- Who is he talking to? What kind of person does he become? What are some possible reasons he became someone else?
- How might these aliases develop theme and/or character?
Option 2: Provide your observations and insights. Include a quote that you think is the most essential for these chapters.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield expresses his distaste for phony people. I think he is a little hypocritical. He calls people out for being a "phony," and then becomes a phony himself. He pretends to be people he is not. Holden Caulfield is a liar and hypocrite.
ReplyDeleteAfter he left Pencey he boarded a train, and met a woman. The woman found out that he was from Pencey, and told him she had a son at Pencey. When she wanted to know Holden's name he told her it was Rudolph Schmidt. Rudolph, because he did not want to give her his life story. Holden pretended to be someone he is not. It seems that Holden has a hard time telling the truth. Maybe he thinks telling the truth is too hard, and takes to long. Maybe he just does not care about the truth. He might just want to get through life however he can, and does not care about consequences.
He also pretended to be corny. When he arrived in New York he took a cab. He told the cab driver he was "traveling incognito(60)." Holden thought the expression he used was corny, and he blamed it on the cab driver. He said, 'I hate saying corny things like "traveling incognito." But when I'm with somebody that's corny, I always act corny too(60).' He acted corny just because he was around someone corny. I think there are several reasons that he acts corny when he is around someone who is corny. He could be acting corny, because he cares about what others think. However, I think we could say that this reason is probably not true. After all, Holden did not care what people thought of him when he was in school. He also doesn't care what people think of his crude language. Another reason he could be acting corny is influence. Maybe despite all his effort the world is rubbing off on him. Maybe his statement illustrates Holden's struggle to be real in a world full of "phony" people. Regardless of the reason, Holden acts, or pretends, to be phony.
"My father wants me to go to Yale, or maybe Princeton, but I swear, I wouldn't go to one of those Ivy League colleges, if I was dying....(85)."
Holden also pretended to be someone from Princeton in order to get a girl to spend time with him. When he was at the hotel he was feeling lonely. He wanted to hang out with a girl. In the past a student from Princeton gave him a girl's number at a party. Apparently the girl did not mind spending time with guys. Holden called her up. He pretended to be older, and he pretended to be from Princeton. Which is funny, because later in the story he expressed his distaste for Princeton. He said,
He would not go to Princeton if he was "dying." He does not like Ivy League schools. He said, "All those Ivy League bastards look alike." He values individuality. If everyone was the same they would be "phonies." If they are "phonies" they are not sincere real people. Holden hates Princeton, because it seems to be full of "phony" people. Holden pretends to be something he hates in order to be with a girl he doesn't even really know. Is he throwing away his values? Is he a hypocrite? I personally think that by pretending to be something he hates he is being a hypocrite.
What is the point of all these examples? The point is that Holden pretends to be a lot of things. He is a liar. He is as phony as he deems the rest of the world. If Holden is trying to be different from the world and is failing, what does that say about humanity? I think that might be the underlying theme. Humanity's tendency to be followers, even if it makes humanity a liar.
Holden definitely can be viewed as a hypocrite because many of his actions conflict with his words. However, I think we needt to discuss what exactly Holden means by phony. How does phoniness differ from lying, misleading, wearing a mask, having a facade? Could Holden's lies actually reveal more truth?
DeleteIn The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, Holden begins chapter 8 by explaining the extent of his injuries obtained by fighting with his old roommate, Stradlater, over a girl, Jane. “He’d smacked my lip right on my teeth, and it was pretty sore. My ears were pretty warm though.” (Page 53). I believe this was an allusion to the life Holden perhaps had at home, or at the numerous schools he went to. The fact that the mouth was in pain suggests that Holden was never able to express himself wherever he went. Meanwhile, his ears were warm from the constant lectures from others. This further develops Holden’s character and suggests that he has had a very hard time fitting in and being heard. This was all explained while Holden was waiting at the train station, which may suggest that this is a universal problem Holden faces wherever he goes. I thought it was interesting that Holden did not bother to wash off the blood until he was at the train station. This could suggest that Holden could only deal with this problem by constantly moving, as it is said that he constantly changes schools. The use of the literary device of allusion helps us further develop the problems of isolation Holden faces, and explain the crude personality as mentioned in the first commentary.
