Romeo and Juliet. I have to say, I’m looking forward to reading this, because I’ve heard ‘so much’ about it. Everyone seems to know it and talk about it, and some people even call it the ‘greatest love story of all time’, to which I highly disagree with (I’ve read some pretty good love stories). The first thing I notice about the plot is that they’re all so young! Juliet is still thirteen, and Romeo isn’t much older. And apparently, kids younger than Juliet are “made happy mothers” WHAT? Society has seemingly changed quite a bit since this day and age. The second thing I’m wondering; why are the Monatagues and Capulets fighting? Did something happen years before, or has anger just dialed up and up over the years? It seems like it wouldn’t be hard to make peace, as Mr. Capulet seemed willing enough to allow Romeo to stay at his party. Mr. Monatague, if I were him, at least would’ve been tired of the fighting and wanted peace. I couldn’t know without knowing the reason of their quarrel, which Shakespeare has not given so far. I also wonder, after Romeo and Juliet both die, do you think the parents will realize their evil ways? I can’t wait to find out. The characters seem fairly well laid out; the two that stick out to me so far are Romeo and Tybalt. If Tybalt is younger than Mr. Capulet, why is he so mad at the Monatagues when even Mr. Capulet doesn’t seem to care that much? He’s so fiery, though I doubt he was actually there when whatever happened between the two families actually happened. How could someone be brought up with that kind of hate? And Romeo, the heartbroken ‘man’. First, he’s my age, far from a man. Second, I can definitely relate to his heartbrokenness at first; but I laugh when he sees Juliet, a new girl, and immediately falls in love. Oh yeah, forget about the other girl. He gives a whole speech praising Juliet, when just a second ago he was weeping over some other girl! This shows Romeo isn’t feeling love. It’s a childish crush, and it’s far from manhood love. I find his character pretty funny. Finally, the writing style. I’m pretty sure this writing style is the closest thing possible to using another language without actually changing the English language so much that it’s impossible to understand. I at first found it very hard to read, but now I’m getting used to it. However, it’s definitely far from easy. The worst thing to get used to is the backwards sentences with the fancy words – instead of just saying, “we’re going to be late,” they say something like, “now and thou hast lateness cast upon us.” Altogether, Romeo and Juliet is pretty good so far, and I’m excited to continue!

     I found the Perfect day for Bananafish quite confusing, and I had to re-read it a few times before I sort of understood it. I didn’t think there was much of a connection between any of the characters in the Bananafish story and the Catcher in the Rye. I think the Muriel girl on the phone at the beginning could possibly represent Phoebe, for being there all along and caring for one that is a little insane; but she’s not afraid of this man which she loves. The little girl playing the piano could be Sally Hayes in my mind, a girl you like because of how she looks and acts but don’t really like for what she does. Holden could possibly be the pale man who shot himself; they were both a little insane, and they had similar dialogue, but they were insane for different reasons. The way I understood it, the male in the Bananafish story was a World War II survivor and had gone insane from the war; Holden was a youth out of control and didn’t have that kind of history. Finally, the mother on the phone at the beginning could symbolize Mr. Antolini, someone who cares for the main character and only wants to help. But altogether the Bananafish story was confusing and I didn’t really see much of a bright connection between its characters and those of the Catcher in the Rye.

    I received a lot of responses when my family and friends heard I was reading Catcher in the Rye. My Grandma and father in particular seemed to have mixed feelings about it. From their conversations about it, and from the pre-reading we did on this book, I found it completely different than what I expected from it. It seemed a lot more laid back and real than I expected. I thought it was about a kid living on the streets, stealing from people to make a living. But here we have a kid who’s just surviving, and it seemed a lot more like a real life scenario as I read it than what I expected from it before-hand. Also, the ‘adult’ content wasn’t as ‘adult’ as what I expected. There is a lot of ‘adult’ content, for sure. But I didn’t read anything new, I’ve heard those words used before and I knew what was going on. I don’t know why that surprised me, but from listening to my Grandma and Dad talk, it seemed like I was about to read something that would ‘open my eyes’ to the real world. Well, it didn’t ‘open my eyes’ as much as I expected, or even a little.
     There was one situation in June where we were in Seattle, Washington. We were taking a city bus to downtown. There was a woman in the back of the bus who was evidently a little bit hypocritical. She laughed at nothing, she randomly scowled, and she would allow nothing to come within five feet of her. I think of this situation when I read about Holden’s situation for some reason, it reminds me of his idea of phoniness. Although I know for sure Holden would have described this lady as a big phony and moron, I probably would use neither of those words.
     Holden I think is a bit verifiably insane. He’s a youth that’s out of control. He doesn’t know how to apply himself in anything, all he knows is how to barely survive in the modern world. And even that I think he just believes he knows. He may or may not actually know. The hints from the text are the many times where he is doing this he doesn’t mean to do. Like accidentally calling his date a royal pain in the rear end. Or saying he’s going to go out to Vermont. Or hitchhike out west. After each section, he says something like, I know I would have never done it, but I meant it when I said it. “I swear to God I’m a madman.” Those are hints that he’s insane. Not only that, but at the end of the book you find out he’s writing from a rehabilitation place. So I believe he’s a tad bit insane.
     I think the prostitute section could be symbolized as something much bigger – the difference between right and wrong and what really matters in life. The prostitute comes in, takes off most her clothes, then Holden says he’s changed his mind. He’s feeling too depressed for that. Now, wrong almost always feels good – it’s human nature. When you steal some food, MMMM, that food tastes good. When you perhaps lie to someone so you can get something in return, whatever that return item is sure is something you’ve always wanted to do. Even bigger wrongs; smoking, drugs, sex, alcohol. Yeah they feel good, or no one would be doing them. But all of them tend to ruin your life if you’re addicted and using them in the wrong way. Even so, they still feel good. Like in the song Counting Stars from One Republic, the singer says, “And I, feel something so right, from doing the wrong thing…” Wrong things in this life almost always feels good. But here’s the catch, which I think is emphasized in the prostitute section in this book; wrong can always be an afterthought. Wrong can be overcome by wanting something bigger. What I mean is, Holden is depressed and lonely, and so depressed and so lonely he doesn’t even want to do this thing that a lot of other guys his age in his position would do. This poses a question, depression and loneliness are fixed by what? Depression is fixed by having a dream and a future to reach for, and loneliness is fixed by having good friends. Holden, whether he realizes it or not, wants both of these things; enough to look at the face of wrong and say no. This is what I believe what symbolism lies in this section, right and wrong and what really matters in life.