Ah, yes. The question that we kept asking throughout the novel, hoping that at each step Holden would improve, only to see him fall/fail, again and again. But, as I mentioned in class, Thomas Wayne rightly asked the young Batman “Why do we fall, Bruce?... So we can learn to pick ourselves up again.” This is really an important part of Batman Begins (2005) because following this advice, Bruce learns that mistakes are inevitable, and what’s important is how you learn from a mistake to not commit that same mistake again. We see something similar in Holden. Holden has a set of ideals which he chooses to follow (and bend when it fits the situation). Often, however, we see these ideals get him into trouble and he ends up making mistakes, which he then tries to rectify/cover up in the subsequent running commentary/narration. Lots of slashes there, I apologize for that, I hope it’s not too confusing.
But, we see a turnover in Holden in the last chapter of the novel. However late it might have taken him, we see an incredible growth in him. When Phoebe comes, Holden is slightly kinda shocked:
“She put the suitcase down. "My clothes," she said. "I'm going with you. Can I? Okay?" "What?" I said. I almost fell over when she said that. I swear to God I did. I got sort of dizzy and I thought I was going to pass out or something again .“
As soon as Phoebe says that she wants to go with him, Holden immediately refuses, without even thinking about it. Usually when Holden has to make a decision, we have a semi-long passage about Holden discussing his options, what he should do, or justifying what he is about to do. But here, we see a Holden who is firm on his decision. We see him taking leadership and responsibility for the first time.
What’s important here, is that Holden doesn’t act like coming of age. It’s not an act-- it’s something that happens automatically. He understands that there are some lines that must be drawn and cannot be crossed. But very soon into the scene, Holden recognizes what he’s done wrong. He quits arguing with Phoebe, puts a smile on his face, and like an adult with responsibilities, leads her to the carousel, where he watches her and admires youth. It is at that point that Holden also recognizes that he has crossed his age of youth, and is now an adult.
Sunday, March 1st
I think that you make a good point, and I also find it interesting that Holden "comes of age" by helping his younger sister skip school--an apparently immature act. In comparison to the alternative of letting her run away to the West with him, skipping half a day seems acceptable, but the fact that it is still breaking the rules may imply that Holden does not lose too many of his old ways when he matures in this scene.
ReplyDeleteTim, I think that skipping school the way that Phoebe did is fine. While I agree there are rules and in no way am I saying that you should skip school, but I think that during this period of time it's fine. Some things are beyond school. School is a path, and that path reaches you to a goal. As long as you stay on that path for the most part, it's fine. And, she is a little girl. I mean, I remember when I used to be in elementary school in France, I would skip 5 weeks each year for extra time in India. And because I was gifted :), like Phoebe, I could make it up. Not the same story at Uni.
DeleteI think you're right that Holden more or less comes of age. I was actually surprised by how mature he was acting in these scenes, and how quickly he rejected Phoebe's proposal to come with him. The book does a very good job of making you question whether he ought to come of age at all, but when he sees that his forming plans for the future aren't what he wants for Pheobe, he abandons his questions about society completely. this might seem strange if we're at all convinced by Holden's complaints. Is he somehow losing by being sucked back into the game despite his efforts to avoid it? I might think the answer to this question was yes if he didn't seem so content during the carousel scene. I think it's actually the only time we really see him really happy, which makes it seem like adulthood will be good for him after all. And the activities he partakes in in this section are not activities that he ever really had a problem with-- in fact, he stays in the rain while the other adults leave, which indicates that he won't be sucked into the adult crowd completely (this also might be a little throw back to the scene with the adults running from Allie's grave).
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