Catcher in the Rye: 7

I know you want to read muh found poem. But I'm not letting you.

Anyway. My favorite character in the whole entire book is *almost* introduced! Because so far, I know you've all been waiting in agony for that one awesome person to come along and actually make this book worth reading. Well don't worry and quit yer whining because he's almost here! Just a couple more pages...

With that being said, I've decided to psychoanalyze Holden and Phoebe. First of all, I'd like to express my anger with the spelling of Phoebe. Seriously? It makes a perfectly nice and pleasant name look like "Fo-ee-bbb" which sounds horrible. It really does. If you ask me, it should be spelled Febea. Muuuch nicer to look at.

So. Holden and Febea. Yes. For some reason whenever I read this book I always expect their relationship to be different. I expect Febea to be almost nicer and sweeter. When he finally gets to see her in their house she is just sitting on the bed and telling him their dad is going to kill Holden while he is really trying to tell her what's been going on in his life as of lately. She doesn't really seem to care. And it pisses ME OFF! Febea sounds kind of like a kid I might hate. Holden really talks her up for more than she really is. She is never half of what she's cracked up to be. And it makes me mad. So Febea is a jerk. But Holden is completely oblivious to this even though she acts just like all the other phonies he's met along the way!! That's what kills me, that although she is a naive jerk, Holden worships the sheets she lays on. I also know that she's only ten but she never seems very intelligent to me. Every little thing she does it magic to Holden, and for example when Holden tells Febea that he dropped her record and it was all in pieces she just saved them and Holden says "She took them right out of my hand and she put them in the drawer of the night table. She kills me." Why would that kill you? Holden falls all over her and she just passes him by without even noticing that he pays so much attention to her. She really bugs me and does not kill me the way she kills Holden. In another sense she does...

Catcher in the Rye: 6

Chapters 18 thru 20- Relationships

I feel increasingly bad for Holden because he can never keep a relationship straight with anyone. The only people he has (or had) decent relationships with are Jane, Phoebe and Allie. These are also the only people Holden really praises as having good character and above all, they weren't phonies. Everyone whom Holden cannot relate to is automatically a phony to him. I think that if Holden had an outside view of himself, he would probably say that he was too conceded and serious. Holden probably comes off as full of himself because he basically thinks he's better than everyone else. He can't overlook the bad things about people but he seems to wish he could. He talks about marriage and having friends wistfully because he's never been able to stand a person long enough to become their friend. He even gets tired of intellects. I think Corso's poem about marriage is a good insight to how Holden feels about marriage. Corso kinda thinks people are phonies too. Maybe Holden wishes he was more normal, but tells himself that everyone else is a phony to make himself feel better about not being so normal. He has really bad relationships with everyone because he can't let things go and he has such drastic mood swings and hyper-sensitivity.

Catcher in the Rye: 5

"...but I can't see anything religious or pretty, for God's sake, about a bunch of actors carrying crucifixes all over the stage."

This quote isn't really one worth analyzing because it basically means what you read but I really like what he's saying. I guess this is one of those moments when I can empathize with Holden instead of just sympathize. He goes on to say that they're all just dying to go out and have a cigarette and they're all just phonies who want their money. Although most religious, Christmas productions aren't just by actors who want their money, I still feel like there is nothing special about watching people reenact something like that. And maybe Sally Hayes would call me a "sacrilegious atheist" too, but at least I'd be in the same boat as Holden. He has the same type of voice or something when he talks about religion before and says how he hates the Disciples but thinks Jesus is kinda nice. He's pretty consistent about how he feels with religion. Even though Holden is inconsistent with pretty much everything else, he seems to know where he stands with this topic. It's probably good for him to be able to rely on how he feels about this, even if it's just one thing out of the eleventy-seven other things he's unsure about.

Catcher in the Rye: 4

Holden Caulfield and Eminem

Coincidence? I think not....

Holden is a very confusing person. He tells himself, and us, that he wants to act older, he tries to order drinks and he likes to be suave. Except for that he doesn't have an older mindset at all. He's like a big huge walking paradox, that Holden. He doesn't understand adult things and he doesn't really want to grow up but yet he pretends to be old enough to buy alcohol! I guess he's not laid back anymore. He always seems like the type of person who is so laid back they don't even care about anything in the first couple chapters but now we can see that he's hyper-sensitive to everything around him. Read this article --> Best Holden Article Ever

The man who wrote that makes some really cool connections and good points. Although it's a little long (I didn't read all of it either), the majority that I *ahem* skimmed was really good. Who knew you could connect Holden Caulfield and Eminem?

Catcher in the Rye: 3

Childhood and Adulthood

I think the bridge between childhood and adulthood comes naturally for most people, but Holden is having an uncommonly hard time accepting maturity. I feel bad for him because he's so upset about loosing his childhood. Maybe he's so stuck on not getting older because he only knew Allie while he was a kid and he doesn't want to loose the possible "bond" he feels is the only one left between him and his brother.That makes me sound like an old phony but that's what I think. It really is. To connect it to real life is easy because why do you think so many teens loved this book when it was first published? Holden can't keep one decision the way it started without changing it or ending up finding it too depressing. He can't make it in school because he doesn't want to graduate, probably. Graduating would mean fending for himself and starting a real man's life, no more girly-man nonsense. Stradlater is a very good example of a girly-man.

Catcher in the Rye: 2

Sympathize, Empathize or Passing Judgment

Before chapter seven I couldn't really empathize with Holden but ever since the beginning or middle of chapter seven I felt like I really knew exactly how he was feeling. When Stradlater punches Holden and he goes into Ackley's room and says "I got feeling so lonesome and rotten I even felt like waking Ackley up" I knew how he was feeling. Then when he can't decide where he wants to be I could empathize. I can empathize with his feelings towards old people and his inability to make up his mind. But I can only pass judgment with Holden when he fails all his classes and I can only empathize when he talks about loosing Allie. I think the book is most interesting to people when you can empathize with the character so I hope I can empathize more during the book.

Catcher in the Rye: 1

Ever since I read this book for the first time a couple months ago my idea of Holden hasn't changed much. I always think of him as a kid who's parents have put too much pressure on him to be more like D.B. and to be more... outstanding. But he isn't at all. He's pretty average and he hasn't anything to separate him from the crowd, really. I think he doesn't care about that, either. He's pretty laid back and wants more than just what Pencey Prep or his parents have to offer. He would be good friends with Sal Paradise. He knows himself really well and he doesn't have anything to prove. I think he would be the type of person who would get mad if he knew a book was written about him. He wouldn't like us blogging about him or reading about him because we're the ones who are psychoanalyzing him. And he's pretty paranoid about that.