Reality seem to be agreed upon illusions for all of us

 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was written in the context of the cold war, the government and mass media were trying to divert the attention. It was important to make people feel identified with the family in order for them not to interfere in those conflicts. Along with famous T.V shows that emerged as a necessity for people to think about something else, the sense of belonging to a small community was emphasized.  The success of a person was measured by being married, having kids, a car and hopefully a dog; however, how far would you go trying to maintain a lie? Is it possible to live in such illusion only to be accepted? when truth and illusion seem to be the same, things start to change for most of the participants.



When Martha did a party, she started breaking the rules of intimacy, such intimacy seem to be very fragil as the intention of having the secret of a false son is to protect themselves from being judged. The son then, represents their marriage... The only way to have a son is to invent one, a son made of words, words that connect George and Martha. At the begining it worked, the complicity of having a false history to tell made them feel closer to each other, but when other characters interfere their lie, and so their marriage, became a nightmare.

Moreover, George and Martha seem to rely on that son to create the roots of their lives.

"George: the one thing in this whole sinking wolrd that I am sure of is my [...] chromosomological partnership in the creation of our blond-eyed, blue-haired...son."

all the reality, all the happiness of the couple are really just agreed upon illusions. And the worst part is that at some point somebody will have the need to tell the truth.

"Martha: Georgie boy had lots of big ambitions. In spite of something funny in his past. […] Which Georgie boy here turned into […] A novel all about a naught boy child […] who killed his mother and father dead. […]
George: STOP IT, MARTHA!"

In this particular quote we realize that there are more than just one lie in which they agreed, in George's novels (life) to tell. Are we living a fantasy ? or are we being real?. Al in all I don't think we can just decide to be in one side, sometimes we just need that kind of illusion to be accepted by others or even by ourselves.

To look back and forward in anger.

Look Back in Anger, sets its plot in the middle of the 20th Century, in a post-war England. Sunday evening, and everything is marching as usual: Killing the time reading the newspapers, giving no contribution to the universe at all. Jimmy Porter, our main character, is starting to feel bored about this, and he wants so hard to step aside this dull routine, yet he doesn’t seems to be followed by neither his friend, nor his wife.

As soon as you start this play, you can give the name of Jimmy Porter to any of the national current events: The difference between socio-economical classes, the fight for a better education, movements against corruption, and so on. Events that, as well as Jimmy, shout for enthusiasm, scream at your face to stand up from your chair and do something. They may be strong and violent at some point, but sometimes violence is the catalyst for a major upheaval.

But basically, these events mentioned can be summed up in one word: Anger. Anger from the oppressed to the oppressor, from the needy to the spendthrift, from the middle low class to the middle high class and its privileges; and how sad is to think that the same anger shown in this play can be seen almost 70 years later.

And you should be angry too, otherwise you are not paying enough attention of what is happening in our country. And as the title invites, we should look back in anger; we should look back of all the awful things that have happened (which is a long list) and review how many things have changed. We have to encourage ourselves and the rest, as members of the class with restricted privileges, to raise our fist and voice against the small group which pulls the strings.

I would have liked to write only about Jimmy and what I think he represents, but it is funny to think about Colonel Redfern and what he may represent in our society; the old fashioned way to behave in front of reality, the “I’m too old for this”, the “every past was better”, the bourgeois who has all the answers. There are plenty of people like him, and they should also be the target of our anger.

Anyway, does both of them can represent another issue, by any chance?

"Life is a game boy"

Holden Caulfield is a 16 year-old teenager, the main character of the novel "Catcher in the Rye", a novel written by J.D Salinger and the narrator who uses a special language (colloquial) to express himself, which makes you feel more connected to the character and his troubles. While you are reading the book, you can immediately realize he is struggling in life, keeping away from the adulthood, avoiding his responsibilities, his instability and confusion.

"Life is a game boy, life is a game that one plays according to the rules.." that was Mr Spencer said to Holden Caulfield after advising him about the way how he was taking life because he could not apply himself at school.

Maybe, Mr Spencer is not that crucial in the story of Catcher in the Rye, nevertheless, he said that phrase that made my head spin since I read it, and I think he is right. We always have a Mr Spencer in our life, it is the one who advises you about your actions and it is the one who reminds you that you do not have so much power to decide whatever you want; since “life is a game that one plays according to the rules”.

