Friday, November 13, 2015

Blog #2

In chapter 16 J.D. Salenger creates a vignette in chapter 16, where Holden first sees this family just coming out of church, "It wasn't as cold as it was the day before, but the sun still wasn't out. But there was one nice thing. This family that you could tell just came out of some church were walking right in front of me – a father, a mother, and a little kid about six years old. They looked sort of poor. […] The kid was swell. […] He was making out like he was walking a very straight line, the way kids do, and the whole time he kept singing and humming. […] It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed anymore." To the reader this seems like an average day, seeing a family coming out from church. But in this vignette you see Holden just out of observing, gives him a connection to a deeper meaning. Holden just watching the little boy, just by paying closer detail to what seems like an everyday event gives him hope, happiness,  joy, "It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed anymore."


1 comment:

  1. I like how you show the deeper meaning of this scene. Holden is able to take the joy he sees in others and bring it to himself. When he does this, he is making himself come out of the constant state of depression he lives in. An average person wouldn't see that and feel joy or think much of it but Holden is able to see more in a small moment and take what he sees to help himself. By seeing the child, "singing and humming," Holden feels the joy the child is feeling and it makes him feel better and not depressed anymore.

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