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| "The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth." |
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
- Why does Holden seem so ambivalent about the adult world?
- Why does Holden fear or resist change?
- Why does Holden struggle to develop meaningful relationships with his family and peers?
SAMPLE POST:
Why does Holden seem so ambivalent about the adult world?
When describing the difference between what ads at Pencey promise and what the school is really like, Holden reveals how suspicious he is of the adult world . He doubts that "they do any more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school." (Salinger 2) Holden implies that schools do not make us who we are and might even give us a false impression of who we could or should become.
Holden has just run away from Pencey, and hops on a train, where he meets someone. "I gave [Ernest Morrow's mother] a good look. She didn't look like any dope to me. She looked like she might have a pretty damn good idea what a bastard she was the mother of. But you can't always tell-with somebody's mother, I mean. Mothers are slightly insane. The thing is, though, I liked old Morrow's mother. She was all right" (Salinger 55). Holden has mixed feelings about adults. The ones at Pencey were "phonies", and here he's saying that Morrow's mother was nice, not like others, that were "slightly insane", or like "any dope", but he still dislikes her son.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden gets on to the train, he complains about women, how "They're always leaving their god-dam bags out in the middle of the aisle"(Salinger 54). Holden complains about women here but, later in the chapter he's found begging Faith to go out with him. The reason he has trouble developing meaningful relationships with others is because he always sees the bad side of people and calls them up when he needs something.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden meets Ernie's mother on the train, she asks for his name. "'Rudolf Schmidt,' I told her" (54). Holden is constantly lying, and whike this lie was enough to just have a nice conversation with her, he wouldn't be able to build a long lasting relationship built on lies.
ReplyDeleteWhen holden said "Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying." It is telling us that he lies a lot and he doesn't develop meaningful relationship with his peers or family. Because meaningful relationship really needs trust.
ReplyDeleteHolden can never get his thoughts straight. He always says he wants to do something and then never does it because "he's not in the mood". On page 63, he's talking about how he wants to call Jane up and talk to her about when her break is and then a few sentences later says he's not in the mood. The only reason I didn't do it was because I wasn't in the mood" (Salinger 63). He always contradicts the things he says and that is why he struggles to develop relationships with people, because he never wants to take the time to try.
ReplyDeleteHolden builds up on lie after lie. When building relathionships with others you want to be your true self however Holden does the opposite. While on the bus he meets Morrows mom and tells her a bunch of lies. " Than I started shooting the old crap around a little bit"(55) and "he's just hits this very original personality that takes you a little while to get to know him" (56). Not only is he lying straight up to Morrows mom but he's saying a bunch of false information about himself and her son.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is on a train heading to penn station there is a woman on the train much older than Holden. While they are on the train they have a conversation. Holden lies and says his name is "Rudolph Schmidt" he goes on to say " I didn't feel like giving her my whole life history. Rudolph Schmidt was the name of the janitor of our dorm" this relates to the fact that Holden can't develop meaningful relationships. If he lies and doesn't tell the truth then having a meaningful relationship is hard. To make it harder he keeps lying to her about why he is leaving Pencey, why his nose is bleeding and a few more things.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is checking in to a room in the hotel, he notices that"[the bellboy] was even more depressing than the room was. He was one of those bald guys that comb all their hair over from the side to cover up the baldness. I'd rather be bald than do that." (Salinger 61) Holden has trouble developing relationships with people because he is so judge mental and always sees the bad side of people. He never stops to think about the good side
ReplyDeleteHolden just keeps on saying lie after lie. It stars off when the women he meets on the train. She asks what his name is and he replies, "Rudolph Schmidt"(54). That's the name of the janitor at Pency. But it doesn't stop there. She asks why he is going home so early for vacation and he says, "it's me I have to have this operation...I have this tiny little tumor on the brain"(58). Lastly he writes, "Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can't go on for hours if I feel like it.."(58). All this shows Holden can't have any real honest relationship even if its only for a few hours.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is talking to Ernie's mom he says, "That's Ernie. He wouldn't. That's the one fault with him-he's too shy and modest..." (Salinger 57). All this is a lie and there's no reason to lie. Tis shows Holden struggles to create and maintain a relationship, he builds relationships on lies and that's not a stable base for anything to build off of.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is about to go to bed after the fight with Stradlater he thinks, "All of sudden, I decided what I'd really do, I'd get the hell out of Pencey-right that same night and all" (Salinger 51). This demonstrates Holden's inability to make meaningful relationships by isolating himselves from others and not dealing with his problems like anyone else would.
ReplyDeleteHolden prevents himself from creating meaningful relationships with his family and peers because he is such a chronic liar. After talking with Ernest Morrow's mother for a while, making up stories about her son, he started "to feel sort of sorry [he'd] told her [his] name was Rudolph Schmidt," (Salinger 56). Because of the pile of lies he told Ernest's mother, he cannot really connect with her, even if he wants to.
