Monday 13 October 2014

Adaptation by Migang Sung, 18th wave. Typed by Yelim Oh, 18th Wave

           Unfortunately, today I realized that the midterm was going to start next week. Then, I remembered that I would be kicked out of school if I failed one more subject. I became sort of concerned, but nevertheless I stayed at my room and continued my reading of modern warfare. It was very intriguing.          
           While I was concentrating on the book, suddenly my cell phone started to ring. I felt that it was too noisy and annoying but was also pleased of it. I was getting increasingly tedious of being alone in my room. I accidentally didn’t receive the first call, listening to the music. I waited, and as I expected, my phone ringed again. I took a deep breath and answered it.
           The high pitching voice of Miss Cho tortured my ears. She was my advisor, and seemed to be extremely concerned of me, especially of my grades. She asked me if I was preparing for the midterms, and stressed the situation I was in. I told her that I was trying, and that I was grateful for her help. I felt sorry of my lies To be honest, I was not trying, and actually did not care whether I could attend this school or not. I would always laugh when people outside praised our school. The phoniness of our school was unbearable for me. Everyone was so concerned of how other people would evaluate them, and constantly behaved phony. Even the school was made up of lies, and the most hilarious was the EOP policy. I mean, who only speaks English in KMLA?
           The part about appreciating Miss Cho’s attention for me was not a lie, however. She did seem to truly wish my well-being. The problem was that her attention was sort of annoying. Because of that, I hastily ended her call.
           After the phone call, I resumed my reading. At about 5:00 PM, my roommate John came down to our room to ask me if I would eat dinner. I was kind of surprised because John was the popular one, and usually never had to find someone to eat with. Still, I refused because I was not hungry. He said ok, and curiously asked me if I had time to read a book that was not related to my subjects. I said that I probably do not have the time. Hearing my words, John sort of sneered at me. I could see it from his looks. However, John said that he wished me good luck and that he was sure that I would do well in the midterms. It was very funny. Suppressing my laughter, I said thank you.
           John stayed for about 10 minutes and went to eat dinner with Justin who came to my room to give back my computer. It was very interesting to observe their conversation that was full of formal and meaningless words. It was also very interesting how they were constantly trying to lure me into their conversation. Maybe they felt bad for me for being alone and being in the danger of getting expelled from school.         

           Time passed by, and suddenly I felt the change of the sky. I looked out of the windown and saw the most beautiful sunset of my life. The reddish light of the falling sun was covering everything in an immensely romantic way. The spirit of every single subject on earth seemed to be woken up by the touch of the sun being delightful about it. Feeling so happy, I took my outer clothing and ran out of the dormitory. The magnificent glow filled my heart with happiness. I stayed still for a long time, I think. At least I did not move until the sun stopped glowing and the night filled in with such coziness. I realized that I was smiling. There was nothing phony about the sun and the darkness! I stayed outside until the houseparent shouted at me and forced me to come inside the dormitory. I am sure I wouldn’t easily forget this wonderful day. 

Adaptation by Yongkyun Lee, 17th Waver

Adaptation of <Catcher in the Rye> - Yongkyun Lee
This is not an adaptation of a specific part of the book nor an essay totally written in Holden’s voice. Yet, it is more of an essay about my experience written in a candid, unrefined perspective like Holden’s.
                  When someone asked me to introduce myself, I was the type of guy who listed my age, the place I lived in, subjects I liked (or I pretended to like), my hobbies, and all those phony things you can think about. Well, I can do that now and tell you about those meaningless details that I bet half of my friends can also use to introduce themselves. But I am not in the mood to waste your extremely precious time that you need to complete your extremely imminent work and to, of course, look at extremely funny pictures on extremely important Facebook.
                  So instead I am going to tell you a more interesting and honest stuff, a story that is sort of embarrassing to share with others. But it is not that fancy to begin any type of story with serious talk, so I want to share what happened on last Thursday. On that very day, I have to say, the dinner menu was terrible. Our school food is usually very delicious, even better than what my mom gives me at home. But on some days, like last Thursday, the school serves us food that is just not palatable in any possible way. So, to eat get some better food and to breathe some fresh air, I suggested a visit to Sosa rest stop to three of my friends. By the way, we are forbidden to leave our school boundary on weekdays. But I guess everyone would agree to the fact that eating dinner is more important than getting some phony penalty points.
                  Anyways, my loyal friends agreed to go and we left the dormitory very casually. But, boy, it turned out to be a hell of a trip. I forgot that many teachers go home around this time, and it is easy for us to get spotted. Damn it. I was also wearing a red shirt that is so visible from miles away. So, we tried to find a route that is difficult for others to see us. We ran up and down the hill behind the gym and the golf practice facility. Then came the real problem – a vast flatland with only Pasteur factory on one side with teachers’ cars coming every twenty seconds. We first passed through the middle of the factory. This guy with white lab clothes on shouted some blah-blah-blahs, but oh who cares. Then, came the 100m course. There was basically nothing except us and the cars. We ran like a bunch of crazies. But we made it. We relished our victory with delicious dinner.
                  Thinking about this whole incident, it is hard to believe that I was the leader of all this. You won’t believe my “grey” past in my first one and a half year at KMLA. I mean it, literally. Can you imagine a boy who usually wears a grey training pants and grey shirt? Anyone would think how shitty outfit that is. Unfashionable, uninterested, and nerdy. It is embarrassing that I was that boy. The biggest problem is that my sense of fashion was a small part of the hell lot of problems I had. I possessed the characteristics that matched the stereotype of wearing all-grey clothes. I always kept things to myself and I did not know how to enjoy my life. At school, I only did things that teachers told me to do. I think I spent most of the other times to get better grades. While my friends were studying together and building friendship, I always studied alone for the sake of efficiency. What is more is that in my first year, when my friends asked me to go to Sosa rest stop in the weekends, I refused most of the time saying I had a lot of work to do. Yes, I was a hell of a phony guy who was stuck in a very bad and habitual one that made me merely functionally
                  But you know what broke this frame and helped to break out of the egg as that Demian guy did in Hesses’s book? A mirror. I must say it is ironic that mirror was a thing that I had thought of as phony for like seventeen years, but it basically changed my life. On that day, I was in a camp, where my links with other kids were based on my title of “KMLA student.” I was quite lonely throughout the camp. Anyways on the last day, in the toilet, I looked at myself. As usual, I was wearing grey training pants and grey shirts. But oh boy. How disgraceful my fashion was! I was shocked by the embarrassment of myself, and I felt an urge to dig a hole in the ground and hide in there.

