Re: Quiet list? there's always
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Thu, 02 Jul 1998 10:30:23 +1000
> this is just my opinion, but i think that holden was afraid the CHILD in
him was disappearing each time he
> crossed the street. if the road represents something like....excuse the
cliche, but the road of life, this is a
> break or curve in it, a crossroads really, some decision and some change
needs to be made. the world he lives
> in forces him to make a decision at this point....he just wasn't ready to
walk across it, so was uncomfortable
> and felt like he was losing the good innocent qualities....so he seeks
help in someone who represents something
> he can always go back to, a child who will never grow up, and although it
is sad, there is certain comfort in
> allie being dead. and it's sorta like he just wants to keep some part of
himself untouched and doesn't think he
> can get through life without it, that sense of morality and
innocence.....part of his personality kept under
> glass casing. but he can't, of course, he's faced with a street he must
cross and is just not ready. i dont
> know, thats just the way i saw it.... JD
This is a very beautiful interpretation (: To me, an idea like that is much
more valuable than speculating `was Holden ill/crazy' or whatever. We've
got to look at things thematically rather than literally. In books
everything has been put there for a reason, however big or small. Allie
*is* the emotional core of the story, and you're right - I think Holden
equates losing Allie with losing his innocence and for want of a better
term, his `inner child'. *This* is the child that Holden is trying to
catch. Maybe that's why he's so close to Phoebe - to him, she's kind of
Allie 2 - she is described as looking like him - and this time he doesn't
want to make the same kind of mistake he ruminates on that he did with
Allie (i.e. not letting him come with him). Thank you so much for this
interpretation, it really enlightened me!
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442