ReplyDeleteAfter standing in a phone booth for a while, Holden decides, "so I ended up not calling anybody. I came out of the booth, after about twenty minutes or so, and I got my bags and walked over to that tunnel where the cabs are and got a cab". This shows that Holden can't really keep a relationship with anyone. He doesn't want to get to deep or for things to progress in his relationships.
ReplyDeleteHolden expresses his ambivalence towards the adult world when he is on the cab and decides to turn back. "The driver was sort of a wise guy. 'I can't turn around here, Mac. This here's a one-way. I'll have to go all the way to Ninedieth Street now'" (Salinger 60). Holden describes the driver as a wise guy because he is suspicious that the driver is trying to trick him in to spending more money by driving a longer distance. Later on, Holden offers the driver a drink and tells him he's rich, the driver replies, "Can't do it, Mac. Sorry" (Salinger 61). From this, Holden realizes that the driver is honest and not just another phony as he imagined.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is on the train talking to Mrs. Morrow, he tells her tons of lies. Eventually he thinks he "just needs to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it" (Salinger 58). The fact that Holden is such a good liar and lies so often, makes it very difficult for him to build relationships with people and not feel somewhat guilty of it. Holden has not learned that lying is not a good thing to do when trying to be friendly to people, sometimes he just lies for the fun of it. When in reality, he doesn't find it fun afterwards.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is on the train with Ernest's mother, he lies, telling her that his name is Rudolph. Holden narrates, that when "I get started, I can go for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours" (Salinger 58). This tendency to lie to others, even when they appear genuine to him, often takes control of Holden. This is a large part of why it is difficult for him to establish relationships, because one cannot form a bond with another if they do not understand who you truly are.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden is next to Ms. Morrow he thinks, "Women kill me. I don't mean I'm oversexed or anything like that – although I am quite sexy. I just like them, I mean. They're always leaving their goddam bags out in the middle of the aisle" (Salinger 54). This shows Holdens ambivalence to the adult world, because the fact that Holden sees a women leaving their bags in the middle of an aisle as a turn on makes the reader think that maybe Holden is not fond of "normal" female attributes.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden gets on to the train, he complains about women, how "They're always leaving their god-dam bags out in the middle of the aisle"(Salinger 54). You can see Holden is still struggling to maintain a good relationship with this girl. Here Holden is complaining about women, but Later you see he begging faith to go out with him.
ReplyDeleteHolden is afraid of becoming close to anyone and so he lies to them to make sure they never understand him and to make sure that no one will try to help him. "The thing is though i liked old Morows mother. She was alright" Even though Holden likes Morows mother instead of confiding in her and telling her the truth he has to make up lie after lie to make sure he dosent create a bond and to make sure she will not be able to understand and help him.
ReplyDeleteAfter Holden decides to leave Pencey, he boards a train to New York and encounters the mother of Ernest Morrow. He proceeds to tell her lies about how,"he's just hits this very original personality that takes you a little while to get to know him" (56). This quote reflects Holden's personality because it makes evident to the reader that he has the tendency to lie. Whenever he get caught in the moment, he allows his lies to dictate his actions. Holden fails to develop any meaningful relationships is because he encloses his true self from society making it hard for Holden to develop any bonds with anyone.
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden gets on the train he thinks about the magazines he used to get when he rides on the train and how they always have, "one of those stories with a lot of phony, lean jawed guys named David in it, and a lot of phony girls named Linda or Marcia that are always lighting all the godam Davids' pipes for them (Salinger 53)". Holden is ambivalent about the adult world because in magazines they only depict the phony people, in his option who look good and make the magazines. That it does not should show stories about everyday people in the world that are not 'phonies'
ReplyDeleteHolden demonstrates his struggle to develop meaningful relationships when he is talking to Ernest's mother and is lying about himself and he says, "I get started, I can go for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours" (Salinger 58). This shows that he struggles to develop relationships because he lies about himself instead telling the truth
ReplyDeleteWhen Holden gets on a train out of Pencey, he talks to Ernie Morrow's mom, and tells his opinions of the minds of mothers such as "She looked like she might have a pretty damn good idea what a bastard she was the mother of. But you can't always tell-with somebody's mother, I mean. Mothers are all slightly insane."(55). When he shows his differing opinion on parents, mothers specifically, it shows that he isn't really able to fully express how he feels towards parents, showing his ambivalence toward the adult world.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Holden struggles to have a meaningful relationship with people cause he lies a lot for example on the train he lies to Ernest moms and doesn't tell her his real name
ReplyDelete