                  For Chrissake, I was crying out of loneliness with the freaking grey outfit on. No wonder why I could not manage to make a girlfriend for my whole life. Though I did not fall in love with anybody even after the revelation, I still became a better person, I think. At least, now I hang out more with my friends, know how to relish my life, wear good clothes, and go to Sosa rest stop freely.

Adaptation by Ju Yeon Lee, 19th Waver

This is adopted from the first part of the book, when Ackley and Holden talks with each other. The thing to focus about is how they think negatively about the world and how they do not care about each other. This is all fictional.

After the having a talk with my advisor teacher, I stepped into my room. For chrissake. He should seriously stop caring about my grades.
                  “I sick of all this. I’m gonna quit,” I said.
                  “Hey, do you have scissors? I need to make another rolling paper, gosh.,” Haewon complained.
                  “It would be in the first shelf of the big drawer. Anyways, do you know what Mr. Sung did to me today?”
                  “Well, I don’t know.” She started to write a senior’s name in pop-art. Jaeeun. The one she always gossips about whenever she comes into the room. She’s a phony. It seems that Jaeeun sunbae likes her a lot. I can’t imagine what she would be like when she knows that my roommate is such a gossiper.
                  “He started to scold me for getting bad grades on the midterm. For chirsssake. Grade is not end of the life.”
                  “Do you think drawing her face in the corner would look good? Oh.. it will probably not. Should I print a picture of her face? What were you saying? Why would do that?”
                  I was so obvious that she was not paying attention to my words. She started to go up to my bed with all the colorpencils and pens.
                  “Why is your bed so messy? I got no place to put down my paper.”
                  “Well, it’s not your bed. Are you going to hear my story or not?”
                  “I will, I will. Just after I finish drawing her face. Okay. Why is Mr. Sung so serious about your grades?”
                  “I don’t know. He told me that with this grade, I would not be able to go to good college and not going to good college will screw my life up.”
                  “Well, it is true that you will go to some unknown college if you get low grades. He is actually caring about you.”
                  “Do you ever agree to what other people tell you? Now get out of my bed,” I crawled up my bed, pushing her out of it. I pulled the blanket over my face. This is the perfect posture to just think. Sudden anger started to boil inside of me. I could not stand a single second in the room. I got up, got out of my bed, put on the school winter coat, and headed out of the dormitory.
Air was chill so I had to put on the hood also. Fallen leaves were everywhere, but I tried not to step on it because they were just so perfect in their places. It was Wednesday, but I decided to go to Sosa. I did not meet anyone walking there. People would know that I’m gone 3 hours later, at Honjung. Or, they would never notice.
I bought the ticket to Seoul. I had just enough money in my pocket for this. I would get to Seoul in 2 hours, but then I wouldn’t be able to do anything without a single penny. I turned around, put the ticket back in my pocket, and headed back to the dorm, emptying my mind and try once more to understand this phony world.


Monday 25 August 2014

Class Schedule - 2014

Class Schedule 

Class 1: - Introduction to Salinger and the book. Discussion about controversy (profanity), culture (1940's Americana), and character (Holden as hero?).

Class 2: First 50 pages. Discussion about the Hero's Journey, Character Arc. How will Holden change?

Class 3:  Pages 50-100. Discussion about morality, teenage angst, failure of education.

Class 4: Pages 100-150. Subjective POV of Holden as narrator.

Class 5: Pages 150-200. Discussion about sexual themes and character development. Short essay assigned.

Class 6: Pages 200-224. Wrapping up the book. Compare it to other works and discuss modern significance. Essay due.

