class directions

I have to say that I really like this class and there is not much which could be done better. I guess it would be cool if we did some more group work, though. That is always fun and probably good for the class community. I hope we will watch some more movies such as The Crucible and The Road while reading the books which go along with the movies. Then it would be cool if we did more creative writing exercises like essays or poems instead of simply answering questions to a book or something like that.

My December

This is my December,
This is my time of the year,
This is my December,
This is also clear.

Watch the snowflakes falling down,
Watch people being happy all around.
I watch myself being kind,
But I have other thoughts on my mind.

What is this for, is this real?
Does anybody feel the way I feel?
Everything´s superficial, smiles are insincere,
I cannot stand this, I have to get out of here.

So I escape into a secret place,
To live my life in my own pace,
To not see all the lies under the christmas tree.
What is wrong with me?

This is my December,
This is my snow covered home,
This is my December,
This is me alone.

J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was born in 1919 and died in 2010. The authors moste popular book is "The Catcher in the Rye" which was published in 1951. That book became a worldwide success and Salinger got a lot of unwonted attention. He couldn´t really deal with that, so he moved to Cornish, New Hampshire, to be alone with his family and without the press. Since then, he never gabe interviews to a newspaper or anything.

The only thing he would do, was giving a few interviews to students who wanted to ask him about his writing.
Eventhough he could have made a lot of money, he refused and stayed by his on trying to protect his privacy.

"I am a writer, I will continue to write, but not for "the people". I write for myself, and my family. I never owed anyone anything. I gave something and now I am done"

You could feel sort of sorry for him, but he somehow seems to me a litte bit selfish. Like his daughter was never able to live a normal live cause she had to pretty much stay with him in his lonelyness.

Holden

In "The Catcher in the Rye", Holden is the main character. He is sixteen years old and about to get expelled from Pencey High. Before he went to Pencey, he got expelled from a couple of other schools. So his life is described as a typical teenage life which goes down the drain. However, Holden is not at all a typical teenager.

He actually has a very interesting personality. And that is not meant in a good or bad way, I just think he is somehow special. It kinda seems like everything annoys Holden and no matter what someone does, it gets on his nerves. Holden thinks that almost everyone in the world is phony, and he hates phony people eventhough he himself sometimes acts in a phony way and even admits it. The special thing about him is, that there are certain people in his life, who, in his mind, never do anything wrong, be always perfect and be innocent forever. And he wants to protect those people from bad influence.

I really wonder how his life would go on as he was an adult. Cause sometimes you have to make compromises in life and be dedicated to a job or a task. You cannot get along in life hating everything and everyone and be annoyed by it or them. You have to be positive to make your life better and that is what Holden might wanna start doing.

My Red Hunting Hat

In the book "The Catcher in the Rye" the red hunting hat symbolizes Holden´s hate for phonies. So that he would hunt a special kind of people which he strongly dislikes. I don´t have a hunting hat but if i had one it would propably represent that I`m hunting for people who are absurdly brutal. For example when like a group of people beat up a lonely guy just to have some fun. I think that is just unbelievable unfair and extremly gutless. Those are the kind of people I hate.

Other than that I would rather hunt for good things like happiness and having a good time with friends or something like that. Basically anything that would make my life better or more interesting.