Holden as a Reflecton
"If I were a piano player, I'd play in the goddam closet"(110).
Holden has a very distinct view of what a phony is. To Holden, all adults are phonies and the only, pure and non-phony people in the society are children. He doesn't want to grow up because he has the fear that he will become a phony. Just like Stephen, he thinks that he is the only person that thinks this way.
At the beginning of chapter 13 Holden describes himself in the words, "I'm one of those yellow guys"(115). He doesn't like to get into fights, but instead of him seeing this as a good thing, he sees himself as a coward and as unmanly. I personally admire how he doesn't like to hurt other people because I myself find it hard to confront others and just want everyone to be happy. While those two things aren't the same, there are some similarities. We have to again take into account that the way we view things nowadays is very different than how things were view in the 20th century. What people deemed masculine and manly back then, we now think of as impolite and stupid. An example being Stradlater.
Another way in which I can relate to Holden is what he thinks about why people do good things. When he is having his conversation with Phoebe and she asks him if he wants to be a lawyer one of the reasons he doesn't want to be one is, "Even if you did go around saving guys' lives and all, how would you know if you did it because you really wanted to save guys' lives, or because you did it because what you really wanted to do was be a terrific lawyer"(223). This again goes to him wanting to play the piano in the closet. I admire how he doesn't want attention when he is doing something good and I very much agree with that. Between Stephen and Holden, I like Holden more because he is funny, cares a lot about his family, doesn't think of himself as better than everyone, and other traits that I too hold. Even some of his more bad traits like being self-deprecating I can relate too. In my eyes, I am very much like Holden.
Holden has a very distinct view of what a phony is. To Holden, all adults are phonies and the only, pure and non-phony people in the society are children. He doesn't want to grow up because he has the fear that he will become a phony. Just like Stephen, he thinks that he is the only person that thinks this way.
At the beginning of chapter 13 Holden describes himself in the words, "I'm one of those yellow guys"(115). He doesn't like to get into fights, but instead of him seeing this as a good thing, he sees himself as a coward and as unmanly. I personally admire how he doesn't like to hurt other people because I myself find it hard to confront others and just want everyone to be happy. While those two things aren't the same, there are some similarities. We have to again take into account that the way we view things nowadays is very different than how things were view in the 20th century. What people deemed masculine and manly back then, we now think of as impolite and stupid. An example being Stradlater.
Another way in which I can relate to Holden is what he thinks about why people do good things. When he is having his conversation with Phoebe and she asks him if he wants to be a lawyer one of the reasons he doesn't want to be one is, "Even if you did go around saving guys' lives and all, how would you know if you did it because you really wanted to save guys' lives, or because you did it because what you really wanted to do was be a terrific lawyer"(223). This again goes to him wanting to play the piano in the closet. I admire how he doesn't want attention when he is doing something good and I very much agree with that. Between Stephen and Holden, I like Holden more because he is funny, cares a lot about his family, doesn't think of himself as better than everyone, and other traits that I too hold. Even some of his more bad traits like being self-deprecating I can relate too. In my eyes, I am very much like Holden.
I find that last example fascinating. He holds this phony idea to such a high standard by saying he must do a "good thing" with conscience good reasons. Personally I'm not sure I completely agree with this philosophy. If people do "good" things for "selfish" reasons does it really diminish the act? Maybe, but it's complicated
ReplyDeleteI feel that the fact we're reading this now plays such a huge role. Standards for both men and women have changed so much. Taking Stradlater as an example as you have, he was the ideal for a guy: strong, top of the social chain, and flippant with the ladies. If Stradlater was the main character of Catcher in the Rye, he'd probably have a lot of haters. Then again, I can't speak for everyone.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I get the respectable qualities you see in Holden. Hahaha although I wouldn't pick up some of his habits: drunk phone calling in the middle of the night, not sleeping for several days straight, and having thoughts about quitting school/going completely off the grid.
I also feel really deeply for Holden, sometimes in uncomfortable ways. I think we all kind of have a little part of us that has high ideals for the rest of the world (Holden's intolerance of phoniness), but most of us can recognize the hypocrisy in that or accept that the world will never be perfect. I also relate to Holden in that growing up is freaking scary, and it's hard for me to look forward to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Holden is quite a relatable character, even if we wouldn't necessarily want him to be. He's pessimistic and has very strong opinions, yet he has an uncertainty about himself that I think we all share. He wants to think of himself as better than everyone else, yet he contradicts himself a lot - something we all do, even if we don't admit it. I think it's human nature to by hypocritical whilst trying your best to make sense of the world and your current situation.
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