On the Road, Jack Kerouac. Cycle 26 Reading Response, pages 86-108

Sal and his new love, Terry, head down to Los Angeles. Sal gets to experience the West that he traveled across the country to experience, but he longs for New York. They wander around Los Angeles until they make a plan to work picking grapes in Bakersfield, but instead hitchhike to Sabinal to live with Terry's brother. They meet up with her brother, Rickey, his friend, Ponzo, and Terry's young son, Johnny. Rickey had just been kicked out of his house by his girl, so they all rent a tent near the cotton field where they are to work picking cotton. Rickey and Ponzo have a scheme to make money by selling manure, but their plan never materializes, so they rely on Sal and Terry for a place to stay. Johnny, Terry, and Sal work picking cotton. They pick cotton for a while and are doing okay, until the cold weather comes and they decide to leave and live with Terry's family. Terry and Johnny stay with them, but Sal stays with a farmer up the road, but Sal gets restless and he decides to go back to New York. They plan to meet up in a month. Sal heads back down to LA, then from there he catches a bus going east. He travels back to New York and returns to his aunt's house. He finds out that Dean had stayed there just weeks before, but Sal missed him.

bop caps: "Wild Negroes with bop caps and goatees came laughing by..." (p. 87)
hinterlands: "Great families of jalopies from the hinterlands stood around the sidewalk..." (p. 87) noun, the often uncharted areas beyond a coastal district or a river's banks, an area lying beyond what is visible or known
hincty: "Handsome queer boys...wetting their eyebrows with hincty fingertip." (p. 87)
grotto: "Terry and I ate in a cafeteria downtown which was decorated to look like a grotto..." (p 88) noun, a small picturesque cave, especially an artificial one in a park or garden
cowflaps: "That night Ponzo said it was too cold and slept on the ground in our tent, wrapped in a big tarpaulin smelling of cowflaps." (p. 95) noun, a flat, round piece of cow dung
hamburg: "...Rickey showed up with a loaf of bread and a pound of hamburg." (p. 95) noun, another term for hamburger
ante-bellum: "They picked cotton with the same God-blessed patience their grandfathers had practiced in ante-bellum..." (p. 96) noun, what occurred or existed before a particular war, especially the American Civil War
Susquehanna: "It was the night of the Ghost of Susquehanna." (p. 104) noun, a river in the northeastern United States that has two headstreams, one that rises in New York and one in Pennsyvania, both of which meet in central Pennsylvania, then flow to Chesapeake Bay
hoorair: "...and right in the middle of a rush hour, too, seeing with my innocent road-eyes the absolute madness and fantastic hoorair of New York..." (p. 107)
huarache: "...my canvas bag had torn cottonfield pants and the tattered remnants of my huarache shoes in it." (p. 107) noun, a leather-thonged sandal, originally worn by Mexican Indians

Sal met Terry on his way to Los Angeles, then went there with her. After that, they continued their travels in California, but Sal grows restless and heads back to New York. This is how I imagine Sal's time with Terry if Terry was the protagonist.

I love Sal. He's so unlike anyone else I have ever met. He's smart, and sensitive, and listens to my stories after he tells me his. Right now, we're coming back from the fields. I can tell that there's something that he's not telling me. Ponzo and Rickey stayed in the tent with us again last night. I know Johnny likes them around, but I think Sal doesn't. I still remember when Ponzo liked me. I think he knows that Sal is for me now, but maybe Sal doesn't know that my thing with Ponzo is in the past. Now Sal is the one that I love the most. It's very quiet. I'm worried about Sal. He's quiet when he's thinking too hard. He's been thinking too hard for too long. Maybe it's where we are. It is getting cold here in the tent at night.

I told Sal that we should talk. I'm getting worried about him. I love him so much that I want to be with him, but I don't want him to be unhappy. I tried talking to him. The rent was due and we had to decide. "Go back to your family," Sal said. When he talks like that to me, yelling forcefully in that way, it makes me want to cry and return to the time before I knew him. "For God's sake, you can't be batting around tents with a baby like Johnny; the poor little tyke is cold." I started crying. Who is he to question me? I have done what's best for Johnny. He shouldn't doubt my decisions as a mother.

So we went back to visit my family. All my family came to meet Sal. They had heard about him, thanks to the gossip my family spreads about anyone, even their own. I was embarrassed. I couldn't tell what Sal was thinking. He's just so sad these days. It seems like his mind is not here.

Sal decided to stay in a farmhouse that my cousin once stayed in when he ran away from home. I couldn't leave him there without anything. I brought him dinner and cloth to keep warm. I wanted to stay with him, but Papa was calling for me. He was angry. When he gets angry after drinking, he always yells for me. I had to leave Sal in the farmhouse until Papa when to sleep. Once he was asleep, I returned to the farm house. No more yells called me back to Papa and I could be with Sal. I was angry though. Papa told me that I need to go back to work. He told me that I couldn't fool around. "Sal," I said, "take me to New York with you." He didn't say yes. "But how?" was his reply. I knew that we were not meant to be together at that moment, and I had to let it go so I could move on and return home.

