Why so serious Holden......?

Summary
Holden’s day starts out by giving Sally (A girl Holden used to mess with) a call. He arrives to their date a bit early and remembers a boy who used to room with him. He states that the kid could really whistle, and he admired his whistling skills, but he never told him. When Sally arrives he completely forgot about her being late, they go to a play. As she spoke, Holden explains how he hates he use of the word “marvelous.” Holden hated most of the play. He constantly criticized the level of acting, and hated most of all The Lunts. After the first act, the two went outside with the other audience member. Outside Sally sees a guy she recognizes. Holden hated the guy by his very walk and the way he stood. Sally and the guy have a look and then after the play, Sally and Holden leave. The two decide to go skating. As they were putting their skates on, Holden notices a dress Sally was wearing, and he loved it. The two were horrible skaters, and after a couple times of falling the two take a seat and have a drink. Holden started a about leaving the skate rink and take a car to Massachusetts. He gets excited and grabs Sally hands and sais the two can rent a place, when she questions him about money, he answered he will find a job. Before long the two began to argue. Holden would have the last word and call Sally a pain in his ass. Sally was extremely offended and left, Holden apologized like a madman. Later that day Holden met up with a guy he used to know, Luce. Holden stated that Luce was easy going, and instead of giving him advice he talked about sec with the students. Holden admired his knowledge of flits in Hollywood. Holden, however, always thought that Luce was a bit of a flit himself. When Luce arrives the two order drinks. Holden commented on Luces’ sex life. Luce was offended and threatened to leave, but Holden did not want him to leave, he dropped the conversation, but only for a few seconds. When Holden did get Luce to talk about his sex life, Luce reveals he has been having sexually relations with a much older Chinese woman. Holden, in a very childish way, is excited and curious. He began to ask Luce a thousand questions a second. But Luce could only stay for so long; he left after saying “Take it easy.” Holden gets horribly drunk and leaves the bar with the help of a waitress. As he walks in the street, then park, Holden trips and breaks the record he bought his sister as a gift. Holden was at rock bottom, and took the broken record pieces and stuck them in his pockets. But, the memory of his sister and home drove him to walk all the way to his house. When he arrives his house, Holden sneaks in and ended up in his older brothers room (his sister was sleeping there), and woke Phoebe up. The two have a casual conversation, but Phoebe was too smart for him and asks him why he is here so early. When she figured out he was kicked out she screamed and cried, saying that their father would kill Holden. He than left the room and got some cigarettes.
Quote
“Please, have one more drink, I’m lonsome as hell. No kidding” (Salinger 149).
Reaction
Through out the book, Holden has not stated directly he is lonely. This is the first time he has ever blatantly showed his loneliness. After Luce left, Holden became raging drunk. He was not sad that Luce did not stay, but that he is alone. He called Luce for only one reason and that was to talk to someone. He was suicidal once, but this time he did not consider death one bit. He walked the streets alone after that, the park. When he entered his home, he was alone. Although Phoebe was in the apartment, it took Holden a total of thirty minutes to even have a single human contact.

The Cather in The Rye.....

Summary
Holden decided to go around town the next day he woke up. He was in a taxi when he began to talk to the driver, Horwitz. Their conversation was spent on the ducks at a lagoon Holden used to go to. Holden started the conversation by asking Horwitz where the ducks go every winter. Horwitz, referred to as easily sored by Holden, got excited about the conversation. He was being vague with his speech turning around and asking Holden “why the hell do you want to know such a thing”. Holden still admits to liking the guy as he seems like a nice guy. The cab driver did not even seem to even care about what Holden had to say, he jut spit some facts at him. In the end, the cab driver tells Holden that as a living being we just follow nature, there is no real reason to things. Holden entered a bar named Ernie’s, the bar is named after it’s owner, Ernie, a phony but at the same time a real good piano player from Holden’s perspective. In the bar, Holden sees a bunch of phony people and even meet up with his older brothers’ ex-girlfriend. He quickly got away from her using the excuse that someone was waiting for him. Holden walked outside in the cold. As he walked the forty-one blocks he wonders about who stole his gloves. Holden began to tell a story about how he would be at the guy’s room, and find his gloves, but he was still afraid to even punch him in the face. Holden reveals himself to be yellow deep inside. When he reached the hotel he met an elevator boy, who turned out to be a pimp. He told Holden he would send a girl up to his room; five bucks for a throw and fifteen until midnight. Holden meets the girl, her name is Sunny and she was very nervous and young. The two did not get along, like most females with Holden; she leaves with the five bucks. However, before she left she said it was supposed to be ten bucks. Maurice, the pimp came back to collect the money Holden owed him. Holden and he had a discussion, but it ended with a slap and a single punch from Maurice. After his humiliating beating, Holden wne to the bathroom, went to bed, and then wondered about suicide.

Quote
“It's no fun to be yellow. Maybe I'm not all yellow. I don't know. I think maybe I'm just partly yellow and partly the type that doesn't give much of a damn if they lose their gloves (Salinger 89).”

Reaction
Up to this quote I thought that Holden was real in a way. He acts how feels and talks how he feels. However, he explains he is a coward deep inside. Although it is natural to be fearful in violent situations, but he says he tries to act tough at times. This to me seems, in his words, phony. He acts all tough, but he underneath that tough exterior is just a scared boy. I find him to be hypocritical, he hates the very people that he can relate to.

Roar Post #2: The Cathcer in The Rye

summary


Holden starts out his walk leaving Pencey talking to a women he meets at the train station. He would quikly find out she is the mother of one of his schoolmates, a much hated boy he hints. However, Holden does not admit his dislike of Ernest. He instead, goes on a rampage of lies abotu how much of a wonderful person Ernest is. Holden would later arrive in Penn station, take a cab to a local hotel, and go to a party in the lavender Room. Before he ehads to the Lavender Room, he remebers his little sister, Phoebe. He refers to her as "Old Phoebe"(like he does with most people). He compliments her intelligence and kindness. For some reason this is the first tiem he mentions Phoebe, he did not mention Phoebe at all during his reminiscence of Allie. Holden would meet up with three women he was eyeing during his stay in the Lavender Room. He remarked that one looked okay, and the other two were guly. He danced with each of them, and always talked about their dancing. It was obvious he truly did not find anyone of them truly attractive. Holden would also refers to their conversations as dull and dry. He would later leave the Lavender Room minutes after the three ladies left and head to his room.
Quote

Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away. Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it, though, the same week I made it - the same night, as a matter of fact(Salinger 63).

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Holden is a teenage boy. He has a natrual interest in women, however he has a weird interest. He doesnt seem to have a praticular type, but he seems very picky. This quote however contridicts his thoughts of women. In this quote he seems more horny instead of his complex way of thinking. He is driven by emotion and chemicals, although he constantly portrays himself as a complex person, someone most people wouldnt understand. He also tries to portray himslef above adults and teenagers, as if he is the only sane person in the world. But he only ends up looking childish in the end, and more specifically like a teenager.

Reaction to The Catcher in the Rye

Summary
Holden is the main character of the book. He plainly states t the reader he has no intention of sharing his childhood. He is also a proven potty mouth; he swears a lot and repeats them endlessly after every single page. At first he talks as if he doesn’t care about anything, as if he doesn’t care about life, school, his parents, anything. However, when Jane was brought up, Holden seemed a bit nervous (Jane was once a friend of Holden’s years ago). Holden was obviously jealous of his roommate, Stradlater, because of his “relationship” with Jane. Holden was intensely angry at Stradlater, and tried to fight him. After his feud with Stradlater, Holden decided to leave Pencey; a boarding school he was going to but would be kicked out on Wednesday. The main question left unanswered about Holden is, why is he such an angry and unhappy person?
Quote

“I’m pretty illiterate but I love to read” (Salinger 18).

Reaction
Throughout the chapters I read, I have realized Holden has a passion for English. He even indirectly states he is an English wiz by quoting Stradlater. It seems like reading and writing is his, but he’s not the only one that shares this passion. Holden’s older brother and younger brother have this passion. Holden’s older brother is a writer, and Archie (his younger brother) used to write poems on his base-ball mitt. But the word that still throws me off of this theory is the word “illiterate.” I’m assuming Holden has received a decent education, with his father being a Governor, his brother being a writer, and his education at a boarding school.

What happend after Alexander

Summary
Demetrios was the inheritor of Alexander’s Empire after the Emperor’s death. However, when news of Alexander’s death touched the ears of conquered regions, revolts exploded. All the family of Alexander; the nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, and cousins all tried to capture there own piece of the kingdom. Like a huge soap opera marriages quickly took place, alongside divorces, murder, and adultery. On a world view, newly freed kingdoms organized against Demetrios who was now growing an ever more powerful army and nation. His political influence steadily grew, but as his army grew, so did the armies of his rivals. However, sickness would take Demetrios’ life; one of the many Ptolemy’s of the time would take his place. Ptomly the second, was not as ambitious as Alexander. He only extended his political and territorial reach to aggravate or embarrass his rivals. His life would also be cut short by illness and Alexander the fourth would take his place. Alexander the fourth, like his grandfather, was incredibly ambitious and an intelligent man. His succession as king did not bring civil war or the collapse of the government, on the contrary to earlier successions. Alexander drove away invaders from the west, as his siblings and extended family fought for dominance over kingdoms. Their cockiness and self-centeredness only brought the collapse of their kingdoms.

Quotation
“In the mean time they had, by their self-centeredness and obduracy, effectively wrecked their own empire” (Grainger 193).

