"All those Montagues and Capulets, they're all right--especially Juliet--but Mercutio, he was--it's hard to explain. He was very smart and entertaining and all. The thing is, it drives me crazy if somebody gets killed--especially somebody very smart and entertaining and all--and it's somebody else's fault. Romeo and Juliet, at least it was their own fault" (Salinger 111).
Some say that to truly know a person, you should look to his or her friends. Well, Holden doesn't tell us too much about his friends (the few he has) and even the ones he has, he rarely has good things to say about them. Perhaps, for Holden, we can't learn much about him from his friends, but how he interprets events, ideas, and stories he encounters or comes in contact with.
For example, what Holden says about the disciples and Jesus in chapter 14. Holden seems to have a different view about them than most people, what might this reflect about Holden's personality?
In chapter 15 we hear Holden's opinion of Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet. While it seems to be his favorite character, there is something overall that bothers Holden about him. Holden views Mercutio as an intelligent and intriguing character, which makes him extremely upset to learn that Mercutio is killed because of the fight between Romeo's and Juliet's families, something unrelated to Mercutio himself.
Why do you believe Holden becomes so upset at this fact? Holden says he is OK about Romeo and Juliet dying because it was "their own fault", but what upsets him about Mercutio's death?
In a way, some may find it weird, but perhaps we all have a tendency to lean towards characters who either:
1) Have beliefs/qualities we deeply honor or find important.
2) That we see a bit of ourselves in them.
For example, as a kid I loved The Lion King. For many people their favorite characters are Simba, or maybe Timon or Pumba. But for me, my all-time favorite Disney character (from Lion King or any other Disney/Pixar movie) is Rafiki. Why? He's not one of the biggest characters in the story. However, I've always been drawn to "sage-like" characters in stories. Someone who isn't exactly the hero of the story, but someone who helps guide the heroes to the answers they seek so that they may better themselves. Hmm...where else do I do something like that? :-)
For homework I would like you to do ONE of the following:
1) If you aren't familiar with him already, look up Mercutio and his role in "Romeo and Juliet". This could be famous quotes (though it can be a little challenging in Old English), a character analysis/etc. and using information from what you find, explain why you think Holden is so attached to Mercutio.
2) Think about your favorite story/movie/etc. is your favorite character the main one or a secondary character and why? Do you believe your connection to that character is similar to Holden's with Mercutio? Why or why not?
2nd
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie is "Iron Man 2." My favorite character in this movie is a main character because the movie shows him more often than other characters. I don't think there are not any connections between Tony Stark and Holden's with mercutio because Tony Stark is still alive, and he is not a secondary character like Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet."
2 Les Miserables ; My favorite character in the movie 'Les Miserable' is Eponine. She did one-sided love but for her love, she sacrifices herself. She did her best for her friend, so that is why she is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI think there's a connection between Eponine and Mercutio, because they eventually sacrificed themselves in the end.
2 My favorite movie is 'Twilight' and my favorite character is a secondary character who is Jacob. Jacob always care and look for Bella. Also, Romeo's friend Mercutio cares about Romeo and he keeps Romeo from danger. There is a connection between both characters eventhough they are not a main character. Jacob and Mercutio both try to keep main character from danger.
ReplyDelete2)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie name is 'The Snowman.' and my favorite character is also a snowman. He is a main character but die because of a hot sunlight. The reason why I like the snowman is that I like his kindness about a child who is also a main character.
I can tell it is similar to Holden's with Mercutio because I liked him in the movie and his death makes my heart painful.
CHOICE 1:
ReplyDeleteMercutio is a close friend of Romeo and Benvolio, and he is the one who ask Romeo to come with him to a masked ball at Lord’s Capulet’s estate. Then in a masked ball, Romeo steals away to Juliet, with whom he has fallen in love. When Mercutio sees Romeo next day, he is glad that Romeo is happy again, and encourages Romeo to meet Juliet again.Then, Romeo receives a death threat from Juliet’s cousin named Tybalt, and Mercutio expects Romeo to engage Tybalt in a duel. However Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt because Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin. Then, Mercutio decides to fight Tybalt himself and It turns out, Mercutio was killed by Tybalt stabbing.