Class 7: Summary and conclusion. Discuss why the book has never been made into a film. Discuss why many "insane" individuals seem drawn to the book (Lennon assassination etc.). Is the book as good as people say it is? Evaluation and reflection.  


Monday 31 March 2014

Adapatation by Chaeyeon Kang

This adaptation is from the book <The Catcher In the Rye> Chapter 9 and 12 when Holden asks taxi drivers a question: “Do you know where do the ducks go during the wintertime?” This adaptation takes place in KMLA and Holden asks silly question to the teacher. The important thing to keep an eye on is the difference in attitudes among the taxi drivers and the teachers in KMLA. 


The way to the dormitory was long and hard, as always. Long Hanbok skirts were bugging me and my shoulders ached from Morning-ki this morning. For chrissake, what’s the purpose of this Morning-ki thing! Since I left the class a bit later than normal students, there weren’t any of students passing by. Then suddenly, my advisor teacher, Mr. Ji approached me. I wasn’t so close with him: though he is my advisor teacher, he didn’t teach me. He was just a teacher who I see every morning and tells me to be careful of cold and anything.

He and I walked without a word. It feels awkward when you walk with someone and not talk to them. It definitely does. Then, this silly question just passed through my mind. I just couldn’t stand but ask this question to the teacher. Maybe he might know about this. 

“Uhm, Mr. Ji,” I said, “Have you ever passed the small lake over there out of school? About five minutes by bus?” “That what? The lake? Oh, The one near the school! Yes, I do know. I pass there every day I come to school.” “Good. Have you seen any ducks there recently?” “Yes, I have. I just saw them this morning. Why, what’s up with them?” “I mean, I didn’t see them in February when I first came to KMLA. Do you happen to know where they were during the winter? By any chance?” “Hmm, I also remember not seeing them during the winter this year. Well, I think they weren’t there during winter every year! By the way, why do you ask?”

 I was a bit embarrassed. He’s actually trying to answer this stupid question! I thought he would shout at me and say something like, don’t ask this silly questions to me or anything. His reaction was something I have never expected. 

“Just.” I replied. “Hmm. I’m not sure, but maybe they might go to warmer places! ‘Cause you know, this place is very cold in winter and ducks don’t like to live in cold places. Probably to southern place. Well, since I’m not fully sure with this, I might ask other teachers! I’ll ask Mr. Han for sure. He’ll definitely know the answer.”

 “Well,” Disconcerted by his damn kind attitude, “Thanks.” “You’re welcome. If you have any questions, feel free to visit my office. You know, my office in Minkyo over there. Maybe if you have time this weekend, we might be able to visit there for a while. Just to check about the ducks.” “Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

He was kind as hell. He was the only person who actually tried to answer this silly question in such a serious manner. I have always thought adults are all phony; acting as if they know everything. Well, it clearly seems he’s not phony, at all.

Adaptation - Woojin Jung



  • This is an adaptation of chapter 12, where Holden rides a cab and has a conversation with the driver. Here, the main character, a KMLA student, rides a call van to get to the 소사 rest area. The call van is only for KMLA students, and many of them frequently use this.

    This afternoon was one of those kinds when you are left with nothing to do, while you still don't want to do anything. It was raining, so no one were outside to ask to go out with even though I wouldn't if there was anyone. Anyway, I wanted to wander around, and get somewhere outside school. I made my mind to go to 소사, although I didn't need to buy something or eat something or do something similar. 


    I called a van, the one that would show up once in a while in weekends and pick up a couple of excited freshmen, or a couple of couples. I didn't want anyone with me. That ruins the atmosphere. Someone else meant some kind of distraction. I didn't want anything to distract me. 

    When I got in the van however, I just fell into some kind of mood to talk with the driver. The driver seemed to have a free mind, and I expected him to enjoy the conversation. His name was Horwitz. 

    "Hey, Horwitz," I said. "You know that rotten smell that seems to come from all directions?" "What smell?" said Horwitz, making an awkward expression. "That smell like fermented pig shit, you know?" "Yeah I know that smell. What about it?" 'You know where it's coming from? I mean like, it must be coming from somewhere outside the school but the sewage system can't be so close like that, but there's nothing that can possibly make some kind of smell in the school...or maybe it might be the food dispenser? or from the dormitory? or...." 

    "Hey, Kid. That smell is pig shit. So why don't you keep your mouth shut." "Yeah, but that's what is strange. Why do we smell pig shit in the school?" "Because, there is pig shit, kid? Don't you get it? We smell it because it's there for us to smell it"

    Horwitz seemed to be somewhat irritated, so I stopped asking for a while. But there must be some kind of solution, or an end to our conversation. "But you know Horwitz, pigs are actually clean animals. They don't leave their shit anywhere. What I think is dirtier is what people do. People do all sorts of smelly things. There must be something hidden about it, like some kind of secret-" 

    The van stopped right then, making a short, sharp screeching sound. Surprised, I froze and watched Horwitz turn around and face me. He put his hand on the passenger seat's sheet and stared into my eyes. "Get out." He said. Before rushing into the foggy road, the driver seemed to say something, probably some swear words. Maybe I shouldn't have left my room. But at least this place doesn't smell.

