week four, the catcher in the rye

I switched my book to The Catcher in the Rye from the last time we blogged. This book is by J. D. Salinger. The main character of this book is Holden Caulfield. He refuses to talk about his early life; he only says that his brother is a writer in Hollywood. Holden went to Pencey Prep, which is in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. When he attended this school he only passed four out of five classes, that one class was English. I think Holden could have tried harder in school but he may have been trying his hardest.

One evening before a football game, Holden stood on Thomsen Hill, which overlooked the football field, where Pencey plays its annual grudge match against Saxon Hall. He had no interest in the game and hadn’t planned to watch it. Holden is the manager of the school’s fencing team and is supposed to be in New York for a meet, but he lost the team’s equipment on the subway, so he and everyone else returned to Pencey early.

When Holden is getting ready to say goodbye to the school he leaves the game and goes to say goodbye to Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer was a former history teacher and he is at home with the flu. While Holden is there Mr. Spencer says to him “Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” I think that the quote says a lot. If you live your life right and don’t do things that will get you in trouble you will be successful. If you don’t obey the rules you may get in trouble and it could change your life for good. You should always try your hardest at everything you do, the harder you try to more successful you are. Sometimes you may have to be aggressive about it. You may have to fight for something’s but you will be happy with yourself if you do.

Holden lives in Ossenburger Hall, which is named after a wealthy Pencey graduate who made a fortune in the funeral home business. There is a student there that lives next door named Ackley. Holden finds him very irritating and he has poor hygiene. He doesn’t have many friends and he is always doing things to bother Holden. Holden tries to hint that Ackley should leave but he never does. But when Holden’s roommate Stradlater enters the room, Ackley, who hates Stradlater, quickly leaves.

I think this book is good so far and it interests me more than the last book I tried to read. Holden, at this point in the story, kind of reminds me of myself. I really haven’t been trying as hard as I should be lately. But I believe that everyone gets that way sometime in their lives. Sometimes you just have to let go of things and have fun every once in awhile. You get stressed out when you’re trying to concentrate on something for long periods of time. I think schools shouldn’t cram things in; teachers should take more time with things instead of trying to get something finished in one day. I think that’s one reason students give up so quickly.