In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden felt sorrier when old Mercutio got killed than when Romeo and Juliet did because it drives him crazy if somebody gets killed when the person is very smart and entertaining and all and it’s somebody’s fault (CITR, pg. 111). Holden is so attached to Mercutio because Holden has gone through a traumatic event in his life, which is his smart brother Allie’s death. I guess even though the way of Allies and Mercutio’s deaths are different, he thinks that Allie and Mercutio have so much in common, basically he doesn’t want the nice and intelligent people to died for other people.
Also Holden has common thing with Mercutio because in the story Holden talks about the luggage and it distracted him when his roommates have different quality of luggage. In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio doesn’t like when Tybalt shows off his tangible possession. This is one similarity that Holden and Mercutio have, they both like equality and hate showing off.
My favorite story is "History of the Three States" and my favorite character is "Guan Yu". Because he had strong loyalty for his brother Yubi even though he threw out his life. I love that kind of person. I think there is a connection between Guan Yu and Mercutio a little bit, because they died because of others.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite movies is "The sound of music" and my favorite character is "Maria". The reason why I like that she tries to seek her happiness and real purpose to live. Also she is vigorous. So I like this character, but there are some differenties between Maria and Mercutio such as their role, importance of the role and result although they are vigorous. So, I think there is not connection between two characters.
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ReplyDeleteMy favourite movie character is Jack Efron in "High school musical". I like him because he is one of the best basketball player and also the leader of the team. Moreover, he has a beautiful girlfriend, Vanessa. His school life became my dream when I was in highschool.
The relationship between Holden and Mercutio is completely different with mine. Efron is one of the most positive and alive person in the movie not like Mercutio.
My favorite movie is brotherhood, and my favorite character is main character, called Jin Tae Lee. The reason why I like the Jin Tae Lee is because whatever the situation is, he always takes care of his younger brother. I think that my connection to Jin Tae Lee is similar to Holden with Mircutio, because I was sorrowful when he died, and this is similar to Holden.
ReplyDelete2nd.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie is Architecture. In the movie, there is a couple which is main storymaker. But the man's friend is so impressive for me. He looks like old style and ridiculous man. He is supporting role of the story, but most people including me prefer him. I learned an importance of supporting characters. I think it's similar to what Holden like.
Choice 2
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie is a "The Dark Knight". The character that I like the most in this movie is a Joker.Heath Ledger played the Joker and expressed this character very well.But, I don't have any connection to Joker like Holden to Mercutio. I was just satisfied with Heath Ledger's acting ability about expressing madness of the Joker.
My favorite movie is 'The Loard of Ring' and my favorite character is Gimli who is secondary character to help the main character. He is always with Aragorn and helps him to be a king. Also he doesn't care any dangers for Aragorn. I admire Gimli in that he does anything that can be heplful for Aragorn. So, there are any similarities between me & Gimli and Holden and Mircutio.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie is "Secret" and "Xianglun" is my favorite character of the movie. He is the main character. The reason I like him is because he is good at playing piano and many girls like him lol. My dream is also about music so I really like person who is a good piano player. I think there is no connection between "Xianglun" and Mercutio because "Xianglun" miraculously survived at the last.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie is 'Cinderella story'. I like the main character sam most because she gets through all the hard time in her ways and the way she lives became sort of wannabe life. I don't think there is a connection between me with sam and holden with mercutio. Holden's perspective to mercutio was getting upset but I do not feel upset about sam. I just feel great about whatever she does.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie is 'The dangerous Marriage'. I like the sub character Jin Hu because as the main charater's brother Ji Ho, he takes care of Ji Ho whenever he is depressed. Jin Hu even followed after Ji Ho as he was so worried. I think Jin Hu and Mercutio has the same charater rolt. Holden is upset about Mercutio because he's selfishness and sacrifice ends to death.
ReplyDeleteOption 2.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite movie character is Spiderman in "Spiderman" series. I prefer him because he is a hero in America and he always solve all the problems what bad guys are making. Also, he is brave all the time. I think he doesn't have any connection with Mercutio. Spiderman is very brave person and he is a main character not a secondary character like Mercutio.
