Journal #8 Chapters13-14

Journal 8

Chapters 13-14

By: Kellen Long

            After leaving Ernie’s, Holden walked forty-one blocks back to the hotel. As Holden walked back into the lobby he described it smelling like fifty million dead cigars. As Holden hopped onto the elevator, the attendant turned to him and said “innarested in having a good time, fella?” (Ch.13, pg.118) Holden grew very confused and did not know exactly what he was trying to say, the attendant spoke to Holden again and said “how old are, you chief.”(Ch.13, pg.119) Holden replied back with “well I’m twenty-two.”(Ch.13, pg.119) The attendant had a prostitute that was interested for a stay. She charged five bucks a throw and fifteen bucks the whole night. Holden, being his normal nervous self, agreed to pay for a throw. As he ran up the stairs to comb his crew cut he realized what he had done and was soon to question his actions. Suddenly he heard a knock at the door and his legs started to shake. When he opened the door, the prostitute was standing there wearing a polo coat and no hat. As she came in Holden said, can we just talk instead of doing anything, I will pay you. She couldn’t quite comprehend that concept, I am sure she wasn’t used to the idea. I was proud of Holden I thought it really took a lot of courage for a teenage boy not to take advantage of a prostitute standing right in front of him. As the prostitute was about to leave, Holden handed her five dollars. She looked up at him in disbelief saying “this is a five. It costs ten.” (Ch.13, pg.127) Holden said I’m sorry, but the attendant said five. She walked out the door and returned back in a few minutes with the attendant in tow. He demanded the extra five, and even went as far as slapping Holden. Finally Holden gave in and gave him the extra money and told him to get lost.    

Journal #7 Chapter 11-12

Journal 7

Chapters 11-12

By: Kellen Long

            On Holden’s way out of the lobby that evening he suddenly focused his attention back on Jane Gallagher. If you don’t remember her, she was the girl that Stradlater had taken on a date when school was still in session. Holden then starts telling the story of how he met Jane and his connection with her. Her Doberman pinscher used to come relieve himself on their lawn and Holden’s mom would become very irritated about it and would call Jane’s mom and would always make a big deal about it.  A few days after the incidentolHolden H Holden sees Jane lying next to the pool at the club house, he begins a conversation with her, and this leads to their friendship. Holden described her as “a funny girl. I wouldn’t exactly describe her as strictly beautiful. She knocked me out though. She was sort of muckie-mouthed.” (Ch.11, pg.100) Holden then goes on to describe an afternoon that they had at the movies one time.  All they did was hold hands the whole entire movie, but Holden said she was the best hand holder that he had ever seen. The thought of her and Strandlater in the back of Ed Banky’s car disgusted him and he knew it could not be true.

            In chapter twelve Holden catches a cab ride downtown to another bar. On the way to the bar he asks the cab driver an interesting question. “Do you happen to know where the ducks go during the winter time?”(Ch. 12, pg.107) The cab driver was quite irritated by the question and responded “the fish don’t go no place, they say right where they are.” (Ch.12, pg.107) Then Holden said, but that’s different. Horwitz, the cab driver said “Listen, if you were a fish, Mother Nature would take care of you, wouldn’t she?” (Ch.12, pg.109) and he drove off. Holden then walked into Ernie’s, had a few scotch and sodas and then called it a night.  

 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qe3VHR1n3M

Journal #6 Chapter 10

Journal 6

Chapter 10
By: Kellen Long

            At the beginning of chapter ten Holden begins to describe his sister, Phoebe. He mentions “she’s really smart, and as a matter of fact, she has had all A’s ever since she started school.”(Ch.10, pg. 88) He then begins to go on and say he is the dumbest out of all his family. Holden then turns the conversation back to the present day where he is now in the lobby of the hotel, when all the sudden he hears a band playing in the lavender room. He then walks to the bar standing very tall and handsome trying to look older than his actual age and orders a drink. Suddenly the bartender asks for his I.D., so instead he has a coke. He then looks over to the other side of the room and spots three ladies sitting in the corner. The blonde one, probably the dumbest one at the table gets up and dances with Holden. Holden claims she is one of the best dancers he had ever seen. After many hours of non-stop jitterbug Holden gains the courage to ask the ladies back to the room to have a drink but hey all declined. They so happened to have early morning tickets to a show at Radio City Hall.

Journal #5 Chapter 9

Journal 5

Chapter 9

By: Kellen Long

            In this chapter Holden had just got off at Penn Station and was thinking of one of his friends he could give a buzz. He first thought about giving Sally Hayes a call, but then he remembered that their mothers were friends and he didn’t want his folks to know he was in town yet. Holden then decides to catch a cab. He was so absent-minded that he accidentally gave the cab driver his real address instead of the hotel he was planning on staying in until it got closer to the holidays. Once they got to Ninetieth Street Holden says “I don’t want to stay at any hotels on the eastside where I might run into some acquaintances so take me to Edmont.” (Ch.9, pg.79) When Holden checks in to the Edmont they gave him a crumby room without a view. Although, on the other side, which faced another hotel there were quite a few things to look at that were probably not appropriate for his age. As Holden was lying in his room becoming increasingly bored, he thought about this girl that that a Princeton student had once told him about named Faith Cavendish. She wasn’t a tramp, but would pretty much do anything you asked. Holden was very hesitant about the whole idea, but then he gained the courage to go forth with it. When Faith answered the phone she demanded to know who was calling. Holden replied with his real name, again another absent-minded thought. She was confused and demanded to know where the call was coming from. Holden told her he had gotten the number form Eddie Birdsell of Princeton. She suddenly remembered the name and she asked what the call was for and he replied just to have a few drinks. Faith then told Holden it was too late and that he would have to try again tomorrow.     

Journal # 4 Chapter 8

Journal 4

Chapter 8

By: Kellen Long

            I thought chapter eight was quite amusing. It all begins when Holden is about to board a train that he had to wait ten minutes for. As his arrives at the next stop a women climbs aboard and sits right next to Holden, even though there are many empty seats. She then proceeds to ask him “Excuse me, but isn’t that a Pency Prep sticker on your suitcase?” (Ch.8, pg.70) Holden replies back with “yes it sure is.” (Ch.8, pg.71) The lady then proceeds to tell Holden about her son who attended Pency Prep. As the conversation grew, she started to become more open and flirtatious. Holden could tell right then that this was not a regular grown woman so he eventually gains the courage to ask her if she wants a cigarette.  With much hesitation the mother then agrees to take a smoke. This episode showed situational irony because this was the last thing I expected to happen, but taking in consideration the time period of this book, which was around the late 1940’s to early 50’s, this was quite common for parents to smoke with their children, or other children around the same age.

Journal #3 Chapter 7

Journal 3

Chapter 7

By: Kellen Long

            In Chapter seven Holden is having a conversation with Ackley, who happens to be a sweet-mate right down the hall. Ackley questions Holden multiple times about his altercation with Stradlater. Ackley would simply reply back every time “It’s a long story, I don’t wanna bore ya, Ackley, I’m thinking of your welfare”. (Ch.7, pg. 61) Holden then begins to think about Jane and Stradlater’s date and it disgusts him. Holden mentioned “Every time I thought about it, I felt like jumping out the window”. (Ch.7, pg.63) I believe this gave us further conclusion that Holden really cared about Jane and that there was more to their relationship then what has been mentioned so far.  

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.