Homework for Lesson #7, The Curious Incident...

Jiaxing's Homework:

The story talks about, just the same as the title describes, one curious incident happened to a dog in the night-time—The dog, called Wellington, was killed by a fork which seems to belong to Mrs. Shears. The story is written in the first-person perspective, with the main character called Christopher, a young children who was suspected to be the person who killed the dog. So I would try to analyze his personality as possible as I could.

1.       Introverted

Christopher did not talk a lot. He liked being quite, thinking with himself.

2.       Not good at people skills/communicating 

I suggest that Christopher might not be able to express his feelings or thoughts. When he was talking to the police (chapter 11), it seems like he could not express what he saw or experienced. Instead, he was just busy answering police’s questions and felt extremely uncomfortable with this. Finally he hit the police and was brought to the police station. Part of the reason why he acted like this may because he is such an introvert.

3.       Logical

Obviously, Christopher liked Math and Science. He loved prime numbers, knew how the universe and the Milky Way works. This characteristic could also be seen from his reaction after entering the police cell. He could arrange his escape plan quite precisely and well-organized.

There are also several personalities could be generalized from some fragmentary paragraphs, as the result, those will not be summed those up in this simple summary

James' Homework:

The Curious Incident ..., similar to The Catcher in the Rye, follows a stream of consciousness narrative style. What is the meaning of this phrase? How is this demonstrated in the book? 

The stream of consciousness narrative style is a kind of style that used mostly in novel writings. It is not a normal style of narration, because it represents much freedom and a jumpy mind. Simply put, the stream of consciousness can be regarded as mind flowing like a stream. The author’s mind is just like the swift water in a little stream, it can go whatever it wants, so when writing in this kind of style, the writers always write everything they want or everything that maybe only emerge in their mind for several seconds. Sometimes, a passage using this kind of style may become mess, but readers may easily feel like he is talking to the author or a certain character in the book.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written in a stream of consciousness style. And the using can be seen on many different parts of the story.

Holden Caulfield, the main character of this book, showed us a lot of his own thinking. For instance, when he thought about wars, he abruptly mentioned that he wants to sit on a nuclear bomb and to be destroyed together with the whole world. There are many situations that Holden talked about things, which are not always related to the story, and this can be called the internal monolog, which is part of the stream of consciousness style.

Another way to using this style is called free association, which is to think of something when one is affected by other things. Through the free association, the thoughts given by the characters may become isolated and mess. In the book, when Holden got his red hunting hat, he imagined a period that he is fighting against some guy for his gloves; also, when being bullied by the elevator boy in New York, Holden imagined a scene often appears in movies, which is he got a gun and shot the bastards down and got his money back. These imaginations are all individual thinking, but at the same time, are all created based on several influences.

To my point of view, a stream of consciousness style novel is always fun to read, for that I enjoy flowing the character’s mind and join him in the book; I enjoy putting myself in other’s shoes when reading; I enjoy treating characters as friends not only because I can know them better, but I can know the deep meaning of the writing better as well.

Leo's Homework:

The Catcher in the Rye

Since the 1950’s, the general population has believed that they live in a peaceful society. However, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye completely changed my perspective. Although banned in many academic environments, Salinger perfectly describes the dark side of society from a teenager’s perspective. His novel has influenced my perception of society and adults; specifically, the concept of the “catcher in the rye” has deepened my understanding of the relationship between children and society.

The novel presents teenager Holden Caulfield’s views on adults and adulthood. Like him, I believe that adults are phony and sometimes lie to others for personal gain. However, I additionally believe these adults act badly because of the pressures that come with adult responsibility. Besides feeding themselves, adults have to look after and raise families, which requires money. Getting enough money to provide a safe environment for one’s children to grow up in may be difficult and require a lot of work hours, which will cause stress and anxieties.  And after reading the novel, I had a better understanding of adults’ frustration.

Moreover, the novel also provides a panoramic view of society rather than merely one person. It is true that Holden Caulfield never provides a solid, straightforward reasoning to defend his thoughts on society, though the reader can infer them from small pieces of the novel. Society’s dark side has been proven and shown in the novel in examples such as the prostitution trade, the weakness of the law when Holden drinks wine though he is under 21, and also from the indifference and numbness of characters. Formerly, I had thought that society is a place just as wonderful as the environment I had in primary school. However, New York City in The Catcher in the Rye changed my naive perspective and made me realize why and how illegal things can occur, the inefficiencies and weaknesses of the law, as well as prepared me for a more realistic future outlook—one aware of society’s cruelness and the need for subsistence.

The most important part of the novel is the meaning of its title. In one part, we learn that Holden dreamed of being a catcher in a rye to prevent children from falling off the cliff of a mountain. In reality, he represents people who are preventing these children from growing up. At first I found it illogical: what if all people don't grow up in their minds? Will civilization end? Then, I found out why Holden was trying to be the shield for the children: society is like a deadly stream, and Holden is afraid that this stream will drown these children. However, I believe that Holden should strive to teach them how to “swim” in the stream rather than keep them away from it. They will inevitably enter society one day, so they had better be prepared.

I still remember how Holden made me so confused and frustrated at times, yet just how much I agreed with him at others.  When Holden despises society and adults, I was at first confused as to why; when Holden describes his feeling of sadness and frustration, I couldn’t agree more as a teenager; and when he was trying to leave his home and be the catcher in the rye, I wondered where these thoughts even came from. I believe this book is not only my favorite, but also a guidebook for the world I will be stepping to, a reminder of the dangers I will face in the stream of society.