Monday, June 3 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Due Wednesday, June 5   vocabulary 13
Due Friday, June 7   college essay
On Tuesday, June 6 Ms. Haydn will be giving the class the district test.  I am in the building all day, if you need assistance.
In class: review of the figurative language practice from Friday
NOTE: your ELA exam is Tuesday, June 11 at 8:15.
            

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCAaEbCDovQ
This will be our last work week. We are watching the film version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Below you will find some background material, which we'll go over in class.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Review  by Don Willmott

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner may be stagey at times and fairly implausible, but this semi-classic drama, which happens to star two cinematic titans in their finest -- and in one case final --hours, is absolutely essential viewing. Fifty years old now, the issues it dared to raise at a time when they were extremely controversial still echo across the decades. It's dated a bit, but to watch it today is to measure how far we've come.

In 1967's San Francisco, after the Civil Rights Act has been signed but before Martin Luther King has been assassinated, young Joanna Drayton (Katharine Houghton) arrives back at her parents' upscale home after being away from a while. Her parents, the prominent liberal newspaper owner Matt Drayton (Spencer Tracy) and his elegant wife Christina (Katharine Hepburn) are delighted to see her but are suddenly taken aback when she reveals that she's had a new boyfriend for 10 days, he's 14 years older, she's in love, she's going to marry him, and she needs their blessing tonight. Oh, and he's 'colored.' As Joanna blithely explains, 'It never occurred to me that I would fall in love with a Negro, but I have, and nothing's going to change that.'

As for the man in question, Dr. John Wade Prentice (Sidney Poitier) is Mr. Perfect (which he probably had to be or the movie never would have gotten made). A prominent and eloquent research doctor, he's off to Geneva in a few hours but wants to meet the parents to explain himself and get their approval before he leaves. It becomes even more urgent when Joanna decides to leave with him that very night and after John pulls Matt aside and tells him that he won't go through with the marriage if Matt disapproves.

While Christina sees the romance in her daughter's eyes, Matt is floored and furious and totally unwilling to be rushed or bullied into a quick decision. And that's nothing compared to Tillie (Isabel Sanford), the Drayton's long-time maid and cook, who despises Prentice on sight and tells him so with comments such as 'I don't care to see a member of my own race getting above himself,' and 'Civil rights is one thing. This here is somethin' else.' Mocking him by calling him Martin Luther King and reminding him that in the end he's just some 'nigger,' she's a shocking yet realistic voice, proving that the concept of interracial marriage wasn't necessarily embraced by either blacks or whites. (In fact, at the time of the movie's filming, such marriages had only recently been legalized in all 50 states.)

Most of the movie consists of Tracy resisting the marriage, wrestling with his liberal conscience, and debating with everyone who crosses his path, including his wife, his Catholic priest friend, and eventually even Prentice's parents, who fly in quickly for a summit meeting. The fact that all this happens within about five hours strains credulity (as does the fact that Joanna has chanced upon the most accomplished black man in America), but the movie holds together because as it races through several touching discussions (Prentice tells his father, 'You think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.'), all the talk leads to Tracy's final heartrending monologue in which he remembers what it felt like to fall in love with Christina and that love eventually conquers all. Anyone who knows about the decades-long love affair between Tracy and Hepburn can't watch this without welling up (as Hepburn does, beautifully), especially when they find out that Tracy died just two weeks after nailing that take. It's a scene that will probably end up in the AFI's thousand-year retrospective of great movie moments, and it makes Guess Who's Coming to Dinner matter.

Friday, May 31 figurative language devices review. college essay topics.

IN CLASS: we are reviewing figurative language devices. We'll start in class, and you shall finish it up for Monday.

 College essay: handout / copy below  You are writing your college admissions essay. These are due next Friday. I'll will read them and grade as is; however, over the summer I will edit them for grammar, syntax and spelling. In order for me to do this, I must have electronic copies.  These will be available in the fall, whether you are my student.

HOMEWORK:

vocabulary 13 is due next Wednesday, June 5

Your College essay is due Friday, June 7...it MUST be sent electronically, if you would like me to edit it over the summer.  class handout / copy below.  This is your final in English 111 Honors.

