Ch. 17: Phony Actors and their Masks

In Chapter 17, Holden takes Sally on a date to a theater show. The particular show they saw feature the Lunts, a famous acting couple. After the first act, Holden describes to us his weird obsession with the phony-ness of actors. He even has trouble explaining it. This isn't the first time that holden has talked about his dislike of actors, and definitely not the first time he has talked about his hatred of phonies. In chapter 16 when Holden is buying the tickets for the show, he tells us about how he not only dislikes movie actors, but stage actors as well. Here's what he tells us:

• They never act like people
• Some good actors do slightly act like people, but not in a way that's fun to watch
• Actors that are really good, know they're good, which spoils it

In the show he takes Sally to, Holden has problems getting interested with the characters. But he tells us that the Lunts are different from other actors because they didn't act like people or actors. He then goes on to contradict himself about how they were too good at accurately portraying people talking and interrupting each other which, in turn, made them not that good because they would start showing off. I'm just sitting here reading this trying to understand what it really is that Holden is trying to say. There is a reason that J.D. Salinger includes this mild rant about the Lunts. Holden says that they're so good that they know they're celebrities and they start showing off.  Holden just flat out can't accept anyone being something that isn't themselves. Even if actors portray people, they are still acting. Something that holden can't get over. It's almost as if the Lunts put on a mask when they go on stage, and Holden fails to connect with them as they're characters because he knows what's behind the mask, people who he thinks are full of themselves, phonies. The picture to the left shows drama masks, commonly used symbols for theater. While the origin of these masks is completely unrelated, I can't help but look at them and think of Holden. While he's in New York he seems to wear the happy mask around other people and strangers. Whether it's trying to have fun and dance with girls and have drinks or trying to have a good time with people like Sally, he acts like nothing is bothering him. But because we're in Holden's mind the whole novel, we know which mask is really how he is feeling. He actually takes off his happy mask and expresses his real thoughts at the end of the chapter (which I won't get into because Caleb's got it covered). 

Why do you think Holden doesn't like actors? Do you agree or disagree with me? 

How do you think the masks pictured above relate to Holden? Why does Holden choose to wear the happy mask around New York? Which mask really relates to how he is feeling?

Bursting From Within

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?

Ch.16 Blog Post- Holden at the Playground

Ch. 16 Blog Post- Holden at the Playground

At the end of chapter 16, Holden Caulfield is at a children’s playground. J.D Salinger writes that Holden is watching and observing two boys playing on the seesaw. Holden notices that the sea saw isn’t even because one boy is fat while the other boy is skinny. He goes over and pushes down on the skinny boy’s side of the sea saw to even out the weight. The boys made it known that they didn’t want Holden to be there, so Holden decided to leave. This part of the chapter interested me the most. It made me feel uncomfortable, and that is probably how the little boys felt too. This could possibly be a demonstration of his crazy, madman type personality. On the other hand, Holden could have been admiring their purity and adolescence. I think, that Holden desires to be as pure as them. I think unknowingly he tries to act like a child, and do things like a child. A part of him wants to be a child. It would have been totally fine if a young child came up to the sea saw and helped the boy. But the fact that it was a teenager makes it unacceptable and odd. Nowadays we learn to run from strangers if they approach us. We know it is not good to talk to strangers or be around them. Holden doesn’t want to accept this adult norm, and he wishes to be carefree. He goes up to the children without boundaries, and when he usually does something odd he calls himself out on it. He usually says, “I’m crazy, I swear” or “I’m a madman”. This time he doesn’t say anything. He thinks that what he did was perfectly normal. I believe that this chapter shows the part of Holden that is still stuck in the adolescent world. Do you think that this situation is a demonstration of Holden’s desire for purity and his inability to accept the adult rules? Or do you think that Holden is really a mad man in this situation? Is this a demonstration of his admiration of purity or is he a creeper and madman? Explain you answer.

