The Catcher In The Rye

Jennifer Tabasco 11-2
English III
Mr. Fiorini
April 20, 2009

The Catcher In The Rye

After reading The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, I felt as if I was living and experiencing the adolescent life of Holden Caulfield. Holden Caulfield, the main character focused on throughout the novel, talks to the reader as if he were having a general conversation with one of his friends. Holden mentions the pronoun, “you” a lot, and I think that this pronoun use has a lot of significance throughout the majority of the story because this proves to the reader that he hasn’t forgotten about the reader, and it shows that Holden’s voice tone is generally friendly and directly conversational. Throughout the novel, Holden takes the reader through his experiences after getting expelled from Pencey High School. The cause of Holden’s expulsion was because he failed four academic subjects, and he didn’t place any effort into his academic classes, especially Oral Expression, because he wasn’t up to going deep into the class. Some of those fun-filled experiences that Holden guides the reader through are his constant migration from different hotels in New York, the fist-fight between Ward Stradlater and him over Jane Gallagher, and his adventurous voyage to the Central Park Zoo with Phoebe. Another significant idea that Holden’s character is built upon is that after every statement that has a negative feeling to it, Holden always says that it’s depressing. I’m not really sure as to why he would think that certain statements would be depressing because what could be depressing to Holden could be a positive statement to me. Holden tends to look on the negative side of things so much, and he feels as if he has nothing to look forward to in his life because he’s so unsure as to where his current life is headed, and he’s also unsure of choosing which direction or path to choose in order to become successful later in his life. I think that Holden’s character needs to become more developed by thinking and deciding where his next stage of life is going to be in the next five years.
Speaking of Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield, I absolutely loved her character. Phoebe reminded me of the little sister that follows their older sibling around wherever they went. Throughout most of the novel, Holden’s mind always wondered back either to Phoebe or Jane Gallagher. Holden thought about his younger sister so much because he believed that she listened to him when he talked to her even though she may be a lot younger than him. As for Jane Gallagher, Holden developed a humongous crush on her ever since they became friends. Holden felt emotionally connected to Jane because they were around the same age, and I think that they understood how each other felt during certain situations, such as the event with Phoebe’s step father. In similar ways, Phoebe looked up to Holden because he was the only other older sibling that she talked to besides D.B. who was in Hollywood, writing books. Phoebe prevented Holden from going out West into the wilderness because of how emotionally attached she felt towards Holden. As soon as Phoebe found out about Holden’s possible escape into the West, she immediately wanted to go, and when Holden persisted that she couldn’t go, Phoebe began to cry because she wanted her older sibling to be by her side, to have someone to look up to for guidance, and to have someone to turn to when things didn’t seem exactly right. In addition to this, I kind of wish that J.D. Salinger would have written the book a little bit differently when it came to the situation with Jane Gallagher, Ward Stradlater, and Holden. I really wanted things to work out well between Jane Gallagher and Holden because after reliving Holden’s experiences with Jane, I think that they seemed perfect for each other. Holden was absolutely crazy, head-over-heels for Jane, and every time he would think about calling her, Holden wouldn’t feel up to actually doing it. If you wanted something or someone so badly in your life, wouldn’t you want to fight to win that person’s heart? As for Ward Stradlater, he seemed way too conceited for Jane, and he idolized himself more than any other person in the entire world. Jane probably just went out with Stradlater that one night because of his looks, not because she really cared for him at all.
In conclusion, I think that The Catcher In The Rye teaches a lot about life, love, and education purposes. This novel teaches a lot about life because we watch Holden grow and express himself through certain situations at an adolescent age. As for the love aspect, I think that Holden should have fought a lot more to win Jane’s heart because she might have been doing the exact same thing for him. Who knows? Nobody knows at all. If he really liked Jane so much, why wouldn’t he call her on the telephone when he had the opportunity? I do have to say that I do admire Holden for physically fighting Ward Stradlater to win the heart of Jane Gallagher even though Ward Stradlater had no absolute clue as to why they were fighting in the first place. In addition to this, the education conflict for Holden was that he never felt like placing any effort into his schoolwork because he saw no real point in placing any lasting effort. Holden always saw his side of the situation, and he was never positive about anything. To summarize this up, I enjoyed reading, reliving, and experiencing Holden Caulfield’s life as an adolescent teen. Holden Caulfield was a very interesting character to read about, and I think that eventually, Holden will figure out which direction his life is going to take him based on everything that he has lived through as an adolescent teen transforming into a young adult.

