibly adorable. He was concerned when he saw a "Fuck you" sign at her elementary school But, these are minor things in comparison to his fight and makeup with his sister. This fight allowed me to connect Holden to my own older brother, Jeffrey, and Phoebe to myself. I connected with the fact that though, your sibling has hurt you, it's hard to stay mad at them, which was exactly what happened to Phoebe. As Phoebe got over the hurt he'd caused her, Holden was a good big brother and put his little sister over his own wants, the first sign of maturity I saw from him in the entire novel. But, the association I made between his and his sister's relationship with my brother's and mine really left an impact in the way I see this book. I'm choosing to leave the book on a good note with this: Salinger's choice to include his sister's relationship not only made me like Holden better as a character, but also improved the entire reading experience for me.

Catcher in the Rye, Post 5: A Realization of Time Passed

I know there's a lot of changes I could focus on--like the transition from records to CD's to downloads, the amount of time, now, people tend to spend on the internet and in front of the TV, or the change of parenting styles. But, I want to take a moment and focus on the differences of telephone usage. It might be a strange thing to focus on, but it was bugging me throughout the novel. Maybe it's just me, but I find it strange how Holden calls a number of random people he hasn't talked to in years for no apparent reason. He called Sally, Carl Luce, and his teacher, Mr. Antolini. I find it weirder, still, because he ends up (and/or started out) hating them! No one he called seemed to be bothered by the call (despite the surprise of the situation),  except for Luce, but I tend to think that was because of his distaste for Holden, not necessarily the call, itself. It was Mr. Antolini's call that made me think it was something in the times that caused the nonchalance of being called. Despite being called in the middle of the night, when he and the Mrs. were sleeping, he was cheerful and invited Holden to come over right away. If someone called my father/mother, or me for that matter, in the middle of the night, their call would most likely be ignored. If, by chance, one of us answered it, we would most likely be told we were sleeping and to call back in the morning. Sally's call was also strange, in its way. It had been about a year since they'd talked, yet she didn't seem half as surprised as she should have been by the sudden invitation for a date. At this point, my question becomes this: Is the random calls a characteristic of Holden, as a character, J.D. Salinger's writing, or the times? I wrote this on the assumption that it was a culturally sound thing to do at the time; I hope I'm correct.

Catcher in the Rye, Post 4: A Different Perspective

I was talking to my mother about the book today. I was telling her my reasons for disliking Holden, and how it was coloring my liking for the writing and the book. She gave me the perspective of someone who read it thirty odd years ago, as a 10th grader. She said two things that I want to discuss. First, she said that the book made her feel grown up, because it was the first book she'd read that had swear words in it. To that, I just want to say I think it's amazing how different books have become in about thirty years. I rarely read a book that doesn't swear multiple times in it, aside from older books. It just goes to show you how much life can change in 30 years. And, even more so, in 60 years, from when the book was originally written. It's one of the biggest things I've noticed. Small things, like using records as opposed to downloading music, going to the museum, even the kids (Holden, and his sister) being allowed to wander the city by themselves with no one questioning them. It's just amazing how much cultures change over the years. The second thing my mother told me she thought about the book, was that it was a good example of teen angst. And, this "angst" is what annoys me so much about Holden. Maybe the change that occurs over time is just what it is, but I have not ever been in such a place of "angst" where I feel depressed  over everything for days at a time, and I happen to be very teenaged at the moment. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the angst angle. That was just another perspective, and some of my thoughts on it.

Catcher in the Rye, Post 3: A Rant of Annoyance

The first thing I want to say today is that no matter what I said in the previous posts, I've come to the conclusion that I do not like Holden. First, I'm pretty sure he's bipolar. He goes from being pretty happy, to being angry, to being annoyed, to being overwhelmingly depressed, to being pretty happy, to being confused to wanting to kill himself over the course of one night. Every time he describes someone, he will either start out as describing them as a wonderful human being, and then, over the course of the description, he will change them into the most vile creature you could think of or vice versa. It started with Stradlater, but he never can make up his mind about someone if they're good or bad. There are two exceptions, of course, two people I have yet to read a bad thing about: Allie, his young brother who died, and Jane, a girl who I'm pretty sure he's in love with. However, if he is in love with her, he's constantly making up excuses not to call her. He might be afraid, or whatever, but he won't even say that. He'll say "I just don't feel like it right now." This, to me, is the most annoying thing. On top of all this, he is constantly looking for the worst in any given situation. It's like, he won't let himself be happy. When he went to the night club with the girls, he was picking them apart as being ugly; when he donated money to the nuns, he was describing it as "awkward" and "embarrassing." He won't just let himself do something nice without picking it apart until it unravels into his own unhappiness. I feel like at the beginning of the book, Salinger fooled me into thinking I liked Holden, when, in actuality, I merely liked the way Salinger wrote. I like how he'll interrupt his own stories with memories, because I do that, too. And, it made me feel connected to Holden, but I am not like Holden. Thank God.