Blog Option One
The old baseball mitt serves as representation of Holden's love for his deceased brother Allie. When he writes the story for Stradlater, Stradlater simply does not understand and is very rude to Holden about the story. It is like the Article on how the car has a rattle but the guy at the dealership does not hear it, he doesn't understand. Or how the author talks about how others may not understand what you go through and what your struggles are, and how she reassures that she knows we all have something like that and she understands.
The writer takes the idea of a rattle in a car and transforms it into the idea that we all have things that trouble/ bother us or is sensitive to us that not everyone may understand, but we always have someone that believes us. The article is about knowing that there is always someone going through what you are and somebody understands. The second half could apply to Holden because he keeps everything inside and doesn't tell anyone about what he feels or what he is going through, and he thinks others wouldn't understand. He could relate to when the writer says "Maybe not in your kinda newish car. Rather, that thing that is a thorn in your side, that others can't see or detect you're told to get over... I'm validating your rattle... I believe it's there" (Kagan). He doesn't tell anyone about the mitt because he thinks they wouldn't understand like when Stradlater doesn't understand why he wrote about a mitt for his paper. "'For Chrissake, Holden. This is about a - baseball glove' ... 'No wonder you're flunking the - out of here'... 'You don't do one - thing the way you're supposed to. I mean it. Not one - thing.'" (Salinger 41). Holden has times like this that make him believe no one understands but there always is someone.
I think the connection you made between stradlater and the guy at the dealership was really interesting, and it was something I didnt think about until you brought it up. I think the quote that would best show this situation, "I told ya it had to be about a god**m room or a house or something," because it is very obvious he doesn't understand why he wrote about his brothers baseball glove. Do you think that, if Holden was a little more open about his past and how much his dead brother meant to him, stradlater would be nicer and more understanding about this situation and why?
ReplyDeleteYou made a great connection of the rattling in the car meaning trouble sometimes . I think you picked a great quote for this"Maybe not in your kinda newish car. Rather, that thing that is a thorn in your side, that others can't see or detect you're told to get over... I'm validating your rattle... I believe it's there" (Kagan). Then my question for you is do you think that the glove would still have meaning if his brother was still alive.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the compliment on my use of the quote from the article. I don't think it would have as much significance if his brother was still alive because he wouldn't need the glove to remember him.
DeleteThe connection that you made is really interesting, I didnt really think about it that way until you wrote about it in your blog. I love the way you connected the rattle to someone understanding what someone is going through. But Nelson made a great point, as I'm to going to ask a similar question. Why doesn't Holden ever tell anyone what he is going through so people can understand?
ReplyDeleteThe sentence "The writer takes the idea of a rattle in a car and transforms it into the idea that we all have things that trouble/ bother us or is sensitive to us that not everyone may understand, but we always have someone that believes us." is a very good line. I liked the analogy as it brought about a very good discussion topic. One question that i have is if everyone has problems why is it hard to communicate them sometimes? What are the obstacles and things stopping us from telling out?
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