Reread I.ii.90-131 and I.ii.135-174. What is Cassius suggesting and how does he build his argument?

The main goal for Cassius is to persuade Brutus into joining him and his conspirators against Caesar. Although Caesar is about to become the ruler of Rome, Cassius and a group of other men do not think that he is worthy as a leader. He tries to flatter Brutus and talk about his positive qualities, suggesting that Caesar's qualities aren't any better than him. Cassius starts building on his argument by relating his personal opinion to his situation. He tells Brutus about his past experience with Caesar and how Caesar is not physically qualified as a leader but more as a sick girl. Cassius then goes on to talk about where Brutus stands in the situation. Cassius goes on to flatter Brutus. For example, Cassius tells Brutus that their value is equal by saying "Write them together, yours is as fair a name", meaning that Brutus's name is just good as Caesars. He also says "Weigh them, it is as heavy", indcating that Brutus is just as dense with knowledge and depth. Cassius also brings in the delicate topic of fate. He says "Men at some time are masters of their fates", which is a way of giving Brutus power, as he leaves the responsibility of Brutus's fate. Cassius successfully manages Brutus to join him using different aspects and stand points of the situation.

How might you refute the argument that Holden's plight derives from him simply being a misanthrope and/or hypocrite?

     I think Allies death is very well related to Holden’s current personality. He might not be the cynical character with only a few windows open for the world. Holden detests phony people, usually indicating adults and treasure the moments of childhood. Allie died as a child, therefore in Holden’s memory, Allie is preserved as the pure and innocent being that never has to grow up. Because of how much Holden values childhood and innocence, he probably sees that Allie has reached a point in life that Holden hasn’t. Allie’s death also angers him because he doesn’t see a reason to why the innocent have to die while the phony people live on. He sees the rest of the world has people who do not deserve the opportunity they have been given, caused Holden to have a negative approach towards them.     Another reason to why Holden has his back turned to the world is because of his experiences in the past. He has seen and been in the negative extremes of life. Firstly, he has witnessed the death of his friend, and the reaction of the people around him. He said, “He was dead, and his teeth, and bold, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him.”
He emphasizes how the people around him acted so coldly to the incident by not even showing a little bit of sympathy. He has seen how humans can be so selfish and cold-hearted, which made him grow a negative opinion about them.
Holden’s second unfortunate experience is indicated after he left Mr. Antolini’s house. After quickly leaving Mr. Antolini’s house from the panicking experience, Holden says, “When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it.”
Here, Holden tells the reader that he has been molested by an adult. Seeing a cruel side of adults made him lost faith and trust in them. He is traumatized by his past events and cannot lose the thought of including adults in a positive thought or experience. Holden might not just hate them, he might fear them too.

Weblog 15

How might Holden describe an intelligent conversation? What might Holden exclude when defining intelligence?   
Holden finds value in sincerity. The reason he calls other people phonies because he thinks that they are typical people who aren’t genuine. In chapter 19 Holden thinks back to when he was young. He says “He’s the best drummer I ever saw. He only gets a chance to bang them a couple of times during a whole piece, but he never looks bored when he isn’t doing. Then when he does bang them, he does it so nice and sweet, with this nervous expression on his face.”
This shows us how Holden finds interest in people who have a passion for what they do. Even though it may be a small job, he wants to see people make small positive impacts. In order to be passionate and sincere, it is important for one to know oneself very well. They should be able to interpret their feelings and connect with others. Holden will find a conversation intelligent when he is talking to someone passionate about something they love. He finds intelligence in knowing oneself before anything. We can see that Holden has a different interpretation of intelligence when he says “He had the largest vocabulary of any boy at Whooton when I was there. They gave us a test.” He talks about how the world around him had set the standards of intelligence through a test, which he mocks in a sarcastic tone. Holden just sees the test as a limit society sets. Holden sees intelligence in something else. He would describe an intelligent conversation as a talk of sincerity. Holden will exclude society’s standards of intelligence when he defines it. He calls most people phony’s so it is obvious that he will ignore their understanding of intelligence.  