ReplyDeleteThis would be more of a metaphor, but the analysis is solid, and makes me wonder if Holden himself is a metaphor/symbol for something more. It is interesting that he waits to wash off the blood. Could he also be exagerrating or embellishing? Holden does "move" a lot; he does not settle. What might this say about him?
DeleteIn these few chapters we begin to see more of Holden’s thoughts and feelings contradict each other; specifically, a large contradiction is his wanting to be around other people to avoid being lonely, but then hating every minute of being in the company of someone else. This is illustrated when Holden barges into Ackley’s room in the middle of the night after his fight with Stradlater. Earlier in the book he explains every little thing that is wrong with Ackley and how he hates when he comes into his room and bothers him, however, Holden does just this, himself. Holden practically invites himself to stay and sleep in Ackley’s room and even keeps Ackley awake for awhile perhaps to try to feel a little less “lonesome,” (48). Then, when he gets into a cab to take him to a hotel to stay for the next few nights, he tries to spark conversation with the cab driver. Holden asks where all the ducks go during the Winter, which only upsets the driver. Even after this, Holden invites the cab driver to have a cocktail with him, but the driver declines. Holden was still feeling lonely and wanted some company to maybe take his mind off of things that have happened so far, yet Holden sarcastically describes the cab driver as, “good company,” and having a, “Terrific personality,” (61). We can infer that, if the cab driver would have accepted, Holden would have spent the entire encounter thinking of every flaw the driver had and feeling just as miserable as ever. And even later, Holden goes to the hotel’s lobby in hopes of finding some company. He finds a group of three girls that he chooses to fixate on for the time being, but again, the entire time he is with them, he just silently judges them and is bothered by their every move. He even went so far as to describe them as, “three real morons,” (70). He also describes them as “ignorant” many times. We end the chapter with Holden at Ernie’s and the book reads, “I was surrounded by jerks. I’m not kidding. At this other tiny table, right to my left, practically on top of me, there was this funny-looking guy and this funny-looking girl,” (85). Throughout the chapters, Holden seems to constantly be searching for company to relieve him of his loneliness, however, Holden cannot bear to have a good time being with or around other people. This further epitomizes the fact that Holden does not seem to function like everyone else, and feels isolated even when in the company of others.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I believe Holden is very contradicting. He seems very obsessed and involved with the very things he looks to avoid. I believe this relates to the theme of him actively participating in adult activities without really becoming an adult. Throughout the story Holden hires a prostitute, and goes to bars, but is not mature enough to even pass his classes. I think the minor contradictions in the story enhance the theme as a whole.
DeleteHolden is obviously not proud of his life and accomplishments. I mean being kicked out of a number of different schools isn't something to brag about. He develops aliases to hid his identity. This is a big change from the first few chapters as he hated that the school molded their students. He didn't like pretending, but now he is pretending to be the janitor of the school he is attending, Rudolf Schmidt. As he is talking to a boy mother that attends his school, a boy who Holden doesn't particularly like, he starts to tell lies about the boy, Ernest. He says he is the most popular boy in school and that he could have won the vote. But this is all a lie as Holden knows just along with everyone else that Ernest is not a nice person, he is very rude. I think that Holden tries to impress Ernest's mother because he thought she was an attractive woman, however, Holden is only a teenager. Salinger wrote, "She looked all around. "I don't believe this is a smoker, Rudolf," she said. Rudolf. That killed me." He wants the woman to think he is older, so he hands her a cigarette, but she still knows that he is way to young for her. From this scene we can infer that Holden may have a mental disability, maybe even schizophrenia. The use of an alias in this story could be to tie together a central theme of lies. Holden is now lying about his himself to make him look like a more successful person to try to get the woman. Lies don't always work as seen in this piece as she still knows that he is way too young for her.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Holden is obsessed with trying to be someone he is not. He spends much of the novel under the guise of someone else. I think that he does not want to be himself, and that he does not want to live his own life. If he could only be someone cooler, someone suave, then he could finally be happy.
