Thursday, October 29, 2015
Catcher in the Rye Reflection
For this post, describe how you felt about Catcher in the Rye as
you were reading it and how you feel about it now that you are done.
Did your feelings change as you read the book? Can you tie your
feelings to any of the major themes of the book? Did the author make
choices that affected you in some way? Try to use scenes and examples
to anchor your discussion.
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At first, when I started reading “Catcher in the Rye” I thought it was going to be some boring book that people used to praise for being good. As I got more into the book, and as the class had more discussions about the book, I started seeing how good of a book it truly was. I feel like a lot of people can relate to Holden on a few levels, and if not a few, at least one. Whether it be as simple as judging someone as you see them walk by for some petty reason, or a more complicated reason such as having a family member’s death affect your life in the long run, these are ways people can relate to Holden, as Holden has done these and has had them done to him in the book. I feel like I relate with Holden on a smaller scale, with just a few examples such as judging people, or feeling hatred towards certain things. Reading the book and seeing the connections made me like it more as a whole, and kept me reading on to find out what happens next. While J.D. Salinger may not have affected me all that much with the book, the book is still an excellent novel, and is much more in depth than it first appears.
ReplyDeleteAs a whole I really enjoyed the Catcher in the Rye. I thought it had it’s parts that were boring but it also had parts that were funny and parts that grabbed my attention. The beginning of the book while he was at Pencey wasn’t that interesting but I liked the whole adventure in New York, so I guess I could say my feelings changed as it went on. I’d connect a feeling of confusion and being creeped out by what Holden saw out the hotel window and about what happened between Holden and Mr. Antolini. An author’s choice that affected me was the ending. I didn’t really like how it just stopped so abrupt. All of the sudden Holden just said it was all over and the book just ended. I wasn’t too fond of that but otherwise the author did a good job. I’d say that overall this book was pretty good and I enjoyed the story a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe book "The Catcher in the Rye" By J.D.Salinger made me feel a bunch of different emotions all through out the book. When i started the book i felt optimistic about Holden, i thought the book would be about how he found himself in New York. As i got further in the book tho my feelings changed, i was feeling depressed because Holden was so clearly depressed. An example of this is when he talks about visiting his brother's grave and it starts to rain. Everyone ran inside for shelter but Holden stayed at his brother's grave and became very angry and sad because Allie could not run inside to get out of the rain, he had to sit in it, in the ground, dead. This scene made me feel so sad and the exact opposite of optimistic. Towards the end of the book i just got sadder for Holden, i became scared he would never be happy. Like when he gives Phoebe school the note and goes to the museum, he talks about how every time he thinks he happy or even has a moment of peace, someone has to come a ruin it with a fuck you in red crayon. These feelings changed at the end of the book tho, the last scene where Holden starts to cry out of happiness because of his sister on the Merry go round, gave me a sense of closer for Holden, it made me feel like maybe he would get better after all, and after i finished the last sentence i started to miss him almost, miss reading the book and his thoughts because i felt like i had became almost his friend in the end of the book.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first started reading “The Catcher in the Rye” I did not like it. I felt that the story at that point was weak and the characters were stupid. I hated Holden at the beginning of the book because how he narrated the book was very annoying. I had not yet gotten used to Holden’s use of the words “phony” and “goddamn” and other repetitive words. However, as the novel went on, and I got used to Holden, I started to enjoy it. The class discussions really helped me understand some of the more confusing parts of the book. These scenes were often the most important ones to the story, and discussing them helped a lot on top of just reading. Some scenes in the book opened up new ideas for me that I had never thought about before. For example, the museum scene, where Holden notices how the statues never change, really got me to think in a new way. I have never thought of the statues at museums like Holden did. This is not the only scene that opened up new thoughts and ideas to me. The scene where Holden donates to the nuns shows that Holden still believes in doing good even for people he doesn’t agree with. I find this interesting because even though he doesn’t believe in any religion, he still donates to them and even after that he wishes he had donated more. I often find it hard to help people that I do not agree with.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading “ the Catcher in the Rye” I began to enjoy it more than I initially thought I would. I didn’t really know what to expect before I read it, and I didn’t really try to form a prediction, I just started reading. Now that I am finished, I can say it was enjoyable to read, but I don’t like Holden at all. In my opinion I found him aggravating to read about. He was so annoying, and judgmental, that I never really agreed with many things he said. I thought that if anything he was more of a phony then some other people that he accused of being one. But I feel like that may have been the point the author was trying to make. I am not quite sure if he wanted everyone to love the character of Holden. It is clearly evident that he has mental issues, and is the most flawed character in the book. So maybe it was the author’s goal to make us look at life through his eyes. And even though I found his views on some things annoying, it was still interesting to read, because I really never knew how he was going to react to something. Some of the choices the author made such as, having Holden constantly feel the need to explain himself to the reader, as if he was trying to prove that he’s not crazy was interesting. I feel like my opinion of Holden definitely ties into the main theme of the book, which is about him trying to preserve his innocence. That is not too bad, but he still goes about it the wrong way, by calling all adults phonies, to make himself feel better in a way. That is something I can't agree with, but I feel like you weren't meant to. I think the author wanted you to disagree with Holden. I really respect the author for choosing to write the book from the point of view of a character that is a little messed up in the head. So overall I did enjoy reading this book, because it was interesting to see things from the point of view of a crazy person.