The next day, Sal was going to leave. I met up with him in the field. I had his breakfast I made, he had his stuff he packed. We kissed once, then we left.

On the Road, Jack Kerouac. Cycle 25 Reading Response 60-85

Sal finds his way to San Fransisco. He stays with his friend Remi Boncoeur and his girl, Lee Ann. They stay in Mill City, an voluntarily integrated neighborhood. He tries writing a screenplay, and Remi takes it down to Hollywood to show to a producer, but it doesn't get made into a movie. Remi gets Sal a job as a guard in the barracks, just to make enough money. To make ends meet, they steal from the kitchen of the barracks. They go to the racetrack, but Remi loses almost all his money. He borrows money to take his stepdad and his new wife out to dinner to impress them, but they see Ronald Major, whose drunkenness ruins the evening for everyone. Sal gets swept up in it and ruins the dinner, so Remi is furious and their friendship is ruined. He decides that the west isn't what he thought it would be and plans to head back out east to New York, but wants to go back through the south. He heads to L.A. and meets a Mexican girl, Terry. They sit together on the bus then sleep together.

treed: "...it was a canyon, and a deep one, treed profusely on all slopes." (p. 61) adj, resembling the branching structure of a tree
contingent: "The contingent shipped out..." (p. 69) noun, a group of people united by some common feature, forming part of a larger group
harangues: "The September rains came, and with them harangues." (p. 73) noun, a lengthy and aggressive speech
lugubrious: "Oh, it was sweet and delicious and worth my whole lugubrious voyage." (p. 84) adj, looking or sounding sad and dismal

Like Sal's other friends in On the Road, Jack Kerouac based Remi Boncoeur on a real person. Henri Cru first met Jack in prep school, then they later shared apartments in New York and California. By the episode in On the Road, they have been friends for quite a while, maybe 10 years. I think, just based on the way Sal and Remi interact and how Sal talks about Remi in the novel, that Remi is Sal's closest friend. He's different than the other people they know. Remi isn't trying to revolutionize the way Sal's other friends seem to. Remi is not trying to get away from his current situation with his mean girlfriend Lee Ann in a ramshackle neighborhood, as long as they make ends meet and don't fight too much. I know Remi wants more, but he doesn't make a noticeable effort. He tries to impress his stepfather, but does not succeed, at the fault of Sal. This is the thing that breaks their friendship. Sal was not thinking, but acting impulsively and immaturely. Maybe it was because Ronald Major was there and he felt that he needed to be someone different. We all find ourselves in this situation. We act one way around some people, and differently around others. We may do something with one group of friends because everyone else is doing it, and you do want to be the baby who's too afraid to do it, then complain about people who do things like that to another group of friends. Everyone does this. I think that this really hits Sal in this situation. Remi is his closest friend, but also his most under-appreciated. Remi is there when Sal needs a place to stay and a paying job in a strange city. Ronald Major is the friend who shows Sal a good time. Maybe it was his desperation finally catching up to him, or his inability to settle into something, but something made him mess things up and choose Ronald over Sal. Him drastically changing his actions just with the addition of another person wrecked things for the person he really cares about. I think this is part of his transformation, part of the process where he chooses which side he is on between his friends. I just hope that he deals with the fact that he acted in a way which probably permanently lost him a friend.

On the Road, Jack Kerouac. Cycle 24 Reading Response, pages 36-59

Sal arrives in Denver and finds his friends who are living there. He finds them divided between the criminals and intellectuals and the hipsters, like the rest of his generation. During the ten days of his stay in Denver, he spends time with both sets of friends. He goes to Dean's, his criminal friend, house and witnesses the complex life he is leading sleeping with woman after woman and staying up all night talking to their more intellectual friend, Carlo. He sees the division between them and his other friends, who take him up to Central City in the mountains, where he lives the life of a socialite with attending the Opera and throwing wild parties, as well as hitting the town and getting into bar fights. When he returns to Denver, he finds out that Carlo and Dean were there at the same time as him and his other friends, which just shows how the gap between the two groups is widening. He sleeps with a girl that Dean found for him, then decides that he has done all he can in Denver and moves onto San Fransisco.

choleric: "...Major sat in his silk dressing gown composing his latest Hemingwayan short story -- a choleric, red-faced, budgy hater of everything..." (p. 40) adj, bad-tempered or irritable
ikon: "...and a crazy makeshift ikon of some kind that he had made." (p. 47) noun, variation of spelling of "icon"
chichi: "We drove up the mountain and found the narrow streets chock full of chichi tourists." (p. 51) adj, attempting stylish elegance but achieving only an overelaborate effectedness
sabot: "Then there's Normandy in the summers, the sabots, the fine old Calvados." (p. 53) noun, a kind of simple show, shaped and hollowed out from a single block of wood, traditionally worn by French and Breton peasants
clubfooted: "...and Tom Snark, the clubfooted poolshark." (p. 59) adj, have a birth defect where the afflicted person often appear to walk on their akles or sides of their feet.

