Another extract from chapter 21 that I think is showing the theme of escape is on page 178.
It starts with 'Nobody's gonna kill me.' and goes to 'I was all out'.
Here Holden is telling Phoebe about how he is going to get away from everything. It is a physical way to escape; he is actually going to run away. Within this extract Holden goes into some good detail about what he is going to do once he has run away. I think that this indicates that this is not the first time that Holden has thought about it, he has thought about it many of times and considered what is the best route to take and what he is actually going to do it is not like when he returned home from Pencey Prep and he did not actually know where he was going to head to but he ended up heading home, this time he knows where he wants to go, what he wants to do and how he is going to be able to survive. I think that this shows it is a different type of escape to the escapes we have seen before because all of the ones before have not been planned out they all had a little hint about where they were going to go to but did not have a set plan like this escape does. The only thing that throws Holden off all of his plans is the fact that Phoebe does not want to go, which probably means she does not approve of Holden's idea and maybe because of this Holden will not go because I have the impression that Holden just wants to impress Phoebe, be nice to Phoebe and just do what a big brother should do really and if Phoebe does not want to go to wherever Holden wants to go to then maybe he should realise that it is not actually that good of an idea.
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Chapter 21 - Escape Extract
I think that a good escape extract in this chapter is the part where Holden is looking through Phoebe's things on the desk and comes across a book that does not have her own name on it. On it it reads 'Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield 4B-1'. This is on page 172.
I think that just these 3 words can mean escape in a very similar way to how Holden feels about himself. Further back in the novel (Chapter 8) when Holden is speaking to a woman on a train he does not call himself by his own name he calls himself by the name 'Rudolf Schmidt. This is a similar thing to what Phoebe has done, further down the page Holden says that Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield is not her actual name but she likes to write stories just like her older brother D.B and she has given herself this fiction name. To me it seems as though the family is not comfortable about what they do with their lives, Holden does not really mention his parents throughout the whole novel so maybe he does not have that much interest in them at all, D.B is off doing his writing in Hollywood so Holden rarely mentions him unless he is discussing writing, Allie is dead but means a lot to Holden, but Phoebe is mentioned a lot in this novel and it seems to me that Holden considers Phoebe to be a very important character and I think Salinger has emphasised on this. Here I feel as though by calling herself a different name she is escaping away from the truth, maybe she does not want people to know or maybe she is just strange in that way, but Holden is this same, he also changes his name just so he does not have to tell people about himself which therefore means he is also escaping away from the truth and maybe this is why Phoebe and Holden do get on so well as brother and sister, possibly Holden is going to try and protect Phoebe from what he is having to live his life like.
I think that just these 3 words can mean escape in a very similar way to how Holden feels about himself. Further back in the novel (Chapter 8) when Holden is speaking to a woman on a train he does not call himself by his own name he calls himself by the name 'Rudolf Schmidt. This is a similar thing to what Phoebe has done, further down the page Holden says that Phoebe Weatherfield Caulfield is not her actual name but she likes to write stories just like her older brother D.B and she has given herself this fiction name. To me it seems as though the family is not comfortable about what they do with their lives, Holden does not really mention his parents throughout the whole novel so maybe he does not have that much interest in them at all, D.B is off doing his writing in Hollywood so Holden rarely mentions him unless he is discussing writing, Allie is dead but means a lot to Holden, but Phoebe is mentioned a lot in this novel and it seems to me that Holden considers Phoebe to be a very important character and I think Salinger has emphasised on this. Here I feel as though by calling herself a different name she is escaping away from the truth, maybe she does not want people to know or maybe she is just strange in that way, but Holden is this same, he also changes his name just so he does not have to tell people about himself which therefore means he is also escaping away from the truth and maybe this is why Phoebe and Holden do get on so well as brother and sister, possibly Holden is going to try and protect Phoebe from what he is having to live his life like.
Chapter 20 - Escape Extract
I think that a good extract of Chapter 20 for the theme of escape is on page 168.
The extract begins with 'I started thinking' and finishes with 'It was just very cold and nobody around anywhere'.
I think that in this extract Salinger is making so that Holdens seems like he escaping to the thoughts of death. It is as if Holden does not want to think about the good times when he is alive but wants to think about what other people will think when he is dead. Maybe Holden feels uncomfortable in himself so he feels like he should show himself in a way that does not accept fear, it is as if he is not scared about the thoughts of death, or even being dead. It is possible that that is just the way that he wants to be but does not care about life at all. The nice thing is this extract is that he thinks about 'Old Phoebe' and how she will feel, so he knows that death will upset many more people not just himself but he still feels as though he should think about it and maybe even at sometime consider it to be a permenant decision.
The extract begins with 'I started thinking' and finishes with 'It was just very cold and nobody around anywhere'.
I think that in this extract Salinger is making so that Holdens seems like he escaping to the thoughts of death. It is as if Holden does not want to think about the good times when he is alive but wants to think about what other people will think when he is dead. Maybe Holden feels uncomfortable in himself so he feels like he should show himself in a way that does not accept fear, it is as if he is not scared about the thoughts of death, or even being dead. It is possible that that is just the way that he wants to be but does not care about life at all. The nice thing is this extract is that he thinks about 'Old Phoebe' and how she will feel, so he knows that death will upset many more people not just himself but he still feels as though he should think about it and maybe even at sometime consider it to be a permenant decision.
Chaoter 25
Why does Holden feel 'so goddamn happy all of a sudden' at the end of chapter 25?
I think that Holden is feeling happy because he is back where he belongs. He is back in his own home town with his little sister actually enjoying being with her and not being forced to run away or have to make outrageous decisions at such a young age. We see that Phoebe is on a carosel and to me I associate carosels with young people who are enjoying life, which already bring me back to the point that he is happy, carosels are made for fun and for people to enjoy themselves and maybe Holden has found this happy place he wants to be. Throughout the novel we see that Holden and Phoebe have a strong family bond and all along Holden has just wanted to see Phoebe or speak to Phoebe or do anything that involved Phoebe, maybe this is because the only thing that Holden thought could make him happy is the fact that he has got Phoebe and maybe he is trying too hard to stay attached to Phoebe because he has already lost one siblings and wants to make sure that he does not lose another. I think overall that Holden is just happy to be with Phoebe no matter where it is, or what they doing he just wants to be in her company because at them points in his life he is actually enjoying himself.
I think that Holden is feeling happy because he is back where he belongs. He is back in his own home town with his little sister actually enjoying being with her and not being forced to run away or have to make outrageous decisions at such a young age. We see that Phoebe is on a carosel and to me I associate carosels with young people who are enjoying life, which already bring me back to the point that he is happy, carosels are made for fun and for people to enjoy themselves and maybe Holden has found this happy place he wants to be. Throughout the novel we see that Holden and Phoebe have a strong family bond and all along Holden has just wanted to see Phoebe or speak to Phoebe or do anything that involved Phoebe, maybe this is because the only thing that Holden thought could make him happy is the fact that he has got Phoebe and maybe he is trying too hard to stay attached to Phoebe because he has already lost one siblings and wants to make sure that he does not lose another. I think overall that Holden is just happy to be with Phoebe no matter where it is, or what they doing he just wants to be in her company because at them points in his life he is actually enjoying himself.
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