Individual+Novel+study

Dec. 3 The Catcher in the Rye by: J.D. Salinger pages 1-26 Plot outline: Holden is writing about "this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas". When his story begins he has just flunked out of a prep school again, it's just before the Christmas holidays and his family won't know about him being expelled until a bit into the holidays. So he decides to leave early and hang around New York a bit until the steam rolls over at his house. He spends his last night at percy talking with Ackley (a guy he shares the dorm with). Why did you select this novel? I selected the novel: "The Catcher in the Rye" because I wanted to read a book that is considered far superior to everyone else's. I noticed that no one had choose a book that was on more than the grade 10 reading list. I also noticed that most people chose "animal farm" which I had already read in grade five. I chose "The Catcher in the Rye" because J.D. Salinger had just died recently and I had read an article about him in "The New Yorker" in which they called "The Catcher in the Rye" one of the three best pieces of american literature for youth along with "The Great Gatspy". This novel makes me feel smarter and better than everyone else. Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told? The main character is telling the story. He's telling about the past and it effects the story because you feel like the author is talking right to you.It also ads humor because the main character is quite funny. He makes many humorous remarks during the first six chapters of the book. The perspective of the main character effects the plot a lot. What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character? He has flunked out of another prep school again. Since he is flunking out again his parents are going to be really mad at him.

10/10

Dec. 10 The Catcher In the Rye by: J.D. Salinger pages 27-52 Plot outline: So far in "The Catcher in The Rye" Holden, (the main character) has been hanging around his dorm room. He talks with his roommate Stradlater who is going on a date that night with a childhood friend of Holden's. Stradlater asks Holden to write a composition for him and Holden says he might. He goes and has diner in the hall then he and Ackley and another guy go out for burgers and a movie but Ackley and the other guy had already seen it so they just had burgers and played pinball. They go back to the dorm and Holden writes the composition but when Stradlater reads it he doesn't like that it's on a baseball mitt instead of a room or a house, so then Holden rips it up and the two of them fight and Holden ends up bleeding a lot out of his nose. Finally he decides to leave the school so he packs and then yells "sleep tight ya morons" at the top of his lungs.

1.How does the author get you to read on or hold your interest?

The author gets the reader to keep reading and stay interested by writing in a style that is appealing to the reader. It is fluid and has lots of detail and is ironically "descriptive as hell". Although the plot doesn't move very fast the writing doesn't feel to heavy because it's easy reading for the reader. The writer draws you in with his style.

2.Is the language in the novel difficult or easy? The language is easy to read because it's written in first person. It's as if the main character was talking directly to the reader. The reader can really hear the author's voice come through. I think it's good that the language is easy because it keeps the reader interested without having to think too hard.

3.To what age group is the novel aimed? I believe the age group the book is aimed at is kids in their mid to late teens because the story is told from the perspective of a guy who has just finished experiencing the complex emotions of a person that age and is reflecting on it. I also believe the humor in the book would appeal to the average teen. 10/10 Dec. 31 The Catcher In The Rye by: J. D. Salinger pages 52-98 Plot Outline: In pages 52 -98 the main character leaves Pencey (his boarding school). On the train to New York he meets the mother of one of the many jerks at Pencey and he has a little bit of fun lying to her about her son. Then he checks into a hotel. It's not very nice and he starts to feel depressed. He goes down to the bar in the lobby and dances with these three ugly women. Then he hangs out with them for a while. When they leave he decides to go to this night club called Ernie's. He has a conversation about ducks in central park with the taxi driver on the way there. When he gets to Ernie's he only has a few drinks before a friend of his older brother shows up. The main character doesn't want to hang out with her so he leaves the night club and walks all the way back to the hotel. On his way to his room the bloke in the elevator offers him a prostitute and so he excepts. When she comes to his room however, he's pretty depressed and he just asks her to leave. He pays her five dollars but she says it costs ten. He remembers the guy in the elevator saying five so he only gives her five. Then she leaves saying "So long, crumb-bum". Is the novel believable? The novel and the main character is very believable because there's nothing to extraordinary that happens. He's just a rich seventeen year old new yorker in the fifties who got kicked out of his school again and has some time in New York before he has to be home. He's sort of depressed but other than that he's a pretty normal guy. He doesn't do anything too fantastic either, he just goes to a couple night clubs and stays in a cheap hotel. Why would you (or why wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend? I would recommend this novel to a friend because it's very enjoyable. It's funny and fast paced, with a lot of detail. I think the style of writing makes it easy to read and the size of the book is pretty manageable. It's often very funny and also serious at the same time. The plot is pretty interesting and the main character is likable. I would recommend this book to a friend because it is an all around very good book. What new things are added to the original problem as the novel progresses? As the novel progresses there are new problems being added to the main character's original problem of being kicked out of his prep school. He starts to become more and more depressed and is bored and lonely all alone in New York. He also has to be careful about where he goes and who he phones because he can't let his parents find out he's in New York. But mostly he's getting more and more depressed because he has nothing to do and no one to hang out with. 10/10 January 6 The Catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">pages 99-150 <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Plot outline: So far in the novel the main character Holden, has gotten in a dispute about money with a prostitute. We think that it's all resolved at the end of chapter thirteen when she leaves however in chapter fourteen Maurice the pimp comes back and beats him up and then he takes five dollars out of Holden's wallet and leaves. After that Holden leaves the hotel and goes down to the train station, where he meets two nuns and has breakfast with them. He starts to have a conversation with them and gives them ten dollars for the collection baskets. Then he sets up a date with Sally, a girl he knows. He wonders around broadway for a while and buys his sister a record. Then he gets tickets for the Lunts. He meets up with Sally and they go to the show. She meets this really phoney guy there that she used to know. Then after the show they go ice skating. After they go skating Holden asks her to go away with him and she says he's being crazy, which he is, then he calls her a pain in the ass, and she gets really upset but he just leaves. Later he phones up this guy he used to know from one of his old schools and they meet for a drink. The guy leaves early and Holden is left getting very drunk. What plot twists or unexpected events happen as the novel goes on? There aren't many plot twists in the book however the part with the pimp was pretty unexpected and his whole conversation with Sally about running away is pretty unexpected too. There are many unexpected events but no real plot twists. Describe any new characters that are introduced? What is their purpose? The only character that we stay with the whole book is Holden, so naturally there are many new characters. Holden calls most of them phoneys and describes many of them very well. There purpose in the story is to make Holden more and more depressed I believe because the story is built upon him getting more and more depressed and if it weren't for all the new characters he wouldn't have anything to be depressed about. What were the major things that helped to resolve the plot? The plot doesn't really resolve because there's no physical conflict. The conflict is him being depressed and not wanting to be depressed. And in the end it does get resolved but the author doesn't tell us how, just that it happened.

