Catcher in the Rye Silent Conversation

Silent Conversations – Quotes from the story There is absolutely no talking during this activity. Respond to each item through Post-its. How does this quote/idea make you feel and why? Do you agree or disagree with the statements? Why or why not? What conclusions can you draw from the items? Responses to classmates are encouraged. Give reasons why you agree or disagree. Be appropriate. NO TROLLS!

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has--I’m not kidding.

I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park...I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.

I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.

Almost every time somebody gives me a present, it ends up making me sad.

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.

Don't ever tell anybody anything Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.”

“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”

“That's the thing about girls “That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.”

The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

Alienation both protects and harms a person.

Silent Conversations: Reflections Which quotes stood out/resonated with you and why? How do you think they will inform your reading?

HOMEWORK – Monday 5/1! You will be turning these bullet points into 2 response paragraphs, that are typed & proofread for a homework grade due MONDAY 5/1. It should be at least one page.