ReplyDelete“The Catcher in the Rye” I think was an okay book. I liked it because it was easier to understand having been written in the perspective of someone my own age. Holden has a very complicated character and is full of ups and downs in the book. At the beginning, I could not really connect or root for Holden as a character because he just seemed like an annoying kid who is a jerk to people he talks to. Towards the end however, you start to hear about his past and all of the things he cares about or misses and I started to connect with him. This I saw especially in the scene where he is at the museum. He talks about how everything there stays constant and has not changed since he was a kid. Holden's life is now constantly changing because he is growing up and has changed schools a lot. When Holden talks about his past and about Phoebe, he seems to think it was so much better when he was younger. Phoebe he sees as an innocent child and he wants to preserve that. That is why when he saw F&$# you written on the wall, he freaks out. He does not want children to be exposed to the "horribleness" of going into adulthood. I think that Holden is right in the way that he feels about children growing up. He wants to be the one catching them from going off the cliff into the endless pit of adulthood. Adulthood is so much responsibility and change for kids, and it would be so much easier staying an innocent child forever.
ReplyDeleteIn the book “The Catcher in the Rye” my feelings changed throughout the book. I thought that the book was ok, I would not read it in my own free time. But as a school book it was ok. My feeling changed based upon Holden’s actions, the setting, the mood and the people Holden was with. During the book my thoughts on the other characters in the book changed. In the beginning of the book I thought Holden was just a snotty teenager. Then reading through the book I learned that his thought process was just different than most people's. He perceives most things differently. When he thinks about most kids his age, or adults he thinks of all of them as “phoney” or fake. The only people he thinks are not “phoney” are kids, i believe his process is that everyone that has been changed by society are phonie. A moment where I learned a lot about Holden is when he goes to the museum, his reaction is different than I expected. Instead of dismissing the museum as a boring old museum that just always has the same things. It showed his true feelings, that he wants everything in his life to stay the same just like the museum. I also learned something else about Holden while reading the book. He wants to be a protector of children and the way they are. When he sees the profanity written in the school he erases it. He doesn’t want the children be exposed to society that early, he wants them to stay pure. At the beginning of the book Holden seems more like a teenager that gets annoyed by kids, rather than wanting to protect them. This book has made me think a little different about society and people who separate themselves from society. I thought that the book wasn’t particularly interesting but the way JD Salinger made Holden progress through the book was interesting, not the way I thought he would.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading Catcher in the Rye very much and I would read it again if I ever had the chance to. At first I didn’t like it that much, the beginning was sort of slow and took a long time to get into the actual telling of the story, but once Holden left Pency and started his adventure in New York I started to like it more. I really liked that it was told in first person because that always makes the story more interesting for me and the fact that he was around our age made it much easier to relate to the character. One of the major concepts in this book is adolescence, the struggle that people of Holden’s age have to go through, when you’re halfway in between childhood and adulthood. Myself, and most people my age, probably have the same feelings towards growing up as Holden does in this story. One scene that really affected me was when Holden was in the museum and said, “Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.” For me personally, whenever I look at old pictures or go somewhere I always used to go when I was little, it makes me sad knowing how much I’ve changed and that life will never be that way again. That’s part of the reason why Holden is so negative; he never wanted things to change but obviously they have to as you grow older. Even though Holden’s life didn’t turn out great, I think the message that Salinger was trying to give to young readers is that even though things won’t always be the same, something will always come along to make life better.
ReplyDeleteReading the Catcher in the Rye, at home and in class made me think into situations more. The way Holden spoke actually had more of a meaning than what I thought he meant just listening to him. There was a lot of symbolism in the story, there were references, there were parts in the story that related to something. I have never encountered something like that in a story, since I haven’t really understood many books. But, I can say I can’t relate to Holden. I’m not stuck, I’m don't spaz out, I don't call people phonies and I know how to pretty much communicate, I don't relate to sad things, and I communicate with my family. J.D Salinger is a good writer, the way he says his details, the way he makes you think and interpret the story. In the book, Holden has had flashbacks, and the same things pop up, like the red hat, or Jane.