The New York Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History

In chapter 16 of, "The Catcher in the Rye," Holden decides to go looking for his sister Phoebe. He sees a little girl sitting on a park bench, and decides to ask her if she knows Phoebe. The little girl does know her, and she tells Holden that Phoebe is probably on a school trip at the Museum of Natural History. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City contains twenty-five buildings, forty-six exhibition halls, several research laboratories, a well-known library, and more than thirty-two million varieties of minerals and gems. Holden knows that Phoebe shouldn't be on a school trip because it's a Sunday, but he decides to head to the museum anyways. On his way to the museum, Holden reminisces about the days when he was Phoebe's age, and used to go on field trips to the museum. He mentions his favorite exhibit about Indians, "Sometimes we looked at the animals and sometimes we looked at the stuff the Indians had made in ancient times. Pottery and straw baskets and all stuff like that." (pg. 119).   His class always had to walk through this exhibit to get to the auditorium which was always showing a presentation on Columbus. Holden goes on to talk about the exhibit until he reaches the museum, but he decides not to go in. Why do you think Holden admires the Indian exhibit so much? Why did Holden decide to not go in the museum? Did it have anything to do with his field trips as a child? Explain.

Chapter 15

In Chapter 15 of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden wonders how a nun could teach English when it involves book with "lovers and all". One book he mentions that he read was The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy. Written in 1887, this book became a classic. He mentions a character named Eustacia Vye. Eustacia is a woman who wants to see the world, but is stuck in a small village. To reach her goal, she marries a man she believes to be worldly to sweep her away to Paris. Unfortunately, he lets her down when he settles down in the very village she means to escape. It is a web of love triangles, accidents, and betrayal that leads to a shocking conclusion. The Return of the Native became a movie in 1994. From the themes stated above, does any of it seem relevant to Holden's situation? Or not at all? Do you think there is any particular reason he brought up this book or why it came to his mind?

Purity

In chapter 14, Holden has a prostitute come to his room. After paying her 5 bucks, she left. Later, Holden gets a knock on the door. Sunny, the prostitute, and Maurice are there demanding 5 more bucks from Holden. He tries to stand up for himself, but instead of sympathy, Holden gets a nasty slap to the stomach along with 5 stolen dollars. After Sunny and Maurice leave, Holden takes a bath and finally gets into bed and tries to fall asleep, even though he wasn't tired. He says that instead of going to bed, he wishes he could have committed suicide. His reason for not going through with that plan was because he didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at him when he was all gory. What do you think Holden meant when he said this? Does he actually care about rubbernecks looking at him, or is he just making up excuses? If he isn't making it up, does his issue with people seeing him when he is all gory have to do with his problem with purity? Why or why not? 

Faceless

Perhaps it would easier for Holden if we all looked like this.

At the beginning of chapter 13, Holden walks down the cold streets of New York, talking about his gloves and about how much he wishes that he'd found the rat at Pencey who'd stolen them. He proceeds to admit that he would not have gotten physical with whomever had stolen them, but would have only intimidated them. After describing what the incident would have looked like, he tells us that he doesn't like fist fights. He doesn't, however, appear to have as big of a problem with pushing someone out a window or chopping off their heads with an axe. The problem with fist-fighting, according to him, is seeing someone's face. He even states that 'it wouldn't be so bad if you could both be blindfolded or something' (page 90). I think that Holden's problem isn't with seeing someone's face, but rather realizing he's hitting someone else, seeing fear or anger in their faces. Maybe the reason he's afraid of other's feelings is because he doesn't understand them all that well because he's afraid to share his own. Why do you think Holden is so uncomfortable with seeing people's faces during a fight? Would you feel more uncomfortable with fist-fighting or with pushing someone out a window? Why do you feel this way? Do you think Holden is uncomfortable with his own feeling? Why or why not?

The Hanging Green Dress, Ch. 13

When Holden returns from the Lavender Room, he decides to skip the drinking at the bar and go straight up to his room. He had mentioned he felt lonely and a little depressed. But then, the elevator operator asks him if he's interested in a prostitute. Twenty minutes later, a prostitute named Sonny knocks on his door. She seems naive and nervous, almost as nervous as Holden. This isn't the first time we have seen Holden so nervous when talking to or about a girl. For example, Holden got nervous thinking or talking about his neighbor, Jane. Sonny took off her green dress and asked Holden to hang it up. Holden said it made him feel sad. He didn't want anything from Sonny, he just wanted to talk to her during that time she was in his room. If Holden said he was a virgin, I think he only said yes to having the prostitute in his room so he could have someone to talk to so he wouldn't feel so lonely. Why did the hanging green dress make Holden feel sad? What is the dress a metaphor of or what does it symbolize in Holden's life?