Catcher in the Rye Chapter 14 ½
After I slept for a while I woke up and opened a window. The smoke from my cigarette was all over the goddam place. There was no wind though so I went outside for a walk. It was pretty quiet around because it was Sunday and all. Most of the people walking around looked like families going to church.
I was feeling really miserable. I kept thinking about being ripped off by Maurice and Sunny. I thought I was really crazy to have tried to save my 5 bucks. When Maurice got up out of the chair and started walking towards me I was scared to death. I knew what was going to happen but I still couldn't shut up and give him the goddam 5 bucks.
I always get beat up when I stand up for myself. Then I started thinking about that time when Stradlater knocked me to the ground. Boy was I mad. I wanted to knock his face right off. Did he give the time to Jane? I really wanted sink one in his face.
Then I started feeling suicidal again. I knew that I could jump in front of this truck passing by on the road but I didn't do it. If I die I want someone who would cry till their eyes would swell up by my side. Jumping in front of the truck would just make me some poor kid that no one knew; no one important or worth crying over.
Then all of a sudden, I saw her, I saw Jane. She was on the opposite side of the street by the theater. Without thinking I ran across the road to talk to her. As I neared the sidewalk I heard these screeching noises that ripped my eardrums from my ear. A taxi stopped right before nailing my leg. I felt the wind from the car shoot past me and a shiver went down my spine. My whole body shook and fell to the ground. I just sort of sat there for a few seconds until the taxi driver came out of the taxi and asked me if I was all right. I looked at the cab driver and just sort of stared at him. I was still pretty shocked. Then I remembered the reason why I almost got killed and franticly looked for Jane. I looked in the direction of Jane, but it wasn't her. It was some other girl with the same hair color and figure.
I looked back at the cab driver and realized that it was Horwitz. The cab driver I talked to on the way to Ernie's. He looked pretty scared that I wasn't answering him so I said, "I'm all right."
While helping me get up he said, "Hey, I remember you, boy who asked about the ducks right?" I was sort of surprised he still remembered me.
"Yeah that was me." I was kind of afraid of what he'd say next because last time I talked to him about the ducks he got all touchy.
"Well, sorry about blowing up at ya. I was feeling kind of crappy before you came in the cab and got kind of irritated when I couldn't figure out where the ducks went. Why do ya care anyway?" Hah, "kind of?" Now that's an understatement. But I have to say, he said it real nice and all.
"I just want to know." I really didn't know why I cared so much. I just had to know.
"Well ya figure the ducks go to some other lagoon to go swim around so they probably fly there. They all gotta take off and find some other home at some point."
"Thank you sir." He finally gave me an answer that made some sense.
He started getting back into his taxi and grinned, "See ya kid."
That was the last time I saw him. He drove like a mad man even though he didn't have any customers in the back.
I walked back to my room and lay on the bed for a while. I started smoking again since the air was too clean. Then I closed my eyes went to sleep. I couldn't get the ducks out of my mind so I had the weirdest dream about talking ducks with automatics shooting all the fish in the lake and eating them. I swear I'm crazy.
Analysis
This chapter I created fits between chapter 14 and 15. My intention of this chapter was to point out things about Holden's character and talk about the ducks.
I talked about Holden not giving Maurice the extra 5 dollars. I wanted to point out that Holden stands up for himself and what he believes is right. Even though he seemed like he was being stupid not giving Maurice the 5 dollars it also shows that Holden has a lot of courage and pride.
Then I flashed back to the fight with Stradlater and Holden over Jane. I wanted to bring this event back up because I mention Jane later in the chapter. This incident also shows that Holden is brave and will do what he thinks he should do. He also doesn't think much about what he's doing. When he sees Jane he starts running across the street to talk to her but doesn't think about the incoming traffic. I wanted to show that Holden doesn't think about his actions but does what he feels like doing at that moment.
Jane is mentioned in this chapter because when Holden is feeling miserable he usually thinks about people that care about him. When Holden felt sad and depressed he thought about Allie. When Maurice wounded him he thought about Jane.
I think that the ducks represent people like Holden who don't have a real home and travel from place to place. They can't stay in one place because they are forced out. In Holden case he's kicked out of school, and in the ducks case, the water they live on freeze in the winter. I think that the reason why Holden wanted know where the ducks go is because he really wants to know where he should go now that he's been kicked out of school.
I end the chapter with an unusual dream because I think that Holden's imagination is really funny and crazy. I wanted to make this more apparent to readers.
6 comments:
hey renee :)
i really liked your story because it was really interesting and i wanted you to go on with it instead of ending it. but anyway, i think you could of expanded on it a little more and given a little more of Holdens personal thoughts when we was talking to Horwitz. You could show how he thinks and how he really just doesn't care about anything.
good job!
.tori.
Renee, I liked your story, it was definitely different than our other group members. Your story was very interesting and full of Holden's thoughts, but I probably wish it could've been a bit longer. But besides that, great story.
renee
i really liked your story, and it really fits with the rest of the book- a lot of the same things are on holden's mind that he thinks about in the catcher in the rye. his actions in your story show that too. i also like how you go back to horwitz- that was a creative way for holden's duck question to be finally answered. good job!
reallly good story. It would have worked well in catcher in the rye. Also, i liked the part that had Horwitz and the ducks part.
I liked your story cause it was original and I haven't heard one like it before. I liked the part when he runs to meet Jane, who ends up not being Jane, and doesn't pay attention to the traffic around him. It was sad, knowing that Jane wasn't there, but at the same time, it showed the part of Holden you were aiming at: that he doesn't think about his actions before he does anything. You also sounded like Holden throughout the story. Good Job!
hey! Your story really showed Holden's personality and it did that so much that I started to think that you took some of the lines or a lot of the lines from "catcher" and reused it. You got into Holden's mind with his crazy thought processes too like in the end about the ducks and the automatics. umm one thing though...I think you could've made the part about the ducks longer. other than that great job! :)
Post a Comment