You might be wondering… which rules? Everybody is in this game since we were born, the rule of walking and babbling by the time of 2 years old, years after go to school, by the time you turn 15 or 16 you have to mature and when you are 18 graduate from the school and decide what you want to study to be your entire life, then you need to find a job, have family, buy a house, so on… 

But, what happen if you break the rules? The society does not 

approve you because you are the weird one out there. Why do we have to make decisions when we do not want to or when we are not ready?

What we can see about Holden is his way of being critical about everything and he mainly judges the world of adults as full of hypocrisy by using the word “phony” to refer this superficial people who acts like someone they are not. However, when he meet the Navy guy he says:

“I'm always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”

That means that he has to act like a “phony” which he always criticize because he has to pretend he likes the guy, and then he explained that people have to do it considering you need to make people like you that is the only way to get what you want. That is another thing that you must learn when you are growing up. Many people are so “phony” in life, why adults cannot be just honest about the way we feel? We see “phonies” everyday, for example, at the university when some students pretends to like other classmates and especially teachers to get good grades… That kills me, as Caulfield expresses too. Also, workers pretends to love their bosses to get the approval or get something. That is the life that Holden was running away from, because he was not ready for doing something that he does not like. Here is when you doubt if being an adult makes you more free or less.

Holden learn from his mistakes after judging Mr Antolini, who was very supportive and he was always trying to tell Caulfield that he needs to believe in himself, but after the man touched his forehead while he was sleeping, Holden just judged him since he felt nervous about that. However, that action made him to think about to stop judging everything and everybody, it is time to give a chance! 

What mr Antollini said to Holden

In my opinion, everybody has a Holden Caulfield inside us, but we know if we want it outside or not. Personally, I have always been judgmental about this game is made and how it controls us following the rules, however, I would have never been like Holden, because it is impossible to be away from the game, but if you want to win it, I do not think that the fact to pretend that nothing is happening and being selfish is the way to succeed, whatever success means to you.

As Holden says: “Everybody goes through phases and all, don't they?” where he explains that finally that is just one of the phases in life, it does not mean like you are going to be like that your entire life and you are going to apply yourself. Therefore, if you have a Holden Caulfield inside you, do not worry, someday you are going to find yourself.

This was written by Judd Nelson, and it is basically what the book made me feel.

Holden is afraid of growing up and being an adult, but everybody is, isn't? 


References: 

Salinger, J.D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye.

I wish I had read this book when I was in high school… oh wait, I did!

When I was 16 years old El Guardián entre el Centeno was assigned to me as a home-reading assignment, and to be honest, I did not fully understand the message behind it. Maybe I was too young or maybe I did not take it seriously (most probably), but now that I am older, I can appreciate the masterpiece that is in front of my eyes.

When I first started reading The Catcher in the Rye I thought “This seems familiar” and it was not until I had read the first 15 or 20 pages that I realized that they were the same book (I have issues with translations, apparently). I remembered vaguely the story, but as the book went on and on I was engaged with the novel and the “teacher part of me” only wanted to help Holden through his journey.

The journey that Holden describes all along the book is more than just one rebel boy who is mad about life. If you slow down a minute to think what is the protagonist is going through, you will realize that he is desperate about companionship, affection and understanding and even though he tries to find it from different people, no one seems to give him what we really wants… what he really needs. On his way to NYC Holden finds his first listener outside school, this is Mrs. Morrow, but as we can see later, the conversation between them develops oddly, and he stars lying compulsively to his classmate’s mother, he cannot stop doing it, and as the time passes, he not only lies about Ernest, but also lies about himself.

 "Then I started to read the timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours." Holden, p. 59

At first you could think that his lies are told to please Mrs. Morrow and to picture her a different reality about his jerk son, let’s say that he is trying to make her a favor somehow. But soon the lies are about him, as a way to escape from an uncomfortable situation. That is no good, Holden, no good. He seems to lie compulsively to cover his own mistaken life choices and how he has failed to be what the society expects him to be.

If we keep in mind that he is a troubles teenager, we could understand his behavior. At the end of the day all teenagers lie, some more than other, but them all lie. But the most interesting thing here is that Holden is constantly calling everybody a “phony” and judges people about their behavior and way of thought, a good example of this is how we criticizes Robert Ackley for being unhygienic or hoy he judges Stradlater for what Holden thinks he did with Jane. But, as I said before isn’t it curious that he calls everybody a phony when he is the one who lies the most all over the novel? Peter J. Seng seems to get this idea too, when he states:

It might be said that Holden's chief fault is his failure "to connect" (to use Forster's phrase); he hates lies, phoniness, pretense, yet these are often his own sins. (Seng,205)

Holden thinks that all adults, or relatively mature people, have lost their innocence and that they are living a fake life, but here he is the only one who is pretending to live a life that is not his own. He makes up stories and lies about his life constantly and that only shows how lonely he is, and how he desperately needs help. Needs someone who listens to him, someone who can understand him and see the true reasons behind his problems at school or with his parents. But that “someone” is nowhere to be found.

