Catcher In The Rye Essays (370 words) - Literary Realism

Catcher In The Rye The Catcher in the Rye is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year-old boy recuperating in a rest home from a nervous breakdown, some time in 1950. Holden tells the story of his last day at a school called Pencey Prep, and of his subsequent psychological meltdown in New York City. Holden has been expelled from Pencey for academic failure, and after an unpleasant evening with his self-satisfied roommate Stradlater and their pimply next-door neighbor Ackley, he decides to leave Pencey for good and spend a few days alone in New York City before returning to his parents' Manhattan apartment. In New York, he succumbs to increasing feelings of loneliness and desperation brought on by the hypocrisy and ugliness of the adult world; he feels increasingly tormented by the memory of his younger brother Allie's death, and his life is complicated by his burgeoning sexuality. He wants to see his sister Phoebe and his old girlfriend Jane Gallagher, but instead he spends his time with Sally Hayes, a shallow socialite Holden's age, and Carl Luce, a pretentious Columbia student Holden treats as a source of sexual knowledge Increasingly lonely, Holden finally decides to sneak back to his parents' apartment to talk to Phoebe. He borrows some money from her, then goes to stay with his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini. When he believes Mr. Antolini to be making a homosexual advance toward him, Holden leaves his apartment, and spends the rest of the night on a bench in Grand Central Station. The next day Holden experiences the worst phase of his nervous breakdown. He wanders the streets, looking at children and talking to Allie. He tries to leave New York forever and hitchhike west, but when Phoebe insists on going with him he relents, agreeing to go back home to protect his sister from the ugliness of the world. He takes her to the park, and watches her ride on the merry-go-round; he suddenly feels overwhelmed by an inexplicable, intense happiness. Holden concludes his story by refusing to talk about what happened after that, but he fills in the most important details: he went home, was sent to the rest home, and will attend a new school next year. He regrets telling his story to so many people; talking about it, he says, makes him miss everyone.

What theme or themes have you found in a feature film you ha essays

What theme or themes have you found in a feature film you ha essays What theme or themes have you found in a feature film you have studied this year, which are relevant to a modern audience? The film, Blade Runner: Directors Cut, (BRDC) directed by Ridley Scott, explores a major theme that is relevant to us as a modern audience. The main theme is the questioning of humanity. This film forces the viewer to really wonder what humanity actually is, and how human we are. It forces us as the viewer to question our values, and to ponder over the difference between human and inferior beings. In, BRDC, the main theme is the question of what is humanity? One of the ways we wonder this, is through the replicants. Replicants are genetically engineered beings, or clones that are illegal on Earth. A number of rebel replicants have escaped from their off-world colony to Earth, where they wish to seek more life from their creator. They are only given a four-year life span. The film follows Deckard (Harrison Ford) as he is given the task of finding the replicants and retiring or killing them. This forces us as the viewer to question the humanity issues of this. We wonder if it is right to kill something that will only last four years. For example, the replicants appear to be human as is seen at the beginning, when the replicant Leon cares so much about his mother that he shoots another man for trying to talk about her. In fact, replicants do not have a mother but are implanted with the memory of one. The fact that the subject of his mother provoked such an emotional response from Leon, shows that he does possess human qualities, despite claims from the creator Tyrell that replicants can not experience human emotion. Leon shows in this scene that he does possess emotions, and while the viewer questions his humanity as he kills another man, they are also forced to question the humanity issues of killing them. They appear to be normal human beings, yet they m ...