Adaptation of Catcher in the Rye Jeong Yeon Choi

  • This is an adaptation of Chapter 3, where Ackley barges in Holden’s room. Since KMLA’s dorms also have a double-room-shared-bathroom kind of structure, I thought it would be fun to apply Holden’s situation to KMLA dorm life. The protagonist is a KMLA senior named “Kim” and the other character is named “Han”.

    It was pretty nice to get back to my room and realize that both my roommates had gone home. It had been a rough day, with all the P.E. and the math quiz and all. We did basketball for P.E. and the teacher made us run laps before playing. I mean, why? We should have been learning basketball for chrissake. P.E. was super exhausting with all the macho guys running around like dimwits but I liked it. I really did. The math quiz? Not so much. It was supposed to be a “surprise” and I was supposed to be “ready”. It killed me to watch the expression on Ms. Lee’s face when she saw my quiz. It probably had to do with some of the things I “may” have drawn on the paper. Anyway, it was a long day, and I sat up and picked up my book, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. Boy was he a good writer. It wasn’t long when my room door burst open with a following grunt. It was my homate “Han”. He came in looked around the room, and sat on my roommates chair. He started looking at Nam’s (one of my roommates) things and touched them. He always did that. Lucky for him Nam wasn’t here because Nam was a very sensitive guy and all. I was always telling Nam to chill but he didn’t listen much. Han was pacing around my tiny room and I couldn’t focus on my book with all the footsteps and grunting. He was actually tidy time to time. He showered an awful lot. One time, I took a nap during lunch time, right after Han walked into the shower. I woke up after an hour and he was still in the goddamn shower. Well, no matter how clean he got, the noises were just annoying. I was about to holler at him to leave when he looked at me and said “Whaddya reading?”

    “Goddamn book.” I replied
     “Any good?” he asked.

    Like he knew what “good” meant with books. “Pretty goddamn awesome with the ‘background music’.” Han seemed to grunt as a response to my sarcasm, and this was driving me nuts. Han wasn’t phony as the rest of the kids but this was probably because he didn’t have the brains. Suddenly, a loud “crack” ringed through the room. I looked up to see what Han had done, and found myself looking at Nam’s broken laptop. Who picks up someone else’s laptop for chrissake? The look on Han’s face cracked me up like the laptop. Seeing someone else, especially Han in trouble always made my day. As I smiled silently, the door burst open and Nam, who came back for his laptop, entered. Boy I was cracking up like a walnut. It was hilarious. It really was.

Adaptation for Chapter 25 - Hojun Kim

  • This is the adaptation of Chapter 25 when Holden goes to pass the note to Phoebe and sees the “F You”s on the wall.

    I walked down the corridor to Na’s classroom so I could give the note to someone so they can pass it to her. I put it in a yellow envelope so no one would open it. You can’t trust anyone in this school. But I knew they could give it to her if I told them it was from her cousin.

    I graduated from this school, and I hated every part of it. I really did. I remembered all the phonies in the school, even the principal of the school was like Mr. Antolini, always trying to touch students. I hated it. As I passed the bathroom, I thought I was gonna puke, only I didn’t. I just sat down on a chair, the one with the desk. As I sat down, I saw something that drove me nuts. Somebody’d carved on the desk a “F You”. I imagined Na or some other kids seeing it on this desk and wonder about what it meant. Then they would ask some adult, or even me, what it meant. Then we’d have to lie about it or some would tell them the meaning, and either way they would be hurt. I thought about hiding in the school until the culprit shows up with a pocket knife to carve more “F You”s, and I would be waiting in the bathroom with a baseball bat and I would smash his head until blood splattered all across his wrongdoings. But, I knew that would never happen. I have no guts. I knew that. That made me depressed. I hardly had the guts to cover the carving with something. But, in the end, I covered it with some paper towel and I headed to room 4-5.

    The teacher was gone, as well as Phoebe, but some kid was sleeping on his desk. I told him that I was Na’s cousin, and that I needed her to read this note, that her mother was busy with work and that she needed to see me so I can look after her. He was very sore about it, the kid. He just nodded and told me to place the note on the desk. I told him that I went to this school and that I had the same teacher. He asked about how to manipulate him. Wow, was he phony. I didn’t have the guts to tell him that the teacher has no idea if you are studying or sleeping, so I told him there is no way to manipulate the teacher. The teacher was like a hundred years old. I told him to study hard and I left. As I was leaving the room I heard him whisper “F-er”. I thought maybe he was the one who carved the “F You”. But I just left. I didn’t want to see him because that would make me even more depressed. It really would.

Chapter 8 Adaptation - Jason Kwan

  • In chapter 8, Holden meets one of his classmate's mom in the train. I decided to make an adaptation of myself meeting one of my friend's mom on the subway.