ReplyDeleteAs I read “Catcher in the Rye”, I imagined that Holden Caulfield would completely change by the time I read the last page. However, my prediction was incorrect. I thought J.D. Salinger provided thought-provoking clues about the character of Holden. Salinger left many scenes in the book to remain a mystery and those scenes helped me to better connect with the story, especially the main characters. Because the book was not black and white, I was able to consider various scenes from my own point of view. Holden faced many obstacles throughout his story. At times when I was reading the book, I wanted Holden to stop making bad choices and to seek help in order to turn his life around. For example, I wish Holden hadn’t punched the garage windows out after his brother Allie died because he ended up in the hospital and missed his own brother’s funeral. On the other hand, I think if he had changed completely, I would not have been able to understand his character and behavior as well. Because of how Holden behaved this scene, I was better able to recognize his deep relationship with Allie and his need for family support that he never seemed to receive. At the end of the book, Holden said that he wished he hadn’t told everyone his story, because he starts to miss people. Holden’s remark shows that he is able to connect with people he loves on a deeper level. Holden cried when he saw his younger sister, Phoebe, riding the carousel. This was an important moment for Holden, as he was able to connect with his sister and allow his emotions to flow. Also, Holden imagined himself catching absent-minded children before they ran off the edge of a cliff in a field of rye. I think Holden wants to save others from the mistakes he learned the hard way. In a way, you could say no one was there to catch Holden when he approached the edge of the cliff. Now, Holden may start to get back up again. After I finished the book, I saw that all elements came together and I appreciated the book more at the end than at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI had heard about J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher In The Rye” long before we read it in English. I had heard good things about it, so when I was told I would be reading it in class, I was pretty excited. However, when we first started reading it, the book did not really intrigue me as much as I had hoped, but the more we read, the more I liked it. To me, it started as a book about a boring kid at Pencey Prep, but as I read, I saw it was deeper than that. The book really pulls you into the mind of the main character, Holden. You see his outlook on life and you see how he thinks and feels. I believe the author challenges the reader to decide if what Holden says is true, leaving it for the reader to decide whether or not Holden is being honest with himself. To me that is what is really fascinating about “The Catcher In The Rye”. In the scenes where Holden just wants to talk to the prostitute instead of having sex with her, and when he talks to the cab driver about the ducks in Central Park, are good examples that Holden is not an average kid living in New York. There is something very different about him, and this makes you want to learn more about him. I went from being bored with the book in the beginning to really loving it in the end. In conclusion, I thought this book was very good and I recommend it other readers.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading “the Catcher in the Rye,” my feelings towards the book changed many times. Overall, I thought that it was a good book (for one that we have to read in school). Throughout the book, I had many different emotions according to what Holden was doing or feeling. At the beginning, I did not like Holden and thought that he was just incredibly lazy. As the book progressed, I started to feel bad for him. When I found out that his brother had died I felt even worse because that alone explained why he did not try in school. As the book continued, I started to understand Holden more and more. By the end, I could see how much he had been affected by the death of Allie and other events in his life that had changed him forever. This made me feel sympathetic for him. The author did make decisions that affected my feelings about the book. Salinger did this when he chose to have Holden describe himself being shot. This changed my view of how mentally stable I thought Holden was and thus changed my feelings toward Holden. This also happened when Holden ranted to Sally. This scene reinforced the fact that he needed to get mental help and made me feel bad for him. This scene also made me feel embarrassed for him because during the scene he shouts without even knowing it. It also made me feel embarrassed for him because he tells Sally all of his feelings and she really does not care or understand what he was saying. By the end of the book, I felt that I understood Holden much better than the beginning and was happy that he was getting the help he needed.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading ¨The Catcher in the Rye,¨ by J.D. Salinger, I couldn't really connect with the main character, Holden. He had a strange way of looking at life, almost as if his sight was blocked by negativity. Almost every person in the book was someone he disliked, other than Jane, Sally, and Phoebe. He called others ¨phonies¨ because he knew they weren't acting genuinely and he described things he didn't like as ¨crumby,¨ which is very vague, meaning that he can´t explain why he doesn't like that certain thing. I can't relate to any of this because I have many friends who encourage me and make me feel good, while I also have a loving family. For some reason, Holden feels as if running away from all of this will fix his problems, but I think that would only make it worse. As I was reading, I thought Holden would eventually change the way he sees life through Jane. Now that I finished the book, I see now that Holden’s thought patterns towards life haven’t changed in the slightest. Towards the end of the book, when Holden is in the museum looking at the plastic figures, the reader discovers that Holden doesn’t want change, he just wants life to stay as it is. I don’t understand why Holden dislikes change that much, most people would think that your future would be the most beneficial, because that’s the time you get a job, maybe meet a girl, buy a house, etc.Overall, I enjoyed “The Catcher in the Rye,” but it’s a book that I can’t connect with.
