Catcher In The Rye (Book Club Book)

The book club book that I've been focusing on for a while really makes you sit down and think. You don't really cherish the book until the ending. Because in the ending, you realize that someone so negative can have such a strange outlook on life. 

           
Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger is a book about Holden Caulfield, an outcast. Holden has  just left Pencey University for the Christmas Holiday and he doesn't really know what to do with his life anymore. There are so many ideas and opportunities floating around him but he doesn't really take the time to take them in. He criticizes them and complains about everything going on.  He spends the majority of his time at bars with prostitutes. He pays them to have conversations with him because he hates all the phonies around him.
         He hates all his so-called friends from back in school because they're all phony to him. He hates fake people, but you would think he was one himself, the way he talks about them. He judges everyone every step of the way. He doesn't get along with his parents, because they want different things for him and he honestly could care less. He also analyzes everything and anything. Whether its the nuns on the street eating a cheap lunch or the rubbernecks that are always in his business.
            When reading this book, you realize how lonely Holden is. You realize how lonely he's always been and how his family is. His moms always locked away in her room and honestly it seems like the only person he appreciates is his little sister Phoebe. He's so lonely that he picks on everything that anyone does. Like when he's eating bacon and eggs and his parents are drinking coffee.  Although he basically hates everyone around him, he tells them everything about himself. He tells them the things he does and what he likes doing. He even tells the people that lack interest in him in general. And he finally realizes at the end that he appreciates these people as much a he "swears to God" that he doesn't.
"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." That's the last line of the book. He realizes that when he leaves for good, he's going to miss people like his strange roomates and everyone he's talked to throughout his life. Even the people who have judged him since forever.
            He talks so much trash about everyone but yet he realizes that even the people who seem to mean nothing to you, mean the most. 

Response For 'No More Pay Phones?' From The New York Times Upfront Magazine

       Many things have more meaning to others, than they do to us. When reading this article, No More Pay Phones?,  I realized that little things have much more meaning. In this article, the red "telephone boxes" are starting to slowly disappear and this is a treasured item in the United Kingdom. Nowadays, everyone carries a cellphone around with them which means calls from pay phones are bound to decrease. They've decreased by 80% in the past five years. 
      
        In 2002 the UK contained 92,000 public pay phones, but now only about 48,000 exist. Unfortunately, fewer than 10,000 of the classic red booths are left in London. In the US we have about 240,000 versus the 2 million that existed in 1999. A Londoner says that although he hasn't used public pay phone in 15 years, he can't imagine his city without them. He proceeds to say that losing pay phones, is like New York without the Empire State Building. This goes to show how much meaning things have. In my mind, I could care less if pay phones were taken away, but New York would probably look very different without seeing one once in a while. 

        Luckily, for Londoners, these red telephone boxes are being recycled. People have recently compared them to going the way of the dinosaurs. One of these classic phone booths was turned into a couch. They've become much more. From ATM's to small libraries. Just because they haven''t been used often doesn't mean that they're worthless. Little things like this have much more meaning even if they don't mean much to you. The article led me to thinking what things in the US do we occasionally use? Would they mean a lot to us if they didn't exist anymore? Would we try to recycle them because they have some sort of meaning? 

Works Cited
Scholastic. "No More Pay Phones?" The New York Times Upfront Magazine 24 Feb. 2014: 5. Print.

Final Poetry Assignment

    Undercover City 

Street lights

Cool stores

All you see is pretty

But you've never realized

New York could be so petty

Under the attractive things

is a world you never expected to meet

Chaos will greet you

Some may enjoy meeting you

Yet, some may not like you

Might try to fight you

Maybe you just look soft

Maybe you're being tested

And everyday, someone new is getting 

Arrested

You've heard bout cyberbullying

Well, it gets worse out here

So be careful who you're friends with

Never know when trouble is near

Don't talk to strangers

Here, I may sound silly

But you never know what'll happen 

Some are always willing

To harm you

Because smiles become fake

but you get what you get

and take what you can take

It's not all bad

That's not what I'm saying 

But New York's like a game

And you're the one playing

Poetry Reading Response

     Many people enjoy looking presentable and showing off their new things to their friends. Many people also enjoy being recognized by others in a positive way. Reading, "Please Don't Take My Air Jordans," by Reg E. Gaines, made me realize that people are becoming very materialistic nowadays with their clothing items and they only care about themselves because of the expectations that society has. Societies expectations have taken it to the point where all people care about is their looks and how they present themselves.


