Catcher in the Rye Week 1

     What does it mean to be unique? Uniqueness in Holden’s eyes is pretty strange. His conversation with the mother on the train kind of opened it up, where he would said that her son was a unique kid, he had one of those personalities that you had to get to know (the kind of guy that snaps towels at people in the hallway, which isn’t normal). He also talks about girls and makes each one unique – he said Jane was unique because she did strange things, such as putting her hand on the back of his neck. So possibly uniqueness in his eyes is just doing things that aren’t normal?
     Individuality is shown quite a bit in Holden’s character. He keeps talking about how everyone’s a phony, and even though he doesn’t exactly define what he means, he’s saying they don’t really mean anything they say or do. A person with individuality is someone who isn’t a phony, in his eyes.
     I really have no favorite person; I mean, I have some good friends but no favorite person. I guess Allie is nice, smart, and cool to hang around. Those character traits are definitely things I’d find in any of my best friends.
     If I had the choice to go anywhere; I’d probably head up to Sault Ste. Marie. Up there is a very peaceful place for me, I’d be able to get my mind off things. A couple of my good friends live up there, so I could easily hang around and just lose the stress for a few days. A place I’d probably go by while I was there is Mission Point, I’d sit up there for hours thinking about life if I had the chance. It’s an amazing place.
     Jane is the classic best girl-friend. She’s not one of those girls that obsesses over makeup, and catchphrases, and boys, but the kind of girl that’s just cool. She’s the classy girl, modest, yet pretty. Holden is one of her best friends, even though they haven’t talked in a while. He feels protective of his roommate (who sounds like the classic jerk to girls in general) going on a date with her. Holden doesn’t like that at all, and he can’t believe it happened. He got so mad to the point where he threw a punch at his roommate. He talks about her in his memories like she was someone that meant a lot to him, someone he knew real well. Jane is the kind of girlfriend you’ll remember; some of the others you might forget, but not this girl.
     “People are always ruining things for you.” This is true, although no one really means it. I mean, it’s like getting stuck in the rain when you’re out on a walk. The rain makes you miserable, but it’s not the rain’s fault you were out on a walk. The rain didn’t mean to make you miserable, it just happened. People sometimes can ruin things for you; sometimes you might get put groups in class and you don’t like the people in your group. Sometimes, your mom can make plans for you that you really don’t want to attend: but you go out of respect. Sometimes, your friends say things about you that they believe you won’t care about, such as, “Oh yeah, Jack was hanging around with (such and such) last week.” It seems like no big deal, but maybe you didn’t want that person to know you know those other people; for whatever reason. Sometimes it rolls like that, but no one really means anything hurtful by it.
    

Response to A Good Man is Hard to Find

  Fate or chance played a pretty big role in this story. First of all, the Grandmother wants to go to Tennessee – not Florida, which is where her son, Bailey, is taking his family. As an excuse to not go to Florida, she tells Bailey that there is an escaped criminal doing bad things who is called the Misfit, and he’s heading for Florida. Surely they wouldn’t want to go there, would they? But the father brushes it off as a lame excuse from his mother to not go to Florida but to where she wanted to go, as I would have too. But, by chance or by fate, this family just happened to meet the Misfit and the Misfit shot them all. Talk about a slim chance. Or maybe, fate willed it? This is one of those stories that’s kind of scary, but we assume it’s not going to happen in real life – what’s the ‘chance’ of that? Chance and fate also showed up in other parts of the story – by chance, they stopped at a restaurant and talked to the owner about how good men are hard to find. Just later that day, the Grandmother was arguing for her life by trying to convince the murderer that he was indeed a good man, that good can be found in everybody. What are the ‘chances’ of that? Also, did fate want them to get in a car accident? Then why did the stowaway cat emerge right when it did and jump to exactly the right spot for the car to be flung off the road and its passengers injured? Was that these people’s ‘fate’, or destiny? Fate and chance show up many times in this story.

     The story is all about good men. What is a good man, and where do you find them? Those seem to be two questions the texts battles throughout the story. The Grandmother tries to define a good man three times in the story – once when she told the story of an old boyfriend of hers, again when she met with Red Sammy, and a third time when she bartered for her life against the Misfit. At first a good man is  one who invests well in business, and is successful ,as the story goes with her old boyfriend Mr. E.A.T. As in Red Sammy’s case,  the Grandmother calls Red Sammy a good man because he was generous to a few boys that came into his shop. Even though those boys cheated him, he was still a good man for doing so. And the most important event was when she tried to convince the Misfit he was a good man. She yelled at him, “you must come from good people.” Later she yells, “I know you have good blood!” This is a big part of her definition, that he comes from good people… sadly, however, the people you come from can only point you in the right direction. They can’t make you a truly good man. The Grandmother continues by saying, “You’re not a bit common!” So she implies common men are not good men. Then the Grandmother says, “You can be honest if you only try.” This is a true statement, good is a choice. But the Misfit has chosen, and he has not chosen good.

  Fate or chance played a pretty big role in this story. First of all, the Grandmother wants to go to Tennessee – not Florida, which is where her son, Bailey, is taking his family. As an excuse to not go to Florida, she tells Bailey that there is an escaped criminal doing bad things who is called the Misfit, and he’s heading for Florida. Surely they wouldn’t want to go there, would they? But the father brushes it off as a lame excuse from his mother to not go to Florida but to where she wanted to go, as I would have too. But, by chance or by fate, this family just happened to meet the Misfit and the Misfit shot them all. Talk about a slim chance. Or maybe, fate willed it? This is one of those stories that’s kind of scary, but we assume it’s not going to happen in real life – what’s the ‘chance’ of that? Chance and fate also showed up in other parts of the story – by chance, they stopped at a restaurant and talked to the owner about how good men are hard to find. Just later that day, the Grandmother was arguing for her life by trying to convince the murderer that he was indeed a good man, that good can be found in everybody. What are the ‘chances’ of that? Also, did fate want them to get in a car accident? Then why did the stowaway cat emerge right when it did and jump to exactly the right spot for the car to be flung off the road and its passengers injured? Was that these people’s ‘fate’, or destiny? Fate and chance show up many times in this story.

     The story is all about good men. What is a good man, and where do you find them? Those seem to be two questions the texts battles throughout the story. The Grandmother tries to define a good man three times in the story – once when she told the story of an old boyfriend of hers, again when she met with Red Sammy, and a third time when she bartered for her life against the Misfit. At first a good man is  one who invests well in business, and is successful ,as the story goes with her old boyfriend Mr. E.A.T. As in Red Sammy’s case,  the Grandmother calls Red Sammy a good man because he was generous to a few boys that came into his shop. Even though those boys cheated him, he was still a good man for doing so. And the most important event was when she tried to convince the Misfit he was a good man. She yelled at him, “you must come from good people.” Later she yells, “I know you have good blood!” This is a big part of her definition, that he comes from good people… sadly, however, the people you come from can only point you in the right direction. They can’t make you a truly good man. The Grandmother continues by saying, “You’re not a bit common!” So she implies common men are not good men. Then the Grandmother says, “You can be honest if you only try.” This is a true statement, good is a choice. But the Misfit has chosen, and he has not chosen good.