Catcher in the Comic

For my final project, I am doing a The Catcher In The Rye comic! Holden and Pheobe are being stubborn when it comes to design. Any tips, scene suggestions, or critique = love.

Here's some character sketches... which were done on paint, so forgive me. I'll be drawing by hand for the actual thing. Thanks!

Heroic Journey

In class, Mr. Kunkle introduced Joseph Campbell's Heroic Journey story structure. Basically, this is a format with eight stages--Land of Security; Call to Adventure; "Divine" Helper Encounter; Tests and Trials; Treasure Gained; Ultimate Challenge; Death & Resurrection; Homecoming, Victorious, with Self-Realization. We've all seen this path again and again and again, just with different spices thrown in. It's been the bones of our favorite stories. It's good. It works. But, sometimes I get tired of it.

Part of the wonders of good writing is the unpredictability (while still being plausible). However, even with these twists and turns, how many times have you sat down to read or watch a movie and known within minutes how it'll go? It's still entertaining, since the fun's often in the journey, but... well, I want something a little different.

And I'm not one to look down on this structure. I am writing (or, uh, trying to write) a novel--The Walled-In World--and outlined my plot with the eight stages. All the same, I want to deviate but it's hard. This structure is so ingrained in our storytelling.

So, can you think of a book or movie or show that doesn't rely on the Heroic Journey format? Or any ideas? I'd love to hear.

Lavished We Are, Grateful We Are Not

We don't know how good things are.

Reading about Jane's school and remembering my own, it isn't hard to be grateful for the things McFarland has. If you think this school sucks, sorry, but you need to open your eyes.

Jane wears uniforms--plain, rather unpleasant ones. Bad students are publically humiliated; classes require a higher level of dedication and hard work. The food sucks. A lot. It's cold. Your religion cannot change. The opposite gender does not exist on school grounds. Etc etc etc.

At my old school, before I moved here in eighth grade, my religion was not allowed to change (nor were we allowed to voice dissent, especially if female), we had no library, our heater and air conditioning either didn't exist or might as well have not, science was mocked, computers were old, there was only one teacher for every two grades (for all classes, whether they understood the subject or not), students took out the trash and worked in the kitchens, we had no nurse (try being a seven-year-old diabetic there with most of the faculty saying God hates you and to suck it up), tutoring was nearly unheard of, girls did not have voices, art was looked down on, our food often froze or spoiled, stereotypes were reinforced, etc etc etc... and there were only 70 to 80 kids from preschool to eighth grade. You know how McFarland is with cliques and rumors? Try that when there are only six other people in your grade.

And yet I hear people rant about McFarland this and McFarland that, often with negativity. I just don't understand. You have competent, often excellent teachers. You don't have to pay thousand of dollars a year to get a crappy education. You have not just science labs, but science classes. Your food is warm and edible. There's a library, classes of all kinds, some diversity. There are clubs. You can choose your religion, or even drop it all together. If you need new friends, you can make some. Both boys and girls can speak. Your walls aren't falling down around you.

Please, explain to me why you hate our school. I don't understand.

Holden's a Hero - or could be, anyways...

So while talking in class and looking through our blogs, I noticed some really negative responses to Holden. I question his morals and santity and all, but I think we're doing exactly what we don't like about him.

You may say "I don't like the way Holden hates everyone" and then go on and on about how much you dislike Holden. Um, what? I caught myself doing this, and then realized how silly that was. I recommend doing the same. Negativity gets us nowhere but down.

I liked the book. But I struggled and I gripped and I put Holden down constantly. I coudn't tell if I liked how he wrote, and knew I disliked how he lied terrifically, drank like an alcoholic fish, smoked pack after pack, did so little, fought... But by the end, as I looked at the emptyness after the last word, I felt--cheesy as it sounds--like I learned something. I felt good, and not just because I finally finished it.

The Catcher in the Rye is a good book (and would have been better, I think, if I didn't expect Holden to off someone every other page). You're confronted with a character and situations you don't like (or, at least, that's how it was for me) and then you get a choice. Do you A) take the easy road and seethe about how dumb Holden is, blah blah blah... or B) see where Holden fell and decide to climb instead? As in, oh, you don't like how Holden sat around and did nothing? Well. Do something!

