Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The one that is Holden Caulfield
Today I am going to speak about the scene dealing with the two nuns that Holden meets at the breakfast bar. This is one of our only opportunities to see Holden not running from a conversation or lying to cover his feelings. When he is with the nuns he is a different person, but at the same time we are seeing the same old Holden. The character of Holden seems to have multiple personalities that he changes through as the day goes on much like clothing items, this is a glimpse of an "outfit" we have not yet seen on him. The nuns seem to bring out a side of him that is sincere, a side of him that actually cares. Another significant part of this specific scene is the echo backs the Ernest Morrow's mother on the train. The two scenes are very similar in that Holden is one on one. In the railcar Holden was very "phony" himself by lying to his classmates mother, but in both situations Holden was eating with is an interesting idea. The difference of course was that with the nuns it seemed like Holden had a certain connection with them on a personal level. The one that is Holden Caulfield is every changing did we just catch him "naked" of his "clothes" or is this purposeful "undressing" of Holden?
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Nice, James: I like that you caught the echo between the scene with the nuns and Ernest Morrow's mother. Also, it strikes me that we've encountered two books in a row depicting nuns, albeit in very different ways. What does this mean, do you suppose?
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That is a very interesting fact that you caught, both books do depict nuns in very different ways. In Holden's case he was in agreement with the nuns and seemed to in fact like them. In our new novel Majane was very opposed to all of the nuns she has encountered. I would like to see if her views will change as the book goes on or if her distaste will grow deeper.
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