Reaction
Alexander’s death only brought a snowball effect of revolts and a lot of drama. Each year a new war would break out between recently conquered nations and kingdoms. Everyone tried to take what they could from what was left of the empire, like the homeless in the play “A Christmas Carole.” Every member of a family played its part in the wars, and countless murders after the death of a single man. But for all of their greediness they got nothing in return but mass chaos and civil war. It was as if the entire world wanted to conquer the entire world, what was left was the death of many and the gain of nothing.

Summary
Alexander made a name for himself during the beginning of the Persian conquest. His enemies were extremely fearful of his army and his cruelty. Alexander would burn down the villages in Persia with all of its citizens in the village. The western part of Persia was completely taken over by Alexander. The king of Persia and the village leaders remaining had a meeting on what to do with the villages taken over. The meeting united the armies of Persia into a massive army rivaling the army of 1 million during the Greco-Persian war. The Persian elites, the immortals, were trained tougher. Persia also stretched its reaches to northern Africa and hired mercenaries. The Persian army would soon find out their numbers meant nothing against Alexander’s cunning and brilliance. The army bit by bit would be wiped out, the king and his generals would have their heads cut off. After the war, Alexander set his eyes on a rising new power, India.

Quotation
“Egypt and Persia surrounded Alexander’s new goal, India. Its army was said to harbor some of the greatest warriors of all time, during the ancient era”(Grainger 121).

Reaction
The author wrote of India’s ferociousness, the army was as massive as the Persian army. But the worst thing about them was that they were nearly unknown by Alexander and his loyal army, the Greeks and Macedonians never reached India or even faced any of their soldiers. Alexander took a huge risk of invading the country without even knowing who his enemy was. India was, however, his final destination; he would not go any further. His ultimate dream caused his ultimate death.

Alexander's ambitions

Summary
When Alexander became king he was bombarded with the enemies of Macedonia. His father left for him a powerful empire to hold his own against these enemies. To the West was the nemesis of Greece for countless generations, Persia. To destroy the Persian Empire and to do neither what Greeks nor any Macedonians has ever done, Alexander must create a stable and even more powerful military then his father did previously. He makes allies with countries neighboring the Persian Empire. His tactics were quick cruel and ingenious. Alexander would show his cruelness by burning entire villages to the ground if they did not yield to him. His ingenious was shown through his deceiving Persian Empires, and being able to hide an entire army out of sight from the Persian Empire.

Quotation
“He surly realized from the start he was dealing with a territory in which no Greek or Macedonian has ever been able to cope….”(Grainger 78)

Reaction
This quote is important because it represents what Alexander was doing his entire career as an emperor of Macedonia; he faced off powerful nations to which no Greek or Macedonian faced. This quote, if read deeply, may show his ambitious character. It also shows his means to try what most have either failed to do or were to scared to do, he faced off against some of the most dominant forces in the ancient world and nearly came on top of all of them.

Second Roar post

Summary
Under King Philips rule, Macedonia quickly conquered its neighbors. Its main rivals were the southern Greek states, primarily Athens. The wars Macedonia waged would catch the immediate attention of Greeks most powerful city-states, Sparta and Athens. Athens was the yang to Macedonia’s yin. The two states would be fierce rivals under Philips rule, and would wage wars that would determine the future of Western and southern Greece. It would take some years until Macedonia controlled all of Greece, but not without the death of King Philip. His son Alexander became his successor. Alexander from the beginning had a tight grip on the kingdom of Macedonia. He was young, and presumed inexperienced, but his fathers most trusted commanders stood behind him. Neighboring nations underestimated him, and were baffled to be meet merciless attacks from Alexander.

Quotation
"Alexander was brought up in the Macedonian Court. He had observed and learned from his father, he also replaced his father as head of command more than once." (Grainger 67)

Alexander was raised to become a war king. He already had experience a number of battles, and was also a commander during the fights. His fathers life was an enitre influence to his own life.

Questions
Why wouldn't the southern and western Greek states band together and fight off the growing Macedonian empire?
What was the point in King Philip signing a peace treaty with Athens when he knew the two sides would be in war within a week?
What was going through the minds of soldiers and families within Macedonian and the countries it fought?

First pages of, Alexander the Great Failure

Summary
The story begans with a very short summary of Alexander's father, Philip the second. Phillip was the first king to put Macedonia on the map. His achievement was nearly unmacthed, his empire spread into other Greek city-states. King Philip was an influence for the next generation, he left in his wake an accomplishment that was hard to compete with. His son Alexander would not only compete with it, but surpass it to such an extant his name is recalled to this day. But his empire was doomed to fall as it slowly grew.

Quotation
"...the downfall of his empire was doomed from the start as he could never be statisfied with what he had..." John Grainger 3.
Th quotation is important because that one sentence will be the main idea of the book; the unstatisfacory feelings of Alexander, the mistakes he made because of his greed, and what he paid because of his actions.

Questions
King Philips empire isnt thoroughly explained, why is that?
What happens after the death of Alexander, besides the fact the empire breaks down?
What became of Alexanders' family members before, during, and after his empire existed?