Journal #3

If I was ever to be taken hostage, I would mostly likely discover that I had a hard-core MacGyver side to me.  Let's say that Annie-Monsters abducted me and forced me to curl their hair.  *GASP* I know.  Scary right?  Let's just say that's basically my worst fear, ever.  So I'm being held captive by this Annie-Monster, right?  They have me strapped to a goose-poop ridden dock floating out in the middle of their lake full of other Annie-Monsters.  I would do my absolute best to remain calm.  Hopefully my family and friends would not be included in this little abduction, I would never want to bring that upon them.  So as I'm laying upon mounds of goose-poop floating in the middle of this lake, I would probably be thinking about my family and hoping that they don't get in harms way trying to save me from these wretched Annie-monsters.  I see myself staying calm enough to attempt to seek a way out of my binds.  Here is the ideal situation, I would find a broken piece of glass lodged into the side of the floating dock from a crushed beet bottle thrown into the depths of the monster ridden lake.  I would use this sharp piece of glass to cut my rope-binds and free myself!  I would plunge myself into the terrifying murky waters and swim as fast as I possibly could manage through the scary water to shore.  I would flee into the nearby forests and live as a savage until all the Annie-Monsters had left the area and I could live as a free-person.  This overall experience would probably change me as a person.  I don't think I could ever encounter another Annie without sprinting away in fear.  There are a lot of Annie's/Anne's in the world, therefore this might cause a bit of a lifestyle change for me.  It could also have a positive impact, too, because I could learn from the incident and never befriend another Annie again. Love you Annie ;)    

Comparison of "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mr.s Mary Rowlandson" to Puritan writing 8/29/12

     One of the big things about Puritan writing was its big connections to the bible.  Puritans believed that the bible was the literal word of God, and they tried to relate that as much as  possible.  Immediately in "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" the author refers to God:  "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolation he has made in the earth" (Rowlandson 82).  It is literally the second sentence and Mary Rowlandson is already speaking of her religion and proclaiming how wonderful her God is.  This is very Puritan-esque.  She does not stop there, either.  By my calculations, the author references God or the Christian faith in some way at least eight times through the course of the short story.  For a three page short story that is pretty impressive.  The author directly tells us about how God has worked in her life during her captivity with the Indians.  "God was with me in a wonderful manner, carrying me along, and bearing up my spirit, that it did not quite fail" (Rowlandson 83).  She tells us how when she is struggling to carry this 'wounded babe' and her strength is failing her, God is with her not letting her spirits fail. 
      One of the characteristics of Puritan writing is that they would use writing to explore their inner and outer lives for signs of workings of God.  When Mrs. Mary Rowlandson was struggling in the moment with carrying the 'wounded babe' she probably wasn't thinking how awesome God was and how he was with her helping her a long, always.  She was probably thinking how much she hated these crazed savages who had taken her hostage.  Once she was reflecting upon her little adventure later on, however, is when she probably was able to make the realization that God had been working her life.  She used her writing to remember and reflect upon possible events when God had been in her life.  
      Another Puritan characteristic writing is that they were very short and to the point in their writing.  They didn't use very much creative writing.  Adjectives were very rare in the short story unless they were necessary for us to understand a person or event in the story.  In "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" the author is extremely blatant about the whole situation.  She doesn't describe the Indians in their full splendor like many authors would have taken advantage of.  She does not even tell us anything about them really besides a few names and the fact they let her and her wounded babe ride upon their horses at one point.  We know they move around a lot and that they live in wigwams and like her to make them clothes and such, but really that's about as far as it goes in descriptive terms.  She is extremely short and to the point, very characteristic of Puritan writers.   

Field, Nancy. ""A Narrative If Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Glencoe Literature American Literature: The Reader's Choice. [S.l.]: Glencoe Mcgraw-Hill Schoo, 2003. 82-85. Print.

Journal #2

So last time our dear friend Perriet learned the valuable lesson of embracing ones differences.  He saw that just because he had a different colored bill than the rest of his platypus friends, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing!  He learned to love his difference and to use it as an advantage!  Now we are taken back to Perriet's platypus hut.  Perriet was making himself a steaming bowl of noodles because noodles are the best invention ever known to man.  Specifically, they were rotini noodles with home aid marinara sauce!  Perriet was very excited about his noodle dinner and he was even more excited to be able to eat by himself and eat in peace!  The entire day he had been dealing with irritable whiny co-workers who wouldn't stop complaining about how horrible their life is, how horrible this job is, yada yada yada.  Perriet was tired of it and just wanted to enjoy his own company for once.  So when a knock sounded upon his door, Perriet was not a happy camper.  He swung his door open to find a shaking, quivering koala bear.  He bellowed, "WHAT?!" at the poor creature, nearly scaring it dead!  The little bear stuttered back to him, "M-m-y tree f-fell d-down.  I n-need ha-help."  Despite the fact a teeny-tiny adorable koala bear was standing here in front of him, shaking AND was currently homeless, Perriet's heart was still hardened.  He threw one last gruesome look at the little creature and slammed his door, sealing himself inside, and the koala out.  He strutted right back over to his steaming bowl of noodles, plopped himself down and proceeded on with his night.  That was until he took a gander out his window and what he saw might as well have broke his heart in two.  The poor koala was sitting on the street corner trembling from the cold, with no where to go.  Perriet couldn't help but looking above his head and see the sturdy roof above his head and looking down and noticing the delicious noodles before him.  What was wrong with him?  Just because a few people at work had been irritable and annoying meant that a fellow animal in need had to go with out?  No!  Perriet marched outside and approached the koala, 
"What's your name?" he asked. 
"Kilton," Kilton replied. 
"Well come on in, Kilton." Perriet took Kilton inside and sat him down and gave him HIS bowl of noodles.  The feeling he had while watching Kilton eating his own bowl was much warmer and full-filling than anything else he could have imagined.   

Journal #1

Deep in the Helena-ian forests of Bango, there was a platypus named Perriet (I don't like Phineas and Ferb or anything...).  He was a sad platypus because he had a green bill while the rest of his platypi heard had blue bills!  He didn't understand why this happened to him!  Perriet wanted so bad to have a blue bill like the rest of his friends so he could prosper and eat blue icees and not have to worry about having a blue mouth!  He always had to order apple icees while everyone else could have blueberry icees!  It wasn't fair!  One day he was moping through  the Helena-ian forest and came across none other than a blue bill separated from its owner!  He was flabbergasted!  He immediately picked it up and placed it over his ghastly green bill!  He felt brand new!  Perriet wasn't sure what he wanted to do first!  He began to strut deeper into the forest to see what and who he could find wearing his new and improved BLUE bill!  It wasn't before long he came across another heard (is it called heard or something else...?) of platypi!!  But there was one problem...THEY HAD GREEN BILLS!  And they were beginning to give his new blue bill weird looks...What kind of platypi were these!? Didn't they understand blue was the best?  He began to ask why they all had mysteriously colored bills and why they did not have the normal blue!  They responded that there was no 'normal' when it came to bill color!  Every heard of platypi was different, but there where always a few lucky platypus who got to have their own color from the rest of the heard!  This made Perriet really think.  Maybe he was lucky to have had a different color from the rest of his heard, maybe being different wasn't so bad after all!  Perriet left his new found friends with a new determination to show his own heard that he was content with his unique color and that he was even fine with apple icees!  Frankly he preferred them!  BUT!  When he tried to get his new blue bill off to reveal his true green one, it wouldn't budge!  Perriet was, literally, stuck with his blue bill for the rest of his life.  The moral of the story is to never pick up miscellaneous platypus bills in the forest and place them on your face, you never know what kind of adhesive could be hiding inside of them.    

