Johnny

In my personal opinion Holden is a guy who doesn't show much care for anything. Holden hates school and doesn't seem to like many of his teachers. Since he's failing four subjects and has no problem saying whats on his mind. He's been to four different schools already. He also hates how many schools contain fake people. But I don't think Holden is dumb, I just think he's a very lazy person with to many problems.

In my opinion, I think that Holden dislikes his school because he feels there are alot of thiefs and fake people. Holdem constently talks about how he hates fake people and does not like thiefs. this explains his behaior and why he really does not care about school or anyone else that much. He only cares about a few people and thats the only people he will talk to about his problems in life or about school.

Question 2 - Rogelio P.

In your opinion, why doesn’t Holden like school? Why is he failing? Is he dumb?

In my opinion, Holden does not like school because of the way people treat him. He feels like no one understands him and thinks that everyone is fake. It also seems like in the story he is trying to find out who he really is, and since his peers are treating him harshly he thinks that he is a nobody, which cause him to be insecure and act like he doesn't care about anything. Since he is going through this insecuriness, he stops caring about everything and does not do his schoolwork. He is failing most of classes and just doesn't bother to do his work for them anymore. I think that Holden is actually smart but just needs someone to be there for him and motivate him to do his work.

Question 4: Kat

Holden criticizes everyone around him including himself. In chapter three, he starts off saying: “I’M THE MOST TERRIFIC LIAR your ever saw in your life” (22). This quote states how much he knows he is a big liar and is somewhat proud and ignorant about it. He criticizes the way people act. He notices the littlest things, such as Mr. Spencer secretly picking his nose in a way. “He made out like he was only pinching it, but he was really getting the old thumb right in there” (13). He’s aware of what people do and he defines other people’s behavior quite well basing it on their actions. “He kept standing there. He was exactly the kind of a guy that wouldn’t get out of your light when you asked him too” (28). Holden thinks and analyzes many of the people around him and the situations that are happening around him plenty of times. This tells me that he is an observer. He describes a couple of people surrounding him as phonies because he thinks that they aren’t showing their real personalities towards others, yet he continues to lie about many things which makes him a phony in a lot of ways as well.

K a r e n.♥

My first impression of Holden in one word would have to be careless. He doesn't seem to care about school at all since he's failing most of his classes, and he's able to say whats on his mind without caring about what people think. I don't think Holden is a dumb person it's just that possibly he just doesn't find any support from his family or any friends since he believes everyone that goes to Pencey Prep are "crooks" or fakes or it might be something else is wrong and his mind isn't set on school. He also doesn't like to be confronted about his mistakes and finds an easy way out of talking about it.

Response to question #1

So far i like Holden because of his obscure personality. I also like how in the beginning of the book he lets the reader know that he will be saying everything fully and not making it seem likes hes going to make anything up. So far from the few chapters that we have read, his background is pretty interesting and creates a lot of questions on my mind that will hopefully be answered later on in the story.

Juan (Question #2)

In my opinion, Holden doesn't seem to put much effort into school. He hates the teachers as well as the simple thought of school. I don't even think he would be the kind of kid who would even give the least bit of effort to get a passing grade, he would rather just fail than try at all. For example in Mr. Spencer's class if he had just read the book over once, Mr. Spencer might have perhaps thought about given Holden an extension at writing his paper. He is failing the majority of his classes because he is not doing his work and reading when he is supposed to. I believe he finds school to be a total and complete waste of time. In conclusion Holden is not dumb, but has a very lazy behavior, and that can be easily fixed. Even so, I hope Holden is able to change within the few days the story describes.

Brenda R.

I do like Holden because in my opinion, I see him as someone unique. Though that may be said a lot the way he thinks is what makes him stand out. I find it interesting how he views others as "phonies" and him leaving Whooton for that reason. Usually people would just try and ignore them. I also like the personality the author gave him, I found it a bit humorous when he was talking to Mr. Spencer. He would say things about Mr. Spencer throwing stuff towards the bed but would miss.