Even the closest of friends can become divided. Sal had a fairly large but still close group of friends when he lived in New York, most of whom went to Denver. He met them out there in the West, but he didn't find things with his friends as they were back east. While there had always been a little bit of a divide, the division of the two groups of friends widened when they left the east and discovered themselves out west. On one side there were Carlo Marx, Dean Moriarty, and Old Bull Lee. The other side had Chad King, Tim Gray, Ronald Major, and Ray Rawlins. Sal's time in Denver opens his eyes to this divide. He can see it becoming wider, but he finds himself stepping into it during his travels west.  

As I mentioned before, On the Road is at least partially autobiographical. These characters in the story are based on real people in Jack Kerouac's life. The actual Dean Moriarty is Neal Cassady, who played a big role as a part of the Beat Generation in the 1950's, just after Sal's first trip in the book, and then in the psychedelic movement of the 1960's. Carlo Marx is Allen Ginsberg, who fought against materialism and conformity with his poetry as a member of the Beat Generation. Old Bull Lee was actually William S. Borroughs, who was known as a drug addict and gun enthusiast. His writing and poetry were considered controversial.

On the other side of the divide is Chad King, who was, in real life, Hal Chase. Tim Gray was Ed White. Both of theme were Kerouac's friends from Columbia. Ed White was not a poet, like many of Kerouac's other friends, but an architect. Allan Temko, who is referred to as Ronald Major in On the Road, was also an architect. Ray Rawlins, or Bob Burford in On the Road, is another non-poet friend of Kerouac, but combines the writing aspects of some friends and layout capabilities of the architects, in his profession as a magazine editor. 

Jack Kerouac's friends seem like an interesting group. You have criminals and creators, anarchists and architects. Although I'm not sure, I'm guessing that Jack will end up siding with the more dangerous group. I think that he will be drawn to them, since they have what he thinks he lacks. He seems like someone who is not a leader, but a follower. His personality now ddoesn't allow him to be adventurous. He went out west with the knowledge that his friends were already out there, and at the urging of his aunt. Even though he is like this now, I think that he'll become more and more like them as he follows that group and not the other. One does not truly know his or her identity until they have to show it to someone, the way the only way to really know a subject is to have to teach it. I think that, after a while with the group, he won't be the follower anymore, but there will be a new guy who will follow. When this happens, I think that Kerouac will find himself with a stronger sense of identity. Through this story, I think that Jack will find his identity shaped by his friends, then solidified, but he will always be reexamining who he is in his surroundings and in his words. 

On the Road, Jack Kerouac. Cycle 23 Reading Response, pages 1-35

This story starts with the protagonist talking about one of the guys in his group of friends in New York, Dean Moriarty. His life in New York was filled with his friends, either intellectuals or criminals, who made life exciting by spontaneously traveling across the country. In July 1947, the protagonist, which, since this is for the most part autobiographical, is the author, Jack Kerouac but is referred to as Sal, decides to go to the West Coast. He heads west as a bus rider and as a hitchhiker. He ends up in Denver, where all of his friends are.

jalopy: "...his parents were passing through Salt Lake City in 1926, in a jalopy, on their way to Los Angeles." (p. 1) noun, an old and dilapidated car
dichotomy: " '...but the thing that I want is the realization of those factors that should one depend on Schopenhauer's dichotomy for any inwardly realized...' " (p. 3) noun, a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different
phosphorescent: "As we rode in the bus in the weird phosphorescent void of the Lincoln Tunnel..." (p. 4) adj, having the quality of light emitted by a substance without combustion or perceptible heat
lout: "Their energies met head-on, and I was a lout compared..." (p. 5) noun, an uncouth or aggressive man or boy
benzedrine: "....Jane wandering on Times Square in a benzedrine hallucination..." (p. 5) noun, a type of hallucinogentic drug
bevies: "There were the most beautiful bevies of girls everywhere I looked..." (p. 15) noun, large groups of people or things of a particular kind
alackaday: "Well, alackaday, I kissed the shirt good-by..." (p. 21) exclamation, an expression of regret or dismay
sardonic: "Montana Slim spoke to them occasionally with a sardonic and insinuating smile." (p. 23) adj, grimly mocking or cynical
rawboned: "In my earlier days Id been to sea with a tall rawboned fellow from Louisiana..." (p. 26) adj, having a bony or gaunt physique
tarpaulin: "...the best thing to do now was for all of us to bundle up under the big tarpaulin or we'd freeze." (p. 29) noun, a heavy-duty waterproof cloth

Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" is a partially autobiographical story of trips that he took in his youth. In the novel, Sal Paradise is Jack Kerouac. He is living in New York and writing. Language is intertwined in the story. At its center is the desire to experience more. Sal said that his friendship with Dean Moriarty was giving him experiences he can write about. The way he talks about his friends, especially Dean, it seems like he is unsure about who he is and who he wants to be. His language that describes Dean is admiring and more specific than that of an acquaintance would be. It shows his admiration of Dean, which affects the things he does and who he is. On the road to Denver, he hears people speak from all over the country. Their different accents and words capture their hometown and show who they are. For example, a hobo and the youth that travels with him are basically the same in appearance, but contrast in their language. The hobo is eager to converse with Sal and share stories of the road, while the younger hobo is reluctant to talk to anyone. The language used to describe and used by the characters help to differentiate them from others and provide them with their own identity. On the road, I think that Sal will grow and discover more about himself through his experiences. The question is, how will he convey it in the language of his writing?

Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Cycle 22 Reading Response, Pages 1-231

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the author of Cat's Cradle

The fabled cat's cradle string game

Two people doing boko-maru, a Bokonon ritual

Cat's Cradle is told by John, an author writing a book about what important Americans were doing when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He pursues the story of what Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb, was doing on that day. He receives from Newt Hoenikker, Dr. Felix Hoenikker's youngest son, his memory of what happened on that day. Included in his memory are his older brother Frank and his older sister Angela. Newt had recently flunked out of a pre-med program, his sister was unhappily married with two daughters, and his brother had escaped the country after getting into illegally shipping cars to Cuba. He then goes to Ilium, New York, where the Hoenikkers lived. He encounters high school classmates and coworkers, as well as the family graves for Dr. Hoenikker and his children's mother. When he visits the lab where Dr. Hoenikker did his work, he learns of ice-nine, a technology that Dr. Hoenikker developed in response to a request by a Marine General to find a solution to mud. This technology solidifies mud. The people that John talk to say it is impossible, but Dr. Hoenikker found otherwise. As we learn later, he succeeded in creating this, but it led to his death. He is assigned to write a piece about Julian Castle, an American sugar millionaire who was living on San Lorenzo, an island in the Caribbean. As it turns out, this is where Frank was residing as a Major General in the Republic of San Lorenzo. On the flight there, he meets the new American Ambassador to San Lorenzo and his wife, as well as a bicycle manufacturer who is thinking about moving his factory to the island. Also on this flight are Angela and Newt. When they arrive, they are welcomed, but the current president of the island, "Papa" Mozano, collapses. When he later dies from ice-nine solidifying all of the liquid in his body, John is appointed as the new president, even though Frank was supposed to assume the post and marry "Papa"'s adopted daughter and love icon of the island, Mona. John marries her and learns more about Bokononism. An accident happens and the corpse of "Papa", which contains ice-nine, is sent hurling into the ocean, and the world's moisture becomes solid. Everyone on the island dies except for John, Frank, Newt, the bicycle manufacture and his wife. John finds Bokonon, who the San Lorenzonans have been searching for since he was outcast, and he finishes The Books of Bokonon. 

foma*: "Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy." (p. 1) noun, harmless untruths

karass*: " 'Man created the checkerboard; God created the karass.' " noun, teams that do God's will without ever discovering what they are doing

kan-kan*: "... and the instrument, the kan-kan, that brought me into my own particular karass was the book I never finished..." (p. 14) noun, the instrument with which one is brought into their karass

sinooka*: "...was no doubt a member of my karass though he was dead before my sinookas...began to tangle with those of his children." (p. 16) noun, tendril of one's life

wampeter*: "No karass is without a wampeter, Bokonon tells us, just as no wheel is without a hub." (p. 50) noun, the center and goal of a karass

vin-dit*: "It was in the tombstone salesroom that I had my first vin-dit..." (p. 64) noun, sudden and personal shove toward Bokononism

wrang-wrang*: "If he was, he served as a wrang-wrang." (p. 71) noun, a person who steers people away from speculation with absurdity

duprass*: " 'A true duprass,' Bokonon tells us, 'can't be invaded, not even by children born of such a union." (p. 78) noun, a karass composed of only two people