    School ended a bit early. It was January and there were only a few days left before I would go to KMLA. The graduation ceremony would be held in Feburary 14. However, I had decided not to go to it to get used to KMLA and listen to the classes. It made me very sad and I was thinking about all of my friends in middle school. There were a lot of idiots who were really funny and I recalled past memories about them. I usually ride a taxi but I really didn’t feal like it because I would have to go home early which would mean that I would have to listen to my mom’s screaming and yelling at me to study and study and that really kills me. Anyway, I walked to the subway station which would take me a bit longer to go home. There, I met one my friends in our school who was waiting for the subway with her mom. "Hi willy where are you going"

    "Math Academy She is taking me there". He indicates his mom with his finger.
    Those damn academies. You have to hear those phony teachers talking on and one and all you do is sleep and keep thinking when it will be over. Suddenly I felt sorry for him even though he sometimes did things which I did not like. I was in the same class with him when I was in first grade. Half of the boys in that class room were idiots. They played soccer in the classroom, broke the ceiling, clocks, and the lockers in the back of the classroom. He was one of the guys in the center of the group of kids who did that kind of stuff. Well most of the kids were in puberty and even did things that is embarrassing to describe. I was the kind of kid who like that kind of things but isn't brave enough to do that. I just laughed when they did that. Now looking back, even though it’s pathetic, it made me sad that I would not be able to see them anymore. After he got off the subway to go to his academy, his mom and I talked about our middle school and about willy. Even though his mom was called to school once because willy got in a fight with somebody and made him hospitalized, she still thought that her son had changed during second and third grade and was studying hard. I wanted to tell her mom that he was a brat. One day when the first graders went to a camp, he locked the doors of the dormitory veranda when I was outside so that I couldn't get inside. I tried to go to the next room. It was very dangerous and my legs weren't long enough for that at that time. So I gave up. One of the kids who saw me trying to do that said to the other kids that if I fell, they would have to pay for the hospital costs. The funny thing is that they still didn't opened the door. After about fifteen minutes, they finally opened the door. At first, I wanted to throw both of them out the window. But I knew it was a joke and they said that they were sorry. So I left them in the room. Anyway, she started to talk with me.

    "Are you jason? Were you in the same class with willy?"
    "we were both in 1-2 2years ago."

    Damn, she didn't even know me. Well I was helluva quite kid. It made me sad when people did not know me even though I knew him or her. After that, she asked me if willy was studying hard, and about his relationship with other friends and if he is good to others and all that stuff which moms are always concerned about. I told her that willy has a lot of friends and he is studying quite hard and getting good grades than before even though I didn’t know what he was doing nowdays at all because we were in different classes when we were in second and third grade. All I knew was that he went to PC rooms a lot after the finals in the second semester of third grade. Well, everybody went to PC rooms in the second semester. There was literally more empty seats than occupied ones in class sometimes when they went to the PC room. One day, when the kids were late for class the teacher got angry and locked the doors so that the students could not come in the classroom. Most people would think that students would at least knock and say sorry to the teacher or at least try to open the door before going to you know where. Well, they just went directly to the PC rooms. I did not say anything about that to her though. Although it would have been amusing if I had told her that. I think that parents are really naive. They don’t know what their kids are doing outside of their homes. Anyway she seemed satisfied about what I said and left the subway a few stations ahead of me. Thinking about willy also made me think about the happy memories about the 3years such as the soccer tournament with other classes which was held on May every year and the camp to thailand and hawaii. Even though there were teachers and some kids I did not like, I missed them all and wish to see them again if I had the opportunity.

Fanfic - Yelin Chun


  • This is a KMLA adaptation of the Catcher in the Rye, but there's no special part that I wrote about. I just tried to portray the world in Holden's point of view.

    After I had this talk with Mr. Kim saying that I faced expulsion because of those goddamn penalty points, I returned to my self-study time. For Chrissake, that man is not someone to talk with. I mean, how the hell am I supposed to clear my points when he gives me like 10 points for some phony reason like EOP and the dorm parent gives another 10 for leaving hairs in the bathroom? I try to tell him that and he goes like "that's your business", and giving me another 3 for being rude. That killed me.

    As I climbed up the hill to the dorm, I sort of glanced back the blue Korean styled houses named after national heroes. We were supposed to become like them, but this time we had to be "global" heroes or something. I imagined my roomie, Katie becoming a hero. Shit, I could even hear her phony humming even now. She seriously sang after every song or tune she knew, even the bells that tell you to go to sleep or something. I bet when she becomes the president maybe and makes a speech, she would sing it. Then she would crack that phony sort of laugh of hers, and pretend to care about you and all except all she cares about is her lousy grades and points.

    Anyways, I took the elevator going up to the 6th floor and into my room, 603. Katie wasn't there, but old Fiona was. She was putting on her mascara, which she never have actually mastered. But then she was sorta good-looking and all, which put her on the 'popular' line and all, so I never bothered to tell her that her makeup was phony and all.
    "Hey, Brianna, you back? Wanna have some Buldack?"

    Fiona looked up at me and asked, pointing to one of the Rameon cups that her fans had given her the last afternoon. I didn't feel like it, though. Especially since it was from her goddam fans. Just some months ago, we used to suck up all those gifts from the boys, but not now, cause I don't like her anymore.

