Web Links:

Here is some supplemental material to help you with your exploration of Catcher in the Rye. Use this site and play with it as you read the text; it is a really interesting site on CR from many angles:

http://www.wahlbrinck.de/catcherintherye/index.htm

For finding things easily in the text, here is a thorough index of characters/scenes/themes/etc. in CR may be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/exploring_citr/bookindex.htm#fight

Catcher in the Rye: Journals

In this ongoing assignment, I am not asking you to imagine yourself to be Holden. Nor am I asking you to tell a cohesive story. What I am asking you to do is to utilize various techniques including slang, repeated expressions, sentence structures, etc. to create a readable written version of your own voice as you create yourself as a Holden-like character.

Each day of your CR unit, I would like you to explore one of the topics listed below. There are no limits to what you write except for those inherent in doing a piece of writing for class. Write it in your journals, but transfer it to a computer file so that you can present it to me at the end in a neat, spell-checked, proofread form. You may or may not choose to elaborate on your entry when you type or proofread it. For each entry: record the date on which it was written and use the topic (in black) as your subject heading.

The final product of all of this will be the printed compendium of journal entries plus a couple of pages in which you explore the ways in which you capture the teenage voice throughout your entries and compare it to Holden’s voice. It will be due when we finish the book.

Topics…

“all that David Copperfield kind of crap”

What are basic elements of your own biography that might be included in a book that you are narrating?

“this madman stuff”

Write about a time in your own life when you were really messed up.

“that killed me”

Write about something that you found really funny.

“phony”

Write about things in your world that you consider to be phony.

“If I get a chance to remember that kind of stuff, I can get a goodbye when I need one”

Write about an event you recall that would make saying goodbye easier.

“I felt like I was sort of disappearing”

Write about a time in your life when you felt invisible.

“Life is a game that one plays according to the rules”

Write about the rules your life adheres to and how you feel about them.

“Where did the ducks go?”

Write about one of the simple mysteries of the world that you wonder about.

“You wish the author was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up”

Write about an author you wish you could call and what you’d like to tell or ask him or her.

“I wasn’t too crazy about him, to tell you the truth”

Write about someone who really irritates you.

“Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row”

Write about an endearing habit of someone you know.

“Sleep tight, ya morons”

Write about a time when you lashed out verbally or physically out of frustration.

“Sinus troubles, pimples, lousy teeth, halitosis, crumby fingernails. You had to feel a little sorry for the crazy sonuvabitch.”

Describe a character in your life who, like Ackley, was dealt some pretty bad cards in life.

“Mothers are all slightly insane”

Write about your own mother and something “slightly insane” that you can relate about her.

“Sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear to God I don’t”

Write about something related to the opposite sex that confuses you.

“I’m the only dumb one in the family”

Write about the degree to which you denigrate yourself.

“(They) were drinking Tom Collinses—in the middle of December, for God’s sake. They didn’t know any better.”

Write about some of the silly rules people live by.

“Some girls you practically never find out what’s the matter.”

Write about a friend who remains a mystery to you.

“It was supposed to be something holy, for God’s sake, when he sat down at the piano. Nobody’s that good.”

Write about something or someone you or others revere, something holy in a secular way.

“I’m always saying ‘Glad to’ve met you’ to somebody I’m not at all glad I met.”

Write about the importance or the role of small talk and social pleasantries in life.

“Sometimes you get tired of riding in taxicabs the same way you get tired riding in elevators.”

Write about commonplace things that might be interesting but get dull through repetition.

“I’d probably go down to the can and sneak a cigarette and watch myself getting tough in the mirror.”

Write about emotional responses that you have to practice in advance.

“Then all of a sudden, I got into this big mess.”

Write about a time when your luck suddenly went completely sour.

“If you want to know the truth, I’m a virgin. I really am.”

Write about something about yourself that contradicts your public image.

“The goddam movies. They can ruin you. I’m not kidding.”

Write about daydreams you have had in which your life is more interesting, esp. those inspired by films.

“Grand. If there’s one word I hate, it’s grand. It’s so phony.”

Write about people who try to seem better than they really are.

“That was his favorite goddam word. He read it somewhere or heard it somewhere.”

Write about your favorite word(s).

“Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.”

Write about a time when it became clear that money only causes problems.

“You kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them.”

Write a prediction (serious or comic) about the future of someone you know well.

“Maybe they’re all secret whistlers or something.”

Write about a talent that no one knows you have.

“I didn’t even like her, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and wanted to marry her.”

Write about a time when your emotions contradicted your common sense.

“I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs.”

Write about something you do that probably annoys others.

“Don’t see it if you don’t want to puke all over yourself.”

Write about something you’ve seen that is really bad.

“You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in movies, and nine times out of ten they’re mean bastards at heart.”

Write about hypocrisy.

“Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”

Write about ways we honor the dead more than the living.

Or: Write about what you’d like to happen to you when you die.

“All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.”

Write about techniques you use to get people to do what you want.

“Our foyer has a funny smell that doesn't smell like anyplace else. I don't know what the hell it is.”

Describe a smell that always takes you to a specific place or time.

“It has a big old madman desk in it that D.B. bought off some old lady alcoholic in Philadelphia.”

Write about something unusual that you own.

“Boy if she wants to keep a pillow over her head, she keeps it.”

Write about something you've intentionally denied or ignored.

“I like it when someone digresses. It's more interesting and all.”

Write about anything, but don't stop yourself from digressing to make it "interesting."

“Allie, don't let me disappear.”

Write about a time in your life when you've felt unimportant or transparent (like "Mr. Cellophane" from "Chicago").