Zooey

Since I have such a laid back job (lifeguarding, woohoo!), reading definitely helps to pass the time. In fact, I'm almost finished with Franny and Zooey. I'm far into the portion of the book that's written in Zooey's, a Glass son, point of view. He's an interesting character. I'd say he's kind of the rebel of the family. The siblings before him were great scholars and went off to attain well respected and advanced careers. However, I think partially due to the corruption of his childhood, Zooey wants to pursue a career in the theater department. The only think is, he kind of sucks. Salinger inserts a small part of a play Zooey is writing into the book and it is so dull and mediocre.
In a letter from his older brother, Zooey learns that his older siblings pushed several religious and philosophical theories on him when he was young. They provided Zooey with a lot of information about different gods and probable theories concerning life, but his brothers never showed him how to apply this exposure to his life. Therefore, I think that's why Zooey is overly sensitive and strongly wants to be different from others. I think it'd be really overwhelming to have all these possible ways to live your life thrown at you as a young learning child. Growing up, my parents taught me their one certain way to live; plus I learned the traditions and beliefs of Catholicism. It would be really hard to determine what particular way to live life with so many options, or always having the "What if?" in the back of your mind. This confusing childhood education explains why Zooey struggles in life now. He wants others to support his pursuit to act and the choices in life he makes.
One person that most certainly doesn't understand him is his mother, Bessie. They have one of the strangest relationships I have yet to see. In order to communicate with her son, Bessie traps Zooey in the bathroom was he's in the tub and forces him to talk. Most of the time they are arguing or having to explain themselves to each other. It's a very distant kinship mostly due to Zooey's outcast behavior. Bessie has a hard time understanding any of her children, but especially Zooey. Speaking of, what a weird name..Zooey. It's pronounced Zoo-E. You won't see my naming my kids that in the future.

Franny and Zooey

So I'm more than half way through my book Franny and Zooey, but this is my first time blogging about it because I joined the class late. However I am so stinking glad I switched classes, I love being able to read whatever I want and to have the freedom to reflect about any aspect of my book. Oh and Mr. Hill is legit.
Anyways, my book is written by J.D. Salinger and I'm kind of in love with his writing. I loved Catcher in the Rye and now I'm really starting to enjoy this new book.  In some of his literary works, Salinger writes about a peculiar family, the Glass family.  In the first section of the book, the narrator is a Glass daughter named Franny. She travels to visit her boyfriend of a year at college and not but 30 minutes into her visit, I can tell what their relationship is really like. Lane, her boyfriend, is a egotistical, pompous, and rude genius. On the other hand, Franny seems like the more quiet and reserved person but inside she is bursting to share her real frustrations. Repeatedly during their dinner date, Lane cut Franny off, bragged about his studies and accomplishments, and criticized Franny. At first Franny took this behavior and accepted it like she normally does and often apologized for her unacceptable behavior. Soon enough her frustrations about her education and the materialistic society she observes everyday caused her to lash out at Lane and even made herself sick.
Reading this offensive and obnoxious interactions between a boyfriend and girlfriend caused me to take a step back and look at what type of character I am in relationships. Am I the loud friend who's so concerned with myself that others can't even speak? Or am I the shy observer dying for attention and ready to burst at any moment. Well lucky for you, I'm definitely neither of these choices. However, I can see aspects of these characters in myself during certain situations. For example, when I'm in an argument with anyone, I love to be the person that's right like Lane. I know its wrong of me but sometimes I'm so concerned with getting my thoughts out that I don't pay attention to the other side of the story. Along with that, when Franny tried to defend herself, she went out of her way to make herself seem like the better person. She always felt sorry for herself as well, and criticized her deprived society to boost her self-esteem. I wouldn't say that I do that, but I again have a problem with always trying to be right or having the better say in disagreements. It's nice to read books like these that show extreme behaviors of characters and how ridiculous that seem, especially when these characters can remind you of yourself.

Friday

On my personality test, I scored a ISFJ. This means I'm categorized as a "Guardian." After reading the description, I totally agree with my results. I'm definitely one of those people that likes to look out for other people, especially my friends and family. I value my friendships with others and don't take it for granted; instead I "guard" and take care of it. It also states that I tend to be responsible and be a believer in stability, in which both describe me to a T. It's true that I can come off as shy to others, but there is a warm heart inside. I also like how the results shared that Guardians are generally hard and long-hour workers. I'm a full-time swimmer which basically proves this statement to be very true.

Currently

Franny and Zooey
J.D. Salinger

Pages read this week: 103
Last Week: none :(

Sentences of the Week:
1. "I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect..."
I loved when Franny said this to her boyfriend, Lane, face because it showed that if she doesn't respect anyone, she definitely doesn't respect him or therefore love him. Her true feelings are coming out.

2. "Christ lived on cheeseburgers and Coke, for all we know."
In a conversation between a mother and son, the mother, Bessie, obviously has no faith. I found it ironic that a mom trying to counsel her son about his future would have no religion. Normally parents base their teachings off of morals and religious beliefs, this is some different king of mom. She's a heavy smoker as well.

3."It was rather as though, after being in make-shift wet dock for days, the Queen Mary had just sailed out of, say, Walden Pond, as suddenly and perversely as she had sailed in."
I like how the author compares the mother to an obnoxious cruise boat. She's also kind of wide too which matches. And the conversation between her son happened while his was taking a bath, the metaphor all makes sense.