Catcher In The Rye- Discussion

My impressions and predictions have been different than in the book regarding some of the chapters. Some of the things that Holden did surprised me. I thought he made a lot of bad decisions, such as drinking, getting kicked out of school, and staying alone in a hotel without talking to anyone about it first. Personally, I think Holden is too young to go into bars and stay in hotels. I noticed that he made a lot of bad decisions, but some of them surprised me. I did not think he would do some of the things he did, such as asking grown women to go out for a drink with him.

Holden's definition of phony is hypocritical. He is annoyed with the crying woman sitting next to him in the movie because she is crying as if she is sympathizing with the characters, when really Holden say she is not kind at all. She yells at her child throughout the movie because the poor kid is bored and has to use the bathroom. Sometimes, someone will tell me that they just read a book and it was terrible. Then they tell me to read it. This fits Holden's definition of phony because the person has just said it is terrible, then they say go read it. It is hypocritical.

Holden sees to be insecure and depressed. He swears frequently; using bad language can be a sign of self insecurity. He is an underage drinker and he smokes. These actions suggest he is depressed. Holden also says he is depressed a lot. He thinks about his sister and girls and mopes around. I also think that Holden does not believe in himself. I do not think he has a lot of hope. He has been kicked out of school, so he gets a room in a hotel in the city and goes to bars every night. He has been kicked out of other schools before that one; I think he has lost faith in himself to do the right thing and make it through school.

The situation in chapter thirteen symbolizes sympathy. When Holden hung up Sunny's dress, he felt a pang of sadness. He felt bad for her because she told him that she worked all night long every night and slept all day or watched movies. He felt bad because she did not have much of a life. Holden empathized over her situation. He noticed that her manners were not the best, and knew that she did not know any better.

The Catcher In The Rye- Response 1-12

I think to be unique is to be different from everyone else. It is being one's own individual self. If something is unique, it is not like anything else. People can also have unique opinions about different things. Being unique is being different than everyone else, like snowflakes. Every single snowflake is unique, because not one is like any other. This is also how people are. Each person has their own personality. Some people have similar qualities of each other, but they are still unique in countless other ways.

Individuality is kept in an adult world by choosing to do things differently. By the time a person is an adult, they have the freedom and privileges to make their own decisions. Adults keep their individuality and unique qualities by making different decisions and thinking differently about things. Parents might choose differently about how they raise their children. Grown ups might choose differently what occupation they want to interview for.

Allie's character is similar to the character of a person I care about because he was kind. He never got mad at people. Holden also said Allie was hard to get mad at. I think that it is very hard to get mad at some of my best friends, because they are nice, forgiving, and fun, just like Allie. I like my best friends because they have qualities like Allie. He was a unique person with a great personality, and that is why I like my best friends. If Allie was a real person and alive, I think he would be a friend of mine.

If I had been kicked out of school, I would call my parents and tell them right away. I would tell them that I got kicked out of school, and that I was sorry. Then, I would go home. I would close myself in my room and read my favorite books until I felt better, because it always helps. I would do this because if I would ever get kicked out of school, I would feel miserable.
I would go home because all of the people I love are there. They would make me feel better, and I would be more comfortable. I think that home is the coziest place to be.

Jane is a good person. She is kind and intelligent, and she is a good friend. Jane is good at playing checkers, and she plays the game with Holden. Jane is probably the best friend that Holden has. She is caring and polite, and she thinks about others. She and Holden spend time together, and she means a lot to Holden. He thought about her a lot while he was going away from the school. Holden missed her, and she seemed almost like a sister to him.

I do not think it is true that people are always ruining things. This might be true for Holden, but he seems like a pessimistic person. Being an optimistic person most of the time, I do not think that people always ruin things all of the time. One time that someone did ruin something for me was when I was relaxing at home. I was reading a book, and it was bliss. My mom came into the room, and reminded me that I still had things left to do on my priority list. My blissful moment was ruined.

A Good Man is Hard to Find- Discussion

   I think I saw the roles of chance and fate when the family was eating dinner and the grandmother was talking to Red Sam. The stories he told were what made me notice that. I think the way The Misfit was is chance. He did not have to be like that, he could of grown up to be a kind, forgiving man. There was the chance that he would not become a good man, and that slight chance happened. I think it was fate when the family's car tipped over and the grandmother got to talk to The Misfit. It was fate when she talked to him, and told him what a good man he was. I do not think it changed him, though. If it did, I certainly could not tell. Maybe it changed him on the inside, and it would make him change someday.