     In the poem, the first stanza consist of the brands the speaker owns. All the speaker cares about is how he looks. "My air jordans cost a hundred with tax / My suede starters jacket says raiders on the back /  I'm stylin... smilin... lookin real mean cuz / it ain't about being heard just bein seen". This shows that the speaker only cares about his appearance and what he has that makes him look good. He only cares about name brands and the opinion of others. Basically, the speakers main focus is to look good and maybe even better than others.

     The speaker only cares about other peoples opinions versus what he really should be focusing on. He, the speaker, is willing to steal clothes because his 'gear' isn't up to par like his friends. "But I really must get some new gear soon / or my ego will pop like a ten cent balloon / but security's tight at all the shops / everyday theres more and more cops / my crews laughin at me cuz I'm wearing old gear / school's almost over summer is near / and I'm sportin torn jordans and need somethin new / theres only one thing left to do" All the speaker was worried about is what makes him look good considering he is willing to steal clothes to get what he wants. He doesn't have to do things like this but his peers expect him to wear nice clothes and be up to the standards.

     Materialism has been taken to a whole other level because after the speaker had shot his victim, the victim wasn't worried about saving his own life. That wasn't his first thought to mind like it should've been. "Took off fast but didn't get far / I fired (POW) he fell between two parked cars / he was coughing/crying/blood dripped on the street / and I snatched them air jordans off his feet / while layin there dyin all he could say was / please... don't take my air jordans away... you think he'd be worried about stayin alive / so I took off with the jordans there were tears in his eyes." This clearly shows that people one, only care about themselves(the speaker) and two, safety isn't something that comes to mind. The victim wasn't really concerned with his life, just his expensive sneakers.

    After reading this poem, I realized that Jordan's symbolize value. To a lot of people it makes them feel and look good that you attract others. All people care about is the clothes that they have and what makes them look better than the next person. It's not always right, the way they go about this process of being better than others, but they don't care. Society has played an even bigger role in this. Nowadays, the expectations that society carries are to look presentable and have expensive clothes. But you don't have to have expensive clothes to look good all the time. It's not impossible to look good without a pair of stolen Jordans and a fake Gucci backpack. 

Poem Assignment : Prompt #3

This poem is based on the picture below : 

Troubled

I've been practicing this one song 

But I've never been able to get it right

It's been three years since my wife left me 

And I've been failing at life 

I let the beats flow as I play the piano

My cousin does the same when playing the banjo 

But it seems to me the rhythms not right 

Or my hands too big and my minds too tight

And I'm so fed up with my unfair life

A college dropout, that's what I am

One thing I'll never be is a rhythm less man

Independent Reading Response - Flawless by Sara Shepard

     Recently, I began reading Flawless, A Pretty Little Liars Novel by Sara Shepard. These four girls, Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily used to be the best of friends, but recently they've grown distant. They barely talk anymore and they've been keeping secrets from each other. They've been hanging out with different crowds and forgetting all about each other.  Their best friend Alison has mysteriously gone missing and reported dead. And lately these four girls have been receiving weird text messages signed, "-A". Which makes me think that friendship is really important in this text because these girls need to stick together. This book reveals the fact that friendship is stronger than you think.

     In the first Pretty Little Liars book, the four girls were still hanging out and receiving these messages, but after awhile, they had assumed that '-A' was gone. They were wrong. In the first chapter it states how they haven't really hung out in three years after Alison died, but today they consider each other ex-bestfriends. As they were all sitting around on the grass they had all gotten a text from '-A' at the same time referring to all of them. They questioned each other about it and what they each thought the message meant but this was one of the last times they'd be seen all together. They began to keep in contact but not as much as they should have. Which gave '-A' a reason to mess with all of them individually.

