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| Ice Skating at Radio City |
At the end of chapter 17 Holden does something that we have never seen him do before, he expresses himself. Holden is on a date with Sally at the ice skating rink outside radio city in the
Rockefeller Center when he finally let's his emotions flow. This event in the book intrigued me because Holden is finally making himself vulnerable, he is telling someone else his innermost opinions and feelings that he has kept contained for so long. He starts by asking Sally what she thinks of school, and then proceeds to go on a rant about how he hates school and the people within it. The conversation continues on when Holden asks Sally to run away with him. She declines the offer which makes Holden depressed and causes him to eventually just leave him there alone. There are some subtext there that interest me a lot. First off is the volume of his voice. Sally asks him twice to stop screaming while he is talking, Holden responds by saying he isn't. I don't think that Holden crazy or is freaking out. Over the past couple of weeks his life has basically become a living hell He has been keeping all this inside of him the entire time. We already know that he has trouble expressing his feelings from previous conversations he had (prostitute, Ackley, etc). I think that when he tries to finally put him self out in the open and look for help he just has so much pent-up emotion that it is impossible for him to not yell. I also think that this is a common human feature even when you dont have trouble expressing your emotions. For example when someone tells stop getting mad, the natural response is "I'm not mad!". There is one other subtext thing that interested me. When Jane tells Holden that they should wait until college to get married or move away together. At this point Holden loses his spontaneous affection for Jane, mainly because this strikes a soft point on him. Holden wants to run away at this very moment because he thinks that if he runs away now he won't grow up and become a phony. College means becoming an adult and that is what he is trying to say when goes on about how he will have a job, ride in taxi cabs and madison avenue buses, and a couple more things that mature adults do in New York. Do you think it was a good idea for Holden to open up to Sally? Why? How would you have responded if you were in Sally's position? Do you think that Holden will ever be able to open up to anyone again after this disastrous fail? Why?
I think Holden should not have opened up to Sally, because although it's good to let out his stockpiled emotions, I don't think she was the right person to tell. I think Holden's trying to be spontaneous and stay in his childhood, while Sally's trying hard to be sophisticated enough to get out of it. If I was in Sally's position, I would probably react the same way, because honestly, I would've thought he was going crazy. This is yet another example of how ridiculous Holden's actions are from a different point of view. Despite that we are let into his head to understand what he's going through, it's important to realize that his choices don't always look normal to other people. I think Holden will keep trying to tell people his emotions until he finds someone who cares, because I believe he is one to hold on to hope. If he gave up now, this would definitely lead to his giving in to depression.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it was a good for Holden to open up to Sally. Eventhough he is very close to her, she is the only person he has in New York City that he can talk to and has had to courage to call up. Him opening up to her made him have one less person to open up to and talk to in NYC. If I were in Sally's position, I would not have responded like she did. I feel that she over eaggerated on how she reacted to what Holden said. I would have reacted more calmly. I obiviosly would have been annoyed by what Holden but I definiatly would not have cried. I would have gotten mad at him and would have told him that wasn't necessary, but I would have ignored it. To me, it would be kind of hard to open up to some again, if the first time didn't work out so well. I would definatly watch out and be more careful with who I open up to next time. But in Holden's position, I do not think that he would be able to open up to anyone else, if it didn't go well with Sally. If he never opened to anyone, and on the first try it fails, I really don't think he'll be opening himself up like that again.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it was a good idea for Holden to open up with Sally. Even though it is a good thing to get your feelings out and clear your mind, but with the right person. I do not think Sally was the right person to open up with. When people talk about their emotions and what is going on with their life personally, they should confide in a family member or a close friend. If I was in Sally's position I think I would of tried to understand Holden and listen to him, but I also think I would think he was a little crazy. If Holden kept yelling at me, I would think he was a madman, and I would not have known how to handle the situation. After opening up and being turned down, I think it might take a while for Holden to open up again. It took Holden so long to just be able to open up, but now after he did he was turned down. Holden will have to heal from this experience.
ReplyDeleteI think when Holden goes on his rant about school, you are right his emotions are finally coming out. This particular section of dialogue is very similar to what is actually going through Holden's head. This is the first time we see this happen. I don't think it was a good idea to open up to Sally. She is a silly little girl, who seems like a complete phony. Holden tells Sally he loves her and she immediately says it back. Whereas Holden explains to us that in that moment he meant it, I feel like Sally is telling Holden what he wants to hear, a phony. She continues this way throughout their date. If I were in Sally's position I would have left a lot earlier. Holden's behavior is so erratic and frightening. I don't know whether I think he was shouting at Sally or if she was just overreacting, but Holden called her "a royal pain in the ass". I think all Holden wanted was someone to talk to and when he finally got around to it, Sally was in a bad mood after ice skating. Timing is everything and it seems to keep escaping Holden.
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