Taking a Step

       I requested my classes next year and I made sure I knew which ones I was choosing. My two areas of interest for college and a career are game design and psychology. With that being said, a few of my classes for next year should prepare me to take the first steps into these subject areas. I will hopefully be taking the psychology course and the 3D animation course next year. Both of these classes would prepare me for my areas of interest. Psychology, corresponding with my interest with psychology, and 3D animation, corresponding with game design. I hope to exceed in both of these courses.

Catcher in the Rye Exam Questions

1. What does Holden call his brother D.B. at the beginning of the story?

2. What's Holden's history teachers name.

3. What are the 3 books listed in chapter 3?

4. What type of people does Holden not like?

5. What did Holden write the story about?

6. Why do Holden and Stradlater fight?

7. Who does Holden go to the movies with?

8. After the fight with Stradlater, where does Holden sleep?

9. After Holden sees the writing, what does he imagine doing to the person?

10. What do Holden and the prostitute do?

11. How much does Holden pay the prostitute?

12. When the lady in the train asks Holden what his name is, what does he tell her it is?

13. What two characters are introduced in chapter 3?

14. When do we see Holden's tone change?

15. Who does Holden want to marry?

Presentation Notes

Chap. 4: In this chapter you get Holden's actual feelings towards Stradlater. Holden starts to like Jane on a personal level. Holden doesn't seem to be fond of Stradlater. It talks about how he doesn't want to do anything for Stradlater but can't say no.

Chapter 5: After they have their steak, Holden gets into a snowball fight. Holden and Mal go to the movies with Ackley.  Ackley starts telling Holden and Mal a story about a girl he had sex with. Holden talks about his brother who had died and the reason for his death. It shows he has feelings by the way he talks about his brother.

Chap. 6: The reader can realize Holden cares for people. He goes on a date with Jane. Stradlater doesn't like Holden's story about his brother's baseball mit. Holden starts smoking a cigarette which angers Stradlater because he fears the punishment. Holden uses words in different context.

Chap. 7: Holden asks to sleep in Ackley's room after his fight with Stradlater. He invades Ackley's space similar to the way Ackley did to him. Holden is insensitive anout Ackley's religion. More of Holden's contradictions are in this chapter. 

Chap. 8: After leaving Pencey, Holden heads to the train station. Holden talks about enjoying the train rides at night. A lady starts conversing with Holden about her son that goes to Pencey. Holden lies to this lady about her son, his name, and what he's about. She gets off at Newmark and wishes him a good travel. He points out how he loves every action she did.

Chap. 13: Holden's walking back to his hotel and starts imagining himself in certain circumstances. He nudges on how he takes loss, and how he doesn't care. Someone in the hotel asks him if he wanted to have sex with a prostitute. He doesn't care and says "yes". He compares the prostitute to him and how peculiar it is that she's so young. He decides he doesn't want to have sex with her and starts stalling. He makes an excuse so she won't do anything physical with him. He begs her to leave and still pays her. We discover how cowardly Holden is.

When the students taught the chapters, we got to see their thinking process. We get to see how in depth they go into their chapters. It was less effective because some groups didn't go that far into the book to the point where we got something that wasn't the plot. 

The Catcher in the Rye First Impressions

   I really liked how the book started. I could compare myself to Holden when he talks about wanting a "good- by" when you leave a school. I've gone through that before. Holden, in my opinion, also resembles many teenagers in high school now a days. He did drugs and gets kicked out of schools. A lot of students can compare to those experiences. I do, however, have a question about the story: What time period does it take place? The part about his friend buying a Jaguar for four thousand dollars made me curious. All in all I'm excited to keep reading the story.

Psychology

     Psychology is the study of the mind and its functions, primarily on how it affects behavior. I became interested in psychology because of how interesting the mind can be and how it affects our actions. Learning about psychology will help me interact with people in business and other lines of work. You need a doctorates in psychology to become a psychologists. I will start learning about my topic by taking a class on it next school year. I think I need to meet at least 1 professor that teaches psychology. I would continue to show my story on a new blog on Blogger. I think it would be cool to show what psychology can teach people.

Music As Literature

       A novel is a story with a beginning, middle, and end. That's what a novel, a poem, a rap, a song, an opera, and a symphony. They're different, however, in the style that they are written. A novel tries to tell an entire story, detail by detail. A poem tries usually tries to make you think with word play. A rap is usually a hard hitting beat with lyrics trying to make you boast. A song could be written in many ways depending on the audience. A symphony is instruments making a harmonic sound. Each of these attracts a certain audience. That's how these things are similar and different.

A Poem That Doesn't Suck

Do I Know You? by Ann Wittig

I'm sorry, I thought I knew you,

I didn't mean to stare,

Was that a smile of recognition, 

Just before that worried glare?

No, you're right, you're not the person,

The girl I knew was full of hope,

You're depressed and getting older,

You can hardly seem to cope.

She was young and full of energy,

There was nothing she couldn't do,

She had faith and joy and laughter,

No, you're right, she wasn't you.

Promise me, that if you see her,

You'll tell her that I really care,

And I miss her looking back at me,

From the mirror over there.

I think this poem doesn't suck because it tells a story. A lot of people can relate to it.