The Catcher In The RyeJournal Entry #1

During our discussion on the novel, many new ideas were introduced. Like many teenagers, Holden never seems to fit in with everyone else. At school, he is not popular enough to hang out with Stradlater and his friends, but he is not as rejected as Ackley, who has no friends at all. Stradlater looks down on Holden, and treats him like he is of less worth than Stradlater . But then Holden treats Ackley in the same way. This results in Holden having almost no friends or social life. Social events at school, such as the big football game, mean nothing to Holden. When he does go out at night, he is old enough to go to bars, but he is not old enough to drink. Holden is not old enough to live on his own, like his older brother D.B., but his parents think he is old enough to take care of himself. They send him to boarding school, which ends up to be a huge mistake.

Holden often questions about where the ducks in the pond in Central Park go for the winter. He wants to know if someone takes them away, or if they fly south by themselves. He is trying to understand whether or not he is normal. When he finds out that the ducks just fly south by themselves, because of instinct, he wonders, Why do they know what to do, and I don’t? Holden never learned to make decisions on his own. He grew up in a boarding school, an orphan, without ever getting any guidance or advice from his parents. Holden often states that he is very immature for his age. This is because no one ever taught him how to grow up and act like a man. The root of all of Holden’s problems seems to be that he was sent off to boarding school during his teenage years, a time when he needs guidance from his parents more than ever.

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