Of Saints and Sailors

Lovers, walk not away
But stay and hear
The flowing silver robes
That lady moon spins
You don them gingerly, then
Look up at me with fearful doe eyes
Love is an adventure
To be taken on with silvery sword and silent shield
And at times a silent singing massacre of hearts
But so glorious as the blood makes the soil loamy
With one faint cry
Suddenly, the river is dry
Who wants to be slaughtered like lambs?
No?
Then harden your hearts
And become your own hero
Love is a journey
Not for the faint of heart
For you'll trod upon the bodies
Of the ghosts of your past
And you'll warm yourself under the furs
Of the demons in your head
Entertain not your eye for beauty,
But your eye for bravery

FORGET LOVE, MAN!

Holden talks a lot about relationships with women in the past chapters, and page 104 was what really struck me where it matters. He talked about love in the movies, how he imagined love would be like based on what the movies had taught him. He then confessed that movies screw you up, and it's so true.
I'm sure all young girls have wanted their prince charming to come and love them like Cinderella, Snow White, or Rapunzel. As we grow up, we want our prince charming (metaphorically so) to rescue us from all the hatred of the world and give us the true love and real friendship we crave. But movies have screwed us up so badly. I love Tangled, Beauty and the Beast, and any other given Disney princess flick as much as the next girl, but I've only recently realized that you cannot expect men to be prince charming. It's just not a realistic expectation. And honestly, how badly do you want to wait years and years for your hero to rescue you? I'll tell you what I think: don't wait. Ladies, it is time for us to be our own heroes.

"The deer would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs."

"FREEZE

Don't move"

Even the deer outside

With their pretty antlers

And pretty, skinny legs

Are frozen, the water still

Caught up in their mouths

Still as the grave

Which is a funny saying

Because even graves are not still

There's always worms and beetles and

Those little white worms

Maggots....

Feeding on the flesh of the dead, in that decomposing

Box of flimsy black wood

But no...

Even the grave is still today

And you are frozen in mid sentence

With your pretty blue eyes

And your pretty, skinny arms

They call me a deer

Cautious, careful

Spacey and doe-eyed

I hope that means I have

Pretty, skinny legs

But then I'd be caught there

With water falling from my mouth

But I'm not

I can move around

So I twirl, and I dance

Because there's music playing in my head

This frozen silence is so devastating

My brain rings and chimes and trumpets call...

The world cannot be without music!

The musicians pretty instruments

And their pretty, skinny fingers

Frozen on their buttons, eyes glued to a single note

Crawling across a stark white page

"FREEZE

I SAID DON'T MOVE!"

But I can move

I twirl

To the music in my head

I point right down the barrel of the sleek black gun

And the bullet stops in mid air

With the water in the deer's mouths

And the fingers on the buttons

And your pretty blue eyed stare

"FREE-"

"Don't move." I reply

BANG

Time slows to a crawl

I hit the ground

There is just so much red...

Frozen on the clean white smock

Yet spreading its wings like a butterfly

"I said don't move."

Kids

I see that Holden cannot decide whether adulthood or childhood is more appealing, and we see this theme play out like a complicated piece of music through chapters 9-11. If I have any comments, I would immediately lean towards immaturity, as he bounces around women. First the blond at the bar, then he discusses Jane Gallagher in great detail. He comments on the blond being "phony", when he himself uses fake aliases and lies constantly to friendly acquaintances.
However, he displays adulthood in this chapter by judging the blond woman.
Yes, judging.
I believe adults judge people more frequently as they mature, but they learn not to voice it.
This is displayed in these chapters.

Now, a poem. I shouldn't go a post without a poem, but I have. Sorry, guys.

Kids

See now you tell me
Now you reveal
That my concert khakis
Cant be teal
And my novels cant be written in class
And I can't do anything but simply pass
The candy, toy, the ice cream shop
Yes the pretend days
The flimsy tales
Are nothing but history
With my trials and fails
But history seems to repeat itself
Even though my toys gather dust on the shelf
The ghosts of my past
They devour my dreams
But I must swallow the blood
I must swallow the screams
Put on a tie
Put on a suit
Staple my papers
Polish my flute
So much work!
So much it hurts!
But no, here
I must move on
I can't become Holden
A man made of cons

Mature?

Do I think Holden is mature? No. For one reason, but the biggest reason some people are labeled as immature: hypocrisy. Holden is obviously a huge hypocrite. To cite the text, he appears to call many a person "phony", and yet does not hesitate to lie through his teeth. This is a huge sign of immaturity. Though, despite the setback in Holden's maturity, I believe his is more mature than the boys my age.

No offense, guys.

After Chapter 6...

My sympathetic nature towards Holden has not changed. I commend him for making the decision to defend someone in need. As we all know, I defend my opinions and friends by fighting tooth and nail for them. Anyone who is willing to do the same is also someone I respect.

Thanks for reading!

Sympathetic

I find myself particularly sympathetic when it comes to Holden. I really understand his complaints and reasoning. To cite, I really sympathize with how Holden has a tendency to let his mind wander to almost unrelated things at any point in time. Specifically, on the road whilst he was talking about the slippery asphalt, he appeared to also think of other things. I find myself doing this constantly, almost like a habit.

Those are my thoughts on Holden's thought process.