Hoosier: " 'My God,' she said, 'are you a Hoosier?' " (p. 80) noun, a native or inhabitant of Indiana

granfalloon*: "Hazel's obsession with Hoosiers around the world was ... a text book example of what Bokonon calls a granfalloon." (p. 82) noun, a false karass

calypso*: "In his 'Fifty-third Calypso,' Bokonon invites us to sing along with him:" (p. 14) noun, poems written by Bokonon and included in The Books of Bokonon

querulously: " 'Don't tell,' begged one querulously." (p. 131) adverb, done petulantly or whiningly complaining 

saroon: "And, inwardly, I sarrooned..." (p. 165) verb, to submit to the demands of a vin-dit

boko-maru*: " 'Boko-maru would help,' she suggested." (p. 167) noun, a Bokononist ritual involving touching the soles of your feet to the soles of another person's feet

sin-wat*: "She stared at me with widening eyes. 'A sin-wat!' " (p. 170) noun, a man who wants all of somebody's love

crenel, machicolation, balistraria: "Vines and bird nests clogged the crenels, the machicolations, and the balistrariae." (p. 173) nouns, indentation in the battlements of a fort or castle to fire missiles, opening between the supporting corbels of a projecting parapet or the vault of a gate through which stones could be dropped on attackers

fustian: "He had a written speech with him - fustian and bombast, I imagine." (p. 205) noun, pompous or pretentious speech or writing

*Note: Some of the vocab in this book are from the Bokonon religion.

Many things in this book interested me. I liked the style of writing, as well as the content. The content was captivating and imaginative. The ultimate end of the world in this story is ice-nine, a strange substance which is at the core of the story. Kurt Vonnegut crafts this novel in a way that keeps you wondering and reading.

The story is written in 127 short episodic increments. Each episode tells a short part of John's saga. Each story adds a little bit. We start knowing almost nothing, except who John is and what book he is writing. With each new story, we learn a little bit more about the subject of his book, Dr. Hoenikker, and his surviving relatives. We learn about where they lived, the people living there now, and then this strange island of San Lorenzo. Each episode is too short to tell us a lot, but we still manage to learn and make connections. For example, in just a matter of three short chapters, we are taken from the letter Newt wrote to John's trip to Ilium, which happens over 2 years in actuality. I liked this style of writing in short bursts. After each episode, I could take a break to think about what had happened in the last chapter. It was easy to find good places to stop reading and it was easy to pick up right where I left off.

The thing is, this book can't be put down. The story is fascinating. This world is so believable. John is just an author, writing a book about a historical event -- nothing too out of the ordinary. Then he gets swept up in his subject and finds this island. There are many islands in the Caribbean, maybe even a San Lorenzo. This island could exist. In one of the episodes, we hear the entire history of San Lorenzo. Its government was started by two men Corporal Earl McCabe and Lionel Boyd Johnson, the latter of whom was the man who would later be called Bokonon. Bokonon founds the religion of San Lorenzo, Bokononism. Bokononism is an intricate religion. Its creation created an interesting divide on the island. To govern the people, the two founding men of the island took opposite roles in their attempt to make San Lorenzo a utopia. Bokonon was the religious one, and McCabe ran the government. He outlawed Bokononism. This is from the "Calypsos" of Bokonon.

I wanted all things

To seem to make some sense,

So we all could be happy, yes,

Instead of tense.

And I made up lies

So that they all fit nice,

And I made this sad world

A par-a-dise. (p. 109)

Bokonon created these lies, and McCabe outlawed them. As good needs evil, evil needs good. Bokonon became the exiled savior of the people while McCabe was the cruel ruler. In one of the episodes, Kurt Vonnegut describes how these changed. When the arrived on the island, they were both half-good, half-bad. As they settled into their roles on the island, Bokonon became all good, and McCabe became all bad in the eyes of the people. Bokonon had a bounty on his head and Bokononism was outlawed, with the punishment of "The Hook" for anyone who is caught practicing Bokononism. The interesting culmination of the religion aspect of the story is when "Papa", the president of San Lorenzo when John arrives, dies and has the Bokonon last rites performed. Even when it is outlawed, everyone is secretly Bokonon, a secret revealed with their death. When the whole island, with the exception of John, Frank, Newt, and the bicycle manufacturer and his wife, dies, they are discovered later by John, who finds this note-

To whom it may concern: These people around you are almost all of the survivors on San Lorenzo of the winds that followed the freezing of the sea. These people made a captive of the spurious holy man named Bokonon. They brought him here, placed him at their center, and commanded him to tell them exactly what God Almighty was up to and what they should now do. The mountebank told them that God was surely trying to kill them, possibly because He was through with them, and that they should have the good manners to die. This, as you can see, they did. (p. 220)

The note was signed by Bokonon. They were found in the position of boko-maru, the position unique to Bokononism, and the position that was assumed during the Bokonon last rites before death. All of these people secretly practiced Bokononism. The mystery around Bokonon continues until the end of the book, the final episode entitled simply "The End". He finds Bokonon sitting, frosty with ice nine but not yet dead, and pondering how to end the Books of Bokonon. When he decides, the book ends. I think that Bokonon died, or committed suicide with ice nine. He lived his life with the penalty of death if anyone contacted him or read his teachings, as well as if he appeared publicly. 