DeletePretending to be another person can help you escape from reality which is what it seems like Holden Caufield is trying to do the whole time. It seems as though his brother, Allie’s death has taken a toll on him. He also is not interested in going to these fancy schools his father wants him to go to like Princeton or Yale. He has quite a bad reputation which switching schools and flunking and seems to disguise himself in these alternate personas to escape the reputation he has created for himself. Some people will become another person when they’re suffering from bipolar disorders, when they are taking over someone’s life like stealing their credit card, or when trying to hide something from someone. When Caufield runs into Ernest Morrow’s mother on the train to New York, he pretends to be his dorm’s janitor, Rudolf Schmidt. “I didn’t feel like giving her my whole life history,” (Salinger, 55.) Not only did Caufield not want to tell him who he was, but he fed her lies about her own son. He made her think that he was this sweet student from Pencey. Caufield is avoiding who he really is each time he pretends to be someone else. In this instance, he is pretending to be sweet because the woman he is talking to is good-looking. Throughout the novel, everytime there’s a good-looking woman, he becomes infatuated with them and will say whatever he needs to in order to get them to like him. Caufield’s aliases seem to represent the loneliness and fakeness he is as a person. He has called other people phony and cowards when he is one himself at times. Caufield is also constantly pretending to appear older and more mature like at the bars he goes to so he can get drinks. He tries to appear older to get with older women too. This all points to a theme that Caufield is trying to escape his innocence. He wants to leave his childhood but he isn’t taking the necessary steps to even graduate high school. Caufield wants all the freedom without the responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteHolden definitely has trouble with lying. He even admits that he is a liar. He doesn't apply himself in school. He drinks and smokes. He flirts with 30 year-old women.He sounds like a rebellious teenager. Is he really acting out so he is not a "phony?" Could he be acting out to get his parents' attention?
DeleteHolden's relationship or view on girls and women is quite complex and inconsistent. Does he really want to get "sexy" with a girl? What are his excuses for being a virgin? How does he deal with the prostitute?
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ReplyDeleteOne of the earlier instances where Holden developed an alias was talking with the mother of one of his Pencey peers, Ernest Morrow. Holden was on his way to New York on a train so he could stay in a hotel for a little while instead of waiting at Pencey. That is where he started talking with Ernest’s mother. Once she started asking for more personal details, Holden decided to say he was named Rudolf Schmidt, who was actually a janitor at Pencey. He portrayed himself as an okay person. He also gave some very elaborate stories about Ernest, including that he was a nice guy who should just chill out more and that he was actually popular and well-liked at Pencey. "’Old Ernie,’ I said. ‘He's one of the most popular boys at Pencey.’” “‘That's the one fault with him--he's too shy and modest. You really oughta get him to try to relax occasionally.’"
ReplyDeleteHe did this because Mrs. Morrow was expressing concern about how Ernest was fitting in at school, and Holden did not want to tell her what he thought of him. “Her son was doubtless the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey, in the whole crumby history of the school. He was always going down the corridor, after he'd had a shower, snapping his soggy old wet towel at people's asses. That's exactly the kind of a guy he was.” The high point of this story was when he told her Ernest could have been class president, but was too modest to run. "’Well, a bunch of us wanted old Ernie to be president of the class. I mean he was the unanimous choice. I mean he was the only boy that could really handle the job,’ I said--boy, was I chucking it. ‘But this other boy--Harry Fencer--was elected. And the reason he was elected, the simple and obvious reason, was because Ernie wouldn't let us nominate him. Because he's so darn shy and modest and all. He refused. . . Boy, he's really shy. You oughta make him try to get over that.’" He could have kept his lies simple and straightforward, but he could not help himself. To put the icing on the cake, he even told her he was getting surgery for a brain tumor and was going to visit his grandmother in South America.