Figurative Language Practice

A simile is a figure of speech where two inherently different things are compared to one another using expressions like 'like' or 'as'

A palindrome can be defined as a word or a phrase, which begins and finishes with the same letter.

metaphors are linguistic symbols that convey a particular image. It is a figure of speech wherein an idea is given to provide clarity by comparing or associating it to another totally different idea.

oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory or inappropriate terms are either put together or appear side by side.

litotes is defined as 'an ironical understatement in which affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite'. In this figure of speech, the usages are intentional, ironical and provide emphasis to the words. This is mainly done through double negatives. To put it in simple terms, in litotes, instead of saying that something is attractive, you say that it is not unattractive.

A synecdoche is a  figure of speech where part of a sentence describes the entirety.

imagery  is vivid descriptions and comparisons with the help of sound words, helps recreate images and emotions. This device which needs to be aided with other figures of speech like similes, metaphors and personification etc. to effectively crop a picture within the minds eyes. Always remember, the key to good imagery is evoking all the senses. There are seven different kinds of imagery; visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, organic, olfactory and gustatory

An allusion is a brief reference, explicit or indirect to a person, place or event or to another literary work or passage.

apostrophes are words spoken to a person or object which is inherently imaginary object or is an abstract idea.

personification is  when we associate a human quality or trait with a non-living object.

1.       In capitalism, money is the life blood of society and charity is the soul.

2.       The wind whispered the rumors of the forest.

3.       Zip up your pants.

4.       Racecar

5.       The promise between us was a delicate flower.

6.       "Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee! I have thee not, and yet I see thee still."

7.       He pleaded for her forgiveness but Janet’s heart was cold iron.

8.       Heat waves are not rare in the summer.

9.       I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas

10.   Borrow or rob?

11.   Toby manipulated the people in his life as though they were chess pieces.

12.   "She was breathtakingly beautiful, but he knew that she was forbidden fruit."

13.   Cassie talked to her son about girls as though she were giving him tax advice.

14.   Their prayers were like mayflies in June.

15.   No lemon, no melon

16.   With the click of a mouse I can open another window on my computer.

17.   Fully empty

18.   "Roll on thou dark and deep Blue Ocean." - from "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" by Lord Byron

19.   The birds like to tweet outside my window.

20.   The people who still lived in the town were stuck in place like wax statues.

21.   "If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive."

22.   The clouds pushed each other around in the sky.

23.   Einstein is not a bad mathematician.

24.   He had little to live for now that his dreams were dead.

25.   The duck quacked at the bird.

26.   The smell of smoke tattled on the delinquent.

27.   Alan’s jokes were like flat soda to the children, surprisingly unpleasant.

28.   The jittery hands of corruption orchestrated the affairs at city hall.

29.   "It has rained so long, it seems as though it has rained for 40 days and nights."

30.   It won't be easy to find crocodiles in the dark.

31.   I was so cold my teeth were chattering.

32.   White-collar criminals.

33.   The job fair was a circus and John was a dancing bear.

34.   "The killer wore a mark of Cain as he stalked his brother" -

35.   That's no small accomplishment.

36.   A nut for a jar of tuna

37.   Cameron always had a taste for the fruit of knowledge.

38.   It is sure hard to earn a dollar these days.

39.   Vegetarian meatball

40.   If I had some wheels I would put on a new thread and ask for Jenny's hand in marriage.

41.   And the Stratocaster guitars slung over / Burgermeister beer guts and the swizzle stick legs/jacknifed over Naugahyde stools . . .."

42.   Don't belch so loud.

43.   "Sue did not want to endure Eve's curse, so she opted for the epidural"

44.   Busy old fool, unruly sun, /Why dost thou thus, /Through windows, and She was just a trophy to Ricardo, another object to possess.

45.   "Death, be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so"

46.   He is not unlike his dad.

47.   Least favorite

48.   "O eloquent, just, and mighty Death!"

49.   "The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep."

50.   Kayak

The Common Application Board of Directors is pleased to announce the 2013-14 essay prompts.

