questions

~How does the symbol/motif come up in the novel, and how does it impact what is going on? It comes up in the novel many times because he is always saying that he hates phonies. He also thinks that everyone in his school is a phony. But never thinks that he is being a phony. ~ What happens immediately preceding or immediately following a mention or discussion of this idea or thing? He keeps saying how much he hates people that act like phonies and try to be someone that they aren't. People that think they are all that and aren't anything special. ~What is the mood when this idea or thing is brought up? Hatered is brought up because he says that he hates phonies. But there might be a little bit of phonyness in what he is saying because he is also a phony but doesn't really know that he is. ~Would you associate this with times when Holden is content? frightened? frantic? confused? Like when he is scared to be alone he has the addituide and just talks about how phony people are, or what they due is phony. That is why he always called people to go out and get a drink with him. ~ Is this mood consistent with every incidence of this motif? Most of the time is has the same mood, but at times he will be calm and just wants to talk about something, he will bring up his brother's work that he thinks is really phony and doesn't go with what his brother is really good at doing. He is "prostituting" with his writing. ~Is Holden alone when this motif/symbol occurs? If not, with whom is he interacting? Holden is alone most of the time when this was brought up. Mostly because he felt alone all the time and unwanted and when it came to school, he did not want to try because it is not what he wants to do. ~How would you characterize that interaction? I would say that he was saying this just to say it, he doesn't really think that he is a phony because he doesn't know it. So he is generalizing about this thinking. He thinks that he was the only person that was not a phony even though he is. ~Does this motif occur both when he is alone and when he is with other people? Is there a connection to be made? Yes it happened both when he was alone and when he was with other people. The connection would be that in both ways he is only thinking of the other people as being phony and not himself. ~What does this motif/symbol tell you about Holden, in a “big picture” way - Does this suggest anything about his personality? His weaknesses or strengths? His sense of himself? It shows that he dose not see himself for what he really is. It can be a weakness because of the way that he never considers himself as doing the wrong thing. ~Tie it all together: Did any pattern emerge? Pick out other words or ideas used in conjunction with this motif. Look back on your investigation and come up with a single sentence that sums up what you’ve discovered. Even tho Holden thinks he is pretty real, he can be a fake at time but dose not realize it when it is pretty clear to others.