ReplyDeleteWhen we started reading the book Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, I was excited to see what the main character was going to do with his life. I thought he was going to live life on the edge and enjoy every part of it. I was disappointed to find that Holden was quite the opposite. He was so ignorant. He didn't understand the world. He was a very judgmental person who would only look for the flaws people have. He could never make up his mind about people he “didn't” like or thought were phonies, because he would would later end up saying he missed them and hoped they missed him too. I never really saw a change in Holden, to me he remained the ignorant immature kid he was throughout the story which ties to the theme of the protection of innocence, mostly children. Holden himself could never accept the idea of growing up and losing his childhood and the memories from when things were perfect, for example when his brother Allie was still alive. J.D. Salinger’s choice to have Holden say he's going to do something for example calling Jane and never ends up doing so made me hate and pity him as a character. The more I read, the more it seemed as though Holden would never change and understand that he had to move on that growing up was a part of life he would have to accept.
ReplyDeleteIn “The Catcher in the Rye”, I felt kind of down and understanding as I was reading the book. I think it is because Holden describes everything in a negative manner. In the book, he calls many people “phonies” and “crummy” In reality, Holden is unable to face the face that he is those things as well and many people have these qualities sometime in their life. Many things in the story and how he describes why he has to go to school and the people around him, people can relate to his opinion even today. Everyone thinks that school is a “waste of time” or “stupid” but really it will help you in the long run and I think that is what Holden learns at the end of the book. He brightens up a little more when he is talking about Phoebe. They have a really close bond and they do things that Holden would never tell his other friends or just people he talks to because he does not really have any friends. To entertain themselves, Holden and Phoebe used to dance together in their home. In fact, when Phoebe was younger, Holden taught Phoebe a few dance moves which got her into being a great dancer as she grew up. He begins to open up and says that you will miss people you come across in your life whether you like it or not. This is one of the many themes in the book. You may think negatively towards others in the beginning but once you pick apart their actions and qualities, you begin to miss them when they are gone. Red was one of the main main symbols in the book. There were many scenes which involved red. There was Holden’s red hat he used for hunting, Overall, I think it was a really good book and I was able to understand it because it was with someone who is around my age. It showed that everyone has flaws in their life that they want to change whether they can or can’t.
ReplyDeleteWhen I began reading Catcher in the Rye, I was not very excited to read it. In the beginning I thought that it would just turn out being an incredibly boring book made mandatory to read by the curriculum. Throughout reading it though, I began to really understand why it was such great book. As time went on when reading it, I got to know and understand Holden’s thought process. At first, it was hard to recognise his repetitive speech as Holden trying to make the reader understand his feelings towards a subject. I feel that understanding him as a character makes it easier to understand the book. Without knowing how Holden presented himself would have created a different feeling and theme for the book. The class discussions made it easier to understand many of the different scenarios that I did not quite understand at first. While we were reading, we would find out something new about Holden's past and we would be able to connect it to other parts of the book. The flashbacks helped a lot in relating different situations within the story and to understand why Salinger had included them. The flashbacks and memories included gave a lot of information about Holden’s life and experiences and it made connecting with the character so much easier. After reading and finishing the book, I do realize that it is an incredible story with so much meaning behind it. I would have never expected it to be so in-depth. I wish that the ending wasn't so abrupt. I feel that if there was a little more added to the last chapter that it would have made a better conclusion. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and I truly do appreciate the effort J. D. Salinger put into it.
ReplyDeleteThe book “Catcher in the Rye” was an all right book. When I began reading this book I didn’t understand why people thought it was so great, but when our class discussed the themes and meanings of this book I began to like it more. To understand this book you had to do more than just read, you had to dig deeper and find what the author was truly trying to say in the text. I was also initially intrigued by Holden’s character. I thought that Holden’s character was confused and would end up changing by the end of the book. Surprisingly Holden’s character didn’t experience any vital change. That confused me because I thought Holden’s experiences throughout the book would change his character. Near the end of the book I began to understand Holden more. Holden is in his sister Phoebe’s school and sees an f u written in red crayon on the wall. He feels offended by this and erases it. He felt sad because he thought one of the little kids might have seen it and been confused and later been brought closer to adulthood. This changed my view on Holden’s character. By the end of the book Holden’s character was much easier to understand. All in all, I thought this book was interesting because the way that J.D Salinger had made Holden’s story deeper than it appeared.