They are presented below along with the instructions that will accompany them. While not specified here, the online application will make clear that the word limit will be enforced.

The new prompts and the written guidance around them are the culmination of two years of discussion about the role writing plays in a holistic selection process. The Board relied heavily on the advice of the 15counselors who serve on its Outreach Advisory Committee. Together, these colleagues have decades of

experience advising students from every academic, social, cultural, and economic background. As they

considered the topics our members suggested, they worked diligently to ensure that all applicants,

regardless of background or access to counseling, would have the chance to tell their unique stories.

The Board of Directors thanks everyone who provided constructive and collegial feedback over the last

several months. We are excited about the possibilities these prompts present for thoughtful and creative

expression. The measure of their success will be how well they help our member institutions make

informed decisions. We will revisit the essay prompts each year, and we will look to our members for input

regarding their effectiveness.

_________________________________

Instructions. The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and

helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to

know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you

answer that question and write an essay of no more than 550 words, using the prompt to inspire and

structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need

it, but don't feel obligated to do so. (The application won't accept a response shorter than 250 words.)

• Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their

application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

• Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons

did you learn?

• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you

make the same decision again?

• Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience

there, and why is it meaningful to you?

• Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from

childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

 

Thursday, May 30 Catcher quote sharing

Marion Anderson singing "Coming through the Rye."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy2vyx_ZZn0
 Robert Burns poem "Comin' through the Rye>"

Gin a body meet a body, comin thro' the rye,

Gin a body kiss a body, need a body cry;

Ilka body has a body, ne'er a ane hae I;

But a' the lads they loe me, and what the waur am I.

Gin a body meet a body, comin frae the well,

Gin a body kiss a body, need a body tell;

Ilka body has a body, ne'er a ane hae I,

But a the lads they loe me, and what the waur am I.

Gin a body meet a body, comin frae the town,

Gin a body kiss a body, need a body gloom;

Ilka Jenny has her Jockey, ne'er a ane hae I,

But a' the lads they loe me, and what the waur am I.

In class: everyone will take a turn paraphrasing their assigned quote (on Tuesday's blog and handed out), explaining the context of the quote and then finally broader significance in terms of the novel.

Homework: vocabulary 13.  Due next Wednesday, June 5 class handout / copy below

Tomorrow we are reviewing poetic language devices and practicing with them. If you are absent, make sure to check the blog.

Vocabulary 13    definitions

1.            abstruse- (adjective)- extremely difficult to understand; esoteric; arcane, recondite, occult

2.            affront- (noun)- an open or intentional insult; a slight, offense; (verb) to insult to one’s face; to confront,

          offend

3.            canard- (noun)- false rumor, fabricated story, hoax

4.            captious- (adjective)- excessively ready to find fault; given to petty criticism; intended to trap, confuse; show

       up,  fault finding, nit-picking, carping

5.            cognizant-(adjective)- aware, knowledgeable, informed, having jurisdiction; conscious, acquainted

6.            contrite- (adjective)- regretful for some misdeed or sin; plagued with a sense of guilt; thoroughly penitent, 

                     remorseful, rueful

7.            cynosure (noun) the center of attraction; attention or interest, something that serves to guide or direct, focus

8.            decorous (adjective)- well-behaved, dignified, socially proper, seemly, becoming, tasteful

9.            deign (verb)- to think it appropriate or suitable to one’s dignity to do something; to condescend, deem, stoop

10.          desiccated (adjective)- thoroughly dried out; divested of spirit or vitality, arid and uninteresting

11.          efficacy (noun)- the power to produce a desired result, effectiveness, potency, reliability

12.          engender (verb)- to bring into existence, give rise to, produce, to come into existence, assume form, beget,

                       generate

13.          ethereal (adjective)- light, airy, delicate; highly refined; suggesting what is heavenly (rather than earthbound)

                      celestial, gossamer

14.          façade (noun)- the front or face of a building; a surface appearance (as opposed to what may lay behind); exterior,  surface, mask, pretense