10/10 January 11

<span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Catcher in the rye <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">by J.D. Salinger <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">pages 150-end <span style="font-family: Arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Plot outline: After Holden gets so drunk he leaves the bar and then he walks around the park for a while until he sobers off a bit. He goes up to his house and sneaks in so his parents wont see him. He talks to his sister for a while and they dance a bit, then their parents come in, Holden hides in the closet and then when his parents leaves he sneaks out of the apartement and goes and sees a teacher who used to teach him. When Holden goes to sleep in the guys apartement he wakes up with the guy patting Holden's head so Holden leaves. Holden goes down to the station and sleeps there for a while. Then he goes to his sister's school and tells them to give her a note. The note says he's running away that afternoon and he want's to meet her for lunch. She meets him for lunch and then they get in an argument because she wants to go with him but he wont let her, and then finally he says he's decided not to go and offers to take her to the zoo or for lunch. They go to the zoo but she's still mad at him. Eventually she stops being mad and they go to the merry go round and she rides on it and then Holden starts to cry. Then the narrator ends it there and doesn't tell us about his breakdown or anything else.

Why did (or didn't) the novel meet your expectations?

The novel surpassed my expectations, because of how entertaining it was. It was very funny at parts but also very sad at parts and it was very readable and it wasn't too long. I thought the main character was pretty good and funny and the other characters were all pretty good even if they weren't that likeable. What message did you get from the novel? How was this message conveyed? The message I got from the novel was that everything turns out alright in the end. Everything is going bad for the author but then it all ends up ok in the end, you just have to keep going and then it will all end eventually. What is the setting of the novel? Is the setting important or could the novel be happening anywhere? Why? The setting of the book is New York, 1950's or so. The novel could really happen anywhere though because the story is about a disgruntelled youth and there everywhere. 10/10 “The Catcher In The Rye” Summary by Colin Baldwin

“The Catcher In the Rye” starts out with the narrator, Holden Caulfield, introducing himself. He says he doesn’t want to give his whole life story just some stuff that happened to him about a year before around Christmas time. He’s seventeen at the time and he’s just been kicked out of another prep school. There are still a few days left before Christmas break and his parents wont find out about him being kicked out until he gets back home in New York. He spends one last day at his school with a couple of guys who live in his dorm, and then he leaves the school forever. He goes to the train station and after getting on the train he has a conversation with a woman who is the mother of a guy at the school Holden doesn’t very much like. When Holden gets to New York he checks into a bad hotel. He goes down to the hotel’s bar and hangs out with three women who came from Seattle. When the bar closes he goes to a bar called Ernie’s but only has time for a couple drinks because a friend of his brother’s who Holden doesn’t like comes in and invites Holden to her table. He then has to leave so as not to talk to her. He goes back to his hotel and the elevator operator offers him a prostitute and he excepts but when she comes he doesn’t feel like it. He pays her, but they get in a dispute. After she leaves he goes to sleep but is woken up by her and the elevator operator and they take some money from him and beat him up a little bit. The next morning he checks out of the hotel and goes down to the train station. He puts his bags into a safe box and goes and has breakfast. He meets some nuns while he’s eating his breakfast. They have a conversation, and then he goes and phones a girl named Sally Hayes. He gets a date with her for that afternoon and he walks down to Broadway to buy tickets for a show. He buys a CD for his sister and tickets to a play featuring the Lunts. He and Sally go to the play and he doesn’t really like it. After the play they go skating and then go inside to a little café overlooking the ice rink. Holden starts to talk about the two of them running away together that day and then she says it’s a crazy idea. He calls her a pain in the ass and she gets really upset. He feels sorry for saying that but he leaves anyways. He then goes and meets a friend from and earlier prep school for a drink but the friend leaves after only a couple of drinks so Holden gets really drunk. Then after wondering around for a while he goes and visits his younger sister. When his parents come back from a party he has to sneak out. He then goes and stays with a teacher from one of his older schools, but he leaves when he wakes up and the teacher is patting Holden’s head. He spends the rest of the night sleeping at a train station. Then he goes and gets his sister to meet him in front of a museum during her lunch break because he says he is going to run away that day. After seeing her though he decides not to leave and they go down to the park and she goes on the merry-go-round. Then the author concludes he book saying everything turned out all right, and he didn’t go into detail about his mental breakdown.