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.
The Catcher in the Rye sounds like a good book and it sounds like you are pretty far. I really liked the quote you put in your blog and I also liked that you wrote why you put it in. I think you need to explain how you feel about the characters a little more. Pick which character you like the best and describe why you like them so much. I would like to know why you thought your last book was so confusing. What do you mean when you say it jumps around.
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