ReplyDeleteIn “Catcher in the Rye” I felt that Holden’s negative perspective of life was ruining my good vibe. He seems to look at everyone and think “I hate you” I admit at times I can be like that. Anyways almost every character named in the book he disliked. The word “Phony” came up a lot to describe people. I think he calls people phony because of his fear of change that showed throughout the book and was proven in the museum scene. Holden believes that running away from his problems will solve them. His fear of change blocks his sight and he seems to hate when things aren’t as he liked them to be. I believed throughout the book that he had some sort of mental problem. Especially after the recurring thoughts of pain and victimisation towards him. I did enjoy the book however, some details I still don't understand no matter how hard I try to think, they can’t go through my thick skull.
ReplyDeleteThe novel Catcher In The Rye by J.D Sandler is a well known novel. My opinion on this novel changed from the time I started reading it to the time that I finished. At first I did not enjoy this novel because it was very negative and boring. But by the end I enjoyed it. Holden is the main character in the novel and he is depressed. Holden fails to succeed. I think that Holden never reaches his goals because he has no confidence and hope in himself. Also Holden has a very negative outlook on almost everyone, he would never point out the good in people only the bad and he used the word “phony” to describe people often. These traits he had made me want Holden to change. I wanted Holden to change into a more mature and better person by the end of the novel but that did not happen. Holden was the same from start to finish, but once the novel was discussed in class I began to have a better perspective on Holden. I realized that Holden was not going to change his qualities but the qualities he had made the story more interesting. Holden's was negative but that shows the reader what he thinks and with out his thoughts the book would have been very confusing. Holden did not change and I did not relate to the novel but I still think that it is an interesting novel to read and would read it again.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the reading of the whole book I felt a very negative tone which even left me feeling pessimistic after reading. But that does not mean i did not like the book, the book was very well written and that writing gave off such a negative voice. though i did not particularly enjoy the book it definitely left an impact on me after reading. The writing in the book was great and told a good story but after a while of reading i began to feel Holden’s pessimistic tone rub off on me. Which makes the book good if you can be affected by it like that it's just not particularly enjoyable to read.
ReplyDeleteIn the book "Catcher in the Rye" I started off having mixed feelings about the book. It was a little weird at first but as it went on i grew to enjoy the book. I liked how the book featured the main character in his adolescent years like myself because it made it easier to get into situations and understand what was going on. Also I liked how you really had to think big and deep to understand what the author was trying to say and get threw you throughout the book, J.D Sullinger really put the book together very well. Another reason J.D made it more interesting and enjoyable was i was waiting and waiting for Holden to grow up or mature a little and that never happened, which made it a lot more interesting.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer my friend read "The Catcher in The Rye" for school, she was describing it to me and it sounded like such a good book and i couldt wait to read it in school. Once we started reading it from the first chapter I knew i was going to like the book. I love how it was written in Holden the main characters perspective and I also love how the book started off him talking to us like a regular conversation. SO my opinion didn't really change through the book at all. I totally can connect with holden, not wanting to grow up and go through adulthood. My whole life I've always felt such pressure to grow up for my little sisters and I feel like holden might be going through that with phoebe as well, but now that I am in my sophomore year of high school I realize that my life is flying bye and i don't want to grow up so badly anymore. overall this was a great book and i would defiantly recommend it to others to read
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the book “The Catcher in the Rye”, by J.D. Salinger. As I did feel the first few chapters were dragged on a bit, I found myself wanting to know more about Holden’s character and situation. This book interested me a great amount because everything was not just given to you, it seemed the reader had to put together the missing pieces he leaves us with and it gives us a better imagination as to why things did happen. Leaving some details out of his story, it left me thinking about the book more than I would if he had blatantly told us everything there was to know about him. The more I read, I felt as if I knew him and it was easy for me to explain what had happened as I read. Also, I found the way he talked was easier to comprehend because it was if he was directly speaking and telling me his story. When Holden describes how he wants to be the catcher in the rye, he meant that he wanted to save kids so that they could keep their innocence and not grow up. This made me realize that him as well is just a kid and he plays himself off to be something that he really is not. It gave me the idea that he is afraid of giving up his childhood and letting go. Throughout the book he seems to have the biggest issue with letting go, which I believe came from his brother passing away. I do not believe my feelings have changed much throughout the book because I was excited about it the whole time and seemed to want to know more about what was going to happen.
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