chapter 10,11

part 1

summery 

Chapter 10

Holden again considers calling Phoebe. Holden describes Phoebe: she has red hair, is very intelligent. Her only flaw is that she can be emotional. Bored and not tired, Holden goes to the hotel nightclub, the Lavender Room. He orders a drink, but the waiter asks for an ID. Soon Holden starts flirting with three women visiting from Seattle. He dance with three of them and he describes one of them a good dancer but thinks that they are morons. Holden soon becomes depressed by the women's obsession with movie stars. He eventually lies and says he just saw Gary Cooper, and one of the three claims to have also seen him. Eventually, Holden pays for their drinks, and departs.

Chapter 11

In the hotel lobby, Holden thinks about the summer that he spent with Jane Gallagher in Maine. Their families had rented neighboring houses, and Holden and Jane often played checkers and held hands. Once Jane's stepfather made her cry simply by asking for cigarettes. Holden comforted and kissed her. He comments that when he would hold Jane's hand he would be truly happy, and adds that she was the only person he ever showed Allie's baseball mitt. Now Holden remembers a bar called Ernie's that D.B. once took him to, and hails a cab.

part 2

Chapters related questions connection

Yes , of course everyone want to be famous in these days .and the reason why I want to become famous is that people will know you all around the world for your hard works. All these hard works arise from the passion inside you for a particular profession. Now a days everyone wants to be famous though, even those who does not have any positive goal. For example the three girls that Holden meet them in the lavender room were the types of person that loves to be famous despite of having any positive goal. As usual Holden calls them “morons”.

Proud is gratified, feeling honored, feeling satisfied or happy about a fact or event while conceited is having an excessively favorable opinion of one's abilities, appearance etc. In my opinion Holden is being a conceited guy .He is self-center, self-satisfied, and he thinks that everything has to be his way, that is why he is more lonely and depressed. Though he appear self-confident on the outside, but he is deeply skeptical about who he is and what defines him. Because he is insecure. In (pg. 78) Holden says “I started giving the three witches at the next table an eye again.” Holden give the three girls in the lavender room an eye, which means that he is interested in them, on the other hand he calls them witches. Which shows Holden’s conceited character.

part 3

Reflections

Holden seems to believe that only children Allie, Phoebe can understand him. Holden hates adulthood, but pretends to be older. He goes to the lavender room and tries to make connection with girls on the table. Again Holden successfully reveals the phoniness of others. But he is just as phony. His focus on other people reveals the extent to which he longs for companionship, love, and compassionate interaction to help him through a difficult period in his life. Holden’s memories of Jane are idealistic and un-sexual. He reference to Allie's mitt connects Allie to Jane. Holden thinks of them both in pure, idealistic terms. Holden really enjoy protecting and comforting Jane. “Practically sat down in her lap... Then she really started to cry…, I was kissing her all over—anywhere—her eyes, her nose, her forehead, her eyebrows and all, her ears—her whole face except her mouth”. This action of Holden actually does not show any sexual feelings of him for Jane, however it show more his care, love and emotions for Jane.

part 4

1.  Why does Holden seem so ambivalent about the adult world?

Holden is so ambivalent of the adult world because he tries to act like an adult. When he acts like one in front of other adults, they dismiss him because he's so young. In the Lavender Club in his hotel, he tries flirting with these 30 year old women. When he asks, "Would any of you girls care to dance?" (Salinger 70) they all laugh at him because they can tell he is just a kid. Holden doesn't understand it, so he keeps perusing until one of them dances with him, who ends up ignoring him because he's a little kid. Being unable to see that he's still a kid shows how he ambivalent of the adult world.

2    2. Why does Holden visit places he doesn't really like?

In the beginning of chapter 10, Holden stays in a hotel of New York city and he felt very solitary and nothing to do through his actions in the room.'' the one thing i hate to do is go to the bed when i am not even tired...... I thought i had go downstairs and see what the hell was going in the lavender room'' it shows he knows that place is a night club he cannot go and he hates to go due to his age. From my point of view, I think Holden goes to there because he feels lonely and solitary so he probably wants to chat with others and make friends with them. About the second guess, he wants to experience the life of adulthood earlier.

part 5

Media connection

Talkin' 2 Myself by Eminem

This is songs relates to Holden’s situation in this chapter .Holden is lonely and trying to find a companionship with anybody he meets and he sort of acts like nobody cares about his life ,and is always talking to himself and reminding his old memories .

Lyrics

Is anybody out there? It feels like I'm talking to myself
No one seems to know my struggle, and everything I've come from
Can anybody hear me? Yeah, I guess I keep talking to myself
It feels like I'm going insane, am I the one whose crazy?
(So why in the world, do I feel so alone?
Nobody but me, I'm on my own
Is there anyone out there, who feels the way I feel?
If there is, let me hear just so I know that I'm not the only one)

I went away I guess and opened up some lanes
But there was no one who even knew I was going through, growing pains