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Sun June 28, 2009 10:41 PM
The Bronze Bow was an intense book. Daniel's life was full of hardships and heartbreak. Daniel's charater leads the reader through one boy's life in the time of Jesus Christ which lends itself to intense events and plenty of emotion. It was definitely deserving of the Newberry Medal (1962).
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Sun June 28, 2009 10:11 PM
The Bell Jar was one of the books that my 11th grade honors English class read and discussed. Sylvia Plath was such an interesting writer and her real life made her novels even more interesting. The Bell Jar really left me pondering a lot of life's difficulties and the emotions that people can experience, especially in the throes of depression.
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Sun June 28, 2009 10:07 PM
I really enjoyed the Anne series as a teen. Anne is such a memorable and real character, never afraid to show her true colors. L.M.Montgomery wrote such amazing books filled with emotions and adventures and characters that readers will never forget.
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Wed May 13, 2009 01:52 AM
I loved this book. It is a true adventure book, set in the Yukon, during the hardships of the gold-rush. White Fang is put through so much in the novel, the reader is sure to remember the end for him. Great book.
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Wed May 13, 2009 01:47 AM
This is such a memorable and touching book. Anyone looking for an adventure book will be pleasantly suprised by this one. I recommend this book to adults and older children. It is a great book to read aloud to the family.
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Sex, Intimacy and Maturing • Cherisey (2 years ago)
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First, Holden is in conflict about how to deal with intimacy in several ways. He doesn't necessarily know how to deal with the different kinds of encounters in his life. At 17, Holden is most definitely an adolescent and to go along with this, he has the usual biological yearnings, but has mixed feelings about how he should respond to them. Holden has a habit of sabotageing all of his opportunities to have sexual encounters. For example, during his encounter with Sunny, the prostitute, Holden decides not to go through with sex, but spends his time connecting with her by just talking. Later in the novel, Holden speaks with Carl Luce at the Wicker Bar, and tries to discuss whether he needs psychoanalysis because he has difficulty being intimate with a girl unless he really cares about her. Luce, provides little support, not telling Holden that that trait is admirable. Having Stradlater go out on a date with Jane was also difficult for Holden, not just because of jealousy, but because he knows that Jane doesn't know Stradlater very well and feels bad that Jane may be having sex with a guy she doesn't know very well.
Because Holden tells the reader that he sees growing up as phony and sex as dirty in many ways, he fantasizes about being a "catcher" of children, by protecting them from maturing and the adult world of sex. Sexuality is a big concern for Holden, as a part of maturing, and he is in conflict throughout the novel over having to face growing up.
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A Crush • Cherisey (2 years ago)
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Through the novel, Holden displays a longing for intimacy in several ways. Jane Gallagher is a girl whom Holden met when both of their families stayed in neighboring summer houses in Maine. During that summer, Holden and Jane spent a lot of time together. Jane never makes a true appearance in the novel, but she is extremely important to Holden, because she is one of the few girls whom he both respects and finds attractive. Later in the novel, Stradlater’s date with Jane makes Holden extremely jealous as well as infuriating him. He hates to think of a girl he knows well, having sex with a boy she doesn’t know well. He has also spent a lot of time thinking about "growing up" enough to have a sexual encounter, and is jealous that Stradlater got the chance to be with Jane.
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Fantasy and Reality • Cherisey (2 years ago)
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One of the main symbols in the novel is Holden's fantasy of being the Catcher in the Rye. This is a symbol worth looking into, as it is the title of the novel. As a kid, Holden has an experience where he is admired by another kid for walking in the street, rather than on the sidewalk. This kid is singing the song, "Catcher in the Rye" and this idea sticks with Holden. Later, Holden is asked what he wants to do with his life and his reply is partially due to this song and event that had made an impression on him. In his fantasy of the "Catcher," Holden imagines a field of rye, high on the edge of a cliff, full of children running and playing. His fantasy continues as he says he would like to protect the children from falling off the edge of the cliff by “catching” them. Later, Holden learns that he had misheard a line in the song: He thinks the line is “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye,” but the true line says “If a body meet a body, coming through the rye.” This symbol of the "catcher in the rye" is extremely important to Holden, because over the course of the novel, he is struggling with the transition from childhood to adulthood. His fantasy of being the children's catcher, speaks of his desire to remain in the child's world and also to save other children from "falling over the edge" into adulthood.
There are several other important symbols in the novel. Holden’s red hunting hat is a huge part of our view of Holden. Holden wears it as a symbol of his uniqueness and individuality. Also, because the hat is truly outlandish, it displays Holden's desire to be separate and different from everyone around him. Although Holden wears the hat as a symbol of his uniqueness, it often is the cause of Holden feeling very self conscious. Holden's wearing or not wearing of the hat is symbolic of a central conflict in the novel: does Holden want isolation or companionship in his life?
Another important symbol in the novel is The Museum of Natural History. Holden takes the time to tell the reader about his feelings about the symbolic meaning of the museum’s displays. He feels that they appeal to him because they are frozen and unchanging. Holden seems disturbed that although they displays remain constant and unchanging, he has changed every time he goes to see them. The museum represents the world Holden wishes he could live in, a world that remains unchanged over time. Holden finds unpredictability terrifying and dislikes conflict, which is part of what scares him about adulthood.
The carousel at the end of the novel is also an important symbol. In a way, the carousel is also like the displays in the Museum of Natural History, because it never changes.
But Holden does show some signs of growth. Now it seems that he has come to terms with the idea that he cannot be the catcher of the children. Every child will eventually fall out of innocence and into adulthood. Holden cannot prevent this or save them, just as he cannot prevent or save himself from becoming an adult. This final recognition is a true emotional release for him, and he begins to cry. the sky emulates him with a thunderstorm. Holden stays out in the rain, not trying to protect himself from it.
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Holden's Inner Conflict • Cherisey (2 years ago)
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The main conflict in the novel is really an inner conflict for Holden. He feels very conflicted about growing up and moving from childhood into adulthood. Part of Holden really wants to grow up, while part of him wants to reject the adult world and retreat back into the happiness of his own childhood memories. Holden displays this inner conflict by saying on one hand that the adult world is full of phoniness, yet he is really obsessed with the idea of having an "adult" sexual encounter. He does have the opportunity for a sexual encounter, but retreats into a more child-like role when he uses his opportunity to merely converse with Sunny. Holden also displays his inner conflict in his many attempts to connect with other people over the course of the novel. Holden is conflicted about whether to interact with people in adult ways or to interact in more child-like ways.
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Negative • Cherisey (2 years ago)
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Holden doesn't hold many of his school mates in high esteem. He tells the reader that they aren't as great as Pencey advertises them to be when they are done with school. Holden doesn't think that they are all that great. He also says that many of the students, though they are from wealthy families, are crooks.
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