First Impressions of Catcher in the Rye
What are your impressions of Catcher in the Rye after reading the first two chapters? Share an excerpt from the writing you did over the weekend.
posted by Mary at 8:28 PM
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posted by Mary at 8:28 PM
24 Comments:
When I read Catcher in the Rye I was confused. Holden was an avid smoker a age 16? He was pessimistic and didn't care. He really also didnt care what people wanted him to do. He lied constantly and loved talking about what he didnt like abou people. in ways he was shallow and in ways he was not. This is a book I have to read more into to undersand better
My first impression of Catcher in the Rye is that the writing style has a certain mood to it. The writing style's “mood” is one of morbid, hate and a supreme feeling to all other beings. J.D. Salinger almost channels himself through the writing of the book and Holden Caulfield, who it almost seems could be J.D. Salinger himself. I say this because even though we've just met Holden Caulfield he has already shown an ugly face toward people in general and likes to be separated from society. Another impression is the simplistic writing of J.D. Salinger. J.D. Salinger writes like he's talking to someone in person, he also doesn't stop to explain things in full detail or avoid the use of slang or “unprofessional words”. It almost seems as if he has basically stripped down all the flashy ads and words, making his book just a book. His cover is blank, his writing is simple, and he only puts the words on the pages. The characters themselves are dynamic, however, but the writing still keeps an almost childish flow from time to time.
The book is good so far.JD Salinger is fully willing to admit what he hates and dislikes. He seems to always let his feelings leak out of him. Does the way he narrates in the book represent how he speaks, or how holden does? Please respond!!!!!!!!!
The first two chapters of the book Catcher in the Rye were interesting. Surprising, at first, because the main character, Holden, was flunking in school, and got expelled three times. His teacher, "Old Spencer," though described as boring, seems anice, and overall, warm. Holden has a very short attention span, which would be annoying for anyone who tried to talk to him. His mind wanders, and that is probably why he's flunking in school, he's not paying enough attention to what's currently going on.
This book unlike many others does not read like a book. in this book it sounds like the reader is hearing the main charecter tell his story as if he was in front of you. Holden, the main charecter, has gone through many schools in what seems only a couple years. He does not like to work on things that he is uninterested in but intead of bearing with it he just does not do the work.
"I think he just assumes things will magically work out for him without actually doing any work. The fact that he flunked out of four schools and seems not to be bothered by it really shows that he does not want to work for anything he gets." I don't like the book (or at least not Holden).
The first two chapters of The Catcher in the Rye were very intresting. They gave me a very good idea on the personality of the main charater. he has been to many schools and not liked them for many reasons. He has been flunking his classes at his current school and is geting kicked out. On his last day of school one of his teachers asks him to visit him before he leaves. As he is visiting the teacher he gets lectured on why he flunked and he is relizing that the teacher did not want to fail him, which makes him feel bad. He is leaving the school and he hasnt told his parents he has been kicked out. It surprises me that he is not more worried then he is about his what his parents reaction will be. It also surprises me that he is not worried about his future. I think he is going to have a problem with sucess in his future. Over all the first two chapters were good.
In Catcher in the Rye the main character Holden is a very intriguing character. For one thing it is because he does not academics at all. Holden even admits to his teacher that he only looked at his book once or twice. Why do you think Holden does not care about academics? Is he just lazy?
I thought that the main cahracter had a boring personality. He had many negative comments. I didn't like when je said that he didn't like his chool because they kicked him out for flunking four subjects. I thought it was weird when he said that seniors were the only ones that were allowed to bring girls the the football game. I liked when he made positive comments about Selma Thurmer. He made rude comments about old Spencer because of is bad posture. It was interesting when he discribed what od Spencer's classroom smelled like. I thought it was responsible of Holden when he wrote a note on the bottom of his essa explaining why he couldn't finish it. In the book the author discribed what Haas would look like if the parents were weird in anyway. I thought these two chapters where overall pretty good, but there where many negative things in it. I also, thought it was unnecessary for him to use bad words in these chapters.
When I first began reading, The Catcher and the Rye I found that the author set the tone in a depressing way. He began with using four curse words on the first page and the way he described Holden's experience at Pencey Prep was not at all appealing after the reader finds out about him being kicked out for flunking four out of five subjects. After he went on for a few pages about his parents and his school I was starting to think that J.D. Salinger was up front about his story telling. He is not afriad to tell the reader about his best and worst happenings at Pencey.
The first two chapters I of the book The Catcher in the Rye was boring. The book begains with a high school boy about 17 talking about how boring the privet school is. He talks about how nice his parents are and how his brother is an over night economic success frrom writing a child book about a goldfish. He attends a privet prepotaory school in Hagerstown, Maryland. He semms to be apathetic about being a success in school, that school fencing team and he has a passing grade in English. Also he seems to like Mr.Spencer's poor health and describes his old body in detail. From what I have read I prsume that Holden is mentally or he has a bad home life, which does not seem to be the case he wrote that his parents were nice.
Holden obviously detests school and thast effects his work but, that makes me question, how similar is he to myself? i mean, i too don't always enjoy school and that sometimes affects my work, but I've never been kicked out of a school, let alone three. i mean, that seems excessive, let alone ridiculous no?