Question#1

1. Do you like or not like Holden so far? Why?

I like Holden because he’s a layed back character. He’s not afraid to voice his opinion whenever he feels it’s necessary. He also won’t hesitate to tell someone how he feels about them, whether it’s positive or negative. I feel that Holden has a somewhat similar connection to me, because he’s dealing with his own set of issues already, within the beginning of the story.

Elizabeth

Holden doesn't put much effort in school because he just doesn't like school in general. In my opinion he could just care less about school. He doesn't seem like the type of guy that would try his best to even get an almost passing grade. For example, when his history teacher read his exam paper and saw that he had written a note to him saying it was okay if he flunked him. Holden doesn't really mind that he is failing. I don't think that he is dumb, he just doesn't try. If he tried to read his textbook from history class he probably could have had a well written paper and Mr. Spencer would be impressed. Although he didn't read the textbook he skimmed, that is just a result of laziness. He doesn't let other peoples opinions get to him, he just does his own thing and lives his life the way he wants to.

The Eddie

Holden's is a bright person, just that he views life in a different way than ours. Everyone looks at life a little bit different than others but in fact are the same, but Holden's is unique. His is special because he can see everything less exciting. He just needs to have someone or thing to encourage him, motivate or inspire. As for in school since he lacks this he's lazy and try to find the easiest way to finish something. for example, when he was talking to Mr. Spencer, Mr. Spencer was talking to him about which classes he was failing, and Holden was saying that all except English, only because at Whooton School he's done it before. Holden doesn't like school because everyone is a "phony", and they all look at him like an outcast.

Question 1

So far in the story I like Holden because of his attitude. For example the way he is so relaxed about everything and acts like nothing is a big deal. He says "If you really want to hear about it..." on the first page as if he isn't interested in telling you his story, he doesn't really care if you hear it or not. Another example is when his teacher Mr. Spencer is talking to him, he doesn't care what he really has to say, he just wants to get out of there because of the smell and he finds a lot of things about Mr. Spencer that irritate him. Even though Mr. Spencer only wants to help Holden, Holden has no interest in what Mr. Spencer has to say to him. Holden finds many things annoying or boring to him that I do too. In a way I can sympathize with Holden because I understand why he feels the way he does about certain things.

Question 3

I think that Holden is narrating his story, and we are reading his narration. There are too many instances of colloquialisms and slang to be otherwise.
Holden himself says, at the beginning of the novel:

“Besides, I’m not going to tell you my whole goddamn autobiography or anything. Ill just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy.” (pg1)
This indicates that he has started telling his story to an audience, and we are reading the text of it. He uses the word ‘tell’ quite often, which also points at the idea of him narrating his story.

Some other instances in the novel that support this are:
“He wrote me a note saying he wanted to see me before I went home. He knew I wasn’t coming back to Pencey. I forgot to tell you about that.” (pg6)
A writer would not have used “I forgot to tell you about that.” in the writing of a novel – people use this term when they speak. It shows that he was speaking, or narrating the text of the novel.

“Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.” (pg14)
J.D Salinger’s application of short sentence structures and colloquialisms, such as the words ‘phony’ and ‘puke’ also point to idea that Holden is narrating his own story.

Stephanie

In my opinion, it seems like Holden doesn’t like school because of the kind of people that are there. He says the richer the person is the more of a crook they are. He also says that there are a lot of fake people out in the world. I can understand what he means by this but I don’t believe that everyone is fake just those who try to impress others by being something they're not. He is not dumb but he doesn’t pay attention to what he does and would rather just not put the effort.

RESPONSE TO QUESTION #2

Holden seems like he separates himself from family, friends and life, but then again I can relate to what he is saying. In my opinion, Holden dislikes school and doesn't care because and his grades speak for itself. He hates all of his teachers, especially the elderly history teacher, Mr. Spencer. He probably dislikes his school due to the other students' described by him in the book. He is failing four out of five of classes and doesn't seem to even worry about his slipping grades. He is not dumb in any way, but he needs to focus on his schoolwork and apply himself more.