OH HAI. IT'S MY LAST BLOG. Fire/Heat Symbolism.

THIS IS MY LAST BLOG.  HALLELUJAH.  In "Fahrenheit 451" heat is a very large factor.  There is of course the name to reference to.  Research tells me that at one point the title had an addendum that said: "Fahrenheit 451…the temperature at which books burn."  So that explains the title.  There is also the matter of anger.  There are a lot of angry people in this book.  At one point Montag senses Clarisse's presence and it is because her body temperature is elevated to a high temperature from her anger.  Heat in "Fahrenheit 451"  mainly symbolizes destruction.  The fire destroys books, it destroys houses that have any literature inside of them, and it incinerates any person not willing to let go of their literature.  There is also an atomic bomb that comes through and wiped out almost everything.  I have never personally experienced an atomic bomb, however, I can imagine the heat would not be at a preferable level.  I'm sure the people who experience or have experienced atomic bombs could easily agree with me.  After the bomb, though, the people who have survived are described as phoenix rising from the ashes.  Ray Bradbury is almost using fire as a representation of bringing on new life.  Now that the town has been wiped out, along with everything with in a very large radius around it that is, the hidden professors can now come and start anew.  They now have the opportunity to start their own, new and improved civilization.  They have no fire fighters to tell them what to do or what to set fire to and so on.  It is just them to make rules and abolish rules as they please.  So fire is not used to symbolize only bad things.  At the very end, Montag also makes the discovery that fire can be used for warmth.  He has lived his life believing it was made for destruction.  This shows what growth he went through the book.  He begins with only seeing fire as destructive, but through out the book he grows and matures and is able to make the realization that fire can also be used for good.  



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

Mildred Montag

Okay.  I have talked a whole bunch about Guy Montag.  We have discussed his traits, his accomplishments, his losses, and so on and so forth.  I have, however, talked very little of his wife!  Mildred Montag!  The most significant thing she does it attempt suicide.  It is never decided upon why she attempts suicide.  There are a few possibilities as to why she tried to swallow an entire bottle of sleeping pills, but no verdict is ever reached.  She is very overshadowed by her crazy, out of the ordinary husband during most of the book.  We basically see her being very boring and ignoring Montag to watch television.  I think that is exactly what she is there for.  We have all of these extraordinary characters, Guy Montag, Clarisse McClellan, Professor Fabor, Beatty, and so on.  We kind of lose sight of what all of the 'normal' people are like in "Fahrenheit 451."  We are so constantly encompassed by Montag's uniqueness and Clarisse's as well, we do not have very many examples of what a normal towns person looked like.  That is were Mildred Montag comes in.  She is a follower.  Completely vacant except for what people tell her.  She has so thoroughly convinced herself that she is happy, she is even able to tell other people that.  When Guy Montag asks her if she is indeed happy she is able to reply that she is completely satisfied with her life.  All she does is watch television, basically, so that is a complete lie.  I do not care what you say.  There is no way you can feel fulfilled through just watching television and blocking out all other humans, except a few friends to watch television with.  That is exactly how the townspeople were, though.  They all were vacant little black holes doing as they were told and feeling as they were told.  Mildred was a fine representation of that.  Next to her rebellious husband, she was the perfectly typical example of normality in her town.  


Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 8

How accurately does this novel reflect events in history?  What responsibilities does the author believe exist between various groups in society, such as workers and bosses, men and women, blacks and whites, etc.?  What people, ideas, and events probably influenced this author?  Once again, this novel takes place in the future.  Considering I am not from the future but my own time period, which is this one to clarify, I am unable to tell you what happens in the future.  I can, however, speculate once again about what I believe will become of the future.  In "Fahrenheit 451" people are very very very, one more, very big home-bodies.  They do not like to go outside and just enjoy nature.  They do not push their kids to go outside and climb trees and such, as happens today.  Kids do not have summer homework to do about books like some kids I know.  Not that I would ever want to push summer homework on anyone, but seriously I could not function in a world without books.  You could play the card of "Well they do not even know what they are missing!" I do not care.  Books are the epitome of awesome.  No child should even have the option of growing up without them.  So, in my opinion, I do not think that this book will reflect what is to come in the future.  Books are too deeply rooted in our society, and too important.  Nature will always be a big part of at least SOME people's lives.  Nature is such a strong part of some families that there is no way it will just die out to a place where only a few people know of and appreciate it like Clarisse.  I think the author, in this book, gave us a good example of boss-worker relationship.  Captain Beatty is a strict rule follower and when he learns that Montag is breaking them he is upfront about it.  These rules are absolutely outrageous, but no less Beatty does his job excellently.  He explains to Montag why he thinks books are wrong and gives him a day to figure it out for himself.  I think that the event of the introduction of color television influenced Ray Bradbury.  He saw what American were becoming and how easily they forgot about literature when it came to television.     



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 7

What techniques does the author use to engage the audience and make the story effective?  Give examples to support your analysis (mystery, humor, symbolism, suspense, etc.).  Ray Bradbury uses uniqueness to his advantage here.  There are not that many futuristic books of this type.  Well, there is "1984," which I did not like at all.  Just saying.  BUT.  "Fahrenheit 451" and "1984"  are both very similar in the aspect that they are set in the future and encompass the world in lost state where everything that was once right is now wrong and everything that was once wrong is now right.  Well, I guess that's what it seems like at least.  That is a bit of an exaggeration I suppose, but there are a whole lot of corruptions in both novels.  Back to the point!  Ray Bradbury made a story line that people of that time had not ever even fathomed.  They were infatuated with their new toys (televisions) and never stopped to contemplated what they were sacrificing in exchange for their new toys.  "Fahrenheit 451" went against what everyone was thinking at the time, which was "Ooooooooooo!  New TV!  Must have!  Must watch at all hours of the day!  Never to read again!"  Then you have Ray Bradbury throwing back at you a story were firefighters no longer just put out the fires, but they start them, too, and made everyone stop and think.  It must have been pretty hard for people to not have to see what this book was about.  Ray Bradbury also used a lot of symbolism in "Fahrenheit 451."  A big one was heat.  Not only is the title about a very high temperature, but we have people and houses incinerated, people get angry and represent heat, in the end Montag discovers that fire can provide a good source of heat for good, not destruction.  Heat is alluded to multiple times and it is very enthralling and interesting to see all the different ways that Ray Bradbury does it.  



