.. just a poor deaf-mute bastard and theyd leave me alone.
. Id cook all my own food, and latter on, if I wanted to get married or something, Id meet this beautiful girl that was also deaf-mute and wed get married. Shed come and live in my cabin with me, and if she wanted to say something to shed have to write it down on a piece of paper, like everybody else". Holden truly hates all the phoniness in this world that he doesnt want to communicate with anyone, even his soon-to-be-wife. This depicts Holdens innocence.
He has his whole life planned out and he believes that this is really going to happen. Holden might think that he is ready for adulthood but from someone elses point of view he sounds that he is very unsure of adulthood. Holdens innocence is also portrayed in a more sincere fashion when he is talking to his sister, Phoebe, about a vision that he had, "I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids and nobodys aroundnobody big, I meanexcept me. And Im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.
What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliffI mean if theyre running and they dont look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. Thats all Id do all day. Id just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its crazy, but thats the only Id really like to be.
I know its crazy." Holden believes that he can save little children from all the hurt and pain in the world.Holden is really a good guy stuck in a bad world and he is trying to make the best out of all the misfortunes that come his way, but his is loosing the battle. "Whereas he aims for stability and truth, the adult world cannot survive without suspense and lies. It is a testament to his innocence and decent spirit that Holden would place the safety and well-being of children as a goal in his lifetime" (Lomazoff, 8). This innocent trait that Holden poses makes him to openly show his affection for his sister.
He wants the best for her.Holden makes her life his first priority. When Phoebe tries to leave her school to follow Holden, he is instantly against it. The disappointed look on Phoebes face at Holdens refusal breaks his heart. Holden takes Phoebe to the park to make up for this. Holdens attitude about life gradually changes as he watches Phoebe on the carrousel: I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around.
I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth.I dont know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. When Holden promises that he would return home Phoebe becomes happy again. The bond between Holden and Phoebe is very strong.
She is his inspiration and he is her role model.Holden wants to do right in his life for Phoebe. He wants to be a better person for her. Franny and Zooey is the story of a young girl who feels alone in the world. Franny Grass suffers an emotional and spiritual breakdown while attending college. She has abandoned all of her hopes and dreams, and the only pleasure she has in life is reading from her little pea-green book.
Loneliness is an emotional affliction that is very widespread in our society (Gelinas, 5). It affects everyone at any point of his or her lives. Franny clearly suffers from this affliction. She writes a letter to Lane Coutell, her boyfriend, telling him that she is coming out to visit him. The letter is emotional and happy, this is ironic because when Franny visits Lane she is anything but happy.Lane meets Franny at the train station to pick her up.
There is an immediate tension between the two because they have not seen each other in while. Nevertheless, they try to ignore it. When they arrive at the restaurant, Lane dominates the conversation. He is unaware, for the most part, that Franny has hardly said a word.Franny accepts the idea of Lane playing a dominant role in their relationship. She understands that they are not on equal standing.
Despite this, Franny believes that she has found love with her boyfriend. She adores him as much as any girlfriend adores her boyfriend. Franny is often afraid of not being on the same level as Lane. In one example Lane is reminding Franny of his that she met some time ago: "Oh.I remember..
Listen, dont hate me because I cant remember some person immediately. Especially when they look like everybody else, and talk and dress and act like everybody else." It is clearly obvious that she is afraid of not living up to his expectations. Franny doesnt see Lane as her soul mate, she is with him because of her fear of being lonely: She found herself looking at Lane as if he was a stranger, or a poster advertising a brand of linoleum, across the aisle of a subway car. Again she felt the trickle of disloyalty and guilty, which seemed to be the order of the day, and reacted to it by reaching over to cover Lanes hand with her own.
Two surprises take place during dinner. Franny tells Lane that she has quit drama at school.Lane is shocked because he knows that Franny loves acting and she is good at it. When Franny excuses herself the second time, she faints on the way to the bathroom. Lane is very worries and insists that she rest. But again, Franny is putting Lanes needs before her own by encouraging him that she is okay and they could still have a nice night.
The second part of the story takes place when Franny has returned home to get some rest.Her brother, Zooey Glass, and their mother are very concerned about her. He believes that the little pea-green book that Franny has is clear foolishness. He insists on giving Franny advice on life or about any issue of the moment. Franny finds herself still stressed with her mother forcing her to eat chicken soup and her brothers constant nagging. Zooey is a straightforward person.
He sees the false love in Frannys and Lanes relationship even though they do not. Towards the end of the novel, Franny starts to consider her brothers advice. He tells her that it is not wise to be caught up in her book. He tells her that she can still be an actress and know God. In essence, he tells her that their family is very different from other families, and what you decide to do with your life determines the type of person that you are.
Franny takes Zooeys advice to heart. She finally understands who she is and begins to put her life in perspective. Franny now knew what to do with her life and she was content: For some minutes, before she fell into a deep, dreamless Sleep, she just lay quite, smiling at the ceiling. J.D.
Salinger, a master of contemporary writing, has astounded his audiences for years. The common theme expressed in many of Salingers novels is the alienated personality. He has a way of capturing this theme through his characters. Due to this alienation many of these characters experience loneliness, unhappiness, uncertainty, and the feeling of being lost: "He moves steadily away from old-fashioned stories of the sort that lead us to believe that life has leading characters and minor characters, important details and unimportant details, beginnings, middles, ends" (Bryfonski, 521). Many critics acclaim that Nine Stories and The Catcher in The Rye are Salingers most famous and important works (Bryfonski, 521). The Glass family saga starting in Nine Stories and continuing in and ending in Franny and Zooey shows how the lack of love and the influence of society can lead to destruction unless you find enough inner strength to rise above it.
Many of Salingers characters are connected to other fictional characters by other authors. In The Catcher in The Rye, the young Holden Caulfield is compared by critics to Huckleberry Finn: He has a colloquialism as marked as Hucks..Like Huck, Holden is neither comical or misanthrope. He is an observer. Unlike Huck, he makes judgements by the dozen, but these are not to be taken seriously; they are concepts (Lomazoff, 7).
Holden is also compared to Hamlet but to a lesser degree; they are both not totally in the minds.The majority of Salingers characters learn from being alienated. Through learning this one aspect, they gain strength from it to move on.
