Creative Writing Assignment Rough Rough Draft

Moving to Hong Kong wasn’t my idea of perfect, but I didn’t have a choice. My father’s company relocated him here so I had to move with him. Shanghai wasn’t a great place either, so I guess this provided a new opportunity to make new friends. Back in Shanghai, I could never really fit in because people there thought that my family was too western. My parents were born and raised in Vancouver and had moved back to Shanghai when I was three years old. At home, we spoke both Chinese and English, thus making people who visited our house feel awkward. That was all in the past now and I wanted to make the best out of my situation. It is a universal fact that first days of school are never easy, however, I was used to this as I never had any friends. This helped me forge a shameless attitude that allowed me to greet people openly and let them know me. I really wanted to make friends so I started a conversation with the first person I met. It was in my first class and his name was Steve Prascal. He seemed very outgoing but slightly insensitive. However, I just assumed that Steve was being straightforward when he assumed I had no friends. He introduced me to his group of friends who luckily, like me, all played football. I quickly learned that Steve’s friends were just like him. They were a loud bunch that all had haughty expressions on their faces as they walked through the hallways. That was why I was surprised to find out when Steve and his friends asked me to play some football with them and eat dinner afterschool. I willingly agreed for I was never invited to hang out with anybody. After playing some football and eating dinner, we got went to Steve’s apartment. There, the gang planned on vandalizing Steve’s neighbor’s homes. I had no intention of stirring any troubles in a new city, so I decided to go home early. Steve and his friends called me names such as ‘loser’ and ‘candy-ass’ until I realized that they were the first friends I ever made. I stayed behind to live up to the expectations of my newly made friends. Steve handed me two boxes of eggs, flour, and a gallon jug of water. We scurried from one floor to another, throwing eggs at doors, pouring water and flour at doormats, and ringing their doorbells. The more floors we reached, the guiltier I felt. By the time Steve and his friends called it a day, I felt dreadful as I realized how I allowed myself to submit to Steve’s sinfulness, just to maintain a few morally corrupt people as friends. I felt I created a huge hole in my in my ethics and I wanted to fill it in firstly by making better friends. The next day, I avoided Steve and his circle and was lucky enough to make a new friend who seemed to have his morals set straight. His name was Chris Church and he was a devout Catholic from New York. Like me, Chris didn’t seem to have any other friends; nevertheless, he was a diligent student who avoided trouble. We became acquaintances when I sat next to him on the bus. He was extremely kind and offered to help me get settled into my new school. Despite his helpfulness, there was something extremely peculiar about him. I got to know him; the more I felt that a religion should be irrelevant to the morality of a person. Although religion did promote righteousness, I felt that in many times, it had its flaws. As nice as Chris was as a person, he was a bit too conceited about his religion. He appeared to discriminate those who were atheists, and I was surprised to find out he didn’t expect much out of me because I was from Mainland China. This comment would have been offensive to other Chinese people; however, I ignored it because I felt keeping my friendship with him was more important. He kept talking about how people he disagreed with or disliked were definitely going to go to hell unless they changed. The more he said things like that, the more I thought to myself about the notion of religions. I started to feel that many people, such as Chris, accept or take up religion, simply fearing what would happen after death. Though it is reasonable that this happens because death is the big, inevitable unknown, I felt that this might be the primary motivation for people to act kindly and ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ I could not confront these thoughts, so I decided to stop hanging out with Chris. It drove me insane. Having failed two friendships already, I felt like I was back in Shanghai. Even the locals of Hong Kong singled me out; they accepted Caucasians while I was discriminated against for being ethnically from Mainland China. This however was uncommon. The Cantonese viewed Mainlanders as barbarians who lacked manners and pollute Hong Kong. Many Chinese lacked the etiquette that the British had, angering most people of Hong Kong. The locals also despised Mainland Chinese because hordes of mainlanders went to Hong Kong simply to give birth and allow their babies to acquire Hong Kong citizenship. It was such a shame that one race could detest another, preventing cooperation and understanding at such a modern age of time. Furthermore, my parents were of no help. My father was constantly working, trying to provide for the family in Hong Kong, a city much more expensive than Shanghai. Additionally, my mother recently took up a job in order to help my father. It was like I was basically living alone, basically without any friends or family. I felt terrible because what could have been a great opportunity for me to start a new life where I could fit into a community was destroyed.

