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 “5^th 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.”