The Catcher in the Rye
... Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, in a way reminds me of Holden Caulfield's younger sister, Phoebe in The Catcher in the Rye. Phoebe is basically stripped of seeing her brother just like Demeter has had her privalege of seeing Persephone, and also how Charlie, in "Flowers for Algernon" isn't allowed to see his friends from work, or even go to work while his change is occuring. All of these characters have had something taken away from them. In these cases, they are all other beings, and those aren't always the easiest of things to deal with, especially when it comes to loss. Although bereavement is a term mostly used for loss of a person through death, it can also mean the loss of many other things. Demeter, Charlie, Algernon, Holden and Phoebe have all lost a relationship with somebody and in each story it has a harsh affect on their characters. Holden, copes by not getting close with anybody and kind of being that "phony" guy who just goofs around and misbehaves. Charlie, new to all of these feelings and emotions, doesn't know how to handle himself at all once he feels the pain of missing people and missing his usual life, so he as well tends to disobey and go against what Professor Nemur, Dr. Strauss, Alice Kinnian, and Gimpy say or tell him to do. In addition to rebelling against those characters once he has started his experiment, the book talks a lot about how when Charlie was disobedient with his parents when he was a child, he would be treated in cruel manners, all because he was developmentally handicapped, and couldn't always control his actions. Demeter, reacts in extreme ways. She refuses to grow crops for one third of each year. All through this novel, I found myself feeling sorry for the main character, Holden Caulfield. Although he is kind of an impulsively spoken, judgemental and an immature guy, he always seems to be alone and having nobody to turn to. Not unlike the relationship between the myth of Persephone and "Into the Wild", Holden Caulfield is almost the exact same source of grief caused for a parent. He doesn't live with his family, he lies, he sneaks around and manipulates people. All of the things that would disappoint a parent most and you can't stop yourself from feeling a little sorry for the parent. Also, in this novel, not only do I as a reader feel empathetic towards Holden's parents, but Holden Caulfield as well. It seems he feels empathetic in the sense that after he has read a book, he feels connected to the author and the characters of the story. I can really relate to that because once I finish a book, I feel as though a good friend or someone I've gotten to know, is now gone and everything just ended. Making that emotional connection can really make a book that much better. This book possesses the ability to get you hooked so you can't get enough of it, at least it did for me. If one doesn't get to that level emotionally and can't make the connections between Holden, and the plot of the story to themselves, then it is likely that they aren't going to feel so empathetic towards any of it. Holden Caulfield comes across as kind of a jerk and an insensitive guy, but small little things he says in the book and little actions of his that go unnoticed are what really portray him to be not such a bad guy. The quote "Then she really started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over…" really shows Holden's sensitivity and empathy towards this girl and how he really does make an effort to have a connection with somebody...
"What really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."- Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye.
"Then she really started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over…" - Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye.