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Weblog 17 What is Cassius suggesting and how does he build his argument? Cassius is supporting Brutus’s view on Caesar’s rule in Rome. Both believe that Caesar should not be the sole ruler of Rome. Cassius supports Brutus by primarily by proving how ordinary of a man Caesar is. He feels that it is not worth living a life where one must bow down to another person, who was born of equal rights and abilities. Cassius even went as far to give an example proving how weak Caesar could be. His example portrayed him and Caesar as two men of equal conditions jumping into a river where Caesar had to eventually call for Cassius’s help to prevent himself from drowning. Cassius then tells Brutus that he is upset at how he has to be his servant as Caesar acts like a pompous jerk towards him and other people. Cassius goes on by giving another example of when Caesar was sick in Spain. He described how weak Caesar was and how he was like a sick girl as he groaned for water. Cassius then tells Brutus how shocked he is by the fact that such a sick man has the ability to be the ruler of Rome and its Empire. Cassius says that he feels every man should have the right to lead a free life, free from subjection to a single man. He also adds his belief of how men themselves are the ones who can control their lives and should do so by taking action, disproving the concept of destiny and fate. Furthermore, Cassius supports Brutus by adding how, in reality, names have no difference in significance and that the names ultimately have the same function. Cassius then criticizes society on how people can allow one man to rule them all. He says that people have changed and that before, nobody would allow a dictatorship in the Roman republic.

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How might you refute the argument that Holden's plight derives from him simply being a misanthrope and/or hypocrite?
In the Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is discontent emotionally and has to deal with his issues continuously. Holden appears to be unable to enjoy many things in life due to his cynicism and hypocrisy. As Holden narrates the story, he has a tendency to make himself appear to be much more superior than most other people he encounters. He claims other people are ‘phony,’ however; he secretly criticizes most people he sees but does not have the guts to confront them and accuse those certain people. This shows his hypocrisy, which consistently prevails throughout the novel. In addition to that, as I have said, he complains about other people and their fraudulence. Holden, however, continues to insult certain things in society, such as movies, which he declares that it promotes the corruption of society. His cynicism towards society appears all throughout the book. Therefore, it is doubtless that Holden is a hypocrite and misanthrope. Many may argue that this impacts his emotional well-being. However, there are many other reasons that may disprove this consensus. Holden’s plight may be due to his loneliness. Throughout the story, he attempts to connect with anybody and even tries to associate with people he thought of as inferiors. Such examples of his desperate need for social interaction was with Ackley after his fight with Stradlater, Sally Hayes and Carl Luce while venturing alone in New York City. An additional example of where Holden feels the need to connect with people is in the museum. He attempts to connect with the children, which he believes are the essence of innocence and purity, something that he admires heavily. However, the children eventually abandon him as he was showing them the museum. This left him all alone and unwanted, even by children, those who he admires for not knowing much about the world. Consequently, these examples show that Holden’s inability to feel needed and wanted is a major cause for his troubles.

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Significance of the boy singing, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye”

In chapter 16, Holden saw the boy as he was walking to the park. The boy, who was around six years of age, was with his mother and father in front of Holden and he could tell that the family had “just came out of some church” (Page 115.) The parents of the children were talking as they were walking alone and did not pay any attention the little boy. Holden describes the kid as ‘swell’ because Holden believes he, like all children, is the essence of innocence and genuineness. The carefree child sings the poem by Robert Burns, ‘If a body catch a body coming through the rye,’ as he walks on the street with cars zooming by. Holden admits that it made him ‘feel better’ and ‘not so depressed any more’ (Page 115.) This shows how Holden admires children’s non-phoniness and it is a continuation of Holden’s desire to retrieve his innocence. The parents represent how the adult society is corrupt and neglectful towards innocence, in other words, phony. The cars represent are an extension of society’s phoniness because they do their best to ‘slow down’ in front of the boy, however, in reality, the cars and drivers really want to go fast and get to their own destination. This passage also influenced his conversation with Phoebe later in the book. Holden claims that he wants to be the ‘catcher’ in the rye of innocent children. In other words, he wants to be the older figure, protecting children’s innocence. However, he didn’t realize that the poem did not actually consist of the word ‘catch’ but instead, it was ‘If a body MEET a body coming through the rye.’ Also, it is the first example where readers can spot a correlation between the title of the book and the story or theme of the book. The boy singing

Catcher in the Rye Cover

Describe and explain the design scheme of the book cover you turned in.
The book cover, which was drawn after reading only approximately nine chapters of the book, is a representation of what I think the book cover should have been. The front shows a scene of Holden walking with a cigarette in his mouth holding his Gladstone with Pencey written on it. It also depicts the scene where Holden recently got out of the cab and is walking to the hotel across the street. I added the cigarette because it is one of the primary objects that keep him unfit physically and mentally, which leads to his cynicism. The cynicism can be carried on to represent Holden’s alienation from society. The cigarette represents his alienation from society because it shows how Holden is much different from most people his age, who usually do not smoke. I also added in the Gladstone with Pencey written on it because I feel it was a pretty big part of Holden’s life. However, like most luggage, it is a burden, which he must carry around. Additionally, the scene which shows him getting out of a cab and going to a hotel represents Holden’s transition from trying to conform to society’s or his school’s rules and going into a new part of his life, which he abandons his education for the moment. Also, I purposely put the title in the pond because the title, which may mean Holden’s desire to be the protector of innocence or simply represent innocence, is surrounded by society’s ‘phoniness.’ The dull buildings and landscape may represent society’s phoniness. However, I also added the lamp because I believe the lamp may symbolize the few genuine people in the adult world that Holden meets. Some examples of these people are the nuns and Ernest Morrow’s mother. The back page, on the other hand, is completely different to the front page. The front page represents the reality in which Holden lives in, however, the back page represents what Holden wishes to acquire at the moment. The entity that Holden wishes to obtain or repossess is either being the protector of innocence in society or becoming innocent again, so that he does not have to deal with society’s fakery. This, described in the book, was being in a field of rye where children can play freely and not be corrupted by society. The big tree represents Holden and how he wanted to be the protector of these children.