Some reasons he decided to develop aliases are that he was too dissatisfied with himself to be truthful with her. He did not like himself as a person, and wanted to reinvent himself to someone who would be none the wiser. Also, he thought she seemed like a nice lady and did not want to disappoint her with mean stories about her son. Holden is very concerned with not disappointing people, but it is something he does throughout the novel. “One thing about packing depressed me a little. I had to pack these brand-new ice skates my mother had practically just sent me a couple of days before. That depressed me.” Another key reason for this alias though is he did not really care enough about her to tell the truth about himself. He does not have faith in other people and therefore in not concerned with how he treats them. Although he was not rude to her like he is other people, he is still telling her blatant lies.
The aliases Holden develops all seem to develop his character of having low self-esteem and wanting to belong, but still harboring disapproval for virtually everyone in his life. His character is full of contradictions, which serves the theme of being a confused teenager trying to make his way through the world.
Throughout the story Holden adopts aliases whenever he feels the situation demands it. He attempts to become someone else. He becomes someone he feels would be more fit for that scenario. Someone that whomever he is talking to would respond better to. Or he becomes someone else so that his actions can not be traced back to him. One of Holden's aliases is Jim Steele. Jim Steele appears to be the person that Holden wishes he was. Jim Steele is older than Holden, suave with the ladies, and serves to protect Holden from revealing anything truthful about himself. Holden becomes Jim Steele in chapter 12 in order to attempt to dance and flirt with a group of older women at the club in a cheap hotel. This likely was Holden trying to become someone else for a night since he was not happy with his life.
ReplyDeleteHolden also uses these aliases to avoid being himself and could possibly be afraid to see how other people would respond to his actual personality. I'm sure he doesn't want to face rejection from anyone, especially after losing his brother Allie, so he quickly assesses his situation to come up with a different personality that would prevent him from being rejected. However, if he gets rejected, it wouldn't be that big of a deal for Holden, because it would have been a different person that was being rejected and not him. It makes him feel a step ahead of the person he is talking to, which may be another reason as to why he comes up with these different personalities.
DeleteHolden seems very dissatisfied with himself. This is why he adopts so many aliases. He does not want to seem inadequate to people, so he develops a new persona so people do not learn the truth about him. While we all wish we could change certain things about ourselves, Holden definitely takes this idea to the extreme. The example of Jim Steele shows this perfectly: he wanted to get into a nightclub and dance with older women, which is something he felt Holden would not be able to do, so he became Jim. He did the same thing when he claimed to be Rudolf during the train ride and all the other times he used aliases.
DeleteOn the train with another student's mother, Holden pretends to be somebody with a brain tumor, and he tells fake nice stories about her son. Another time Holden pretended to a guy named Jim Steele when he was trying to flirt with the ladies in the bar at the hotel. And yet another time he pretended to be from a different school in order to more easily attract a lady to him. Holden has already admitted to lying a bunch, and going over the top with it. This is just him following through with his confession. He comes up with these different personalities and people to make other people happy and welcome him more. He is also unhappy with himself, so he feels the need that since nobody will like the real him, that he has to play pretend in order to be able to talk with anybody. There is clearly something inside of him causing him a lot of pain, which is highly probable to be that he is having a hard time still mourning over his lost brother.
ReplyDeleteHolden often complains about how "phony" everybody else is, so the fact that he himself uses aliases quite often is ironic. At one point in the novel, Holden meets the mother of a boy he went to school with and tells her his name is Rudolf Schmidt, the janitor at Pencey. He knows the woman's son and isn't too fond of him but falsely tells her that her son is one of the most popular boys at school and "really adapts himself well." He then goes on to tell her that his class wanted her son to be class president but didn't take the job because he was too modest. You can tell that the mother is somewhat surprised by this information but also pleased by it. Holden likes this woman and appreciates her company and also states that "you take somebody's mother, all they want to hear about is what a hot-shot their son is," so his motives for lying to the woman might be to impress her to make her fond of him.
ReplyDeleteHolden's many aliases could also serve as a method of making his life more interesting. Holden needs to stay entertained to subconsciously distract himself from reality. In other situations, such as introducing himself to Sunny as Jim Steele, he uses aliases to make himself seem more interesting because he can't connect with people on a personal level.