15.          ghoulish (adjective)- revolting in an unnatural or morbid way; suggestive of someone who robs graves or

                  otherwise preys on the dead; fiendish, barbarous, monstrous

16.          incongruous (adjective)- not in keeping, unsuitable, incompatible; discordant; jarring

17.          machination (noun)- craft, scheming, or underhanded action designed to accomplish some (usually evil) end; plot scheme, maneuver

18.          mesmerize (verb)- to hypnotize, entrance; fascinate, enthrall, bewitch

19.          opprobrium (noun)- disgrace arising from shameful conduct; contempt, reproach, infamy, dishonor, odium, shame

20.          putative (adjective)- generally regarded as such; putative; hypothesized, inferred, supposed, presumed

                              Vocabulary 13, exercise 1             Use the correct form.

1.            After years of neglect, the sooty __________________________ of the cathedral is finally getting a much needed cleaning.

2.            The ____________________________ practice of grave robbing is sometimes motivated by the desire to find and sell valuables.

3.            The physicist tried to explain her _________________________ research in the field of quantum mechanics.

4.            For over a century, the Statue of Liberty has been the _________________________ for millions of immigrants entering New York Harbor.

5.            Abraham Lincoln, the backwoods lawyer, and Mary Todd, the rich socialite, seemed a(n) _______________________________ couple.

6.            The tabloid journalist was responsible for spreading the ________________________ about the candidate’s mental health.

7.            On formal occasions, like weddings and graduations, participants are expected to behave in a _______________________________ manner.

8.            Shakespeare’s Othello was the victim not only of Iago’s evil ________________________________ but also of his own jealous nature.

9.            She is an invariably _________________ critic, finding fault with even the best performances.

10.          Jerald took the joke that Deanna had told him as an __________________, not as a harmless joke.

11.          The magician was able to ______________________________ the audience with his fast-moving hands and distracting chatter.

12.          Police officers must make sure that crime suspects are made ____________________________ of their rights before they are questioned.

13.          The enlisted men were surprised that the four-star general __________________________ to speak to them as he toured the camp.

14.          Despite the passage of centuries, ________________________________ is still attached to the name of the traitor Benedict Arnold.

15.          The convicted felon had the look of someone who was truly ____________________________ and ready to pay for his crimes.

16.          The cornfield was _______________________________ by the scorching sun after the long, hot summer without rain.

17.          Ancient Celtic rituals and ceremonies are the ____________________________ origins of some of our modern Halloween customs.

18.          The university has made an appealing videotape in order to ____________________________ student interest in studying abroad.

19.          Our team of inventors took great care to measure the _______________ of their newly designed machine.

20.          The Renaissance painter Fra Angelico captured the _________________________ beauty of angels in his famous frescoes.

                                  Vocabulary 13, exercise 2

1.            The longer I study this country’s history, the more ______________________________ I become of my rich heritage of freedom.

2.            Some historians question whether Benedict Arnold really deserves all the _____________________________ he has been accorded as America’s arch-traitor.

3.            At the risk of appearing a trifle _____________________________, I would like to raise a few small objections to the wording of this proposal.

4.            After the battle, camp followers began the _______________________________ process of stripping the dead of whatever valuables they possessed.

5.            Some teachers are able to present the most ____________________________ subjects in terms that are crystal-clear to even the dullest of students.

6.            The _________________________________ of the unscrupulous wheeler-dealers involved in that unsavory scandal boggle the imagination.

7.            I didn’t really believe that he was sorry for what he had done until I saw the ______________________ expression on his sad little face.

8.            The pages of the old book were so __________________________ that they began to crumble as soon as we began to touch them.

9.            There is not a vast body of evidence that supports the idea that poverty tends to ________________________ crime.

10.          To be the ____________________________ of all eyes could be the joyous fulfillment of a dream or the unhappy realization of a nightmare.

11.          The only surefire way to establish the __________________________of a new drug in treating a disease is to test it “in the field.”

12.          For more than five minutes she stared at the telegram containing the bad news, as if she were _____________________________.

13.          His fantastic stories about his academic, athletic, financial and romantic achievements are a(n) ______________________________ to common sense.

