Imaginative Piece 1

"We Rely on others to tell us who we are"

Piss off Pencey.  “Everyone is an individual”. Pure bullcrap if you ask me. No one at this school is an individual. No one is themselves in this place, everyone is told to be someone that they don’t want to be because they want to be seen as one of the hotshots; so that their life can just be a game. