I feel sympathy for Holden as well as pass judgement. It kind of sucks that he is so alienated everywhere he goes but he doesn't really try to do much about it. Maybe he likes being alienated. In that case I don't really feel bad for him because he seems like he is doing pretty well. I like the way he observes things and sticks to his guns about what he disagrees with. But he is probably just as much of a phony as most other people. He just has a hard time seeing how they could be really like that. Holden always thinks certain things are stupid but he never does anything about it. He doesn't even admit that he thinks they are stupid if he is asked. That is definitely phoniness.

Question#4

The difference between childhood and adulthood is not about how many birthdays you have had. As a child you are far more concerned about wants and desires than an adult. As a child you are able to sacrifice what you need to do for what you want with fairly small consequences. As an adult your experience and wisdom does not allow your desires to outweigh your needs. Adulthood is about necessities and how to get them. You must personally do what needs to be done for you to get what you need to live. It is only if you have extra time or resource that you are able to afford wants.

In this day and age, in this country and select others, many (not all) people are able to afford wants; many people are able to not fully become an adult. The technologies that have become so common in recent years have allowed many of us to list entertainment as a need to live. Not all of us are children but many of us at least have some child left in us. However, they have also brought much more freedom to think, create and share ideas and ideals and evolve in many ways as a species. But is this modern evolution good or bad? Is it ideal to keep a certain amount of child in all of us? Is the so publicized "American Dream" to be a child?

Question

I am probably going to do burn a cd with different songs on it that I believe critisizes or represents the American Dream. I already have some ideas of song and artists to put on the cd.