He ended his life with ice nine, the substance created by Dr. Hoenikker which had more destructive capabilities than the atomic bomb he also fathered. As we learn on the trip to the Dr.'s lab in Ilium, New York, he spent his last days researching ice nine, after being approached by a Marine general who wanted a solution for mud. His Marines were getting stuck in the mud. He was convinced that the great scientific mind of Dr. Hoenikker could come up with a way to solidify mud so that his Marines could get across. Dr. Hoenikker hypothesized that if the molecules of water could be stacked in a certain way, they would become solid like that, sort of like ice, if you dropped in a little bit of the substance stacked that way already. In effect, this would solidify any moisture it encountered. While the science of this is interestingly developed, I find its power more intriguing. After discovering their father had died after ingesting ice nine, the three Hoenikker children -- Angela, Frank, and Newt -- divided up the only samples of the substance the world has ever seen, and carried their third with them. This gave them incredible power. Angela got herself an attractive husband, who she shared the ice nine. Frank used it to get himself the position he held on San Lorenzo. Newt had won a Ukrainian midget's love with this power he possessed because he had the ice nine. The ice nine had such destructive power, but it had enabled Angela, Frank, and Newt to be happy. The question is, were they really happy? Can you still be satisfied with achieving your goals, even if you bribed your way there? Would their happiness be the same if they had gotten love and position without the help of ice nine? Along with the other deaths caused by the release of ice nine, we know that Angela died, and it's more than likely that Frank and Newt eventually did as well. This substance that gave them a happy life ultimately took it away.

Cat's Cradle is a wonderfully developed book. The characters, plot, and context make it a must-read. It is not very heave reading; each short episode is manageable in length. As imaginative as it is, the book sparks realistic questions in my mind about the role of religion and deception, as well as the power of destruction. After reading this book Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors. While reading you get sept up int he world of San Lorenzo and Heonikkers, and you don't wan tot put the book down. Like the cat's cradle itself, created out of a loop of string taken through twists and turns, has many seemingly separate segments, but there is always a string tying them together. It is up to the reader to figure out what is their interpretation of the string.

Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger. Cycle 21 Reading Response, Pages 164-201

Zooey and Franny's conversation ends, for Franny, in tears and for Zooey, leaving the room. He goes into Seymour and Buddy's room for the first time in years. Franny is left in the living room with Mrs. Glass's declined offers of chicken soup. Buddy calls to talk to Franny. They talk about Franny's situation, and Franny complains to him about her conversation with Zooey earlier that day. It turns out to be Zooey, calling pretending to be Buddy. 

contrition: "...with the greens and yellows of guilt or abject contrition." (p. 171) noun, the state of feeling remorseful and penitent

idiom: "...that Zooey had, in the ready-made dramatic idiom," (p. 174) noun, a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words

beaverboard: "...a sheet of what had once been snow-white beaverboard..." (p. 174) noun, a kind of fiberboard used in building

unribaldly: "...Pascal had been unribaldly bedded down with Emily Dickinson..." (p. 175) adverb, no definition found. Synonymous guesses: undoubtedly? apparently? figuratively?

sinewy: "...all her brothers had overly vibrant, not to say sinewy, voices on the telephone." (p. 187) adj, like pieces of tought fibrous tissue uniting muscle to bone or bone to bone, tendous or ligamentlike

ballast: "The cigars are ballast, sweetheart. Sheer ballast." (p. 191) noun, heavy material, such as gravel, sand, iron, or lead, placed low in a vessel to improve its stability

After reading The Catcher in the Rye, I fell in love with J.D. Salinger's writing. This was why I chose to read this book. I love the way he crafts his sentences, scattering commas and conjunctions in places where they may not be grammatically correct, but they create voice and flow that fits the story and the author. His writing style and subject matter are subtle. While each word and each interaction are carefully chosen, then crafted into the story. The words he chooses reflect the voice. It isn't over the top, but where commas are placed and when syllables are italicized, I can hear how the phrase would have sounded as the characters were speaking. Then, there are the ideas. The way things are phrased seem to fit the characters, and convey the core message. At the culmination, all the things that have seemingly been thrown in throughout come together and make sense as Salinger craftily ends the story. For this reading response, I am going to collect my favorite quotes from this passage. 