One of my favorite movie is 'The lord of the rings' and one of my favorite character in this moive is 'Sam' who helps and always follow 'Frudo' as a shadow.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I like him is he sacrifices his life for the big thing such as world piece. I think it is hard thing to choose between his own life and work for the world piece. Not only sacrificing for the world piece, but also just sacrifice for someone else is hard. In this aspect, I like Sam in this movie.
Moreover, I think there is some connection between Mercutio and Sam. They both help Romio and Frudo respectively and they both are friends who can understand each other the most than others.
In my case, I think I have similar connection to Sam such as Holden to Mercutio.
Firstly, Holden hate Romio who is being helped my Mercutio and I also hate Frudo because in this movie, he shows lots of stupid things. Representatively, he hesitate to throw the ring into the lava. His action could make every efforts into a dust. How silly he is.....
Lastly, Frudo gets in danger thousands of time because of Sam. Mercutio also died because of Romio's fault. In this movie, Sam didn't died, but he was almost dead due to Frudo's decisions. It made me really angry while I was watching the movie.
Holden and I both hate Romio and Frudo respectively. I think we all don't want to see smart and entertaining person gets hurt by someone else's fault.
So, I think my connection to Sam is similar to Holden's with Mercutio.
This answer is for second option
DeleteChoice 2
ReplyDeleteHolden lacks of understanding or sypathizing the bondness among people who are whether very close or not. That is the reason why he does not like Romeo after Mercutio dead. He could have recognized the relationship between two guys, but could not empathized their feeling which led Romeo to killng the Mercutio's counterpart.
When you watch the movie "Take Off", you probably learn how to put yourself in other's shoes. It is very good example to find the strong family-bond. All family members breath and tear together from far apart-their sons are the national team of ski jump. The team was about to win the medal, however the talented member of them was injured. For better or worse, the last member who was not trained enough to play the game took off the ski jump ledge and failed. You may watch his family, whose heart was split into thousands of pieces in hometown. Then it must be easy and to think that why Holden lacks the ability to catch the subtle emotion once appreciate this sentimental secne.
Option 2.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite character is ironman. I prefer him because he is the hero who always saves people and solve the problem.
He didnt care about what he did.. just help people
I think Iron man doesn't have similarity with Mercutio.
Choice2
ReplyDeleteMy favorite story is "Harry Potter"series. It now has many chapters in books, and also in movies. It's main character is ofcourse, Harry Potter who can use magic power. In the story he has this special power to use and intelligence. I think he has strong connection to Mercutio. Mercutio is one of the helper who helped Romio and Juliet get together. Similary to this, Harry Potter also helps so many people and creatures in his life. In every chapter, he trys to help people. For example, he helps doby, Mr.Dumbledor. We can know that Holden will also like Harry Potter.
2nd
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say that my favorite movie is "Beautiful Creatures". Rather than any secondary characters, I like the main character, Lina due to her bravery. She made a big decision for her lover and that's such a hard thing for that age girl. So I respect her and she made me to resemble her.
I don't think there's any connections between Mercuito and Lina since she's the main character in the movie.
Choice 2
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite charcter is "Jun Seok" in movie "friend". Jun seok is best friend of "Dong su". When Dong su got in trouble, jun suggest to leave and move to another country, but dong su ignored jun's suggestion and faced death. Jun really take cared dong su. Actually there are no similarity between Mercutio and Holden.
Choice 2
ReplyDeleteOne of my fovorite character is "Hazzi" in moie "Hazzi". Hazzi is a dog that who really want to meet his owner. But his owner was died because of heart attack. So Hzzi went to station and wait and wait for 10 years and finally dead. It seems not but resembled Mercutio because of their grat truth.
Choice 2
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite movie character is "Wall-E" in "Wall-E". Wall-E is a robot to turn a trash into a box. His purpose is to clean the Earth. But he is different from others. He is romantic and innocent. He believes "Love". At a sudden, he meets another robot named "Eve". He crushes on her(actually, robots are usually sexlessness. But in the movie, Wall-E appears male and Eve appears female). When Eve returns to her plane forcefully. Wall-E follows her and finally he saves her and the Earth. Actually there are no similarities between Mercutio and Wall-E.