14.          Am I supposed to feel honored simply because that arrogant lout sometimes _________________________ to nod vaguely in my direction?

15.          Except for a balcony built during the Truman administration, the ____________________________ of the White House has remained virtually unchanged since it was constructed.

16.          What could be more _________________________________ that the 6-foot, 7-inch center on the basketball team dolled up in baby clothes for the class play!

17.          No one knows for sure who really wrote the scene, but Shakespeare is generally regarded as its ________________________________ author.

18.          Only a thoroughly naïve and gullible person would actually believe every preposterous ___________________________ that circulates in this school.

19.          The child’s conduct during the ceremony may not have been appropriately____________________, but it was not horrendous either.

20.          The cherubic faces and __________________________ voices of the choristers almost made me believe that the music they were singing was coming from heave.

Vocabulary 13, exercise 3

Synonyms

1. a fiendish interest in death                                                                  ______________________________

2. exposed as a total hoax                                                                       _____________________________

3. bewitched by the speaker’s soothing voice                                         _________________________________

4. esoteric concepts developed by experts                                              ________________________________

5. stooped to give a few interviews                                                        _______________________________

6. the focus of a dazzled audience                                                          _______________________________

7. conscious of our mutual responsibilities                                            _______________________________

8. disliked for his nit-picking                                                                 ______________________________

9. an offense to an entire group of people                                             _______________________________

10. the jarring reunion of longtime rivals                                              _______________________________

11. foiled the schemes of the villain                                                      _______________________________

12. begets distrust by covering up mistakes                                          _______________________________

13. paintings of women with heavenly qualities                                   _______________________________

14. showed a mere pretence of gratitude                                               _______________________________

15. brought shame on the whole family                                                ________________________________

                                           

Antonyms

16. the known whereabouts of the fugitive                                            _______________________________

17. the ineffectiveness of our foreign policy                                         ________________________________

18. the unrepentant ringleaders of the riot                                            ________________________________

19. looked over the soggy farmland                                                      _______________________________

20. the unseemly appearance of the judge                                            _______________________________   

Vocabulary 13, exercise 4

1.            If you had listened to my warnings in the first place, there would be no need for you to feel (contrite / desiccated) now.    

2.            A government that fails to bring about peaceful reform (engenders / deigns) the kind of social unrest that makes violent revolution inevitable.

3.            “Do we have sufficient evidence at hand,” I asked, “to judge the (efficacy / cognizance) of the new method of teaching reading?”

4.            In my youthful folly, I inadvertently (affronted, engendered) the very people whose aid I was attempting to enlist.

5.            The (efficacy, opprobrium) of history forever attaches itself to the name of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President Kennedy.

6.            For any actor, it is a unique thrill to know that when you are alone on stage, you are the (façade / cynosure) of hundreds of pairs of eyes.

7.            He tried to conceal his lack of scholarship and intellectual depth by using unnecessarily (efficacious / abstruse) language.

8.            The book describes in great detail the odious (machinations / facades) involved in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany.

9.            The President must always be on his toes because a careless answer to a (contrite / captious) question could land him in hot water.

10.          The candidate’s “shocking revelation” about his opponent was later shown to be nothing more that a malicious (canard / cynosure).

11.          I resent your nasty question about whether or not I will (deign / affront) to speak to “ordinary students” after I’m elected class president.

12.          The audience was so quiet after the curtain fell that I couldn’t tell whether they were bored or (deigned / mesmerized) by her artistry.

13.          Like many people who are completely wrapped up in themselves, she simply isn’t (cognizant / decorous) of the larger world before her.

14.          His unmistakable interest in the gruesome details of the tragedy revealed that he possessed the sensibilities of a (canard / ghoul).

15.          The play is so peopled with spirits and other incorporeal beings that it has the (ethereal / captious) quality of a dream.

16.          Her quiet speech, subdued clothes and (decorous / desiccated) manner made it hard to believe that she was famous rock star.

17.          He acts like someone whose vital juices have long since dried up, leaving only a drab and (desiccated / contrite) shell behind.

18.          It has been said that humor is essentially the yoking of (incongruous / ethereal) elements within a familiar or recognizable framework.

