Tuesday's lesson notes

3. Holden’s description of his older brother as “being a prostitute”

Holden’s description of his brother	Quotes	Speaker and Page
- Means he has a high paying job - Exploiting himself to Hollywood - Holden thinks a High paying in job – its not good - You’re a sellout to Hollywood - He is selling his books, making nothing out of them	“ It killed me. Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B, being a prostitute”	Holden, pg. 1

-          What this tells us about Holden is that he doesn’t value money or the kind of success that society recognizes

-          What Holden values is being genuine and authentic

-          Holden is very idealistic in terms of his view of the world; he wants the world to be ‘perfect’, and it is not

-          He a strong sense of morality and he really values his close relationships

-          He sets very high standards which most people don’t reach, yet he himself doesn’t reach them. Allie and Phoebe are the only who really reach Holden’s standards.

4. "Phony" – pretending to be something that they’re not

Holden appears to view all adults as “phony.”

Holden criticizes about people who are boring, insecure and people who are “phony.”

 Holden uses the label “phony” to imply that such people are superficial.

 Holden constantly points out the phoniness in others when he is often acting as a phony. This is shown throughout the novel when he lies by claiming to like or agree with statements or ideas he hates, goes out with girls he doesn’t like, all to try to feel less lonely or to avoid direct confrontations.

He later contradicts himself when he regards to himself as phony; “I'd be a phony if I let them stick me in a movie short” - Chapter 11

Holden explains to his sister Phoebe his thoughts about schools and how they are phony places and their main goal is to prepare students to become “phony” to survive in the adult world.

 He sees such “phoniness” everywhere in the adult world, and believes adults are so phony that they can’t even see their own phoniness.

 Many of the characters in the novel such as Ackley, Stradlater, Sally and Mr. Spencer are often phony, and say and do things that keep up appearances rather than reflect what they truly think and feel.

p.2 – “since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men.”

5. Holden’s use of the red hunting hat.

Pages:

• 15
• 40
• 46
• 80
• etc

Overall:

The hat is a symbol of safety and protection, which Holden wears when he is feeling insecure or vulnerable.

Ø  To Holden the hat becomes a materialistic comforter.

Ø  The hat plays the role of a carer/ friend

Ø  Boost his self worth- by making him feel better about himself

Quotes:

“I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed id lost all the goddam foils.” page 15

Ø  He bought the hat make him feel better about himself as he didn’t mean to loose the foils.

Ø  He would have been bullied/put down because of the lost foils.

Ø  The hat was a pick me up

“I kept sitting there on the floor till I heard old Stradlater close the door and go down the corridor to the can. Then I got up. I couldn’t find my god dam hunting hat anywhere” page 39

Ø  Straight away he looked for the hat for comfort

Ø  He became depended on the hat and the feeling he got when he wore it

Ø  He relied on the hat as a friend

“my ears were nice and warm, though. That hat I bought had ear laps in it, and I put them on- I didn’t give a dam what I looked” page 47

Ø  He didn’t care about the look, or the materialistic, more so the feeling it gave him (comfort)

Ø  The hat was a form of protection   from the outside world

“I was sort of crying. I don’t know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it and then I yelled at the top of my god dam voice, ‘sleep tight, ya morons!’ ill bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor” page 46

Ø  The first reaction was to grab the hat

Ø  The hat gave him confidence (yelling out)

Ø   

 “But it was freezing cold, and I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on- I didn’t give a god dam how I looked. I even put the ear laps down” page 80

Ø  He uses repetition of how he didn’t care about the appearance of the hat

All of this tells us that Holden sees the world as a scary place in which he needs something that he can turn to for protection.

p.191 – “I got pretty soaking wet, especially my neck and pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway.  I didn’t care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way Old Phoebe kept going around and around.”

By the end of the book, Holden has realized that although the world may be a frightening place, it is possible to deal with this. We can’t always be protected but we can survive.