Journal #2 Chapters 4-6

Journal # 2

Chapters 4-6

By: Kellen Long

            In chapter four, Holden begins to describe his relationship with his roommate Stradlater. As the chapter first begins he talks about Stradlater’s whistling ability, and that he could not even whistle “Song of India” in the right tone. He then begins to compare him with another classmate that lived a few doors down, Ackley. They were both slobs, but Stradlater was more of a secret slob. Holden describes Stradlater as very handsome, “he was the handsome guy in the western hemisphere,” (ch.4, pg.36) Holden mentions, in this particular section of the book that Stradlater was getting ready to go on a date with a girl that went by the name Jane Gallagher. Holden had known this girl previously. He described her as a dancer. “She used to practice about two hours every day, right in the middle of the hottest weather and all”. (Ch. 4, pg. 41) Her mother was also in the same country club as Holden, and he would caddy for her quite often. One distinctive characteristic that he remembers quite well of Jane is that when she would play checkers, she would leave all the kings on the back because she liked the way they looked. As Stradlater left for his date, he asked Holden to write his composition paper for him. He told him to write something descriptive of a room or space. Holden found this very odd, considering he was flunking all of his classes, but he managed to find time. Holden was not too crazy about writing about rooms and spaces, but instead he wrote about his brother Allie and how he would write poems in green ink on his left-handed baseball glove. He soon reveals that Allie died from Leukemia when he was thirteen. I thought this insert showed Holden’s emotional side and maybe even why he didn’t show any care or responsibility for anything. In chapter six Stradlater comes home from his date and makes smart comments about his date to Holden such as “we spent all our time in Ed Banky’s car.” (Ch.6, pg. 55) This really upset Holden and made the audience realize that maybe Jane was more than just a checker’s buddy.