19.          Philologists believe that many Western languages can be traced back to a (putative / decorous) parent tongue known as Indo-European.

20.          It wasn’t at all hard to recognize signs of extreme uneasiness beneath her (canard / façade) of buoyant optimism.

Wednesday, May 28 Catcher cummulative assessment

 


Please turn in the set of 4 graphic organizers now! Thanks.
In class: content assessment on the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger
Homework for Thursday:  quote presentations that were handed out yesterday (copies on the blog). Again, this counts as a classroom participation grade. If you are absent, please follow the writing instructions. Otherwise, come prepared to give an oral presentation of your assigned quote.  We'll do this informally in the circle.

Tuesday, May 27 Catcher

Due at the end of class today: all 4 graphic organizers.   
Following in Holden's footsteps  
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/28/nyregion/20100128-salinger-map.html

Homework: Wednesday, May 28...cumulative assessment on Catcher
                    Thursday, May 29   everyone has been assigned a quote from the novel. On Thursday, you will explain your quote 1) within the context of the novel and 2) its larger significance in terms of how it relates to Holden's character, his actions (plot) and a theme within the text. Check back on the list of themes, if you are struggling with this.(participation grade.) Anyone who is absent should respond in a well-written paragraph.
     handout / copy below
Zadejiah    #1
Ashli         # 2
Aaron       #3
Joe           #4
Tamia       #5
Sierra       #6
Katherine  #7
Chrishell    #8
Tianna       #9
Tarek        #10
Chris         #11
Heidi         #12
Miranda     #13
Nick          #14
Allison       #15
Nalia         #16
Austin        #17
Arianna      #18
Jamichael   #19
Kathy         #20

Quote 1:

What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by.  I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them.  I hate that.  I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it.  If you don't, you feel even worse.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1


Quote 2

People always think something's all true.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 2   AND People never notice anything.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 2


QUOTE 3

I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.  It's awful.  If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera.  It's terrible.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 3


Quote 4

All morons hate it when you call them a moron.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 6

Quote 5

In my mind, I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw.  ~J.D. Salinger,The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 9


Quote 6

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.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 9

Quote 7

I was half in love with her by the time we sat down.  That's the thing about girls.  Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never knowwhere the hell you are.  Girls.  Jesus Christ.  They can drive you crazy.  They really can.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 10



Quote 8

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.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 13



Quote 9
Goddam money.  It always ends up making you blue as hell.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 15



Quote 10

"Take most people, they're crazy about cars.  They worry if they get a little scratch on them, and they're always talking about how many miles they get to a gallon, and if they get a brand-new car already they start thinking about trading it in for one that's even newer.  I don't even like old cars.  I mean they don't even interest me.  I'd rather have a goddam horse.  A horse is at least human, for God's sake."  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 17, spoken by the character Holden Caulfield

Quote 11
Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented.  If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it.  I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 18


Quote 12

Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up.  I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something.  Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery.  People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap.  Who wants flowers when you're dead?  Nobody.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 20

Quote 13
It's funny.  All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 21



Quote 14

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.  Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me.  And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.  What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.  That's all I do all day.  I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.  I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 22, spoken by the character Holden Caulfield


Quote 15.

"I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall.  But I don't honestly know what kind.... It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating everybody who comes in looking as if he might have played football in college.  Then again, you may pick up just enough education to hate people who say, 'It's a secret between he and I.'  Or you may end up in some business office, throwing paper clips at the nearest stenographer.  I just don't know."  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 24, spoken by the character Mr. Antolini

Quote 16.
"This fall I think you're riding for - it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind.  The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom.  He just keeps falling and falling.  The whole arrangements designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with.  Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with.  So they gave up looking.  They gave it up before they ever really even got started."  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 24, spoken by the character Mr. Antolini

Quote 17

 Don't ever tell anybody anything.  If you do, you start missing everybody.  ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 26

Quote 18

“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”

“Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.”        

Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game.  Chapter 2

Quote 19 

I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. Chapter 22

Quote 20

"I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would’ve, too, if I’d been sure somebody’d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory." Chapter 14