I had all my hopes in Mr. Antolini, but of course that he couldn’t do much to help a boy who was lost in the reality that he thought was real. Holden ends up escaping from Mr. Antolini’s apartment and not taking his advice seriously. In this chapter we see how Holden’s mind is disturbed, how he thinks in a very trange way. How he makes a big deal about Mr. Antolini touching him , how he talks to his dead brother, and how he thinks crazy things as he walks. We can see these nonsense thoughts in the next quote:

“Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating like a bastard--my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing something else. Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him” (Holden Caulfield)

After all, what can we expect from a narrator who is having some psychiatrist issues? He is not a reliable narrator at all, since he always tells the story from his point of view (obviously) and he seems to have no objectivity when telling any story. Probably all this inappropriate touching from Mr. Antolini wan not such and he just made it up in his mind.

The way I see it is that he is trying to justify his actions through stories that have a little bit of extra (and made-up) information, so he can do whatever his twisted and immature mind tells him to do. That is a little bit what we all do when we want to escape from reality and we negotiate the truth in our mind to feel better about certain actions. This is why I think that we all have a little bit of Holden inside us, and that is no completely wrong, as long as we keep it to a minimal expression.

References:

- Salinger, J.D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye.

- Seng, P (1961) The Fallen Idol: The Immature World of Holden Caulfield

A little bit troubled

Adolescence might be the most confusing and hardest stage of life for some people, as one goes through a journey where the body changes, your beliefs start to convey, your personality is shaping, and sometimes this whole transformation might be stressing for some teenagers and they do not know how to deal with what is happening. Therefore, these almost adults behave in a way that sometimes goes against every social rule or principle. 

This process is clearly exemplified on the life of Holden Caulfield, the lead character of "The Catcher in the Rye" of J.D. Salinger. Holden had trouble with almost everything in his life, with school; with other people, who he called "phonies"; and even with his own future life path. One of his personal fights occurs when he was beaten up by Stradlater, then he goes to Ackley's room and lay on his roommate bed and he is feeling lonely in the world, he even wanted to die at that moment, so is in that moment when he wanted to change his bearing and for a minute he wanted to join a monastery.

"'Hey, Ackley!' 

He heard that, all right.

'What the hell's the matter with you?' he said. 'I was asleep, for Chrissake.'

'Listen. What's the routine on joining a monastery?' I asked him. I was sort of toying with the idea of joining one. 'Do you have to be a Catholic and all?'

'Certainly you have to be a Catholic. You bastard, did you wake me just to ask me a dumb ques---'

'Aah, go back to sleep. I'm not gonna join one anyway. The kind of luck I have, I'd probably join one with all the wrong kind of monks in it. All stupid bastards. Or just bastards.'"

Another thing that Holden perfectly characterises about adolescence is the fact that almost everything depresses or dislikes him, maybe because at that phase he was going through, he was really alone. Certainly nobody could really understand what was happening to him. Some examples of the situations that depressed him were:

"(...)If somebody, some girl in and awful-looking hat, for instance, comes all the way to New York - from Seattle, Washington, for God's sake - ends up getting up early in the morning to see the goddam first show at Radio City Music Hall, it makes me so depressed I can't stand it.(...)"

"(...)New York's terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed. I kept wishing I could go home and shoot the bull for a while with old Phoebe.(...)" 

Maybe this kind of hate towards the people described in the previous quotes is due to the artificiality and phoniness of the adult world irritates him not allowing to fit into the social norms. (Nayebpour & Aygül, 2014)

Furthermore, Holden was just the typical adolescent with the personality that has prevailed over the years, as most of the teens from now are just like him. These adolescents goes through stages inside the period of being an Adolescent, plus there are several researchers and psychologists that have stated different stages for this period and the one which I have agreed the most at this moment is with David Elkind. 

