Before I came to English III, my writing was horrible. I was looking for my comparison essay on my computer the other day when I stumbled upon a book report I wrote for Mr. Slater’s class last year on Catcher In The Rye. Surprisingly, It was one of the best papers I had written at the time but looking back on it I realize it was terribly written compared to what I write now.
“Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is the tale of a troubled 17 year old boy. The boy, Holden Caulfield, attends Pencey Prep until he is thrown out for failure to apply himself and bad grades. He is forced to leave his dormitory instantly but does not want to return home immediately because he is afraid his parents won’t have enough time to simmer down from their anger of him being expelled. So, he decides to take a “vacation”. He rents a cheap hotel room in New York City and lives in it before he can return home. While he is staying in the hotel he runs into some trouble. He goes into a deep, nervous, depression and displays some extremely anti-social behaviors. He hires a prostitute and stays locked-up in his hotel room most of the time just thinking about his life only coming out to go to bars, until one night he decides to sneak into his parents apartment and visit his sister, Phoebe, whom he loves very much. He arrives to find that his parents are out of the house until later that night because they were attending a party but he gets nervous and makes a quick escape. He then goes to his former teacher, Mr. Antolini’s house where he decides to spend the night. But, he wakes up around 1 AM to find Mr. Antolini petting his head. Holden thinks that Mr. Antolini was trying to do homosexual things to him so he jolts up and leaves the house. He then goes and sleeps on a bench in Central Park where he is more depressed than ever. He decides to move out west and get a job pumping gas or flipping burgers, and then has a mental breakdown. It is unclear what happened during the breakdown because this is where he stops telling his story. He does, however, say that he is now in a sanatorium and will return to school next September.
Throughout the story, Holden mentions the theme of “phonies”. A phony is someone who is fake and does not speak their mind. Towards the end of the story, Holden is referring to almost anyone as phonies or is accusing people of using “phony” behavior because it helps him feel better about his depression.
In the book, it says that Holden alienates himself from society because he doesn’t belong there. But, as I read the story I concluded that the real reason of Holden’s alienation was because he wanted to prove to himself that he is better than everyone else. Interaction with people confuses him so he protects himself by not talking to others often. But, the alienation is actually what is causing his pain in the first place.
I would recommend The Catcher in the Rye to anyone who feels they are an outcast. It will really open your eyes to what really happens when you try to alienate yourself from the world and will help you get to know yourself better.”
Based on this example, it’s obvious how much my writing has improved within the past year, and I’m proud!