Have you ever read The Things They Carried? Whether you did or didn't, liked it or hated it, it had a point. There are facts in fiction. The author may be unreliable and his story lies, but that doesn't mean it's without truth.

The Collection

Most kids like collecting things--bottle caps, stuffed animals, cards, insect headstones, etc. I've stopped collecting Pokemon and YuGiOh cards, stopped picking up bottle caps, and interesting rocks and the like, but I haven't given up on my money obsession.


I like money like anyone else. Cash = ability to live. However, my collection has nothing to do with monetary value.

By 3rd grade, I sent nearly every buck to the bank. I lived in the library. I spent recess after recess with my head buried in a book, my tongue trying out word after word after wonderful word. When a friend would travel, my mother would have to grab me to keep me from clinging to their leg, begging to go. But, when they returned, I brightened at their strange stories and colorful currencies.

And so, I began my collection. Money from Thailand, India, Mexico, China, South Korea, Japan...

It was a fervent, euphoric addiction, my love of words and of places in the world. Silly as it sounds, I've spent nearly a decade saving and studying just to experience it all myself, instead of living through the yen and zloty I've collected.

tCitR : Excerpt

"The bus driver opened the doors and made me throw [the snowball] out. I told him I wasn't going to chuck it at anybody, but he wouldn't believe me. People never believe you." p. 37, the Catcher in the Rye

I chose this because it reminded me of common stereotypes for both adults and adolescents. First, the bus driver assumed the worst. It's basic math for most. Kid + snowball = obviously gonna throw it. Why not stop the problem before it's even a problem? But that's a stereotype. Holden didn't want to chuck that snowball, but the driver wouldn't hear it.

Next, the teenager, Holden. "People never believe you." That's a great line, because every kid has faced that feeling at least once. But it's also a stereotype. Maybe some bus driver won't listen, but not every one's like that.

Perhaps Salinger was hinting at how the two sides of one pole are always trying to knock the other down. Yes, teens and adults can view the world differently, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there should be a communal understanding rather than communal distrust. When trying to knock the other down, each side is hurt.

Visions of Childhood: Response

Childhood is something most people go through. It's also depicted and experienced in countless ways--but what are the similarities and differences?

Something I saw in every story was this: Childhood sucks. No getting around it, whether it be your parents dying during WWII or watching an adult party blur and blast around you. Or you meet A. Friend that you ought to avoid. Yeah, happy-go-crappy stuff.

Another similarity is this: Things are out of your control. Period. Sure, you can acquire as much brain as Esme, keep out of everything like Victor, or trytrytry to please your parents like Cates, but, at the end of it all, good luck fighting fate.

However, the difference is hope, and the way people handle it. Connie messed up big, and there was no hope for her... well, there could have been if she'd handled the phone better, but she missed the boat with that one. For Esme, her parents are gone, but she still tries to make the best of everything, improve herself (I'm training myself to be more compassionate. My aunt says I'm a terribly cold person...) makes it through the war and meets a man she marries. Overall, not bad, considering our examples. Even in "Bottle Caps", something as morbid as death gets a laugh thrown in. Not everyone leaves everything all doom and gloom--some put their imagination to good use and make the best of things.

As for whether or not the authors hit the mark, I can't say. I've only had one childhood and thus have little to compare with. Life's too varied for someone to write a "right" or "wrong" interpretation. Even if I whole-heartedly disagree, someone else won't.

A story that depicts childhood... I'd go with Fullmetal Alchemist. It's about messing up and fixing mistakes, accepting helping hands and fighting frightening adversaries, viewing the world outside boxes and comfort zones; the characters experience war, hope, trust, deaths of children, parents, enemies, and loved ones, numerous morals, questions, unity, and love, even with alchemists and suped-upped prosthetics blowing things up.

This texts says a lot about childhood—it can be full of hardship and simplicity, complexity and ease. Childhood is about making mistakes and thinking large while living in a small world before growing up into a much bigger, much more interconnected life. There is similarity with the stories we’ve seen—morbidity, doing things one really shouldn’t, wanting one’s parents, loss—but the details vary—a science like magic, fairytale/nightmarish bad guys, action, fighting back. Overall, while the adventure may be widely different, the cores are close to many childhoods.