Elkind claims in his Egocentrism Theory that adolescents are more idealistic than realistic. This theory posses 3 features, which are "the imagery audience", "the personal fable" and "apparent hypocrisy". Here I saw Holden's adolescence perfectly described, mostly because of the first and third feature, as in the imagery audience, the teenager images an hypocritical mass of people around him, and "the apparent hypocrisy" posits that adolescents judge people with rules that are not valid to apply on themselves. (Nayebpour & Aygül, 2014) Moreover, it is the last characteristic that stands out the most, perfectly characterising Holden, since he believes that he would never be like the people that depresses him or he would never do the things that those people do.    

Finally, Holden might have been a '50 adolescent on "The Catcher in the Rye", however, his story will continue to be essential to simbolize the psychological stages that adolescents go through, as todays and futures adolescents might still have the same characteristics as they have prevailed in time. 

References

Nayebpour, K. & Aygül, A. (2014). Representation of Holden Caulfield as a Problematic Adolescent in J. D, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/9588338/Representation_of_Holden_Caulfield_as_a_Problamatic_Adolescent_in_J._D._Salingers_The_Catcher_in_the_Rye 

Salinger, J. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye.

Hello, My name is Holden

One of the things that really caught my attention - while reading the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger – was the personality that the main character, Holden Caulfield, has. It is a very special personality considering how he liked to communicate with others and the attitude he has towards people in the very first pages of the book. 

As we read the book, we are able to notice how special Holden is. He seems to be quite different from ‘normal’ people, and apparently, he never cares so much about what people may think of him. He is always keeping an attitude of the ‘bad guy’, as someone who does not care about his surroundings, or about what is going on in the world. It is easy to notice this personality in the beginning, when he is observing the football match that Pencey preparatory was having that day, and he is telling us that everyone in the school is in that important match, but not him. Sure Holden, because you are so over them. Right.

If we continue with the reading, we can notice the way he behaves with his roommate, old Stradlater, and the guy that roomed next to them, Robert Ackley (or how Holden call him, just ‘Ackley’). Every time we see Holden referring to something that is happening concerning these two guys (or just one of them), he repeats the same attitude he had before towards the people who was watching the football game. He seems to be so indifferent, not caring at all about these guys. He shows no respect, and even less, he does not even care about what is happening with their lives – apparently.

But is that his real personality? Or does he have a special attitude when people is around him?
Obviously, he is just pretending to be a ‘bad guy’. Deep inside, he is just a teenager who is trying to look as someone important, or someone who has a really amazing life and does not care about yours. Nonetheless, Holden is always paying attention to everyone’s life!

Holden Caulfield knows the people that surrounds him very well. He highlights so many details about Ackley, old Stradlater, the people from his school, the football game, etc. He is just a teenager that uses a mask to be looked as someone is not, but every time something is happening in Pencey, he knows it. While Holden is showing indifference with is face, he is paying attention to every detail of every situation. For instance, in the situation in which old Stradlater is having a night out with a random girl, but that Holden Caulfield knew very well. Holden wants to know so badly about Stradlater’s night out.

Ok, but… Hold on right there. Am I describing the Catcher in the Rye main character, or am I describing us? Us? Yes, every single teenager and young people.

Don’t we all have something similar to Holden Caulfield? As a matter of fact, we do!

The point of this brief post about this book, and in particular about Holden, is that we – as human beings – share some aspects of Holden’s attitude, or we have in common some of his reactions in certain situations of the book. Sometimes we all want to look so uninterested to what is happening around us, as if we are trying to say that we do not care about what most of people care; trying to say that we do not like the same things that everyone likes, we want to seem different from the rest of people, however, it is so difficult to live aside from the rest of the world, or indifferent to what everyone is doing when you are a teenager.

Just take a few minutes of reflection and remember those times when you wanted to do what everyone was doing, or at least, just to be aware of what people was doing so I could have the chance to talk crap about it. Even when we were so unconcerned with that, when we wanted to talk bad about someone we did not like, we had to know something about those people in order to talk about them.

We all share a piece of Holden inside of us. We all have been that Holden at least once. Do not try to hide your Holden.  

Phonies in movies? That kills me!

Phonies, phonies everywhere!  

Most of people enjoy watching movies and personally I love them! But, you might be wondering, what is the relationship with the book? The answer to this question is simple; Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old boy and the protagonist of “The Catcher in the rye” (Salinger, 1951), associates the word “phony” with everything he considers fake, false, and hypocrite. Put it another way, full of appearances, especially what refers to adult life.  Does that say a lot to you? 

