Birds

Birds are a symbol that reappear throughout the novel.

Taylor sees birds in the park, the odd ones that all come together because they are outcasts. She sees a bird outside the doctors window nesting in a cactus. When driving to find turtles parents Taylor sees a dead blackbird on the road. These are a few of many examples.

As each of the birds arrives in the story it always seems to fit the general mood of the seen as well as the emotions of the characters. 

Turtle and Taylor are like birds because they have both "flown from the nest." All the troubles they encounter on their journey of life are similar to the troubles birds enoucnter on their plight.

In matties appartment the bird flys in, hits the windpw, but then gets back up. This is parallel to Turtle and she has been abused and has trouble but then gets back to normal

This reminds me of Macbeth Act 4 Scene 2 which is all an extended metaphor relating to that of brids. 

Also estevan says Quetzal is the national bird of indian people in Guatemala.. Which is a BEAUTIFUL bird we saw it in Costa Rica.

BEAN TREES

When i first started reading the book i thought the girl was entirely joking. I doesnt seem real that someone could actually could inflate a tire too much, get blown over an oil sign, and live to tell about it. At the begging of the book it seems like shes in the middle of nowhere. I got that feeling much more then i did when reading montana. I enjoy following taylors adventure and how eager she is to find herself. She is not the type of person i usually interact with in my everyda life making her story evne more intresting to me.

I find the way the book is written very interesting. Parts of it are very poetic but then there is always a slightly humorus spin to it. A unique way of writting indeed. I still have a ways to go in the novel, but i wonder if her writing style will seem to have more meaning to perhaps emphasise the purpose of the novel.

Holden

Holden clearly feels alot of pain in his life. He uses many defense mechanisms to protect himself. He makes it as if he hates everyone. He does this distance himself from people. He makes this clear at the end of the novel when he explains that he hates talking about the people in his life because it makes him miss them and it makes him sad. His red hunting hat symbolizes him isolating himself. Holden wants to be different from others and the hat clearly sticks out like a sore thumb. 

Holden clearly misses his childhood and his time spent with Allie. This is symbolized in Allie's old baseball mitt which holden finds dear to him. It is also symbolized with his dream to be the catcher in the rye. Holden says he wants to "catch" the children running in the field. I feel this is Holden saying he wants to keep them from growing up.

Catcher and the Rye

Holden fails out of all his schools. He thinks of everyone as phony. Its intresting how he almost seems to blame others for his failur. At the begging of thw novel he clearly seems almost angry at the world, constantly describing thing using words like damn and hell. He seems to try to distance himself from others. His cynical comentary on the world and people around him makes this evident. I found Holden very easy to relate to. His thoughts seem mondane to a kid, not wanting to care very much on the school, but its impressive that he actually feels alright going by morals and leaving to the waste side.