    " I don't feel like it right now. " She barely even listened; she was chatting on Facebook. God, if she wouldn't even listen why would she ask? I hated her, for everything.
    So I just climed up the ladder to my bed ignoring that phony rule that says that you have to stick to your desk during self study time and all, and thought about getting expelled from this helluva school. All of a sudden, I fell asleep, and I sorta felt myself falling asleep.
    I was this catcher, standing tall and straight in the vast plains of the rye, free to be a hero in my life, not a hero of someone else's.

Adaptation of Chapter 16 - Sunjae Shim



I was inspired by the part in chapter 16 where Holden thinks about his experience in the museum.

I woke up early even though it was Sunday. I don’t know why, I just did. My roommates were all fast asleep. They slept late last night gossiping about some girl telling some boy about something. I didn’t care enough to listen, so I just lay on my bed pretending to be asleep. Anyway, it was so peaceful, this morning. It really was. I looked out the window. It had snowed all night and everything was covered in snow. The trees, the roads and the buildings. Whatever they looked like underneath, they all looked the same covered in snow. That made me happy. I decided to take a walk and changed my clothes.

I generally like my school. But not so much the people in it. Everything is so tightly scheduled here. Everyone is busy running around doing this and doing that. Plus the schedule changes every second. I have an appointment today, oh wait it’s cancelled, oh now I have to go to this meeting instead, right Mr. Whatshisname needs me tomorrow. I mean how are you supposed to keep up with that? I started towards Min-Kyo where the traditional Korean buildings are. I like to study the buildings here in school. The only reason that I like my school is because of the architecture. You know, the best thing about architecture is that buildings always stay where they are. You could come here about fifty years later and all the buildings would still stay the same; the bright blue roof, the wooden columns, the warm floor. Nothing would be different. The only thing that changes all the time is the people around it. I’m not saying that there are different people all the time, but it’s that everyone is different from the day before.

So even if I go to Min-Kyo every day, I would be different every time. One day, I would be hungry from skipping lunch, the other day I would be wearing boots, and the next I would be weary from a nightmare. I hate the idea of changing. I looked up to the buildings. I envy them. I envy them so much.

Monday 24 March 2014

Catcher in the Rye Adaptation - Gina Hwang

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  • Gina Hyejung Hwang
    Catcher in the Rye Adaptation by Hye Jung Hwang
    March 2014


    The following is my adaptation from parts of Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 of ‘Catcher in the Rye.’ The story is set in KMLA. The narrator is a female character. The use of the pronoun ‘he’ is deliberate; he is not ‘Edward’ nor is he God.
    ____________________________ 

    I walked all the way up to the cafeteria after honjung. Twenty-six gorgeous flights. I didn’t do it because I felt like walking or anything. It was more because I didn’t feel like getting in and out of another elevator. Sometimes you get tired of riding in elevators the same way you get tired of riding buses. All of a sudden, you have to walk, no matter how far. When I was a kid, I used to walk all the way from the subway station to our apartment very frequently. A helluva big, fat hill.
    The stairs had a terrible stench. Although it wasn’t that dark, with those sensor lights turning on as they traced my movement, it seemed that an ominous cloud of the smell was surrounding me. I wished that I could buy a helluva giant perfume that could purify all this smell. Those stairs meant more than an escape from the elevators. They reminded me of the old days. I wished I’d appreciated everything better, because things had actually been better. I’d never imagined things to turn out this way.

    I’d reached the cafeteria. The guys’ honjung, it seemed, hadn’t ended yet. I bit my lips and fingered the corner of the book I’d brought. The book was for camouflage. ‘I’m taking this so I can study while I wait for Edward,’ I’d thought, knowing that it’d never work that way. I bit on the side of my fingernails, where the flesh had grown white thorns. I tore them and it bled. I fingered my ponytail. “He” had told me that I looked better with my hair tied up. I wanted to buy barrettes. Pretty ones with colors that weren’t too superficial.

    Anyway, I kept walking around the cafeteria, waiting for Edward to show up. I went deeper into the cafeteria, towards the vending machines. At the very end were happy couples nested in their seats. I wondered if they were giggling just because they felt like it or if they were being superficial, smiling because the other was. Then I sat down on an empty table, facing the entrance. My eyes kept searching for Edward as I gnawed on my fingers. I hoped that Edward’d be willing enough to listen to me. I didn’t care too much, though. I sort of just wanted to get it over with. Finally, when Edward emerged in a yellow coat, and when I tried to stand up, my feet stumbled over the chair’s legs and damn near fell over it. I always pick a gorgeous time to fall over a chair or something.
    *     *     *

    After old Edward was gone, I came back to my damn room, sat in the damn chair for a while and glanced at a couple of shopping mall pages. My roommates were already up on bed. One began talking suddenly. I thought she was saying something to me, but she was calling her boyfriend. The other one began snoring. Not that loudly, but just so you can notice that she’s well asleep. Boy, I felt miserable. I felt so depressed, you can’t imagine. What I did, I started typing, conscious of the clack-clack sound of my fingers on the keyboard, Facebook messages. I do that sometimes when I get very depressed. Of course, I knew I couldn’t send them. “He” was out of the option, first of all, Edward I’d already talked to for the last hour, P was offline, and I didn’t think S would have enough free time to listen to my trivial depression. I know that writing these messages is useless, since I don’t send them anyways, and that it keeps redirecting my mind towards the gloomy things that haunt me, but I keep thinking about it anyway, when I get very depressed.

