The Post War's Affect On The Teenage Mind

I think that I have some sort of mental block with the phrase "classic novels". Reading deeper is something I cannot do with books labeled "classic". I have always had this weird trouble with classic books. Like in the fourth grade, when I picked up The Hobbit. It was slow at first and I thought, 'it must get better, it must! Its a classic after all.' I ended up reading it, just to say I read it. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it but it was hard for me to enjoy it. But reading The Catcher In The Rye is nothing like that at all. I wasn't slaving away, forcing myself to read a dusty, boring old book. I found The Catcher In The Rye (by J.D.Salinger) to be like a movie in my hands and on paper. The setting, year 1945 in New York, is like a crisp black and white movie where everyone said words like "grand" and "swell". But the story is being narrated by a teenage boy, who's mind wanders and rants. Soon, I came to realize that Holden Caulfield is a social outcast(who is looked up to by some very famous serial killers... but that's another blog post).

"Everybody was on their way to the movies-The Paramount or The Astor or The Strand or The Capitol or one of those crazy places. Everybody was all dressed up, because it was Sunday, and that makes it worse. But the worst part was that you could tell that they all wanted to go to the movies. I couldn't stand looking at them."



That is a snippet (pg.150) of one of Holden's thoughts. This quote describes his world. He sees a world of religious, media-obsessed uniform families. He is so impacted by his surroundings. America at this time was just finishing with the war, and the general public was afraid of change. So there and then the American dream became unofficially defined as a white picket fence family. Typically a family of four; a housewife/mother figure, a successful working father, a daughter and a son. This family probably owns a house (with a white picket fence) and goes to church on Sunday. It seems that living in this world has affected his thinking patterns. I wondered would Holden be such an outcast if he lived in a less formatted world?

Holden often refers to "everybody", which makes me think that he feels like the media is forcing him to act and think a certain way. So he acts against it. There is a defined line between Holden and the world around him. And in his mind, you are either a part of "everybody" or you are Holden.

I think that no one is what they seem and everybody thinks differently then expected. And everyone changes depending on who is with you at a specific moment in time. So he probably would be slightly different if he lived in this less formatted world. He would probably be less alone. But no matter what, I think that Holden is destined to be an outcast.

Growing up is all about having your emotions distraught. It is about the uncertainty of finding yourself. And Holden finds himself not being what is expected of him, and has a hard time living up to expectations. He feels alone, which is a common feeling during the coming of age period of life. Holden is such a real person, and I totally love him.

Can anyone tell me....

My last blog post was about how Romeo and Juliet was a story of humanity, this post is about fate. How fate is a big subject in the movie, a bigger subject in the real life filming and an even bigger subject in the book.

I, like many, saw the movie before I read the play. I never thought that fate was a huge part of the story, in fact I never thought about fate at all. It's probably because I could never understand the scene right before Mercutio and Romeo go to the party, where they discuss their dreams and their premonitions. It doesn't seem like fate that Romeo and Juliet meet. It seems like a coincidence. Which brings up the question, what is a coincidence and what is fate?

During the filming of the movie, there were some coincidences as well. "The dramatic storm scene on the beach in which Mercutio dies was shot during a real hurricane." I feel like having a real storm made me think was fate in control of how the movie was shot? Was fate in control when Aldo Signoretti (hair/makeup guru on the set of R+J) was kidnapped and released after paying the $300 ransom? Is fate the decider of good things as well as the bad things?

The Romeo and Juliet text has more coincedences that cause the Montague boys to get to the party. For example, the person responsible for sending out the invitations cannot read, forcing him to ask Romeo to read it to him. So now Romeo knows of the gathering and has access to attending it. But in the movie, they just somehow get invitations and crash the party. I would see the subject of fate in the movie more if there were more coincidences like the one in the text(For example, the person responsible for sending out the invitations cannot read, forcing him to ask Romeo to read it to him.). But still confused with the exact meaning of the word 'FATE', I did some follow up research/thoughts:

Merriam-Webster- "an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end"

I thought of one of my favorite movies, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. John Connor says "The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves." Do you believe John or do you believe Merriam-Webster?
(Pardon my geek out- referencing a sci-fi movie and a dictionary in one question...)

MENTOR TEXTS

First of, everyone blog is so amazing, but having to chose:

http://epiceyebrows.blogspot.com/2010/12/jumpor-burn.html
Molly Smith, or as I like to call her, the master of all blogs short and meaningful. Jump or Burn is definitely one of my favorite blog posts(EVER)! Molly has mastered the art of posting meaningful entries that leave you thinking. Almost always, my blog posts drone on and on and I ramble and my feelings are scattered all over the place! Molly is definitely a writer I admire for her bluntness, for she says what needs to be said.

http://eveningswithdrfutterman.blogspot.com/2010/11/allure-of-pictures-and-printed-word.html
Annie Futterman, or the master of her own voice. Allure of Pictures and Printed Words is a post that shook me deeply. Annie is totally a unique writer, who always adds her own voice to everything she writes. She writes with such strong metaphors and such strong feelings, it inspires me! Her writing style, whatever it is exactly, makes me feel like I am talking to her about the book-not just reading a blog-. Overtime, I have slowly been developing my own voice and wish to have such a strong voice as Annie's in the future.

http://nat-ha-lay.blogspot.com/2010/11/magical-mistakes.html#comments
Nathalie Pages, or THE-BEST-at-getting-her-point-across Supergirl. Her posts always get her point across, and even if she doesn't read(Magical Mistakes) she always has deep points and ground breaking ideas that shatter boundaries. Nathalie is totally in control of her thoughts(or at least that's what her writing leads me to believe), where as sometimes I just don't know what to think-or how to conclude a thought. Nathalie is such a strong/mature writer that I always look up to. I hope in the future to be able to master my thoughts and to be able to fully conclude an idea.

There are a million great blogs out there, special kudos to Ben Futterman's blog , Pia's blog , and Sammy's blog for always(ALWAYS) giving me fruit for thought and inspiration.
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