At no point in the novel does Holden claim that he is under an emotional conflict. Some say that Holden is undergoing an emotional breakdown, while others say that it is actually an emotional build-up. Discuss.
Blog#2 Holden is a very complicated character. In a way I think that he is going through both an emotional build-up and emotional break down. I think he in undergoing an emotional build-up because, initially, he has just been kicked out of school. His parents should be getting a letter from his principle any day informing them of the expulsion. This, along with feeling lonely, getting into a fight with his roommate and reacting with severe jealousy for his roommate, Stadlaters, date Jane is what is building up Holdens emotional tension. These feelings are what Holden is keeping inside, thus causing the accumulative feelings of pressure. All of this emotional pressure, is what will, in my opinion, lead to Holdens break down. You can slowly see, by chapters nine and ten, how finally his temper has gotten the best of him. The fight between Stadlater and Holden has led him to leaving his school early, and staying in a hotel. The way he desperately wants to talk to his sister, someone he trusts and confides in, shows his desperation for help and encouraging words. In reality the two emotions, I believe Holden is going through, emotional build-up and breakdown, are direct results of each other. The more negative emotion, he is clearly building up, is in the end going to create a greater fall or breakdown. More, is that because he doesn’t admit to this predicament, it continues to develop into a more immense problem. In ending, Holden is on an emotional roller coaster, including both ups and downs, and the more he denies this truth, the worse I think it will become.
It does not seem that Holden is going through an emotional breakdown but rather an emotional buildup. Many life changing events such as the death of his brother and getting kicked out of Pencey are good enough reasons for him to be stressed out, but he does not seem to let them faze him much. Those 2 dealings are only building blocks of his emotional status. When Holden decides to runaway to New York, he does not seem to be in a state of emotional distress like a person undergoing a breakdown. Holden gives the impression that he is running away from his feelings by leaving Pencey early. It appears that he is piling his emotions on top of each other and trying to suppress them, eventually he will have an emotional breakdown because of this. One could argue that the way in which Holden is narrating his story displays an unstable emotional condition. He expresses his thoughts in a random manner but only to disguise all of the emotional distress he is experiencing throughout his emotional build up. The words are helping him avoid what he feels and allow them to build upon each other.
As Candice has previously stated, Holden is indeed a complicated character. Unlike Candice, I believe Holden to be only experiencing a emotional break down. With many events in his life that had previously occured including the death of his brother, the relationship he built with Jane in a past summer and being kicked out of school to name a few, is a clear explaination of his outlandish behavior. To say that Holden is just experiencing an emotional build-up, in my opinion would be the events that have taken place to trigger emotions in Holden. Yet this would be no emotionas of which he physically in plain view acts upon. Unlike a build-up, we see the result of his emotions to the point of fighting, running away and compulsivly lying. With the issue of Holden fighting Stradlater, it shows that when Holden opened himself up to a friendship with Jane and couldn't stand the thought of his roomate just using her. Running away early from Pencey shows that he couldn't stand the atmosphere anymore and that by staying only brought more negative emotions when he didnt want to be there in the first place. Finally lying, in my opinion, as terrible as the situation he portrayed was, gave him another universe in which he didnt have to deal with the prior events that had unfolded in his life.
At this point in the book I do not see Holden facing an emotional breakdown but I do see one for the oncoming future. Holden continues to change with every chapter and as we find out more and more about him, we see that he is simply struggling to find stability. In this, we find an emotional buildup and I believe the start of it would be getting kicked out of school. It seems that with every chapter he continues to go downhill, even though along the way he is discovering more about himself and how to survive. This could be seen in the fact that he is gaining and using his independence. I do believe I will see a time in the future where Holden does finally succumb to the pressure but by no means do I believe that at the moment he is having an emotional breakdown. I feel that the author would do this breakdown justice and something so emotional and momentum in the book would not come by with relative ease, I think it would be extremely expanded on and clear. It would be tremendously difficult to start this book in that way anyways. As Holden gains more independence, loneliness and faces more problems along the way, I plan to see an emotional collapse but at the moment, he has not hit his breaking point.