    Finally, though, my roommates had both fallen asleep, and the lights went out, so I got undressed and got in bed. I felt like praying or something, when I was in bed, but I couldn’t do it. I can’t always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I’m sort of an atheist. I feel like a turncoat, like those Disciples that kept letting Him down, because I’d ditch Him as soon as I’m feeling better. And then there are those ministers who sound so “superficial” – the word itself sounds so “superficial” but I can’t help it – in their Holy Joe voices. I don’t see why the hell they can’t talk in their natural voice. Maybe it’s because a mortal, feeble, and insignificant human can only reach Him through borrowing an extraordinarily superficial voice.

    Anyway, when I was in bed, I couldn’t pray worth a damn. Every time I got started, I kept picturing old Edward asking me whether if I had clinical depression. Edward’d tried to show me a Youtube clip on the symptoms of clinical depression. Finally, I sat up in bed and surfed over to another shopping mall. The site was lousy. Still, I must’ve ordered around two dozen packages from that site since this semester began. The dorm parent scolded me for wasteful spending because I’d had too many packages. Maybe I’d become a superficial shopaholic. I couldn’t help it.
    My eyes started getting watery, having strained to gaze at the blinding light of the phone through the pitch black darkness, and my fingers hurt from having chewed on them too much. I closed my eyes and I pictured myself going into a giant shell. Smooth, like a snail shell, but not so gooey. Clean and dry, just pleasant. I’d crawl into it, like I were two years old, into the spiral and settle myself in the deepest heart of the shell. Then I’d roll up into a ball and close my eyes, hopefully my ears, too. Why weren’t humans able to close their ears as they close their eyes? Then the ghastly thoughts wouldn’t be able to find and bother me. Then there’d be no dorm parent to bug me about shopping.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

The Catcher in the Rye - Returning Home - Choah Lee



Holden wanting to meet phoebe
Sneaks in
Looks around the room.
Wakes her up
Soo happy to reunite
But phoebe realizes. “daddy will kill you” “why did you do it” “you never like anything” “What are you going to do in the future?”
Holden – I do like some things. Like talking w you . I want to be a cathcher in the rye
Phoebe kept saying ‘daddy’s gonna kill you’
Mom and dad came in.

Scenario
Holden used to attend regular high schools. But he is sick of:
-       listening to the stupid teachers’ lecturing
-       cramming stuff in his brain – think he’s going to puke. For the sake of exam b/c sure to forget it in 2 minutes after the exam
-       and why is this kind of education necessary? counseled w/ teacher- to get a decent job and earn money. Earn money for chrissake
-       I just simply cant stand the phony place. i want to run away.
-       I want to run away and come back with an army. I want to take over the country and make it work for the first time. Schools all good. Nobody has to be phony. Just true to themselves for gods sake. don’t fake emotions/reactions(examples. Stupid handshaking or chuckling and laughing for the principal)

일반고.


The Catcher in the Rye
141113 Choah Lee
This is an adaptation of Chapter 21, where Holden sneaks into his house and talks to Phoebe. In this version, Holden is attending a regular high school called Pencey in Daechi-dong(the most infamous place for Korean-style rigorous education). His house is at Incheon, where all his family still lives, but Holden was sent to his cousin’s house at Daechi-dong for his high school. This is a scene where Holden quits Pencey and returns to his house at Incheon.
I never take the stairs, except in those sad old buildings that don’t even have elevators. But this time I couldn’t help but take the stairs. I mean, I didn’t want to advertise my presence with that stupid elevator squealing “5th floor. The door is opening” and all. So I walked my way up 100 stairs. I even made sure to tiptoe, for Chrissake. When I finally reached my floor and was in front of the door, I was as rigid as a rock. I felt like all my body functions froze for about a minute, and it seemed that even my heart stopped pumping. It wasn’t that I was nervous or anything, because if I was, my heart would have pounded the hell out of me. I don’t know how to put it. I just felt very funny in a way, in a way I had never felt before.
Anyway, it took me about half an hour until I managed to get the goddam door open with my key, quiet as hell. Then very, very careful and all, I went inside and opened Kevin’s door.
The room stunk like Kevin. I could see him right away since the moonlight lit up his bed. As always, old Kevin kicked away half his blankets and slept with his mouth way open. It’s funny. You take adults and they look lousy when they sleep with their mouth hanging open. But kids don’t. Kids still look all right. I sat on the ground, right next to his bed and all, and very quietly, stroke his hair. I mean, I just sat there for 10 minutes and just played with old Kevin’s hair. He looked adorable. That killed me.
Then I whispered, “Kevin, it’s me. Holden. Wake up, now” right in his ear. He squirmed around a bit but didn’t seem to fully wake up. I did it again, this time patting his arm, too. Then he sat upright on the bed and stared at me for a while. Then he yelled right away, “Holden!” Without time for me to stop this helluva dangerous situation, he yelled again. “Oh, Holden! How come you’re home already?”
That did it. He was trying to wake Mom and Dad up and have them join us or something. I whispered like a madman. “Not so loud, for God’s sake! They’re not supposed to know.” Poor Kevin seemed to quickly understand, and he said something like sorry under his breath.
He probably figured that I’d quit school again, because he asked “Holden, why did you do it?” That made me sad, for some reason. Then he kept throwing his goddam pillow on his bed over and over again. I told him to chill and tried to explain in a very quiet voice. “Listen. You don’t realize what a hell Pencey is. You need to sit there and listen to the phony teachers speak for 8 hours. 8 hours, for Chrissake! Even worse, the teachers don’t even prepare for class. I tell you you’d teach sixty times better! And you know what? I have to memorize dead Chosun king’s names and what shit they did during their lifetime. And like 13 of them! I don’t get the purpose of cramming all the crap in my brain, because for all I know, I always forget them two seconds after the exam. What’s the point of going to school if I can’t learn right?” I glanced at Kevin, but he was looking down at his stupid pillow. He was listening though, I could tell.
I just had to keep babbling on, with my voice still low. “And two days ago, I asked my goddam Science teacher why the hell we have to study all this. Ya know what she said? She told me that we needed to study for decent jobs and money. We have to study for money, for Chrissake. I just couldn’t stand all that crap, you see, Kevin?” He grunted, “Stop that swearing. And what is your plan then?”
I sighed. I didn’t feel like answering for a while. I wanted the room be completely silent, just for now. I wasn’t thinking or anything. I couldn’t concentrate. For a moment I thought about how Kevin eventually had to become a high school student like me and felt sorry for him. I really did.
“No plans.” He concluded. I still didn’t talk for a while, because I wasn’t in the mood for it. Old Kev didn’t speak anymore, either. After something like 3 minutes, I spoke. I said, “I’m going away to China to form an army. I’ll return to Korea when I’ve gathered enough men. When I return, I’ll be wearing my hunting hat and I’ll take over the Ministry of Education. I’ll blast it into pieces. Then what I’ll do, I’ll become the Education Minister and redesign schools so that students actually get something meaningful out of schools. And I’ll make school fun and all. That’s what I’ll do.”


