Every time my family goes to my grandparents house, I’ll always see this little make-shift shack made out of ply-wood and crates and barrels. The crazy thing is that there’s always someone stopped and buying some homegrown authentic farm food. Makes me wonder what’s the difference between that and what we sell in the grocery store. Even these strangers know the difference between authentic and processed. Although book characters aren't the same as vegetables and pumpkins, they do have an obvious difference between authentic and phony. A lot of times when a book about is about a teenage character, the reader will be able to tell almost right away. An example of this might be Holden Caulfield from the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
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He doesn’t hide his true and honest feelings, just because adults were watching. Towards the middle of the book, they’ll read about a fight between Holden and Maurice. After Holden gets up and goes into that bathroom to take a bath, and then he lays in bed. Which is when he says, “what I really felt like, though, was committing suicide” (page 104). Not everyone has thoughts like these, but for those who do this would be a somewhat emotional passage. He was just in a physical fight with his roommate, and now just wants to disappear. I think we’ve all had that at some point or another. A little later they’ll read that Holden has made it to New York and is going out to meet a friend, Carl Luce, for drinks at a local bar. As he walks to the bar his mind races through old memories and of his older brother. He remembers D.B. telling him about his war experiences and how holden would never make it as a soldier. Which is when he says, “ I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented” and also adds “If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it” (page 141). He then ends the whole chapter with the statement, “I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will” (page 141). This ending is impactful because when most of the public knows how deadly the atomic bomb was, and how debated it is. Even with this knowledge, he still makes an unrealistic joke that can tie back to his depressed state of mind. Throughout the book the reader can tell that he is most definitely depressed. He even tells them flat out that he’s depressed. Like after he leaves Mr. Antolini’s house and spends the night on a chair in Grand Central Station. He says, “and I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (page 194). This quote will hit them like a brick, because he said earlier that he was depressed or wanted to kill himself, but never has he compared each time to the other.
He doesn’t hide his true and honest feelings, just because adults were watching. Towards the middle of the book, they’ll read about a fight between Holden and Maurice. After Holden gets up and goes into that bathroom to take a bath, and then he lays in bed. Which is when he says, “what I really felt like, though, was committing suicide” (page 104). Not everyone has thoughts like these, but for those who do this would be a somewhat emotional passage. He was just in a physical fight with his roommate, and now just wants to disappear. I think we’ve all had that at some point or another. A little later they’ll read that Holden has made it to New York and is going out to meet a friend, Carl Luce, for drinks at a local bar. As he walks to the bar his mind races through old memories and of his older brother. He remembers D.B. telling him about his war experiences and how holden would never make it as a soldier. Which is when he says, “ I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented” and also adds “If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it” (page 141). He then ends the whole chapter with the statement, “I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will” (page 141). This ending is impactful because when most of the public knows how deadly the atomic bomb was, and how debated it is. Even with this knowledge, he still makes an unrealistic joke that can tie back to his depressed state of mind. Throughout the book the reader can tell that he is most definitely depressed. He even tells them flat out that he’s depressed. Like after he leaves Mr. Antolini’s house and spends the night on a chair in Grand Central Station. He says, “and I think I was more depressed than I ever was in my whole life” (page 194). This quote will hit them like a brick, because he said earlier that he was depressed or wanted to kill himself, but never has he compared each time to the other.