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 6

Why do we still read this book?  What is so timeless about its message and characters?  What can we learn from reading this novel?  "Fahrenheit 451" is one of the more timeless novels I've blogged about.  Basically it is about how the world falls into a technology obsessed state of being.  There is no literature, but plenty of television.  Everyone is materialistic and complete followers.  No one is really there own person anymore.  They do and say as they are told, reading no books, but burning them instead, and watching plenty of television.  This is very relevant in my opinion because the world will always have a bit of a materialistic side to it.  We will always have something that we can get too much of and that can completely take over and eclipse something else that could hold much more purpose.  In "Fahrenheit 451" people get way toooo much of television.  It completely takes over people's lives and eclipses literature of course, and simply normal human interactions.  This would be the equivalent to apple products, most likely, in today's society.  You can literally walk no where and not see a little apple with a bite out of it upon some expensive device these days.  Everyone, myself included, as an iPhone or at least an iPod to call their own.  Now we have iPads to spend money on, too.  I'm not saying these devices aren't great things.  They are completely worth the investment, if they are used correctly and with in reason.  We are beginning to text and facebook and tweet and instagram, however, just as much as the people in "Fahrenheit 451" watched television:  excessively and without necessity.  It is slowly but surely taking over normal everyday things that people used to do.  For example, when a boy was going to call a girl he  would tell her a time and she would anxiously wait by the phone, waiting.  Now a boy just texts a girl and asked to call her and boom.  Corny example, but still relevant.  The simple things are vanishing.  This is related to in "Fahrenheit 451."  Montag is able to relate to because he is a fighter.  All of us have a cause that we just cannot bear to see losing and have a fight inside of us for it.  His might be a little more extreme considering it's like the entire world, but still relatable!  We can learn from him that no matter what other people are doing, we must fight for what we think is right.  Montag has basically going against him, but he never gives up.      



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
     

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 5

How does this novel reflect the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting?  What is this book's symbolic and thematic significance?  The setting of "Fahrenheit 451" is somewhere in the future, in a very unspecific town.  That makes it hard to compare it to the history when there hasn't quite been any history made about it yet.  I can put in what I hope to see in the future, however.  In "Fahrenheit 451" literature has been banned.  I, myself, love literature quite a lot.  I do not see literature ever being abandoned in this world, it is too important and significant in our society.  Imagine if the bible was banned.  Religion is a very significant and necessary part of our society.  Not everybody may agree with everyone's religion, or religion in general, but if one of religions irreplaceable pieces was to be banished so completely the world would be effected very significantly.  Another unrealistic issue I see with this futuristic society is how easily people conform and just believe.  Humans always want to fit in, it's true.  We like to have a plan and something to always be doing and contributing to, but I find it very hard to believe that everyone would submit so easily to such a corrupted society.  There had to more people than the literature professors and Guy Montag who were able to see the overall horrible and just wrong-ness that they were living.  People like to have something to stand for, but at the same time they like to have something to stand against, too.  This overall society seemed like a pretty good opportunity for that.  This book definitely symbolized what we ITALICIZE could become.  I think it would be a much more watered-down version, but still very corrupted like "Fahrenheit 451."  This book teaches us that technology is not everything.  We may think that we have control over our usage of technology, but this book is a good representation of what could happen.  These people came to a place where television easily took the place of normal human interactions.  Hopefully we can see what we could become and stop it.  Side note:  You wanna' know something ironic?  I'm blogging about how these people are so corrupted and all they do is stare at wall-size TV screens, while I've been sitting on a computer for hours now blogging, myself.  It is for educational purposes and I have procrastinated and therefore my length spent on the computer has been drastically increased, but still.  Kinda' funny.     



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 4

Who is the "hero" in this book and what are some of his/her traits?  What does he/she accomplish, and how is he/she portrayed?  Does the hero represent an abstract idea such as goodness, truth, courage or evil?  Guy Montag is the hero in "Fahrenheit 451."  He is a firefighter.  Firefighters in this book are a little bit different however.  They start the fires.  Montag has an inkling that the world he lives in just isn't right, but he's not sure what to do about this idea.  He feels like a traitor to his community before he meets Clarisse.  A kind-hearted seventeen year old next door who begins to show Montag little things in life he never notices or thought about.  Montag already had a tiny little seed in his mind floating around, a suspicion that things just aren't right, meeting Clarisse just plants that little seed in his head once and for all.  Our protagonist is a very confused one, but who is out to do the right thing, ultimately.  Montag accomplishes, in the end, finding others like himself in the forest (definitely wanted to put two r's in 'forest' like Forrest Gump...).  They may not have much, but they intend to start a new society and get the world back to were it was, with literature and freedom and actual relationships to be had.  Our protagonist is portrayed as very human.  He has an inkling that something isn't right, but at the same time does not want to be any different from his peers and go against the crowd.  He consistently doubts himself through out the novel, but is always trying to do good, like most people.  Everyone can relate to Montag and his situation at least a little.  He is confused and having a mid-life crisis.  He isn't sure what's right and what is wrong any more.  We all have or will have that happen to us in some sense.  It is not possible for us to always be 100% sure of ourselves, it's just not.  I believe Montag represents goodness.  He is stuck in an extremely corrupt situation and has every reason to just go with what is going on around him, but he doesn't he is the tiny light of good in completely dark room, anyway.    

  

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 3

What universal themes does this book address?  What does the author understand about human nature?  "Fahrenheit 451" writes about the theme of technology/modernization/materialism/consumerism.  Basically any synonym of those words could fit right in, too.  In the book, television has basically taken over everything.  It has replaced family, friends, actual conversation, and of course reading an ACTUAL book.  This is a representation of all technology and material objects.  The author, Ray Bradbury, is trying to teach us before something can happen.  He's trying to teach us that technology is very tempting and can very easily take over actual tangible relationships and such.  Another theme was that of identity.  Identity is really what "Fahrenheit 451" is centered around.  Montag begins to lose his identity and from there the plot unfolds.  "Fahrenheit 451" asks us the question what defines your identity?  Through the novel, Montag is trying really very hard to answer that.  In the end, then answer appeared to be simply:  your actions.  People do not care nearly as much about what you say compared to what you ITALICIZE do.  If I am to slap someone as opposed to just calling them an offensive name, the slap will easily be remembered over the name-calling.  In the novel, no one cares nearly as much about the poetry Montag exposed as opposed to when he literally incinerated a man.  "Fahrenheit 451" teaches us that our identity is not defined by well-though out rebuttals or speeches or insult, but our actions.  How we do onto others and ourselves.  Ray Bradbury shows that he really understand human nature in "Fahrenheit 451."  In the 1950's he already could see how materialistic and obsessed with technology the world was already becoming.  We didn't even have iPods and iPhones and HD television on our screen TV's yet.  Somehow, Bradbury could see where we were headed early on.  He shows that he understand that humans have a need to need what everyone else has and to just fit-in.  I don't think our society has gone completely down hill or anything, but we could definitely opt for some improvements when it comes to technology.     


Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 2

What are the causes, gains, and losses of the conflict dealt with in this book?  The main conflict of the book is when Clarisse, a gentle nature loving seventeen year old out main character meets and befriends, begins to question Montag's, our main character, life decisions.  He begins to question himself big time.  He slowly forms into a ginormous identity crisis.  He begins to question why is he a firefighter?  Why is literature banned?  And so on and so forth.  He is very conflicted, you could even say. (BAHAHA. It's the conflict and he is conflicted!  Crazy sauce!  Okay.)  Clarisse is helping him to see the gentler side of life with nature and mature and profound comments.  He begins to secretly stash some of the books from the book burning's and to read them.  At the same time, though, the life he has is the only way he's ever known.  He's very confused because he doesn't understand why all the people around him have been living a life of lies.  The cause of the conflict is Clarisee, when she begins to help Montag see a different side to life.  Once she begins to ask him important life questions, like about his happiness, and such he slowly goes down hill.  The losses of the conflict are quite numerous.  He's a firefighter, and his head figures out he has been hoarding literature.  He of course gets in trouble.  His wife, Mildred (Who was not much use anyway, unless you count the ability to watch television as a good quality in a spouse.)  leaves him.  He is forced to burn down his own house.  I'd say Montag looses quite a bit.  If you think about it, though, they aren't really that big of losses anyway.  None of those things made him truly happy.  They were just empty pits that he didn't know any better from so continued living in and with them.  The gains of the conflict are Montag is finally on his way to being truly happy.  He ends up with secret ex-professors in the woods once he's on the run from the authorities.  He can truly begin to immerse himself in literature and find true happiness.  


Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 
       

"Fahrenheit 451" Question 1

What does the writing reveal about the author's values and attitudes?  From what perspective does he/she write?  "Fahrenheit 451 is basically about the direction that Ray Bradbury saw America going in during the 1950's.  This novel is predominantly about his fear of the world losing its love for books.  This is shown through the tendency to burn books in "Fahrenheit 451."  Well it is more than a tendency, book burning's are actually quite popular.  They happen numerous times throughout the novel.  This novel explicitly tells us how much Ray Bradbury valued books.  It shows us he values them as irreplaceable and tried to express that through "Fahrenheit 451."  It also shows how much he did not value television.  In the book, television has become a large part of everyone's lives.  To big in the authors opinion.  I believe that Ray Bradbury wrote this to express his fear that television might some day come to replace books.  Ray Bradbury must not have had a very good attitude towards television and radio and such during his time.  Color television had just been introduced around the time this book was written, and ,being the new thing, people were probably glued to it like duct tape on leg hair.  No one had time to read a good book once television came around and you could simply watch the book right in front of you , in color no less.  It appears that this scared Ray Bradbury, that all the precious literature of the world was slowly being replaced by technology.  Imagine what he would do in this generation with Kindles and Nooks and such...  He shared this fear with us through "Fahrenheit 451."  The book is told from third person.  We can see into the main characters thoughts, Guy (can I just say Guy is such an unusual first name...) Montag.  We know all of his thoughts and feelings throughout "Fahrenheit 451," however, we only know his thoughts and no one else's.  This makes it limited omniscient.    



Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. Print. 

Logan Killicks v.s. Joe Starks v.s. Tea Cake

In "Their Eyes Were Watching God" Janie Crawford has three marriages.  Her first is Logan Killicks, a farmer who her grandma sets her up with.  Her grandma has the fear that she will die and Janie will be left to make the decision of who to marry by herself and will, of course, choose wrong and Nanny would be able to do nothing about it.  So she hastily decides Logan is perfect.  Nanny dies and Janie is miserable with Logan.  She tries to make the best of it for Nanny, but in the end Logan threatens Janie with an ax and that's it for her.  Over all, Logan has few redeeming attributes.  In the beginning of their marriage, he is half-way decent.  It does not take long, however, for it to die away and be replaced by constant frustration and anger.  Next, we have Joe Starks up to bat.  He is the man Janie leaves Logan for.  He is a determined young man who has heard of an all black civilization forming in Florida and is determined to make his fortune there.  He sweeps Janie off her feet, and she believes she is in love.  From the beginning, there are signals that Joe is a jerk, but Janie is so determined to be in love she ignores them, rather she embraces them.  Soon she realizes how constrictive he is.  He is a very prideful man who only want Janie for her looks and the envy she can arouse in other men.  Janie is not allowed to express her opinions, she is not allowed to dress how she wants, etc.  She is made into a trophy wife under the rule of her husband.  She gets her moment to shine when Joe is on his deathbed, however.  He is to weak to stop Janie and she lists off all of his crimes to him, telling him how he made her feel all these years and how wrong it was.  I guess you could say that in the beginning, Joe was just trying to make the best off his life, like we all are, and jumped on an opportunity as it arose.  In the end, however, he was tempted by money and power and it got out of hand.  How unusual!  Janie's last husband was Vergible Tea Cake Woods, her one and only true love.  He was indeed twelve years younger than Janie, but that did not stand in their way of love.  He was the only one of her husbands who saw Janie as an equal.  He talked and listened to her as a human.  Logan never shared with Janie, and Joe never listened.  So having a person, especially a man, who is willing to both makes Janie ecstatic.  Janie and he work along side each other in the everglade fields, growing more in love with each other as time goes on.  Through some freak events, Tea Cake contracts rabies while trying to saving Janie.  He literally looses his mind and to make it short, Janie must shoot him to protect herself.  Despite the ending to their relationship, Tea Cake was the best husband by far.  He cared, genuinely for Janie.  He wanted her around because he enjoyed having her around, not for her looks or the labor she could provide.  So in summary, WIN FOR TEA CAKE.  



Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. 
   

Janie Crawford

Janie Crawford is the girl you want to hate so bad.  She is absolutely beautiful and she gets all the guys.  What more reason do you need?  Well, we find it extremely hard to do this throughout "Their Eyes Were Watching God."  On top of gorgeous and having every man to ever come in contact with her wrapped around her finger, Janie is also sweet and caring.  She doesn't flaunt her beauty in arrogant ways.  She is a legitimately likable person who only wants the best for others around her and herself.  She is determined to find love and knows that she deserves it.  She is a respectable women.  She doesn't let men control her, well that is not completely true.  Her first marriage she is forced into, even though she does not love her husband.  She gets herself out of it when she knows her life is in danger and she will never love her husband.  She leaves him because she thinks she has found true love.  She ends up with Joe Starks who we think is the one.  He turns out to be a dud, and out of the kindness of her heart she sticks it out with him, despite how horrible he has been to her and everyone around her, until his deathbed where she finally unleashes her mind to him.  She sets off to find her true love, once again.  She never gives up because she knows someone is out there who will satisfy her need and she is determined to find this one man.  I respect her for this.  Despite her grandmothers bad run-in with the male species as well as her mothers, she doesn't give up.  She perseveres because she knows in her heart she will win, eventually.  I genuinely liked Janie in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" because she was easily one of the pretty-girl-characters, but at the same time the respectable and independent women you cannot help but like and root for.  




Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 8

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" takes place in the post-Civil War era in various places of Florida.  There are still a lot of corruptions floating around America at this time, left over from the Civil War.  Racism is of course not as prominent, but still occurring during this time.  The south is still in recovery mood, and that is shown through out this novel frequently.  You can see it in Eatonville.  It is a completely African-American town determined to prove themselves and prosper as a democracy, but they are so used to being led and not leading that it takes no time at all for someone, in this case Joe Starks, to swoop in and take the position of authority and soon have is own empire flourishing.  They haven't quite returned to a state of mind where they can make decisions for themselves and go through with them you could say.  What responsibilities does the author believe exist between various groups in society, such as workers and bosses, men and women, blacks and whites, etc.?  There is definitely a prominent men-women role-playing going on in this book.  I think that the author believes that the man is to be the authority figure in a household, but at the same time the women still has a say and can be an individual.  We are given two examples in Janie's first two marriages of what that type of relationship should NOT be.  In her first marriage with Logan Killicks, he tries to force his responsibilities onto Janie.  He takes her for granted and attempts to push off his load on top of hers.  Next you have Joe Starks, who takes away all of Janie's responsibilities.  Her freedom of speech, her freedom to do with her appearance as she pleases, he even tries to take away her right to socialize with other people.  I think the author believes that a man does indeed wear the pants in a relationship, but you must always remember the women is probably the one who sewed and put those pants on the man in the first place.  Zora Neale Hurston was actually a member of Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black town after the Civil War.  Her father actually served as mayor.  This definitely must have been an influence for her while writing "Their Eyes Were Watching God."


Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 7

What techniques does the author use to engage the audience and make the story effective?  The first thing that came to mind was Janie herself.  Zora Neale Hurston shaped the protagonist very specifically.  She made Janie likable.  I suppose you could say most protagonists are likable, but not all.  Janie, I believe, was specifically shaped into her likable state by the author.  Why, may you ask?  To make you like her!  Duh!  Janie goes to more than her share of predicaments.  Ponder something with me.  Would you have liked reading "Their Eyes Were Watching God"  and watching Janie go through all of her misfortunes if she was a bitter old hag who treated everyone like dirt?  No!  You most likely would have put it down during her first marriage to never give it another thought.  She is not a bitter old hag, however.  She is a kind, caring, and big-hearted women who you want to win.  The author puts her in the place of the underdog, but also makes her a likable person who you cannot bear to see as the underdog.  That's when you stay up all night reading and just praying that Janie will find her one true love.  Zora Neale Hurston also has a very interesting way of putting prose.  She writes with a southern accent in mind, in this books case.  I find that very enjoyable to read.  It helps you to actually visualize the characters conversing in your head with the actual dialogue.  I am one of those people who it KILLS to see a movie before I read the book.  I live to visualize those characters in my head and to create them.  I saw movie trailers for "Twilight" before I had a chance to read them and I still hold a grudge against my friend Jessica because I never got to envision my own Edward Cullen.  Let's be honest, it would have blown Robert Pattinson out of the water.  The point of that little tangent:  I really enjoy when it's easy to visualize my own characters and Zora Neale Hurston's technique of writing with a southern accent in mind makes it that much easier to do that.  

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God' Question 6

Why do we still read this book?  Easy.  Love.  Love is the strongest thing in this world, and the most constant.  People are always finding love, always loosing love, and always prospering in love.  It is a constant thing in this world, something that has always been here and always will be here.  Love is timeless.  "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a book dedicated to telling the trials and tribulations of a women in her search to find true love.  No matter what time period you set this book in, it is still about love, and will therefore always be current.  Janie is a hard core romantic.  From sixteen and on she is obsessed completely with the idea of love and what it can bring.  We all have a little bit of a romantic in us, so we can all relate to little Janie and her need for love.  We all want to root for Janie and we all want her to find love because she is a sweet women who deserves it.  No matter what time period it is, people always want something to root for, and this book offers it.  What can we learn from this book?  As a female, you can learn all about independence.  Janie doesn't necessarily give us an example of what to do, but what NOT to do.  She shows us that no matter what anyone say you cannot find love from marriage.  If a man tries to belittle you, love will definitely not be found.  You must remain yourself.  If you cannot stand by yourself, you most definitely cannot stand with someone who tries to stand ON you.  We can also learn that love is by no easy to find, nor maintain.  Janie goes through ITALICIZE ME two marriages for heavens sake before she finally finds the one.  Even then, it doesn't really end on the best terms, but Janie is able to make the best of it.  She thanks Tea Cake for helping her to finally start living and satisfying her need for love even if it didn't work out in the end how she imagined.  She can still savor what she had when she had it.  She shows us, you must always find the positive side of a situation, no matter how hard it is to find.  



Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.   

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 5

How does this novel reflect the history, behavior and social issues of the time period and setting?  Usually this question gets me.  It took me literally like three days to answer this for "The Old Man and the Sea."  So I'm pretty pumped to answer it for this book because the possible answers are quite numerous.  For starters, this novel reflects the relationships between men and women of the time beautifully.  Well, as far as I know.  I wasn't really there but from history class and research and such I can deduct that this represents it pretty sufficiently.  At a young age Janie is married off to Logan Killicks despite the fact she does not love him.  Then, once she is married to him must deal with his various insufferable actions towards her.  He is a man so he automatically gets to control her.  The same things happens in her next marriage.  Joe is the man in the relationship, so automatically he can silence her whenever she speaks, hide her beautiful hair, and prevent her from attending any social events.  When Janie is married to Joe, he is obsessed with material objects and having power in money, which is dominantly the reason he moves to an up and coming town completely built with black people.  Once Joe and Janie get there he quickly buys land, a lot of it, and builds up the town.  It does not take long for him to become a very influential figure in the town.  Next, he is elected mayor unanimously by the town.  It's all find and dandy for a while until the power gets to Joe's head and the towns people begin to realize what a dictator he really is.  This seems like typical behavior of this time period.  It could also be related to this time, but I think more so of post Civil War era.  The person with the most land and money and the prettiest girl automatically gets to order everyone around.  Not only that, but people go with it.  No one ever opposed Joe or his corrupted ways.  They simply gossiped about is and hoped of change.  What is the books symbolic and thematic significance?  This book teaches of love and that it is not an easy game to play.  No matter what, it is always an obstacle course, but if you persevere as well as Janie did, you will find there is always an end to the obstacle course.  


Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 4

The heroin in this little book is Janie Crawford.  She is a mixed women who is known for her beauty.  At a young age she becomes infatuated with the idea of love.  The entire novel is dedicated to Janie's trials and tribulations of trying and failing to find love.  Throughout her little shpeal, we see what a caring and kind person Janie is.  Despite the fact Janie pretty much despises her second husband, Joe, when he's on his deathbed at the end of their marriage she still does everything in his power to help him.  She is also a strong minded individual, and when she realizes that she can do nothing more for Joe, she straight up tells him off.  She tells him all the wrong he's done by her.  So, you know, he wishes death upon her right before he dies.  That's how most spouses say goodbye...I guess.  Janie is portrayed as that girl who's got all the looks and gets all of the guys.  In the beginning when she is returning to town after killing her husband in order to save herself, she is in overalls and probably has looked much better.  Almost instantaneously the towns people begin to gossip about her;  the women about her lack of husband, the men of how smokin' she still is despite her age and state.  She is also portrayed as slightly ignorant and very blinded by her need for true love.  She is so infatuated with the idea of having someone to love her that she doesn't even see what a horrible candidate both of her husbands are until they have both basically decimated her to nothing.  In the end, Janie does indeed accomplish true love with Tea Cup.  WAIT.  Tea Cake** See!  It's just so tempting to put Cup!  After her trials and tribulations with her past husbands, she finally gets to experience real and true love.  I think that our protagonist represents goodness.  Janie goes through a lot as a women, men didn't treat women with very much respect during her time but even with that being true, she really got the short end of a lot of sticks.  Despite all of these things, she still remains optimistic enough to continue on.  She was hesitant at first, yes, but does indeed find her true love.  She shows us goodness of the heart and that it can pay off.




Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.    

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 3

What universal themes does this book address?  A big one is definitely of gender.  The entire book is of Janie either being forced out of or forced into the typical roles of a women.  With her first husband he tries to force his roles as the man in the field upon her.  Logan doesn't do this because he thinks that Janie wants to be out there with him and helping out, he does this because he is a lackadaisical jerk.  Janie's next husband restricts her to the most typical of women-roles.  She isn't to ever talk or express her opinion, in public or at home even, she must always be dressed appropriately and have her hair up in a tight bun, and she is forced to run the store that he himself built.  In literal and metaphorical terms, Janie just really wants to let her hair down.  The male figure ruling her, however does not let her.  Another theme that is prominent in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" was of love.  The protagonist of the story's, Janie, main goal is to find love.  That is it.  She just wants someone to love her and she love them back and to experience true and pure love.  Her first marriage she must learn the hard way that love does not come from marriage, but marriage come from love.  During her next marriage she learns that people can change and it is not always for the better and if you do not truly love a person, it is near impossible to stick with them.  She never really loved Joe, her second husband, she just loved the idea of being married to him and what it could provide.  Lastly, you have Tea Cake.  (I still haven't gotten over his name.  I keep wanting to type Tea Cup.)  Her one true love.  Their relationship exemplifies what true love is and it what is should be.  That is until he contracts rabies and Janie is forced to shoot him out of self-defense...besides that!  Zora Neale Hurston understand a lot about love and how humans tend to not understand it at all.  She conveys through this book that we struggle big time with making it work because we're so eager to please others and ourselves.  She also understands that we are capable of learning from out mistakes and making it right for ourselves, as Janie does in this novel.  



 Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 2

The conflict in "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is that of love.  Shocking, I know.  Janie marries Logan Killicks.  FAIL.  He is cruel and takes her for granted.  She does her absolute best to stick with him for as long as she can possibly manage for her dead grandmother, but in the end he threatens to kill her with an ax.  Janie deems their relationship dead with no hope of revival.  First failed marriage: Check!  Next we have Joe Starks, an intelligent and promising young lad who Janie basically leaves Logan for.  I feel like she would have left after the ax comment no matter what, it was probably just a whole lot more convenient for her to have a carriage with a nice young man inside waiting for her inside.  She actually chooses to be with Joe, as opposed to being pressured into the relationship by influential family members.  It starts out all fine and dandy with a few little flaws that Janie makes nothing of.  Joe makes her run the story he built, makes her wear her hair up in public no matter what, he does not allow her to talk, and over all just wants her image and nothing more from her.  Janie can just feel the love radiating through their relationship. (I'M BEING SARCASTIC.)  He finally dies and Janie is finally free to live her own life how she wants.  Failed marriage number two:  Check!  Now here is where it all comes together.  Janie meets Tea Cake. Yes, I laughed as well at his name.  He is indeed the love of her life, despite her being twelve years his elder, but she has been hurt so many times by now that she is the definition of hesitant and all things precautionary and paranoid.  Janie has come to a place where she finds it extremely hard to trust men.  The cause of this?  She has had two failed marriages.  On top of that her grandmother and mother also had issues with men during their lives.  Both taken advantage of by men and then having to suffer the repercussions of each mans actions by themselves, both of these repercussions taking form as a child.  A gain of this conflict is a very slight one.  In my opinion when it comes to relationships, it is better to be more so hesitant than trusting. Due to Janie's experience with men she is definitely more hesitant than trusting.  Janie has developed a defense mechanism against men, that could indeed cause her problems, but at the same time can protect her.  It is a gain and a loss.  This makes it hard for her to trust Tea Cake and it takes a while for him to win her over, but he does in the end.  At the same time though, she was absolutely sure he wasn't a fraud when she married him.  Which is always a good thing.  


Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Question 1

This blog is going to be extremely corny.  Do not say I did not warn you.  What does the writing reveal about the authors values and attitudes?  The most prominent thing I believe that Zora Neale Hurston's writing revealed about her was her belief in true love (see how corny it already is?).  From the very beginning she talks of a bee pollinating a pear tree.  She finds she is very jealous of the pear tree and from then on how she became obsessed with finding true love.  Finding true love might just be one of the things she wants to value most in her life.  She's only sixteen at the time of the bee-pear tree happening so she's not really even sure what that means or when she'll find it or  even how, all she knows is she wants to.  The writing also reveals the author values family.  The main character, Janie, is originally married to Logan Killicks, a farmer who Janie wouldn't have looked at twice had it not been for her grandmother, Nanny.  Logan is really quite a despicable man, completely taking advantage of Janie and insisting on her working with him in the fields as well in the house, cleaning and making him meals.  Sounds like fun right?  Janie perseveres for basically one reason, Nanny.  Before Nanny dies, she makes sure that Janie is married of to an acceptable man.  So Janie sticks with Logan because it is what Nanny wanted.  I think this shows that family is an important thing to the author, as it should be.  Janie stays with Logan, despite the fact she doesn't love him even in the slightest sense and he is absolutely horrible to her.  That is until he threatens her life, then she is outta there.  I think this shows that the author valued happiness.  The author is basically saying if you're not happy and you can do something about it, why not do something about it?  Janie sticks around as long as she can possible bear, but once it comes to her life she knows it's time to do what's best for her.  "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is written in third person omniscient.  At the beginning, the narrator tells us about the thoughts and feelings of Janie, Phoebe (Janie's friend), and the gossipy people of Janie's town.  



Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.

"The Catcher in the Rye" Holden Caulfield and the ever present 'Phonies'.