     The first to be messed with was Spencer who kept a secret of a little encounter she had with Toby. Keeping this secret would prevent the others from being hurt according to '-A'. But if these girls keep keeping secrets, eventually someones going to get hurt and if they become even more distant the truth is going to hurt them. For example, '-A' knows more about Hanna and Aria than they do themselves. During a chapter in the book, Aria's boyfriend, Noel believes that Aria doesn't like him and wants to be with Sean, Hanna's ex boyfriend. Noel had to ask Hanna if they were still going out anymore for Aria to know the truth. '-A' already knew, which means '-A' is someone close to them or at least not to far. Which caused '-A' to leave a sticky note visible for Aria that said,

 "P.S. Wondering who I am, aren't you? I'm closer than you think. -A"

     Emily has been very distant herself. She now secretly likes girls and somehow,' -A' knows. He or she sent Emily a picture of her and Maya, a girl who likes Emily, and they were kissing in a photo booth. '-A' even sent a message to Emily that reads,

  "Em! Still enjoying the same kinds of *activities* with your best friends, I see. Even though most of us have totally changed, it's nice to know you're still the same! Gonna tell everyone about your new love? Or shall I? -A"
   
      This '-A' character is taunting these girls in several ways and I think that it's best that these girls start talking to each other before they advance themselves in certain activities, because it seems that '-A' is always watching and they are aware but they don't act like it. They may not want to claim each other as best friends anymore but they share so many secrets and they know too much about each other not to be. Even if they want nothing to do with each other, this '-A' person is going to find away to torture them even more than they have already. 

Non-Fiction Response On An "Upfront Magazine" Article

       The article, Rethinking Juvenile Justice by John Schwartz is about how tough the court system makes life for teens. Teens/ Juvenile offenders are being charged with adult charges and it has become really hard on them. This may or may not result in teens having second thoughts when committing crimes. Around 25 states have changed their laws to keep juveniles separated from the adult system. Juveniles that are being charged as adults, have taken it to the extreme to attempt and/or commit suicide. 

       James Stewart was a 17 year old who was caught in the act of drunk driving in the year of 2008 when he crashed into the vehicle in front of him and killed the driver. The intention of his arrest was to simply be placed with other juveniles, but attorney's had decided to charge him as an adult. He was left alone in his cell in the county jail, when he killed himself by wrapping the bedsheets tightly around his neck. His death, along with another young adult had caused the state of Colorado to change their law and decide to slim it down to who was charged which way and placed into what type of jail. People have begun to think of how they treat juvenile criminal offenders, because they've realized how different they are from being adults. Scientific research has shown that the brains of teenagers differ from the adult brains, because they have not fully developed. According to scientist, the part of the brain that guides impulse control and weighs risks instead of rewarding it, has not fully matured. Research has also shown that the actions that take place during the ages of 13 to 14, are poor indications of the type of a adult the child will become later on in life. According to Laurence Steinberg, 90% of teen offenders do not become adult criminals. Which is why most people agree that teens shouldn't be charged with adult charges. 

       I think the author wants readers to understand that even though these crimes are committed by teens, not everyone is being let off easily. Which brings the problem of cruel crimes like murder and rape. It's not okay to be let off easily if you commit a crime like this. When you commit crimes like these you receive one of the following two punishments. They are the death penalty and life without parole. I think the author wants me to know and understand that committing crimes isn't okay and they deserve punishments, they just all differ according to the crime being committed. It's not okay to just commit a crime and think it's okay because you won't be as harshly charged as an adult would. 

       After reading this article I've changed my views on people who commit crimes. I find that nowadays some people think it's cool to just commit crimes. Crimes such as stealing and selling drugs. Some even think it's cool to say that they've been locked up but it wasn't "a big deal." People who say things like that make it seems like its okay to commit a crime and thats it's something cool to do nowadays, but it isn't. Once you commit a crime more than once, the consequences become worse. You receive months in jail and those months turn into years and those years slowly become life sentences right before you know it. And this makes me have a lot of sympathy for people who are framed for crimes that they didn't do. Families lose their loved ones because of things like this. Innocent people have to suffer because of crimes they don't even do. All in all, crimes are being committed on a daily basis and people are still trying to figure out how to handle them. 




Works Cited : 
Schwartz, John. "Rethinking Juvenile Justice." The New York Times Upfront 9 Dec. 2103: 8-11. Print.