   I think the grandmother's definition of a good man is someone who can change. It could also be someone who came from a good family and was good to begin with, even if they are not anymore. She also thinks a good man is someone who prays, and gets forgiven by God. In the story, the grandmother tells The Misfit over and over that he is a good man. I guess that I never thought of someone like that to be a good man, but the grandmother does. She also tells The Misfit that he needs to pray. She says that if he prays, he will get help; he does not want to. She still calls him a good man.
   By reading this story, I have realized that in life I try to view everyone as good people. I try to see the good in them. I have realized that I do not do this as much as I thought I tried to. I do not think that I could ever call a person who has broken out of jail and is running with two men and two guns a good man. I would not be able to see the good in them.
   I do agree when the grandmother says that there is good in everyone, and that she is trying very hard to see the good in The Misfit. I also agree when she says that if he prays, he could do better. I think that even if he does not believe in prayer, repenting and being sorry for the bad things he has done would be good for him.

   I wonder if the grandmother knew that The Misfit was going to shoot them all. When I came to that part, I noticed that it seemed like the grandmother knew he would, and was trying to convince him that he was a good man, and had no place going around and shooting people.
   I also wonder why the grandmother said he was one of her own children. I wonder if she meant that he was as good as one of her own children, or that he literally was.


   In the blogpost we read about Flannery O'Connor, I noticed something that I had never thought about before. The author of this blogpost got an opinion from another person about A Good Man is Hard to Find. The person said that grace was a part of the story, and that many of O'Connor's stories have grace in them. I stopped and thought about it, and realized that it is very much true. When the grandmother in the story just stopped and talked to the Misfit, telling him he was a good man and that things could get better and he could be forgiven, that was all grace. Having grace is what helped her to, in a way, forgive the Misfit.

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail- Act 2

It is very ironic that Henry says he feels more free inside the jail cell than outside, even though people are locked inside a jail cell to be stripped of their freedom. I think that Henry feels more free inside, because he is not being told to pay his taxes, and he is not in the middle of the war.
I also think that is was somewhat ironic that Henry was encouraging people not to pay taxes, and then his own family member was the one who payed Henry's taxes to get him out.

I think that the most important characters in this play are Henry, John, and Bailey. The reason that Henry is the most important character is self explanatory. His name is in the title of the book, and the book was written about him. John is important because he is Henry's brother and very good friend, and they teach their class (where the teaching is based on Transcendentalism) together. Bailey is also an important character, because Henry talks to him and teaches him in the jail cell.
I would cast Johnny Depp as Henry Thoreau, because while I was reading The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, I thought that some of the things Henry said and the way I imagined him saying them reminded me of the character Depp took on in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think he could play the part well.
I would cast Sam Claflin (from Catching Fire) as John, because I think Claflin would play the part nicely. I think that he would be good at portraying John, who is similar to his brother Henry.
I think I would want Woody Harrelson to play Bailey, because I think that he could play the sad, jailed man nicely. Bailey reminded me of the way Haymitch was portrayed in The Hunger Games.

I think that at first, Henry's protest was not successful. His aunt payed his taxes and made it so that he could leave the jail. He was very upset about this, because his whole point of the protest was to let people know that his taxes were not going to be payed.
But at the very end, things changed, and Henry walked out. Not because he was informed he was free, but because he chose to leave.

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail- Act 1

Henry: Our own school, John. No buildings. Break out of the classroom prison. All we need is the sky!

The way I interpret this is Thoreau's way of expressing his feelings about being a naturalist, and his thoughts on learning about the world, and everything around us that was not human made. That is the part about them having to learn in the "classroom prison." Him calling it a prison and proposing to "break put of" it makes me think that he would much rather not be inside a building to do his teaching and learning. He would like to be outside.
This quote also expresses independence, when Thoreau expresses how he wants their own school. He seems to want a place that other humans have not destroyed or created, where he can teach about nature, and show his students how to explore by themselves, and uncover knowledge that they had not discovered or learned before. This brings us into Transcendental thought.