Monday 17 March 2014

Adaptation of Catcher in the Rye - Sumin You



Adaptation of Catcher in the Rye, chapter 20
This adaptation of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” which takes place in KMLA, is the part where Holden gets drunk and calls up Sally from chapter 20. In this adaptation, I also tried to show how Holden felt by the end of the book- the part where he says he misses everyone, even his memories about the school that he used to hate.
By quarter after two, I was finally finished up with my Korean presentation. Boy, was I exhausted. I looked around my desk. It was a complete disaster. It was all covered up with books stacked up like a Jenga set. All those damn books. I felt like throwing away everything on my desk. I mean EVERYTHING. I could hardly even sit on my desk so I slumped down to the floor. When I fell on the floor, I imagined myself dying from stress and all. Just like how all those mean mother-in-laws end up in dramas and stuff. My mother used to watch one of those very phony dramas every weekend. Boy, those mean mother-in-law characters- they killed me. Maybe my roommates will find me cold and all lying unconscious on the floor as they woke up for morning exercise. Wait- maybe then I won’t have to go to morning exercise. The problem was I was too healthy and all for the fainting thing. Damn.
Finally, I felt like giving old Harry a buzz. I don’t know why. I haven’t seen him in a while, and I had nothing to say to him after all. I guess I was way too exhausted for the proper process of thinking. So what I did, I reached out for my phone, dialed his number and erased it about a hundred times, and finally manage to call him.
“Hello?” I said when someone answered the phone. My voice was cracking and all and I sounded as if I haven’t spoken for a thousand years.
“Who is this?” this very hushed voice spoke.
“It’s me, Sumin. Who are you? I gotta talk to Harry. Now.”
“Well, I am his roommate, and I think he’s sleeping. Including everyone else in this dorm. Why are you calling at this hour? Do you know what time it is?”
“Yeah. I have to talk to Harry. Very important. Put him on.”
“He’s asleep. And I think you really need some too. Good night.”
“Can’t you just wake him up or something? Wake him up!”
Then, I heard another voice. A voice I could recognize. His voice seemed real sleepy and all.
“Hello?”
“Harry? Is that you?” I was partly screaming by now.
“Yes-and stop screaming. Why are you up at this time? You always slept by eleven or something.”
“Whatever. Listen. Listen. Hey, remember the day I called you on the subway telling that I was way too bored and I just headed to your house?
“Uh… Yes I do. Why did you call?”
“Well, I have to tell you. The day, the day I visited your house? You still think I was really bored for chrissake? I missed you. I wanted to see you. I was missing everything. You, school, everything. I miss the rushing-out-in-the-morning thing. I miss the stinky classrooms and the nasty lunches. I miss the morning homework copying and I miss the classroom- just filled with people. I even miss those guys who always used to throw eraser bits to my back.
“Okay, okay. You the only one waking up by now?”
“Yes, I am. Me, myself and I.”
“Well, then, I think you gotta go have some sleep. Really. Good bye”
“Good night, you. Good night.”
Jesus, was I out of my mind.