Chapter 8-11

Retell: 

Holden catches the late train to New York where he meets the mother of his classmate, Ernest Morrow. Holden tells lies to his mother about his popularity in school even through Holden dislikes him. Holden gives the mother a wrong name and claims he goes New York for a brain tumor operation. After gets off the train, Holden goes through a long list of names that he wants to call but he fails. He shows his strong feeling of calling Jane. On the way to a hotel, Holden tries to make a conversation with the driver about where the duck go in winter, but the driver is uninterested. Holden feels aroused in hotel and calls a girl he meets in a party for a date, but she refuses. Before Holden goes to a nightclub, he thinks about Phoebe, his younger sister, and describes how she is unusually intelligent and mature which is the similar description that he gives to Aliie. In the club, Holden dances with three girls who are from Seattle. The girls seem uninterested in Holden but look around for a movies star.Holden recalls Jane about the summer that they become closer because Jane's stepfather asks her for cigarettes but Jane refuses to answer him. Holden kisses Jane to comfort her from crying. Then, their relationship turns improved. They hold each other's hand and feel happy. Holden then awakes and suddenly feels upset. 

Relate: 

Holden tells a lot of lies in these chapters especially when he makes up the story to the mother of one of his classmate on the train. I seldom lie to people because I'm uncomfortable with lying, but I certainly lied to someone. She is my friend in China. One day, we went out for dinner together and on the way to the restaurant, we started talking about where we wanted to go after graduated from school. Then she started telling me how she ever went to America and experienced lots of fun in her travel. When she asked me where I'd ever been to, I suddenly felt a bit ashamed because I had not been anywhere. What I did to save my vanity was that I told her I'd been to England and it was an amazing travel. I lied because I didn't want to be embarrassed. However, Holden lies because he likes to so just for fun. "Then I started shooting the old crap around a little bit." (55). Holden tells the opposite fact in order to tease or make a good impression for the mother.  Holden doesn't want to have a deep interacting with the mother, so he lies with no pressure and he seems having a lot of fun. 

Reflect: 
Holden leaves school and starts hanging around near the hotel and nightclubs where he pretends himself an adult. He describes how he interacts with all kinds of people. However, his behavior becomes more and more desperate and we can clearly see his trouble mind even he tries to hide it: calling a girl you never know in the middle night, telling lies to the mother of his classmate and flirting with girls who are uninterested in him. Holden admits that he is a bit different from a normal man by showing that he is never in mood of doing anything, "If you're not in the mood, you can't do that stuff right." (63). I think that Holden never gets in the right mood since his brother died and it may explain his strange behavior.
Holden' narrative sends us a signal that the story is more than what he describes. The strong willing of interacting people reveals Holden's loneliness. The recall of Jane also shows us that Holden is not happy currently. He easily gets angry and depressed but he never tells the reason. It gets deeper in Holden's character development. 

Interesting Questions:

1: Why does Holden lie to the mother of his classmate?

Holden lies with no explanations. He gets used to lying because he does not feel secure to talk seriously with strangers and tries to keep a safe distance from them by telling lies.  

2: Holden seems especially wanting to call Jane, but why he does not call her?

Holden wants to see Jane but he thinks he is not ready to see her. Holden is apparently afraid of meeting Jane because he does not want Jane to see his current situation. 

3: What is Holden's inner feeling when he is dancing with the three girls who are not interested in him?

Holden feels lonely and not being respected by the girls' expectations on the movie star. It reveals Holden's loneliness from deep of his heart.

Prediction: 

I think Holden will encourage himself to meet with Jane because from his memories, we can see his deep emotional connection with Jane. Holden feels happy when staying with Jane because Jane maintains a pure position in Holden's deep heart. 

Media Component (Theme Song):

https://youtu.be/91fcg5X0278

This video is about a song, Alien, by Britney Spears. The reason why I choose it is that the lyrics reveals Holden's inner emotion of loneliness and isolation. When she sings, "There was a time I was one of a kind lost in the world of me, myself and I was lonely then, like an alien", Holden also feels himself disappear when across the road, " After I got across the road, I felt like I was sort of disappearing, ... and you felt like you were disappearing every time you cross a road" (5). The singer and Holden are all kind of lonely and sort of not existing in the world, like an alien. The song is pretty sad and depressing which has the similar feeling as Holden has.