"While I was laying there trying not to think, I heard old Stradlater come back from the can and go in our room. You could hear him putting away his crumby toilet articles and all, and opening the window. He was a fresh-air fiend. Then, a while later, he turned off the light. He didn't even look to see where I was at.
"It was even depressing out in the street. You couldn't even hear any cars anymore. I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up."
I chose this excerpt because I think that everyone can relate to this at some point in their lives. Everyone, I'm assuming, knows how it feels to be lonely and knows how this feeling can eat away at you.
In my opinion, I think that Salinger was trying to show that even the people who seem to be all together, or the people who don't really give a crap, can still feel sad or lonely sometimes. I guess he's trying to show that it's not always what's on the outside, you really need to get to know a person to know what they are truly like.
One question that I had while reading this was, if Ackley bothers Holden so much, why does he go over to Ackley's room when he is in need of a friend?
I have the same question Halle. Ackley kid bugs the crap out of Holden so why does he feel a sort of comfort towards him. I'm wondering if it is because he's so lonely and Ackley is the only one around (that hasn't gotten in a fight with him). I totally agree with the whole lonely aspect of Holeten, we can all relate to that in some ways. I talked about the part where he was so angry with Stradlater that he decided to hit him. I feel that all of us have experienced this type of anger towards someone too.
ReplyDeleteI had questions about that too. Holden does this thing where he complains and hates all of the people around them. Then when he is in need of someone or help, he goes right back and will talk to them even though he will say that they bug him and it kills him. Also, i can definately relate to this and i assume most people still can.
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