Catcher in the Rye Book Cover

Book Cover Weblog

The most significant parts of this book are the ducks that are flying away. Holden talks about the ducks in the central park pond quote often. When he asks the taxi driver about where the ducks go during the winter time, Holden is indirectly asking for direction in his future. The question can be translated to “What should I do when I have nothing left?”. Holden is a confused teenager who is unsure about his future. I think the ducks in the pond also indicates a similar situation that Holden is in. During the winter, the pond starts freezing from the edges, and starts narrowing down the pond’s area as the weather gets colder. In the end, the ducks will have a smaller place to stay, causing them to leave and look for another place when the whole pond freezes. While the ducks represent Holden, the freezing ice represents the pressures around Holden. There are certain pressures in Holden’s life that he wants to escape from in order to move on to his future but he cannot find the answers to do so, which is why he asks the taxi driver his question.

Another important part of the cover is Holden’s red hunting hat. I think this hat is linked into Holden’s personality. It represents his individuality because of its bright colour. However, the way Holden doesn’t wear it around others tells the reader about his confidence. I think he doesn’t want to be judged for who he is, which is why he doesn’t want to show his hat that defines him. When Holden puts on his hat, it’s when he decides that the pressure and judging around him isn’t there. Although Holden might be confused about his future, his hat somehow relieves him of the pressures around him .

Why do you think Holden cries before he leaves to Pency?

I think there are various reasons to Holden crying before he leaves Pency. An obvious reason would be because of regret. Pency is not the first school that he left and I think he’s sad because he failed to get through another school year. He also probably has some emotional attachments to his school since he had friends there such as Ackley, although Holden seemed to be a lonely figure, he often showed a connection to Ackley and sometimes Stradlater. This leads to another reason to Holden crying. I think he felt that people didn’t understand him and felt like nobody was there to accompany him in the world. When he went to see his history teacher, Holden didn’t feel like he was receiving support from any of his teacher’s words. Right before he decided to leave Pency, he had a big fight with Stradlater about a stubject that Holden was extremely sensitive about. Lastly, he visit’s Ackley’s room Holden feels that he does not receive emotional comfort from someone he relies on, which heightens his sense of loneliness. His crying also shows his confusion about his future. I think Holden has an identity crisis so he doesn’t know who he really is, and doesn’t know what his next steps will be. His questions about the ducks prove this, because the question indirectly means, “What should your next step in life be if you really have nothing left?” They crying might indicate the emotional strain that he is going through. Holden’s troubled emotional state is subtly mentioned through his actions such as the times why he becomes violent for no reasons and sometimes feeling lonely for the smallest reasons. Maybe the crying was a temporary emotional breakdown.

Comin Thro' the Rye by Robert Burns

After the analyzing the poem, my class came to a conclusion that the main point of the poem was to question the necessity of attention in anyone’s relationship. The lines “Should a body kiss a body, Need the world know?” questions the reader if the world should care about what happens within a relationship. I thought that the line “Comin Thro’ the Rye” indicated that Jenny was over coming something in her past. “She draigl't a' her petticoatie” represents her past that had been dragging her down. I guessed that the thing she was overcoming was the negative and burdensome attention the world had given her due to her relationship with a man.

I think connects well to situations in the modern days because people give relationships, or sex much attention, whether it is their business or not. The poem talks about how burdensome and pressuring attention can be within a relationship. For a couple, it is their decision and their decision only to choose what happens between them.

The poem made me realize that that people can be judgmental about others with the smallest amount of evidence. After some discussion, our class guessed that Jenny might be a prostitute when we learned that the poem possessed sexual aspects. The class’s immediate assumption about Jenny told me about the way we viewed sex. Associating the word prostitute to sex showed that the poem wasn’t giving out a positive vibe. The man in the poem who is referred to as “body” could’ve been Jenny’s husband or lover, which wouldn’t make Jenny the prostitute that we thought.

In conclusion, the poem points out that it is people’s own decisions to choose who they want to be in a relationship and what they want to do with it.