Is Holden fully developed?

              In my opinion, Holden is no where near being a fully developed character. I feel that in most books, by Chapter 12, the main character and/or narrator should be fully developed, but for Holden, this definitely isn’t true. It is possible that Holden is as fully developed as he will ever be, but it would make for an even more pointless book if that was the case. My reasoning for this is in his actions, they aren’t consistent but at the same time are annoyingly predictable by means of acting in a stupid way. Holden tells us information from the point of view of a very closed-minded character, and I feel he thinks too highly of himself. An example of this hypocrisy can be found on page 72 when he was talking to the girl he was dancing with. He says, “I let it drop. It was over her head anyway.” I feel that him saying this was insensitive and totally uncalled for. Let’s back up in time a few chapters… Who is it that failed out of Pencey? If you guessed Holden then you are correct. He calls this girl he barely knows stupid when he is the one that failed out of several schools. Another reason that I believe Holden isn’t a fully developed character is in his descriptions of things. He is constantly using the same words to describe things. An example from the text is how he puts the world old before saying almost every persons name.  Another example is how he is so terrible at describing thing that the only way he can get his point across is to repeat himself two or the three times. This too, is an example of Holden being a hypocrite. He mention in the opening chapters how he hates it when people repeat themselves once they have already gotten the point across.

Believable, or not?

                I feel like Holden is a very believable character, atleast to his readers. He comes out and blantantly says “I’m the best liar you ever saw.” In this quote, it is obvious that, although he may lie to other characters in the novel, he doesn’t lie to his readers. His character is also believable in the way he is so blunt and speaks his mind. The only trouble is, with first-person point of view, we only know what he is thinking and how he views the story. At the same time, if it is your own opinion, its completely unnecessary to lie. This is a difficult question to answer, because while he may be honest with his readers, you are skeptical as to why he tells the truth to his readers, but not to the people in the story. His character is believable also in the way that he seems to have the thoughts of an average teenager in that time period, but his use of profanity is a stretch.

Life in the 1940’s was completely different than it is today, especially for teenagers. Nowadays, it is not uncommon or unheard of to hear kids using profanity, disrespecting elders, or just being completely rebellious. The word teenager wasn’t actually a word until the late 1940’s. Back then, children were taught that life was to be centered around family. At dinnertime, families would sit down, and talk about their lives, and would bond with eachother, particularly on Sundays, which was to be a day of rest to spend with your family. In almost all case, teenagers would get jobs for afterschool and on the weekends, and all earnings would go to their family. Minimum wage was $0.43 per hour. In 1949, the median income for a man was $2,754, while the median income for a woman was $1,322. The median income for a 15 year old boy was $2, 346, and the median income for a 15 year old girl was $960. In the average american family in the 1940’s, the father was employed and the mother was a stay-at-home mom. Unlike today, with all the cellphones we have, most households didn’t even own a phone. This was a time when neighbors helped neighbors and people shared everything they had. School life was very different as well. Boys trained hard in physical education to keep in tip-top shape for the War. Eight out of ten boys who graduated from highschool went to war. Meanwhile, girls were taught things necessary to later manage households, such as cooking, cleaning, and making dresses. In the late 1940’s profanity was for the most part unheard of. Teenagers seldom used profanity, and if they did, it was in secret with friends. The use of profanity during this time was for the most part socially unacceptable, and kept to a bare minimum. The treatment of girls in the late 1940’s was very different as well. Girls could rarely date before they were sixteen. The girl’s date would have to have perfect manners and bring his date home at the time set by her parents, and sexual relations before marriage was completely frowned upon. Girls and boys had a secret “code” though, they would say “We’re going Submarine watching”, make of that what you will. For entertainment, teenagers would go see movies, go dancing (the jitterbug and the fox trot), and were constantly outdoors. Probably the most common form of entertainment for teenagers, which hasn’t differed much from today, was music. Kids liked to listen to music by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Vaughn Monroe, Freddy Martin, Perry Como, and the Charles Brown Trio. The number one song in 1949 was “I’ve got a lovely bunch of Coconuts” by Freddy Martin. In the 1940’s dress was very simple, primarily because clothes were rationed until the late 1940’s. Girls and Boys wore simple dresses or pants, bobby socks, saddleshoes, and penny loafers. Material needed to be saved because of the war effort, so girl’s skirts were made shorter.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!