So I have called Holden, the main character in "The Catcher in the Rye" a hypocrite many a time through this little blogging expedition of the "The Catcher in the Rye." I feel as if it has not quite been justified. So here goes. As I have told you in previous blogs, Holden likes to exercise the phrase 'phonies' frequently through his narration of "this madman stuff" that has been happening to him. Very rarely can he justify any of this name calling with actual evidence. That right there is a problem in my eyes. If you cannot justify what you are saying to or about someone, why the heck are you doing it? It doesn't make you look any better of a person. The thing is Holden really doesn't care, though. He's very content going about his contradictory ways. He doesn't seem like he is planning on changing any time soon, either. Why does Holden use this word so very much may you ask? Here is what I have deduced: if he is indeed rejected by any of them in the end he can just play the card 'they-were-a-phony-anyway' card. Holden has acclimated himself to rejection. He's at a place in his life where he subconsciously just expects it. He has this super star room mate, Stradlater, who probably over shadowed him pretty easily. He hasn't really got anything exceptionally outstanding going for him, his family environment isn't the best, and he doesn't apply himself in school. Here's a good example of what I am trying to convey. He has deemed everyone in Pencey Prep School phonies. So when the stuck up pretty girls reject him, he can just say they were phonies anyway. When all the cool guys reject him, he can just say they were all phonies anyway. Most importantly, when he gets kicked out of Pencey Prep School for good, he can just say it was full of phonies anyway, and make himself feel a little bit better. So in conclusion, Holden over uses the term phonies and he does it so he doesn't have to feel pain. It's a defense mechanism if you will. He deems everyone below him so when they deem him not good enough for them he can just say they were never good enough for him in the first place. I find this hypocritical, he himself is acting like quite a jerk to everyone around him just so he can avoid pain when they in turn act like a jerk to him. What comes around goes around.



Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Cather in the Rye" Holden Caulfield: Hero or anti-hero?

Okay.  So we have our main character, Holden Caulfield.  He is an interesting young fellow.  He doesn't possess the traits of any typical hero.  He is not astonishingly strong, mentally or physically, he is not exceedingly brave, he doesn't excel at anything amazing, he hasn't a pretty girls to show off to the world, really all he has is an interesting story that he is determined to tell to us whether we like it or not.  What does our little protagonist have you ask?  A bad case of depression, hypocriticalness, cynicism, and the ability to just be blatantly rude at anytime.  Charming, right?  He's pretty convincing in the role as an anti-hero.  WAIT!  I'm not being kind to him at all.  Let me rephrase.  So he is a bit depressing and really only sees the negative side of any situation and such but he still has some redeeming qualities.  One being he cares.  He cared about his little brother, Allie, before he lost him to leukemia.  He still does care about Allie, even talking to him while walking down the street because he is afraid of losing him completely.  He cares about his little sister Phoebe.  He thinks that she is the greatest girl in the world.  He cares about Jane Gallagher.  There aren't that many things that we see that he does care about, but the few things that he does care about he really truly and deeply does care about them.  This is one of the big things that makes me classify him as a hero, not an anti-hero.  On the outside he is most definitely rough and hard to see through, but once you get to the inside of this miss-shapen doughnut, you see there is a delightful surprise cream filling!  Interesting analogy, I know, but it works!  Another thing that makes me see him as a hero as apposed to an anti-hero is how relatable he is.  He struggles with a problem most people tussle with at some time in their life:  being accepted.  He's not really sure how to do it, and I'm not sure he even knows that he wants to do it, but he tried time and time again to connect with people and to have their affirmation.  We all do this.  No one can deny wanting to be accepted by someone at sometime in their life.  Holden struggles with this and we can relate to that quite easily which makes him likable, and we always want to like our hero.  My opinion: hero.  



Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Cather in the Rye" Question 8

"The Cather in the Rye" takes place in the late 1940's.  World War II has just happened and America is still in its recovery state.  People still aren't really sure how to act and soldiers and house wives aren't really sure how to ease themselves back into a normal life.  I think this is reflected in Holden's state.  He is depressed and over all an extremely lonely and confused young man, much like many of the people recovering from the war at that time most likely.  I'm going to flip the next question around a tad bit.  It asks what responsibilities does the author believe exists between various groups in society?  Well something to that accord.  One of the prominent relationships, or rather lack of relationships, that I noticed was between Holden and his parents.   I think this particular relationship that J.D. Salinger gives us is a representation of what a parent-child relationship should NOT be.  We will start with Holden's responsibilities, or lack or responsibility.  He is really quite a horrid child, especially to his parents.  I don't care how horrible he thinks his parents are or how little they understand him and so on.  It is a child's responsibility to respect your parents because typically they are the most significant care-givers in your life.  Holden does not do this.  His parents send him to a nice school for him to learn and prosper and doesn't care enough to put forth the effort and get anything out of what his parents are trying to do for him.  As the oldest sibling, however, he does care for his sister.  He isn't the best figure or example for her to have to follow, but he does care and love her a great deal no less.  So he does uphold some responsibility in his household.  Now onto the lack of responsibility of his parents.  As parents you must have authority and discipline.  Holden's parents appear to have neither of these.  They possibly lost it after loosing their son to leukemia and are still recovering from that or maybe they never possessed it in the first place.  Either way Holden is in a state of mind where he thinks it is acceptable to put forth minimal effort in school, to judge other people for no reason at all, and to bum around New York City for few days just cause.  I think his parents are to blame for that.  Holden also has missed having people in his life in which he can talk to and parents should always be an option.  Coming from just hearing Holden's side of the story, it doesn't appear that Holden's parents have offered that.  I think that, in this particular novel, a lot of J.D. Salinger's past teachers influenced him.  Holden visits a few of his past teachers during the novel and this makes me think the author maybe had a few of his own teachers in mind.  I'm not sure what type of person Salinger was in high school, but if he is this acclaimed of an author I doubt he was the Holden-type.  Everyone always wants to be what they are not, so maybe the author always wanted to be the rebel who went against his parents and never did what he told.  Maybe the idea of being rebellious enticed him so much he made up a character simply about that to live vicariously through.  

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Cather in the Rye" Question 7

J.D. Salinger had very unique writing techniques for his time. The reason? He stayed in character, if you will, for the entire novel. He wasn't only a stuck up adolescent in dialogue but he used the same language and writing even when writing about Holden's thoughts and feelings. For example, when he constantly calls EVERYTHING phony. That is us seeing right into this characters head. The author doesn't ever leave and write just as the author. He is always the first person narrator, always playing the part of Holden. I find this very intriguing and not many authors that I have read do that, especially for the required books in English class. I think another technique that the author uses is Holden's cynicalness and over all hypocriticalness. To be blunt, Holden is the biggest hypocrite the world has ever possibly contemplated. He consistently calls everyone and everything a 'phony' but he himself is the biggest phony of them all. For me, I found this character interesting. He's almost like that bad-boy that you know is bad for you but still entices you no less. Okay. That was a bad example. He annoyed the jazz out of me, but at the same time I was still kind of rooting for him to win. To win what? I'm not really sure, but despite the fact he was a very irritating character, the author made him the perfect balance of annoying and annoying for a reason to make me want to see and hear more about him. Holden was a very typical character, kicked out of school, judgmental annoying teenager, obsessed with alcohol and getting girls, but at the same time he had some very interesting quirks. He failed all his classes EXCEPT English, he can't stand anyone except his little sister Phoebe and Jane Gallagher yet he continually reaches out to people hoping maybe this time will be different. He was obsessed with Jane Gallagher but we never see her first hand, only memories of her that Holden shares with us. He was a quirky character and that overshadowed all of his annoying traits and made me want to hear more about him.



Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Catcher in the Rye" Question 6

Why do we still read this book?  What is timeless about its message and characters?  What can we learn from reading this book?  First off, this book has actually been banned by a lot of schools and a lot of parents don't allow their children to read it. Well, at least that is what the internet tells me.  So not everyone still reads this book.  They do quite the contrary actually.  For those of us who read this book still, however, a few things can be concluded as 'timeless' about the plot of "The Catcher in the Rye."  For one it is an extremely relatable book.  The main character's, Hoden, biggest problem is that he is misunderstood and  overall is just straight up horrible at maintaining any type of relationship.  A lot of people struggle with this problem.  It's not just people of today, either.  One-hundred years ago this was most likely a frequent problem for humans and I'm sure it will still be valid in one-hundred years, as well.  So the main character is a relatable person.  He is sad and depressed and on top of that is not sure what to do about it.  He thinks he wants someone to talk to or just to interact with, but every time he is with a person and doing that he bails.  The message of the story is that of life really.  Holden goes through the traumatizing event of his brothers death and slowly begins to just sink until he really hits the low of being kicked out of Pencey Prep School. He ends up bumming around New York City for a few days and just gets more and more depressed.  We can learn from Holden.  We see that just women, alcohol, and judging people get you absolutely no where in life.  An interest in the opposite sex, alcohol, and being judgmental have always been choice favorites and traits of homosapiens.  We like anything that can give us a high or an escape, even if it only is for a short while.  Holden exemplifies this for us very thoroughly.  You could stick this message in basically any time period, changing of course a few variables, and it would still make sense.  A definite lesson to learn from this is that slacking off is not the way to go with your education.  You may not end up in a mental facility but it's generally quite hard to end up anywhere much better than where you would be with a well rounded education.  We also have a wonderful example of how NOT to build relationships with people.  Making plans with them and then giving up on socializing whole-heartidly with them halfway through is not the way to go.  





Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Cather in the Rye" Question 5

The setting of the story is first in Pencey Prep School in Pennsylvania and then New York City in either 1948 or 1949. So World War II has just occurred and America is slowly getting back into the swing of things. This is also around the time America became it's materialistic-self that we know today. This is reflected in all the materialistic people that come and go in Holden's life through the story. Holden is very opposed to the consumptive ways of the people surrounding him. I'm sure Holden's depressed state also mirrors a lot of the people recovering from the war. Many of the returning soldiers and the Japanese returning from concentration camps probably weren't quite good as new yet. I'm sure Holden wasn't alone in feeling sad and lonely through out the book. This books symbolic significance is that of friendship and acceptance. In the novel, Holden is constantly grasping for someone to just listen and to hear him. He wants someone to understand him. Don't we all, though? Imagine if that one person in your life who you can tell everything to and know that they'll be there for you no matter what was just gone. *poof* Donskis. That's not really a desirable feeling, is it? I don't think so either. "The Cather in the Rye", I think, is a good symbol of just straight up human nature. We get confused. A lot. We have a tendency to expect people to just come to us and know when we need them. We can be really very ignorant and naive when we are hurting. "The Cather in the Rye" is an excellent representation of this. The entire novel Holden is sad and misunderstood and no one wants to just talk with him and try to understand. That's at least how he sees it. Humans have a tendency to be very blind and not see that we are really the only obstacle in our way of forging relationships. Holden is exactly that, his own obstacle.


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Cather in the Rye" Question 4

The hero/protagonist in "The Catcher in the Rye" is most definitely Holden Caulfield.  He may appear to be one of the worst hero's the world of literature has ever seen but he has some redeeming qualities I assure you!  His best quality, in my opinion, is how protective he his.  Specifically of Jane Gallagher.  We never actually see Jane, we only hear of her, but we hear enough to know Holden is basically irrevocably in love with her.  His roomie, Stradlater, has actually scored a date with her in the beginning of the story.  It is quite clear Holden could imagine more preferable situations for Jane to be in.  Not that he just wants to be with her, it's more of those 'I-want-what's-best-for-you' kind of things and Holden knows Stradlater is not that.  In the end, Holden accomplishes a discovery.  He realized he really had connected with all those people he told us about in the end.  It may not have appeared that way during his interaction with them, but he realizes that he misses them.  He regrets telling so many people about all of the jazz that happened to him because it drug up all of the memories and he makes the realization that he just straight up misses them.  Holden is portrayed as hypocritical, cynical, and really just straight up annoying.  He of course has redeeming qualities, but initially he is just not that type of person anyone really wants to be associated with.  He doesn't apply himself to really anything, he purposefully irritates his parents, he sees almost everyone, except children, as phonies and not worth his time, and the list goes on and on.  That is simply the top layer.  If you delve deeper into the layers that is our protagonist, you see that he is really just a confused young lad looking for someone to just chat with.  I think Holden represents the abstract idea of hypocritical-ness.  There are few sentences through out this book where he is not contradicting himself in some manner.  At the same time I think he could also represent human nature in one of its rawer forms.  We all tend to mislead people with our outer layer but once someone gets to know us they can sometimes see that we might just be a completely different person.  This is the case with Holden.  He appears to be a very cynical and judgmental person on the outside but really it's just a defense mechanism to get through the day.  He wants to be understood and listened to, but at the same time doesn't want to let any of those "phonies" in. 

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.

"The Cather in the Rye" Question 3

I'm going to answer the second half of this question first. What does the author understand about human nature? In this story, the main character is a very conflicted adolescent. He wants to find someone who will be there for him, but at the same time finds everyone in the world very annoying and not worth his time, except for a select few people. The author shows us through the conflict that he sees that we humans don't quite even understand ourselves sometimes. We get very confused very easily when we are frazzled and lonely and it shows with Holden. He is lonely and depressed and makes a lot of irrational decisions because of these emotions. J.D. Salinger shows us that when it comes to humans, emotions are one of the strongest and most influential things any of us can contemplate. When Holden learns of his brothers, Allie, death he punches out all of the windows in his garage. Now let us think. Does any sane person who isn't feeling any serious emotion do that sort of thing? No. Only someone very high off of emotion would even contemplate punching glass. A sane person would not do this because, well, it would hurt. An emotional person doesn't consider these things. In this instance, Holden is simply thinking how breakable glass is and that he wants to break something. So he does. One of the biggest themes I got out of this book was that of sadness. Throughout the whole novel, Hayden is fighting with himself trying to escape his lonely depressing state but always running away before progress can happen. So in trying to evade his sadness, he is basically creating more for himself. Ironic, right? Another theme is innocence. The entire novel, Holden is consistently bashing on the adult world and constantly calling all and any adults "phonies." Holden really only likes kids. He sees them as kind, caring, and innocent little people and generally socializes with them as opposed to the older generation when he can.


Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.