"In an instant, he turned pale -- pale with anxiety for Franny's condition, and pale, presumably, because failure had suddenly filled the room with its invariably sickening smell. The color of his pallor, however, was curiously basic white -- unmixed, that is, with the greens and yellows of guilt or abject contrition. It was like the standard bloodlessness in the face of a small boy who loves animals to distraction, all animals, and who has just seen his favorite, bunny-loving sister's expression as she opened the box containing his birthday present to her -- a freshly caught young cobra, with a red ribbon tied in an awkward bow around its neck." (p. 171) J.D. Salinger could have just said that he turned pale, and left it at that. But there are so many different shades of pale. Each shade represents something different. He could have described only in shades of color, but he did not. He also related it to different scenarios, which reflects the situation that this is used in, the ending of Franny and Zooey's conversation. The gift reflects what Zooey is saying to Franny. He means well and he is trying to help her, just like the little boy giving his sister the present. Just like when the boy sees his sister's expression upon opening the present, Zooey sees how unhelpful his talk with Franny was when she breaks down, crying. The boy feels guilty about his present, and this description suggests to the reader that Zooey also feels guilty, at least a little bit, about what he said. 

"If he didn't have a cigar to hold on to, his feet would leave the ground. We'd never see our Zooey again." (p. 191) This is something that "Buddy" says to Franny. We then find out that it was actually Zooey. After Franny complains that Zooey is always smoking a cigar, this is what he says. While it's doubtful that the cigar actually holds Zooey down, it may figuratively. Maybe the cigar is the thing that keeps him grounded and in reality. This is an example of a witty and insightful thing that Zooey says. Before, he was unknowingly tearing Franny down. Maybe he did know, but now he feels bad. His self-depreciation is done to try to make Franny feel better. Maybe it is done to equalize them. Franny was just brought down, and now, with these sentences, Zooey is being brought somewhat down as well. This could be long and poetic, describing how Zooey would float above like the smoke from the cigar, swirling around in the air until he disappears, but its sharpness and length conveys the right effect. Before, when he was talking to Franny, Zooey just talked and talked. Now, his speaking is shorter. He is putting more thought into it and speaking more carefully. The length of this fits its purpose in the story, of Zooey trying to carefully apologize in the way that he is able to. 

" 'I'll tell you one thing, Franny. One thing I know. And don't get upset. It isn't anything bad But if it's the religious life you want, you ought to know right now that you're missing out on every single goddam religious action that's going on around this house. You don't even have the sense enough to drink when somebody brings you a cup of consecrated chicken soup -- which is the only kind of chicken soup Bessie ever brings to anybody around this madhouse. So just tell me, just tell me, buddy. Even if you went out and searched the whole world for a master -- some guru, some holy man -- to tell you how to say your Jesus Prayer properly, what good would it do you? How in hell  are you going to recognize a legitimate holy man when you see one if you don't even know a cup of consecrated chicken soup when it's right in front of your nose? Can you tell me that?' " (p. 195) This is after Zooey is revealed as Zooey and not Buddy on the phone. He's done apologizing, and now he just wants Franny to understand what he was getting at. He's trying to get Franny to see what he has discovered in his own struggle, or maybe from Buddy. She does not need to search elsewhere to make her life a religious one, but find the things in her own life that are special, like the chicken soup. It represents the love, healing, and worry of a mother. What Zooey is trying to say is that, if she refuses the chicken soup, then she is being counterproductive. She got into this mess because she was searching for a religious life, but then refuses the offers of one. This style goes back to Zooey's loose endless talking, where he says what he thinks and doesn't cut himself off until he wants a response. 

"Seymour'd told me to shine my showed just as I was going out the door with Waker. I was furious. The studio audience were all morons, the announcer was a moron, the sponsors were morons, and I just damn well wasn't going to shine my shoes for them, I told Seymour. I said they couldn't see them anyway, where we sat. He said to shine them anyway. He said to shine them for the Fat Lady." (p. 199) Seymour's position in Zooey's memory as a mentor and role model is solidified with this quote. Seymour influenced Zooey more than anyone else. Now, Zooey is trying to show Franny what was revealed to him by Seymour all those years ago. Even if you think that the people you do things for are unworthy, there's the Fat Lady. The Fat Lady is why you do it. Even if everyone else is unworthy, there's always one hope. There's always the Fat Lady. Franny has lost faith in everyone and doesn't feel that they are worth her effort. Shee needs to find her Fat Lady. But who will it be?

"There isn't anyone out there who isn't Seymour's Fat Lady. Don't you know that? Don't you know that goddam secret yet? And don't you know -- listen to me now -- don't you know who that Fat Lady really is? ... Ah, buddy. Ah, buddy. It's Christ Himself. Christ Himself, buddy." (p. 200) Seymour was able to find the Fat Lady in everyone. This is different than everyone being the Fat Lady. He was able to find the Fat Lady in everyone because he believed there was a religious aspect. Zooey talks about Seymour's beliefs, but it doesn't matter whether or not those are Zooey's beliefs as well. He thinks that they could help Franny, so he is sharing them. He is trying to tell her that, in her pursuit for religious life, she has cast aside everyone. Included in this everyone is what she was pursuing the whole time. 