Thoreau believed strongly in this way of thought, because as the quote above shows, he enjoyed learning and discovering things by his own free will. He wanted others to learn how to do that, too, so he taught self-reliance in his class. The classmates all left the class eventually, because their parents all decided that they did not like Transcendentalism, and they did not want their children learning that.
The last student left, because his father did not like that he spoke up at the table, and believed that the parents only had the right to do that. He pulled him out of the school.
Thoreau expressed civil disobedience, when he refused to pay taxes, and forced Staples to arrest him. He was very defiant, and I can begin to understand why some people disliked this way of thinking. He got very mad at Staples, and refused to pay multiple times. He went so far as to talk to the crowd about what he was doing, and why he was doing the right thing.
I really like the Transcendental way of thinking for the most part, but some of the defiance does not seem like it is the right thing to do when facing the government. They have the power to do a lot of things.

The Most Dangerous Game vs. The Odyssey

We see the desire and danger resulting in drama in this story, because General Zaroff loves to hunt. He has started to hunt people because he kills animals easily. Once Rainsford comes onto the island, the general decided that he was a worthy opponent and tried to hunt him. This is dangerous because Rainsford could be killed. This turns into drama when Rainsford puts out traps and reveals more of his sly side. He ended up tricking and killing the general in the end.
This is shown in the Odyssey a lot in the parts involving the suitors. The desire is shown because the suitors all wish that Penelope could marry them. This is dangerous, because even though he does not, Telemachus could hurt them to try and make them leave. This all results in drama, because even though almost nobody knows, Odysseus was still alive. He came back and killed all of the suitors.

1. I think that at least some background knowledge is needed in both The Odyssey and The Most Dangerous Game. It helped me understand the story better to know that Rainsford was a hunter in The Most Dangerous Game. It helped to know that he was good at it, because then it was more suspenseful when General Zaroff tried to hunt him down. In The Odyssey, I needed to know that Odysseus had been gone from home for more than twenty years. It helped me sympathize with him and Penelope better. I think the background knowledge was needed more in The Odyssey, because it seemed like the whole book began in the middle of a story. When I knew what had happened before, I understood it a lot better.

2. The conflict in The Most Dangerous Game was external, because the main character (Rainsford) was being hunted by the general. The main conflict in The Odyssey was internal, because Odysseus was sad and wanted badly to get home. The gods did interfere with that, but the conflict was mostly internal.

3. In The Most Dangerous Game, Rainsford came on this trip on a boat to hunt in the rainforest. That is what it seems like to me. His obstacles were that he fell off his boat and it left, he found an island but then was hunted by the man on it, and ended up having to kill the man on the island. In The Odyssey, Odysseus wanted to get home. He had the obstacles of being held captive by Calypso, having the gods against him, and having the tendency to talk a lot. Those were the main ones I saw. I think that in both books, the obstacles kept the people from getting home.

4. In The Most Dangerous Game, there were not any flashbacks that I read about. In The Odyssey, Odysseus flashed back to the time of his entire journey, before he had been captured by Calypso (which is where the book starts).

5. In The Most Dangerous Game, the external conflict is resolved when Rainsford won the General's game and shoved him out the window to the dogs. In The Odyssey, the internal conflict is resolved after Odysseus finds his way home, reveals himself, and kills the suitors. After that, he talks with Penelope all night and they were happy.

The Odyssey- Books 18-24

     Well, that was unexpected. The story, up until this point, has been repetitive and drawn out. I was pleasantly surprised when I read this week, because the story really did reach a higher climax than I thought it would. It was very interesting, and it kept me reading a lot better than it did before. The steps of the Hero's Journey stood out very well. The last battle was very intriguing, because Minerva created a "fortunately, unfortunately" plot structure in a few of the last books, which kept it going. I could not tell if Ulysses was going to win or not, because at one point it seemed like Minerva got really upset with him. I thought she would stop protecting him, but she did not.
   
     I was still frustrated that some parts of the story were repetitive. I heard some things about four times from different people, even though Homer had already explained them. I realize that this was because it was a type of poem, but it did not seem like a poem for most of the story. I was also a bit frustrated when Minerva would make things worse after they had just gotten a little better, and I had mixed feelings about it. It seemed to make the story just keep going as I mentioned earlier, but it also was not a good thing. There were many times when I got a little bit fed up with Ulysses because he would not show himself to Penelope, and insisted on keeping himself disguised. I thought that Homer should have made the story more romantic by letting Ulysses show himself to Penelope before anyone else, because she was grieving so much. I think that that was not fair.

     Over all, I was satisfied with the ending. It seemed to wrap things up. The suitors are gone, and Odysseus' journey has come to an end. He is back home, where he wanted to be.