In the book, "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, he writes about a mentally unstable boy named Holden Caufield. Throughout the book Holden retells his sixteenth year and all the events that lead to his breakdown. Holden has his breakdown because of his fear of losing his innocence as he grows into adulthood. The Museum of Natural History symbolizes a place where things can just be frozen in time like Holden wants.
Holden would like everything to be frozen in time because he fears the unknown. He doesn't like havign to deal with things he doesn't understand. He just wants everything to be plain and simple. The museum was a place of refuge for Holden from the passing of time. He could visit the museum and know that everything would be the same nothing would change. The only thing that seemed to be changing was the person.
The museum also helps to explain why Holden talks about Allie so much. He loves Allie so much and continues to talk about him because Holden knows that Allie will forever be young. Allie will never change because he died and there's nothing to change him, no passing of time or anything. Knowing that Allie will never change is something that Holden feels comfortable with and he's not afraid of it.
Ultimately, Holden came to realize that there's nothing that he can do to stop the progression of time. This realization could be what caused him to have his breakdown. Just knowing that he couldn't be Holden or holding on to something anymore, the understanding of what needed to change hit him. He had to growup.
6 comments:
I love this book, haha Holden is like the craziest character I've ever read about! When I read the book, we focused on all the things Holden found phony and stuff, and how that led to his breakdown, but now after reading your essay, I see it from an entirely new perspective, and it makes a lot of sense now. Thats why he liked his sister so much, because she never changed, and that teacher (before he tried to molest him or whatever ._.) But yes, you made me look at the book completely different!
Love it! The structure of your essay reminds me of Mr. Schick's class. I like that it hits all of your points well and what you're trying to say is very clear. There are a few grammatical errors, but that probably wouldn't happen if you hand wrote it, so it's nothing to worry about. I love your conclusion- it was well written and insightful.
I really like your thesis, and you have good evidence. good job writing your analysis when I still have your book. :P
To me, your sentences seem choppy and abrupt. I feel like you need to give your essay the breath of life! Link sentences together! Use imagery!
But your essay is to the point, and it brings good insights about Holden's deceased brother. I think the second half of your essay is very well-written; the first half is a bit choppy but gets the point across. Good job Kanani :]
p.s. hate me yet? You will. <3
To be honest, when I first looked at your post, I thought it might not be as good as others because of the seemingly shorter length. After reading it, my view of your answers changed. I really liked your explanations, but let me just check, the symbol was the progression of time right? The ending brought closure to what you were trying to say, and I really liked how it closed on hanging sort of note. =D
kanani,
the first thing I realized was how cute your blog is. anyway. aside from the fact,
your essay is very simple and straight to the point. I like how I clearly understand what your symbol is but i think you could have developed that idea more by supporting more from the book. maybe it is mostly because i didn't read this book, but i think you could have elaborated a bit more. other than that
i love how you got your point straight across.
gooood job! :)
You could be a little more creative with your sentences. In the second paragraph there was a lot of repetition of the word "he".
I like the associated between the museum and Allie.
Your blunt ending is also how I like to end my essays :p with a final thought, and I must say that I like it. It completes the entire essay in just a few words.
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