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Why does Holden find the trip to Ackley’s room heighten his sense of loneliness?

Before going to Ackley’s room, Holden had a verbal and physical fight with Stradlater in which Holden tried to kill him. Although Holden had tried to kill Stradlater by punching Stradlater’s toothbrush down his throat, Holden missed and the fight was over soon after Stradlater gained the upper hand with his strength. Stradlater, who was Holden’s roommate was, in all likelihood, one of the only people in which Holden was slightly friendly with. After the fight, however, Holden’s most viable option was to go to Ackley’s room. Holden, however, had many feelings towards Ackley; but enjoying his company was not one of them. Holden had described Ackley as a “peculiar guy” who “had a terrible personality” and “was also sort of a nasty guy” (page 19). Holden also added that Ackley had “lousy manners” (page 23) and said his room “always had a funny stink in it, because he was so crumby in his personal habits” (page 46). Holden’s description of Ackley were very demeaning towards Ackley and it would be implied that Holden would never really want to hang out that much with Ackley simply because he did not like Ackley as a person and that his personal hygiene was very repellent. However, after the fight with Stradlater, Holden did not have much of an option but to go to Ackley’s room for to be comforted by Ackley’s company; this, however, degraded Holden to Ackley’s ‘level.’ In addition to resorting to Ackley for comfort, Ackley himself did not want Holden’s company. While Holden wanted to communicate with Ackley, Ackley simply just wanted to sleep. A sign where Ackley wanted to get rid of Holden was when Holden wanted to sleep on Ackley’s roommate, Ely’s, bed, but Ackley pretended to have manners and said that couldn’t “just tell somebody they can sleep in his [Ely’s] goddamn bed if they want to” (page 47). Also, Ackley said directly to Holden that he could leave if he doesn’t like the room on page 48. “If you don’t like it, you know what you can do…” This shows that Ackley is implying that Holden should leave his room. Thus, because Ackley, a person who Holden believed was so inferior did not want to be with Holden, made Holden feel much worse than before. This was probably the time where Holden acknowledged his true sense of loneliness and how he had nobody in Pencey.

Comin Thro' the Rye

Comin Thro’ the Rye by Robert Burns is written in a Scottish ‘dialect’, thus making it difficult for the average English speaker to interpret. For instance, the vocabulary was very foreign. Words like ‘weet, draigl’t, gin, warld, ken’ would have been unheard of by the majority of English speakers. Even if the definitions of the strange words were explained, understanding the poem is still challenging. A factor to this is the repetitive use of imagery to symbolize certain objects. For instance, “O, Jenny’s a’ weet, poor body,” can mean many things. However, the line may most likely symbolize Jenny’s emotional puddle. In addition, the line “Jenny’s seldom dry” may mean how Jenny is seldom out of her emotional sadness. The root of her possible sadness maybe derived from the repeating lines, “Gin a body meet a body” and “Gin a body kiss a body.” This may show how Jenny may be sexually active and that she is being judged for that, thus causing her to be sad. Also, because the poem’s true meaning is like an enigma, it also makes the interpretation of the poem’s mood and tone tough. For instance, Burns uses words such as ‘drag, wet, poor, and cry’ showing that the poem may have a depressing town. However, Burns also uses exclamation marks that could either exaggerate the sadness of the poem, or the complete opposite. Robert Burns also uses rhyme and rhythm to hint the importance of certain words, despite the poem being hard to understand by most people. Some words he may be emphasizing are ‘rye/dry’ and ‘glen/ken’.
With the limited information I have, I believe the poem’s meaning is along the lines of Jenny encountering judgemental opinions about her being sexually active. However, I do not believe Robert Burns may be trying to prove. I believe Burns is stressing a more broader and less literal issue because the imaginary Jenny and her social problems are not significant. I presume Burns’ poem revolves around the issues of hardship, which somewhat is related to the title “Comin Thro’ the Rye.” The rye may represent hardship and struggles of a human being’s life.