Holden is a crazy dude

Do you think Holden is "crazy?"

I personally do think he is a little crazy. He is at the least depressed, which he mentions all throughout the book. Yes, everyone as thoughts similar to some of Holden's, but he seems to take them to the extreme, or to the next level. An example of this is how he said he wanted to kill the person who wrote "Fuck you" on the wall. He said if he would have caught them he would have wanted to kill them. That does not seem like the reaction of a sane person. He also has terrible mood swings, he will go from happy, to depressed, to mad all in a matter of minutes. He is one crazy dude.

Character Analysis (chapters 19-23)

I believe Pheobe has a great significance in this book. Holden loves her unconditionally, and continually praises her. "Boy you have to watch her every minute. If you don't think she's smart, you're mad," and "She is very neat for a child" are just two of the many examples of how he adores her. In early chapters he goes on about her sweet innocence and how smart she is as well. Holden tries to connect with her simply by talking with her and spending time with her. She seems very significant, especially after chapter 23. She asks Holden all the questions that he needs to hear, and finally brings into the light what everyone reading this book thinks, and asks the questions that many of us have wondered. She asks "Oh why did you do it?" (get kicked out of school again), and says "You don't like anything that's happening" and "You don't like schools. You don't like a million things. You don't." She goes on to challenge him to name one thing he likes and questions what he wants to do with the rest of his life. All he can come up with is a job that isn't real. The conversation in chapter 23 says A LOT about the book, and what is going on in Holden's head.

Marriage Poem

Do you take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife?

And with that begins a whole new chapter in your life

Should I say "I do?"

Should I get married? Should I be good?

Am I truly happy?

Is this what I truly want?

Am I truly in love?

These days people get married just because they should

Not for the right reasons

Not for love

Not for happiness

But because they should

We marry for money, or for status

To raise a family, or to leave your old life behind

We need to marry for love, and for happiness

Divorces are all too common

They are a bad ending to what should be a great story

They ruin lives

They cause people to choose sides

Marriage should not come this

When you make your decision,

Be certain it is the right one

Be certain you are doing it for love, and for happiness

Quote From Chapters 16-18

"Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I'm crazy, I swear to God I am"

1./2. Holden said this shortly after him and Sally got done doing stuff in the back of the cab. He is saying how he told Sally he loved her, and when he said it, he honestly felt that way... but overall he does not feel that way. He thinks this makes him crazy. He acted out of pure emotion in this instance, like he has many other times (when he attacked Stradlater, mood-swings, compulsive lying, etc.) but he didn't seem to think any of those things made him crazy. I think he said this proves he's crazy because he rants on and on about how he doesn't like phony guys, and yet he made a phony remark.

3. This is significant because this entire book, it seems like many of us have been trying to prove that Holden is "crazy" or that he has some sort of mental illness. Holden himself thinking this, could help back up our theories about him. This also shows that he may be coming to grip with the fact that there is indeed something wrong with him.

Chapters 12-13 Reaction

These chapters further more showed how Holden can many times isolate himself. While at Ernie's, Holden had the opportunity to join a friend of his brothers for a drink, but he declined, made up an excuse and left the club. He did however acknowledge that he sometimes play by the "rules"... he acknowledges this when he shook Lillian's boyfriends hand and says "nice to meet you" even though he didn't like meeting him at all.

I did not necessarily understand what Holden meant by being "yellow." I think he meant something like, talking the talk and acting tough... then not backing it up, but I am unsure.

I also thought it was sort of weird how Holden judges all these girls, strictly by their appearance, or who there with and stereo types them and does not try to get to know them whatsoever... but he tried taking the time to talk to the prostitute and learn a little about her... I would have assumed Holden wouldn't want to get to know her anymore than she wants to know him.

Blog #5

Obviously, being as I wrote the entry I think Holden has a lack of respect for authority and lack of motivation. I do also believe this applies to many students today. As far as what to do to help them, I am unsure. It is hard to motivate a student to do well. The only thing I could think of is maybe to raise the standards that schools have set forth. I say this because many students do just enough to get by, and graduate. If the standards for graduation are higher, then the students will have to do more to graduate. I also believe you gain your sense of respect for authority at home when you are young. If your parents set forth rules, and make you follow them than you are more likely to respect other authority figures, in my opinion.

Chapters 6-9 Reaction

After reading chapters 6-9 i feel like i have a little better understanding of who Holden is. He is a kid, severely affected by the loss of his brother, who just doesn't seem to care. When he applies himself to things he is very good. For example his english class, and making up lies. He can tell stories as well as anyone i have ever met, and carry them on for a long time. He does this just to amuse himself, like he did on the subway with the lady.

It seems to me like Holden doesn't really think about consequences when he does was he does. For example when he attacked Stradlater, if he would thought about what he did before he did it, he probably would have realized it would not end well for him. he didn't stand a chance in a fight against Stradlater. You can see the same thing in the classroom... i don't think he thinks about the long term implications of flunking out of school, and where his actions now are going to take him.