"I am looking forward to rading this book. My first impression about the book is that it is from the point of view of a teenage boy. That makes my first impression of it better. I like to read books from first person point of view."
After reading the first two chapters the first thing that came to mind was impressions. I was, at first, judging pretty critically of Holden. Later I realized I don't know him and I shouldn't judge him based on his grades or determination. I should judge him based on personality, something that grades cannot determine something only he can. However so far I don't find his personality that appealing either.
So far Catcher in the Rye is a good book. It is about a kid named Holden Caulfied. He just got kicked out of his fourth school. He was failing four out of five classes. The class that he was passing was english. In the second chapter he stopped to see his history teacher and had a long talk with him. They talked abou the school and his teacher read some of his history exam to him. Holden did not like that he was doig that. He also didnt like how his teacher kept calling him boy. Holden did not care that he falied history. He did not try.
My first impression of Catcher in The Rye is that the story will be depressing at times. It also seems as if the author talks about his life in a sad, angry way. It looks as if there will be a lot of curse words. The author seems very sarcastic and "hard to please."
The author in the book called Catcher in the Rye uses a lot of profound language in his book. He uses lots of curse words and exclmations. This makes the story sound real. It also makes it different from most of the other storys I have read.
From just the first two of Catcher in the Rye, you can tell that it is written in a comical tone. The author writes a witty descriptio of his characters and their mannerisms. For example, the descriptions of the old history professor, who is a piece of history himself. Salinger writes that the room smells like "Vick's Nose Drops". The fact that it is written in a comical tone is one of the first things you observe reading the book; it is immediately a first impression.
Also, the protagonist seems to be written as someone who many people can easily relate too. His hatred of hypocrisy(he calls hypocrites), his inherent rebilliousness, his slim vocabulary, and his behavior is something that I think many people can eralte too. The author goes to great lengths to descrbe his dislikes and pet-peeves.
(excerpt) Holden has a deep hatred of hypocrisy. This is apparent when he thinks about the many boarding schools he has been through. He sees the hypocrisy and general snobbishness of the administrators and students
(excerpt) Something that I don't like is his flagrant overuse of the word "boy" as an expression. It makes it hard to read (for me).
Overall, I have a feeling that I will enjoy this book. I was very interested, and it even made me laugh a couple of times.
My first impression of The Catcher in the Rye was that it is going to be a book about rebellion. This is apparent because in the first chapter, Salinger describes Holden as a rebel. Although he is unlike most rebels in the fact that he is polite and well mannered, he is still a rebel. This shows as he chooses to not do his homework or schoolwork, he smokes, and the fact that he does what he wants, when he wants. In most books, the usual rebel is someone who does destructive things, both physically and emotionally. The usual rebel is also one is rude and impolite. So far, Holden has been portrayed as a very polite boy, who although under the surface he was some rude comments, keeps his rude thoughts to himself. His old teacher, Mr. Spencer, has made him out as the stereotypical rebel. He is also very concerned about Holden’s education and future. He believes that by dropping out of Pencey Prep, Holden has thrown away any chance of getting a good education, and basically throwing away his future.
Holden hasn't given us a reason about why he doesn't try in school. Is he upset about his life? Or does he just not like prep schools? When he talked to his history teacher, he semed completely uninterested in his life after Pencey. Where will he go? What will he do? If he keeps going on like this, one day he's going to get himself killed in a bar fight somehwere. He doesn't know when to stop kidding around, and be serious. This isn't the greatest skill ever. He seems to not be attached to anything or anyone, and, whatever the reason, that's going to besomething that he will soon regret.
I think that Holden is very stubborn and always thinks of the negative side of things and not the positive side. I think this because when he was explaining his life at Pencey Prep he never pointed out anything that was nice about the school or anyting that he liked about it. I think that Holden does not like getting any help from anyone at all. I got this impression because when his history teacher Mr. Spencer tried to snap him out of his school apathy, Holden really did not want to listen to him and he just sort of brushed it off his shoulders. I think this is a way Holden was being stubborn because he was stiking to his thoughts and opinions about school and how he did not want to change his mind about it.
HENRY *just to get your attention*
I think the way he narrates highly reflects J.D. himsel, if not the character Holden does. We've learned that J.D. is a non social man, the way he (or Holden) narrates seems to reflect J.D. himself,
In my opinion you could basicly learn all you need to know about J.D. through Holdens attitude
Catcher in the Rye is a good book so far. It seems like Holden is very negative inside but he dosent show it on the outside (like when he was talking to Mr.Spencer, and hes thoughts were evil about him but he didn't say it to him). He is really a "slacker" and I dont have so much about it, but he seems like a boring person to spend time with.
So far the book seems easy to follow but hard to relate to. Holden seems immature and he doesn’t apply himself. It seems like he spends more time whining about schoolwork than actually trying to do it. I agree with Holden’s comments that the life is only a game for the people who think they’re on a team (the hotshots). Also, it’s a dumb comment. If you play by the rules, you might win the game and you might not. And, in life, there’s no reset button.
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