The story ends with Franny finally being at peace with herself and with the world. Having received words of wisdom from her brother, she is able to understand and focus her pursuit. With the family's dynamics, this is good. One member of the family needs to not be conflicted. Before, that was Seymour, but his conflicts that he had overcome came back and caused his suicide. After this, I see Franny returning to school. She graduates with honors, not for playing their game, but for playing hers. I can see her marrying Lane and starting a family, then watching her own children go through the same thing. She would feel helpless, like Mrs. Glass did, but she would have the comfort of knowing that they will overcome it and turn out okay. 

Franny and Zooey, J.D. Salinger. Cycle 20 Reading Response, Pages 91-164

Mrs. Glass discusses contacting Waker with Zooey. Franny is still worrying her, and she hypothesizes that the book that she has been carrying around is at the core of the problem. Zooey reveals that this book is called "The Pilgrim Continues His Way".  Franny wakes up and talks with Zooey about her dream, their parents, Bloomberg (their cat), his meeting with a writer about a script, 

stratagem: "...the little stratagem may well have been mostly reflexive..." (p. 91) noun, a plan or scheme, especially one used to outwit an opponent or achieve an end

ablutions: "Lemme finish my goddam ablutions in peace, please." (p. 105) noun, acts of washing oneself

captious: "...she said in a tone she fully meant to sound captious." (p. 116) adj, tending to find fault or raise petty objections

sumac: "...lamps that sprang up all over the congested inscape like sumac." (p. 119) noun, a shrub or small tree of the cashew family

juxtaposition: "There, in almost incestuously close juxtaposition..." (p. 121) noun, place or deal with close together for contrasting effect

panatelas: "He had been smoking them since he was sixteen...expensive panatelas, for the most part..." (p. 124) noun, long thin cigars

corroboration: "She looked at Zooey, possibly for corroboration..." (p. 129) noun, a supported or confirmed statement, theory, or finding

supine: "...he stretched out supine on the carpet." (p. 133) adj, lying face upward

macabre: "...with somewhat the macabre-comic effect of a corpse falling out of a closet." (p. 154) adj, disturbing and horrifying because of involvement with or depiction of death and injury

brogues: "Again only the soles and heels of his brogues were visible to Franny." (p. 154) noun, strong outdoor shoes with ornamental perforated patterns in the leather

sanguine: "High-spirited, yes. Mettlesome. Sanguine, perhaps, to a fault." (p. 156) adj, cheerfully optimistic

In the conversations between Zooey and his mother and Franny and Zooey, we learn so much more about Zooey's thoughts on the world. His conversation with his mother is just a continuation of the one from the last blog post, but his conversation with Franny is when we really get to hear what is happening. There's no maternal resentment underlying their words, but genuine sibling respect that comes only with maturity. In these conversations, this story considers the core English 1 question -- Who am I?

In this story, both Zooey and Franny are struggling with this. It seems like who they were going to become was influenced by their brother Seymour. The people around them have influenced who they are. Religious and philosophical beliefs held by Buddy and Seymour were shared, and then adopted by Franny and Zooey as they were growing up. They did not really have to find themselves, since they could just select characteristics of Seymour and Buddy and apply them to themselves. After Seymour commits suicide and Buddy retreats to living in the forest and teaching at a college, Franny and Zooey don't have the same role models that they had. They are left to find themselves, and they are struggling. Their situation and their surroundings reflect themselves. Before we read Franny and Zooey's conversation, J.D. Salinger describes, in incredible detail, the Glass Family's living room. Penetrated with sunlight, it reveals the irregularities and stains, all the things that were hidden in the darkness. Talking does the same thing. When Franny and Zooey talk, things that have been bothering them that they have kept hidden are revealed and we understand more about their past and what caused these. Through the conversations and context of the characters, who they are is revealed to us in writing. 

The words they use in these everyday conversations reveal who they are. While reading this, I found many words that I didn't recognize. They weren't even words whose meaning I could confidently guess based on prefixes, suffixes, and word roots. Their word choice gives the reader a picture of who they are. They are the type of people who use complicated language, utilizing every word in their enormous vocabularies. The content of their conversations are very intellectual as well. They discuss religion and philosophy the way normal people would talk about sports or the weather. This sets them apart from other characters, both in books and real life. The words that they speak as they converse are little building blocks. If we have enough of them, we can build a character's identity. I think that this is what J.D. Salinger aims to do, bit by bit, as his meticulous word choice reveals more about Franny and Zooey.

Both characters, Franny and Zooey, are struggling with themselves. Their role models, their guides in the world, Seymour and Buddy, are out of their reach. Their vocabularies reveal the working of their minds and their intellect. I expect Franny and Zooey to continue to answer the question at the core of our own English 1, Who am I?