Catcher in the Rye responses:

I can relate to Holden because if I were to speak of my parents’ personal life they would also get upset. I can relate to his school, because I have been to girl scouts camp, and there are only females. I can relate to crooks because I have been around them while in school. I also know someone who was kicked out of school for not applying himself. I can also relate to his personality because I am a teenager.

While reading this I learned that the main character, Holand is careless about school. He doesn’t care if he fails all his classes; even when he was told he would be kicked out if he didn’t apply himself, he didn't care. I also think that he wants to be kicked out; he has already been to four different schools. While speaking with his teacher he pretends to be sorry for slacking, when really he is just telling him what he wants to hear. What I believe will happen next is that he will return to New York to find his parents away on vacation; still not knowing he has been kicked out.

"I flunked you in history because you knew absolutely nothing". In this quote Holden is saying goodbye to his teacher Spencer. In the quote Spencer is lecturing Holden about an exam he had turned in. I choose this quote because it expresses how the teacher felt about him. I believe that he had higher expectations for him. He also knows his strengths and that he could’ve easily done better in class. Mr. Spencer didn’t enjoy flunking him; I believe he wanted him to stay at Pencey.
"Well. You could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told him how I would've done exactly the same thing if I'd been in his place, and how most people didn’t appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull.” I choose this quote because it tells you that Holden just wants to tell Mr. Spencer what he wants to hear. He doesn’t care that he is failing, or that he is being kicked out of Pencey. I believe he wants to be kicked out; he has had previous trouble with other schools.

While reading this story I have realized that Holden has a caring heart. He loves kids and wants to keep them safe and innocent. In the story Holden mentions a vision of him and a bunch of little kids playing in a field of rye on a cliff. The kids are playing ball and being careless, when one of them are about to fall off he comes out of nowhere and catches them. All he wants to be is the “Catcher in the Rye”. I thought this was a great way to describe his love for children. He is always looking out for them. He scrubbed off an “F*** you” that someone had written on his younger sisters Phoebe school wall. It frustrated him because he thought his little sister may see it. This shows how he wants to keep his little sister, and other younger kids innocent. Holden also trust children more than adults, he believes kids are the only people who are not phony. Adults are phony when they pretend to be something they are not. Or put on a fake attitude. Near the end of the story Holden starts acting strange. He pretends there are bullets in his guts for no reason; he also is scared to cross the street. He thought when he crossed he would fall into the ground, like keep descending before he made it across. He talked to his deceased brother Allie and told him “please don’t let me fall Allie”. He also fanaticized about funning away and pretending to be a deaf mute. He said he wouldn’t talk to anyone and if someone wanted to say something, they would have to write it down. He also said he would marry a mute wife, and if they had kids they would hide them. He would teach them how to read to occupy their time. I thought it was an abnormal thing to think, and maybe he needed some counseling.