1. This first quote is short and sweet, but it shows how Holden Caulfield yearns for meaningful human connection that won't leave him wanting.
“Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
As complicated as Holden's character is, this simple quote shows how he still yearns to be loved in spite of the heartache that he has felt time and time again.
2. This most famous quote from the story is also from where the title is derived. It is a beautiful allegory for how Holden yearns for meaning in human relationships.
“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.”
3. These final quotes demonstrate how Holden often thinks about religion and takes spirituality serious even if he doesn't exactly agree with Christianity. He searches for meaning in religion. . . even if he is a little sacrilegious.
"In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples. If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the Disciples, that poor bastard."
"I'd bet a thousand bucks that Jesus never sent old Judas to Hell. I still would, too, if I had a thousand bucks. I think any one of the Disciples would've sent him to Hell and all — and fast, too — but I'll bet anything Jesus didn't do it."
This is a pretty cool way to get some evidence for your paper. I was thinking about doing this exercise myself, but opted to go for patterns and discovering why I was writing my paper. What are some benefits that you gained from this particular exercise?
ReplyDeletewell, for one: I now have a bunch of quotes that I can build my paper around. i have a better idea of how my final product is going to look and I have more evidence to support my claim.
DeleteGood ideas. Now you have concrete evidence to back up your claims, which is always a good idea. I was interested to see how you were going to prove your claim, but now your pitch is starting to actually be convincing.
ReplyDelete