4 comments:
Blog#2
Holden is a very complicated
character. In a way I think that he is going through both an emotional build-up and emotional break down. I think he in undergoing an emotional build-up because, initially, he has just been kicked out of school. His parents should be getting a letter from his principle any day informing them of the expulsion. This, along with feeling lonely, getting into a fight with his roommate and reacting with severe jealousy for his roommate, Stadlaters, date Jane is what is building up Holdens emotional tension. These feelings are what Holden is keeping inside, thus causing the accumulative feelings of pressure. All of this emotional pressure, is what will, in my opinion, lead to Holdens break down. You can slowly see, by chapters nine and ten, how finally his temper has gotten the best of him. The fight between Stadlater and Holden has led him to leaving his school early, and staying in a hotel. The way he desperately wants to talk to his sister, someone he trusts and confides in, shows his desperation for help and encouraging words. In reality the two emotions, I believe Holden is going through, emotional build-up and breakdown, are direct results of each other. The more negative emotion, he is clearly building up, is in the end going to create a greater fall or breakdown. More, is that because he doesn’t admit to this predicament, it continues to develop into a more immense problem. In ending, Holden is on an emotional roller coaster, including both ups and downs, and the more he denies this truth, the worse I think it will become.
It does not seem that Holden is going through an emotional breakdown but rather an emotional buildup. Many life changing events such as the death of his brother and getting kicked out of Pencey are good enough reasons for him to be stressed out, but he does not seem to let them faze him much. Those 2 dealings are only building blocks of his emotional status. When Holden decides to runaway to New York, he does not seem to be in a state of emotional distress like a person undergoing a breakdown. Holden gives the impression that he is running away from his feelings by leaving Pencey early. It appears that he is piling his emotions on top of each other and trying to suppress them, eventually he will have an emotional breakdown because of this. One could argue that the way in which Holden is narrating his story displays an unstable emotional condition. He expresses his thoughts in a random manner but only to disguise all of the emotional distress he is experiencing throughout his emotional build up. The words are helping him avoid what he feels and allow them to build upon each other.
As Candice has previously stated, Holden is indeed a complicated character. Unlike Candice, I believe Holden to be only experiencing a emotional break down. With many events in his life that had previously occured including the death of his brother, the relationship he built with Jane in a past summer and being kicked out of school to name a few, is a clear explaination of his outlandish behavior. To say that Holden is just experiencing an emotional build-up, in my opinion would be the events that have taken place to trigger emotions in Holden. Yet this would be no emotionas of which he physically in plain view acts upon. Unlike a build-up, we see the result of his emotions to the point of fighting, running away and compulsivly lying. With the issue of Holden fighting Stradlater, it shows that when Holden opened himself up to a friendship with Jane and couldn't stand the thought of his roomate just using her. Running away early from Pencey shows that he couldn't stand the atmosphere anymore and that by staying only brought more negative emotions when he didnt want to be there in the first place. Finally lying, in my opinion, as terrible as the situation he portrayed was, gave him another universe in which he didnt have to deal with the prior events that had unfolded in his life.
At this point in the book I do not see Holden facing an emotional breakdown but I do see one for the oncoming future. Holden continues to change with every chapter and as we find out more and more about him, we see that he is simply struggling to find stability. In this, we find an emotional buildup and I believe the start of it would be getting kicked out of school. It seems that with every chapter he continues to go downhill, even though along the way he is discovering more about himself and how to survive. This could be seen in the fact that he is gaining and using his independence. I do believe I will see a time in the future where Holden does finally succumb to the pressure but by no means do I believe that at the moment he is having an emotional breakdown. I feel that the author would do this breakdown justice and something so emotional and momentum in the book would not come by with relative ease, I think it would be extremely expanded on and clear. It would be tremendously difficult to start this book in that way anyways. As Holden gains more independence, loneliness and faces more problems along the way, I plan to see an emotional collapse but at the moment, he has not hit his breaking point.
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