Movies are constantly showing a different world, where everything and everyone is perfect, and that’s great! Isn’t it?  Although, everyone knows that reality is more complex and makes you realize what you see in movies is plastic and artificial and at the end only generates false people’s stereotypes. To give an illustration of what I mean, let’s have a look at the case of women’s expectations on men, on account of their pretty stereotypical characters’ image in romantic movies. Consequently, as I said above affect and damage and narrow women’s notions of what a man should be and shouldn’t be like.

First of all, men are shown or illustrated as a kind of romantic heroes, something that Holden himself hates about movies because men seem to be less real and very predictable, even Sunny, the prostitute compares Holden with a man that probably she remembered from some movie: "You look like a guy in the movies. You know. Whosis. You know who I mean. What the heck's his name?" (pp.53). This phenomenon happens because Sunny conceives men of what she has seen in media, creating unconsciously a certain image of Holden’s attitude. For instance, according to movies men’s roles, the idea of men’s ability to feel a wide array of emotions, including confusion and fear are considered unmanly since it is not part of their nature, which is completely silly. 

Secondly, movies offer you corny stories about relationships that sometimes make women cry or enjoy them for one simple reason. Women want that beautiful and magic stories that end happily due to it represents what women need to fulfill and they do not have; their life is quite different, although. But, it is shown there on screen, so what is the obstacle to not dream with that? Just think about as a girl about “Disney Movies” and Holden even refers to a woman watching a beautiful story, just because she loves it, which is quite the opposite to the woman's attitude: “[...] the phonier it got, the more she cried. You'd have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasn't ... You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart. I'm not kidding [...]” (pp.76)

Thirdly, the repetitive aspect is presented in a lot of movies. The girl falls in love with the mean guy, while she suffers for being ignored and not fulfilling his expectations, but she always justifies man’s problems to love, referring to character’s inferiority complex: “The trouble with girls is, if they like a boy, no matter how big a bastard he is, they'll say he has an inferiority complex, and if they don't like him, no matter how nice a guy he is, or how big an inferiority complex he has, they'll say he's conceited. Even smart girls do it. “ ( pp.74) Hence, women are constantly trying to find explanations about men behavior, for example, the lack of self-worth, doubts, uncertainty and feelings of not measuring up to standards, which his effortless aura of being cool makes him irresistible to all ladies. That’s why unconsciously Holden is secretly afflicted since what he desires is to be what he hates and criticizes as phony and hypocritical stuff.  Mainly, the hero and the man in charge exactly as are presented in movies where men have everyone’s destiny in control.

Finally, how not to mention the physical image of men, come on! They are represented for handsome guys that condition women to prototypical men and their beauty. It's kind of funny because all women dream with that kind of guys, creating false expectations.

Throughout the novel, Holden uses a phrase that I like a lot and I even find amusing and sarcastic, and I decided to incorporate it in my title; That kills me! This phrase represents what people do all the time, we criticize a lot either with a positive or negative connotation, yet we still enjoy or like something or someone, especially if we are impressed for anything we see, especially on media. So, it is not strange that Holden uses the same phrase to describe two completely opposite emotions, therefore, he is considered an unreliable narrator as everyone in this world, and we are full of contradictions.

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you are all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though” (Salinger, pp 10). Regarding this point, it is true that we expect when finishing a book, and especially in these times a movie, we wish that it had been real to feel that those events and characters become part of our real life. 

This is an incredible book that makes you reflect a lot about life. Personally, I loved the book, as I said above I like its language not only that phrase, it becomes so familiar when you read it, especially how you as a reader take part of Holden’s mind because Holden says one thing and thinks another, and that’s real life. Even, Holden’s search to find answers to many questions demonstrates that reality is complicated than that and his conceptions of “happiness” again are reduced to phoniness. “Life is a game, boy, life is a game that one plays according to the rules” (Salinger, pp. 8).

References

Ansbacher, H. L., Ansbacher, R., Shiverick, D., Shiverick, K., & Lee , H. O.­w. (1967). An Adlerian interpretation. Journal of Individual Psychology, págs. 24-34.

Brand, N. (19 de February de 2013). Six Male Stereotypes Hollywood Needs to Let Go Of. Obtenido de The Good men project: http://goodmenproject.com/arts/six-male-stereotypes-hollywood-needs-to-let-go-of/

Salinger, J. D. (1951). The Catcher in the rye. United States: Little, Brown and Company.