Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Weblog Entry 15 1e
Holden's fantastical scenario after his physical altercation with Maurice gives us a closer look at his inner psyche, emotional affection, and subconscious misconceptions (especially his hypocritical ways). The first way in which the fantasy is significant to us is by displaying his hypocritical nature. Holden claims in most of the book that he is a passive and peaceful individual, yet he blatantly insults Maurice (even though he is bigger and much stronger than him) and nearly promotes the fight between himself and Maurice. Not only that, in his fantasy world he even goes as far as to shoot Maurice in the stomach nearly 6 times, even though all Maurice did was punch him in the stomach. This displays his hypocritical tendencies when it comes to his demeanor and also his immaturity to acknowledge his faults. Not only that, however, the fantasy also displays his misconception of the adult world. in Holden's mind adults are cruel, violent, immoral and not genuine. His fantasy world clearly portrays this. In it he think's of himself as a very masculine character, who steals an individuals life and later calls up a girl to bandage him up while he smokes a cigarette. This not only displays his misconception of adult hood, but his misconception of life as well. Finally, the fantasy after his beating from Maurice manifests Holden's affectionate side. In his fantasy he pictures himself being bandaged from his childhood friend (possibly love interest) Jane Gallanger. He calls her up sucessfully (although hes already tried to call her a number of times) and she comes over to comfort him physically (even holds a cigarette for him while he smokes). This section of the fantasy portrays Holden's deeper side, and it is one of the first scenes that show something that Holden truly admires in the world.
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Your blog was insightful and offered a new perspective on the significance of Holden's imagination. However, I had a differing opinion from you. I thought Holden's imaginative masculinity supported his claims that he was a passive, peaceful person. Besides his physical aggressiveness against Stradlater in the beginning of the story, Holden never tries to expose his anger publicly. Keeping his anger internal is something that Holden recognizes as a weakness, and in order to overcome his failure to stand up against people, Holden goes to his fantasy world where he is strong and is able to stand up for himself physically.
ReplyDeleteHowever, neither of us are right or wrong. I thought your insight was very thoughtful and thanks for the interesting perspective!
In your weblog, you made several very important and well-reasoned insights. I fully agree with several of them, including your point on Holden's image of the adult world. Holden views adults as cruel and "phony" beings, and I'm glad to see that you wrote of this in your piece. While I'm not sure if his fantasy directly correlates with this idea, it is nevertheless an important point of the story. I think another aspect to understanding Holden's fantasy is his inability to communicate. As said in Jeffrey's comment, Holden almost never publicly displays his emotions, whether positive or negative. Instead, he internalizes all his struggles and turns himself into an incredibly negative person. Through his fantasy world, he is able to become a man that has no fear of showing his feelings to the outside world, even shooting another person. This would be a massive step for someone who isn't even able to make himself call a girl that he likes. It shows how important his imagination is to himself; in his mind, he can be anyone. Anyways, I enjoyed reading your weblog. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI like your blog because you pointed out a very important scene of the book and very importance aspects of Holden that are crucial to our better understanding of him. In your blog you pointed out various ideas that could be possibilities but we can not be sure if it is exactly right. These comments were in my opinion and my understanding accurate because Holden does wish to escape the real world and go into his fantasy where it is like everything he thinks is right happens. He is not mature, although he thinks he is, to understand that life can be hard sometimes but you have to face the hardships you come across of and it is exactly the opposite of what Holden has done throughout the whole novel. I thought your blog was very good. Well done.
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