Saying Goodbye to Holden Caulfield

Sad? Happy? Bittersweet? I'm not exactly sure, but our time with old Holden is drawing to a close. Most of us are probably very relieved, but I have to admit, I wish we had a little more time with him. Some people think he gets more annoying the more you read, but I'd like to see what happens next. He finally seemed to be understanding things a little more and calming down. I wonder if he kept that up. Salinger must have wanted the reader to create their own ending for Holden, but I'm guessing he had a general idea of what happens next that he wanted to leave the reader with.

For whatever reason, I think Holden's life ends happily. I feel quite certain that he has lots of problems in his time on earth, but we all have those. His life was never worse than an average person, he just dealt with things differently. I think now he knows that he'll be OK and that knowledge will allow him to muddle through and probably even succeed. He always had potential, and I think he knew that, but he kind of suppressed it because he was unsure about the future. Eventually I think he realized that he defines his own future, so he doesn't really need to worry about it. When you stop worrying, you free yourself, in a way, to thrive in life.

So my question for you all is, what do you think would happen next? Doom and gloom? Or happily ever after?

Visions of Teenhood

I think the directors and authors got part of the teenage experience right. The points they made are accurate, but they don't represent everything. The same goes for the characters: while they do seem to be normal teens, they don't embody all the traits. I think part of being a teen is trying on different personas and deciding what you want to be. Not all teens are the same and not every teenage experience is the same. In this way, it's hard for any one character to represent the entire teenage experience, it might even be impossible to do.

As far as a character that gets it right, I'm not sure I've ever seen one. I don’t think it’s possible for any one person to show the wide spectrum of traits that any given teen can have. Thus, it’s really difficult to pick a character because so many portray so many different aspects. One person that comes to mind is Tracy Turnblad from “Hairspray.” She has to deal with things a lot of teens do, like trying to be comfortable with her body type, getting the guy she likes to like her, and trying to make a difference in the world. She ends up doing all three, which is not something most teens do, but it’s something they all want to do. Not every teen has the guts or inclination to put their wants aside and try for something much bigger than ourselves, but we all wish we did.

Visions of Childhood

The first movie that comes to mind when I think about childhood is "The Lion King." Granted, it's about a lion kid, not a human kid, but honestly, once the animals start talking, is there really that much of a difference? The movie seems to be saying that kids can learn a lot from their parents. It also stresses the importance of being loyal and doing what's right, although it takes Simba until adulthood to learn those things. Simba gets to have lots of fun and adventure as a little cub, with a dash of young romance and danger thrown in. However, he has to grow up fast when his father dies. The movie illustrates that what happens in childhood defines what happens in adulthood. The lessons you learn and the struggles you face will all either help or hinder you in later life.

In our short stories in class, childhood is often portrayed as a time where kids are forced act older then they are. Victor has to deal with alcohol abuse. Esme has to work through the difficulties of living in a time of war. Connie is forced to deal with creepy old dudes hitting on her. Cates gets caught in an intense debate between his parents and a practical stranger (and he doesn't get a snakeskin belt, poor kid.) The boy in "Bottle Caps" gets his bottle caps stolen. They are all forced to grow up in those moments and become more than most people would expect from someone at their ages. There are definitely differences between the stories though. Each child has a different level of hardship to deal with. Bottle caps aren't too big of a deal, but alcoholism is. I think the authors pretty much did get it right. Every kid has to cope with various difficulties. It's sad that some kids have to deal with such tragic circumstances, while others seem to live without a care in the world, but that's the way the world works, whether you're 5 years old or 95.

Growing Up

When I was in 6th grade, my family went to Florida for vacation during spring break. I had anticipated it for weeks and I couldn't wait to hop on that plane. We arrived late on a Friday night and spent Saturday sightseeing. On Sunday we drove to Anna Maria Island, where my grandparents had rented a condo. We spent the morning swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. Early in the afternoon, I went inside to get something and didn't get my feet dried off all the way. I took one step onto the linoleum and slipped. On my descent to the floor, I sliced my foot on a screw sticking out of the floor in the doorway. I don't remember a whole lot after that, it was all blood and confusion and tears. After a fairly short debate, my parents decided I needed to go to Urgent Care. We left my sister with my grandparents and drove inland. I had to wait over an hour before they would see me. When I finally got in, they gave me stitches in my foot. It hurt when they gave the shots, but other than that it was too bad. We went back to our hotel in Orlando that night. In the following five days of our trip I went around places like Disney World and Sea World in a wheelchair because I wasn't supposed to walk on my foot. It was really frustrating to not be able to go certain places because my wheelchair wouldn't fit, and I also had to wait for someone to help me move, because I wasn't very adept at moving around on my own. However dismal this situation may seem (or may have seemed to me at the time), it actually helped me to grow up a little. It helped me to sympathize with people who have to be in wheelchairs all the time. I realized I was really lucky that I only had to do that for a week. I also learned the power of optimism. When I heard that I had to be in a wheelchair, I was disappointed, but I tried to remain upbeat. There ended up being a lot of things that actually worked out better than they might have otherwise. I think maybe we all grow up, a little, all the time. The bad things end up being good, some of the good things go bad, but we learn from all of them.

About Me

Here's the cliff notes version of me:

My name is Elise Gehrke, I'm 17, and I live in McFarland. You knew that? Let's try again. My favorite food is cheesecake. My favorite thing to do is sing. (and read things for college lit, but I'm sure that was assumed...) I recently finished applying to college (Stevens Point, Eau Claire, and Madison). My favorite place on earth is Ohio, but I admit that I haven't see much of the world. The first place I'd go, if I could pick anywhere, is France, then I'd see more of Europe, like Germany and Italy. A lot of people think that I'm shy, but I just tend to be quiet until I know people better. So there's me, the 30 second version.