Try to think of some of the themes that this story brings forth.
Look closely at the narrator? Use the text as well as your imagination
- Who is he?
- What is the situation?
- What is his social background?
- Who is he talking to?
- Comment on the language
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Chapters 1-4
Homework for this week are chapters 1-4 (p.1-43)
Try to think of some of the themes that this story brings forth.
Look closely at the narrator? Use the text as well as your imagination
Try to think of some of the themes that this story brings forth.
Look closely at the narrator? Use the text as well as your imagination
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1. Caulfield Holden is a young man at the age of 16. He has two brothers, an older and a younger(the youngest is dead). He seems a little like the "class clown". He is a smart boy, but his is not focused on his school work.
ReplyDelete2. He is being kicked out of school. Since he is failing 4 out of 5 courses. He does not intend to tell his parents about.
3. He is going to private school, so he must be out of a family of money. But it seems like it is a broken home. The big brother is living in Hollywood writing books and also as a prostitute. The little brother died of leukemia, but was the "good" boy.
4. Already now he seems like a boy with a lot of problems. He don't know who he is, or who he wants to be or where he fits in. So I think that he is talking to a phycologist. In the beginning of the story he mentions that he is run-down and he is in a place where he is restituting.
5. I think that the language is typical teenage language. There is a lot of swearing. But I think it is unusual to read that kind of language in a book from 1958.
1. Who is he?
ReplyDeleteHis name is Caulfield Holden. He is a boy at the age of 16. He has two brothers. D.B. (He is a writer) and Allie. (He is dead. He died of leukemia) Caulfield has been kicked out of many schools. It’s not that he isn’t clever enough, but he just doesn’t give a damn about school.
2. What is the situation?
He has been kicked out of Pencey(The school that he goes to), because he is failing 4 out of 5 classes. He hasn’t told his parents the news yet.
3. What is his social background?
The story doesn’t say much about his social background (yet) just that his parents are touchy all hell. But I agree with Julie R. that he maybe comes from a family with money, because he goes to a private school and he have tried many different private schools, and that can’t be cheap. Maybe he feels like his parents doesn’t notice him, because his big brother is a hot shot in Hollywood and his younger brother died of leukemia. Maybe he is trying to create some attention by failing all this schools?
4. Who is he talking to?
I don’t know. That is a difficult question. Maybe a dairy? Maybe a psychologist?
5. Comment on the language.
The language is very colloquial like. He does a lot of swearing like a typical teenager. The book is from 1951 so it is a bit strange that the language seems very new-fangled.
Themes:
ReplyDeleteYouth, growing up, broken homes/family, teenage life, transitions, communication, individuality, relations/relationships, falseness/dishonesty.
The narrator (q. 1-4):
Our narrator is also our main character; Holden Caulfield, a 16 year old teenager. He is attending private school, but he gets kicked out, which has happened from a lot of other schools before this one. It began when his younger brother, Allie, died from leukemia, when Holden was 13. Typically he either flunks his exams and thus gets expelled or simply decides to leave – but he mentions literature* and seems intelligent enough. He doesn’t have many friends and seem a bit of an outsider. We’re told of one other sibling, besides the dead brother; D.B, who lives in Hollywood as a writer. As for his social background, then we can tell his family must be of some wealth: They’ve sent him to quite a few schools over time and must have spent a fair amount of money on that. I find it interesting how Holden quickly establishes a fairly close relationship with us, the readers, as if we’re someone he knows. Yet at the same time his tone is a bit sarcastic, dismissive and really quite defensive.
* Dickens. A novel about this David Copperfield and his life; growing up.
The language (q. 5):
I went about it shortly above, but in general the language in the book is very tuned to the character. The language is used to describe Holden as much as the things he is saying; it’s used to portray him as a real person with his own way of expressing himself. He is polite towards Mr Spencer, although he isn’t comfortable in the situation, but at the same time we get a look into what he really feels about being there and what he is told (I picked out the part about life being a game): “Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the right side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, alright – I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game.”
I found that passage of particular interest, because it both portrays the duality between the outer Holden and the real Holden on the inside, but also because it tells us a great deal about how Holden sees life – and what side he sees himself being on.
(PS: I rather know this book by heart, so if something's slipped in from further on in the book I apologize. I've tried to remove the things I've noticed)
- Melanie
@Julie is D.B, his brother, really a prostitute?
ReplyDelete@Etoia we have come off to a good start. Interesting thoughts concering the intimate relationship with the reader - this is actually something you will have to look more into. Calling him dismissive and defensive, is he a reliable narrator?
No, not really. He is, as is anyone who is telling a story such as this, a subject to his own perception of reality. He's telling things as he sees them or as he'd like them to be. His attitude tells us a great deal about him as well. He gives an impression as if he doesn't care if we like him or not, but he's still acting defensive as if he feels he should defend himself.
ReplyDelete@ Sara
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe Caulfield Holden believes that he is a sell out. And that is what he means by the word prostitute??
@ Julie; Holden says "Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B, being a prostitute" - in this context I'd say it means that Holden does not approve of his brother writing in Hollywood: Holden feels like D.B is selling out (just as you said now). He used to write terrific stuff when he lived at home, but now he's in Hollywood and Holden doesn't like the Hollywood industry much ("if there's one thing I hate, it's the movies").
ReplyDeleteIn Danish we'd say that someone "prostituerer sig for sin sag" - they sink to a lower level to accomplish something.
- Melanie
@ Melanie
ReplyDeleteThank you. I actually had problems with understanding what he meant.
I agree with lots of the comments. I feel that Holden is nonchalant and just plods along in life, not knowing what he wants out of it. He is not bothered about flunking school. He actually has a sense of humour, which reflects his take on life, not vey serious. I think that his parents have put him in a private school because, as with lots of rich parents, they don't want to have to deal with him every day. He says that they are touchy all the time, which shows some sort of negative aspect in their relationship. Maybe his brother's death has really affected them?. Someone else takes the responsibility to bring him up .i.e. the institution. His language is very teenage and the book is written like a teenager's internal dialogue. I don't think that he is a very reliable narrator as he goes off on tangents alot and he is recalling memories, which, as Mel says, are tainted with his own perception of reality. It is like he is narrating to someone who knows him.
ReplyDelete