Hold on Holden

In class we discussed the idea of “self-invention” and grandiose character growth over the span of maybe 3 months, sometimes not even. The truth is, I’m a big proponent of "Yeah, that seems plausible.” Mr. Mitchell made the comparison to "March vs. Jan" or something like that, but there are years where I’m really different in March compared to January. Yeah, I do agree that Benji/Ben probably feels a lot more different than he really is, but he has gone through lots of transformative experiences.  Number 1. He's gotten a job, which we spent almost a class period discussing the implications of. Among those, it's the responsibility of having to show up on time with the right uniform and do the job correctly. Although it's not a crazy task even then. There’s room to argue that what he’s doing is essentially easier than the spring semester he just left. Also clearly he and Reggie aren’t responsible with their own house (maggot pot ew yuck), except the occasional ...

  Honestly, I don’t mind Jason Taylor. But I think even Jason Taylor himself likes Julia more. She’s smart, argumentative, confrontational, wise, independent, empathetic, fun, and confident. She’s the quintessential older sister in my opinion, although I may be biased as an older sister myself. I felt myself focusing on her role in Jason Taylor’s coming of age and I really related to the in-class discussion on how their relationship changes over the course of the novel. In this blog post, I want to take a moment to write a more in-depth reflection on their relationship development and show that not only is their increasing closeness a sign of coming of age for Jason, but it is also a sort of coming of age for Julia.  Julia is always "awesome,” but when she supports Jason at the beginning of the novel, it's usually undercut by other actions that emphasize their “unequal” dynamic. For example, when she stands up for Jason in the beginning of the novel by saying that she also wen...