"You should've heard the crowd. . .you would've puked"

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain"

-Lily Tomlin

When you plan on going out, whether it be with friends or a night on the town by yourself, what tends to be the purpose? What are the first thoughts that enter your head? 

"I'm just looking for a fun time with good people"

Or

"Everything is going to terrible"

For most of us (I'm hoping) it would be the former choice. In life we find comfort and happiness in familiar places and preferably with familiar faces. Happiness should be present everyday, and we should surrounded by it as much as possible. When we think there isn't anything to be happy about, some researchers suggest that we aren't thinking broadly enough about what happiness is. 

For some, happiness is more money, a better job, higher grades, but when you think about it (depending on your interpretation) that is just an invitation to always be unhappy. If we believe happiness is always more than what we currently have...then it would follow that we will be consistently unhappy since we always need more than what we have.

Alternatively, some researchers (within the happy-go-lucky fields of positive psychology) suggest that we should find at least three things everyday that make us happy, and that with time our definition of happiness changes, becomes more flexible, and we find happiness more frequently.

How about Holden in Chapter 12? Which mentality does he seem to adopt? Finding the happiness in everything (which is very like Holden) or finding reasons to be negative about everything?

For homework: after you read chapter 12, I want you to choose three lines you feel best capture the essence (the main idea) of how Holden feels during his time at Ernie's. Then post it in the comment section below. Here's an example using lines from Chapter 2 to describe how Holden felt while talking with Mr. Spencer:

I can't stand that stuff.

Please don't worry about me.

I didn't wanna hurt his feelings.

The three lines are taken directly from the text (without being changed at all), and used in a way to try and capture (in very few words) what was going on in Holden's head during his talk with Mr. Spencer. I would like you to do the same using Chapter 12 and how he feels in Ernie's.

Have a great weekend (or Monday :-P) ladies and gentlemen. Keep up the great work, and dare to be curious. :-)

I'd of bought the three of em a hundred drinks...if only they hadn't told me that

"She's very emotional for a child, she really is."(Salinger 68)

So, Holden's finally good and settled in his hotel in New York. And who wants to spend their first night back in The Big Apple just sitting around doing nothing? Not Holden, that's for sure. So we find the majority of this story happening in "The Lavender Room": a nightclub attached to the hotel Holden is staying in. 

Holden, being underage, finds himself unable to drink and (as always) pretty annoyed at everything going on around him. Strange...considering what he has to say about his sister (Phoebe) being emotional for a child. Hmm...who else do we know that tends to be rather emotional? What does this tell us about that character? Maybe they aren't as mature as they think.

As we talked about in class today, maturity is a funny thing. For many of us, in some ways we want to grow up and mature. In other ways, we fight maturity. As we say in the United States:

In other words...the fact that we age, is unavoidable. However, our maturity? Well, let's just say it's more of a choice :-). Let me give you an example. My family tends to be very informal people. Whether you're new to the family or you are born into it, most of my family gatherings are filled with inappropriate jokes, childish pranks/games, and people in their 50s and 60s acting like they are in their 20s. My father, a man I always turn to for advice and wisdom, has the same maturity as a college student when my brother and I are around, but at the same time is still often quite sophisticated and appropriate when he needs to be. 

Does this mean it is impossible to be both mature and immature? How can we perceive maturity and immaturity? 

Is it a scale? That as one end becomes heavier, the other side appears to be lighter?

Maturity

Immaturity

Is it more like two piggy banks? Where every action we do is like we are adding a coin to one or the other? Both filling up, never emptying, but a certain balance between the two where sometimes maybe one has more deposits than the other?

Or is it like walking the tightrope? ALWAYS on that fine line drawn between the two, and at any moment you can bend one way or the other?

For homework, I want you to explain how you view maturity/immaturity. And then use evidence from chapters 9 & 10 of CITR to explain where you think Holden falls into your analogy. Post your answer in the comments section below.

Keep up the great work ladies and gentlemen! Dare to be curious! :-)

-Barton