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Death of a Salesman

Jennifer Tabasco 11-2
English III
Mr. Fiorini
April 3, 2009

My Thoughts on Death of a Salesman

After reading and watching Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, I believe that the entire book was fully centered around Willy Loman. Willy Loman was an elderly man who hallucinated during certain situations when he would become angry or even excited towards his wife, Linda, or his eldest son, Biff Loman. When Willy sadly passed away at the end of the novel, I was very moved by how Linda, Biff, and Hap all came to Willy’s side after the car accident. Biff and Hap both knew that their father was dying at a slow rate from these hallucinations that he was experiencing on certain occasions, but I think that Linda didn’t wanted to admit that to herself until the incident actually occurred. Every time Biff and Hap would ask their mother about their father’s well being, Linda would just ignore their questions by saying to just leave him alone, and he’ll be okay. It seemed to me that Linda wanted to hide away her pain and anguish that her husband was causing her because she didn’t want her two adult sons to believe that she was unstable or that she didn’t want anyone to see her hidden emotions. People would start to think that she also might be going crazy or hallucinating, as a matter of fact. In the end, though, Linda Loman was a very loving, generous, and caring wife and mother who stuck by her family through everything, regardless of what her neighbors or other people in the town might have gossiped about. She expressed her deep true love to her family by never, ever giving up on Willy and his hallucinations, and she always made sure that her two adult sons had the best possible care whether out on the road or even right at home.
And who was this mysterious woman that Willy had a secret affair with? From the very beginning, I thought that this woman was a real human being, but after finishing the novel, I came to realize that the mysterious woman was just apart of Willy’s hallucinations in his mind. In the movie, the woman was portrayed similar to Marilyn Monroe, someone who had all of the men wrapped around her little finger and who also was a nymphomaniac. Maybe this mysterious woman also had secret affairs with other men in her life that Willy didn’t know about, just like Linda didn’t know about Willy’s secret affair with this woman. Why would Arthur Miller write into his novel about how Willy had a secret affair with this mysterious woman? Didn’t he even come to realize that that affair could potentially destroy Willy and Linda’s marriage forever? But, in the end, Arthur Miller wrote this novel so that Linda would never know about the affair Willy was having behind her back. That’s very interesting and so odd at the same time. It’s interesting because now, since Willy’s dead, he took that affair to the grave with him, and it’s very odd because I believe that Arthur Miller wanted to keep the relationship with this mysterious woman going. Since Willy’s physically dead, the relationship with the mysterious woman could still exist maybe up in heaven because that entire idea was all in his head.
Willy, Willy, Willy. What could I say about this elderly man who tragically died in a car accident? Well, for one thing, I could definitely say that this man meant no harm to anyone. Willy was a business man, searching for a purpose in his life, sort of like a Donald Trump for the 1920s era. When Willy began to hallucinate during the first couple of chapters, I had absolutely thought that this man was going insane. I lost my place throughout the rest of the chapters because now, there were all of these different characters that no one even mentioned before. As each new character came up in the following chapters, I said to myself that this is Willy’s hallucinations, and that this isn’t really happening in his physical being. In addition to this, I noticed that every time that he would become angry or even overjoyed by something, the strange hallucinations would keep coming back into his mind, and Willy wouldn’t even realize it. I believe that these hallucinations all had some meaning to Willy; these hallucinations were things that he desired to have in his life, and I think that Willy never knew how to rightfully express what he wanted to have for himself. Willy had a good, well-mannered heart inside of him, and even though he wasn’t always there for his kids every night to say that he loved them, deep down inside, I know that he loved his kids no matter what. From my personal life, Willy kind of reminded me of my Uncle Al because he would always try to teach me right from wrong, and I knew that he meant well. Very stubborn, my Uncle Al is. My Uncle Al talks with his hands a lot like most Italians do, and I think that just talking to me means a lot to him.
In conclusion, I believe that throughout this whole entire novel, Willy touched every person inside their heart because of how full of life he was. The title, “Death of a Salesman” refers to the elderly Willy Loman and how he lived his life with his family before his tragic death due to a car accident that wasn’t meant to happen. For Biff, Happy, and Linda, I think that they all looked back on how Willy lived his life the way he did, and I think that they’re grateful for even having him in their lives because of how much he taught them even though he was a little rough around the edges to fully understand. Willy just wanted the best for his family, and I think that since he didn’t have a lot of money, he wasn’t able to provide anything for them, which may be one of the reasons as to why he went so insane. On behalf of Linda Loman, I respect her through everything because she remained faithful to her cheating husband, and she worked her hardest to do whatever she could for her family because of how much she loved them. As for Biff and Happy, I think that both of these men had to find their rightful place in the world, and they should do whatever occupation that they want to do. To end this essay, I believe that Death of a Salesman can teach the reader a lot about life, true love, the essence of a family, and the marketing of jobs. All of these ideas and so many others are what Willy Loman really desired throughout his elderly life, and I think that right before his death, he was thinking about all of these things that he never had, but these things are the ones that he hoped to give back to his family through his death.

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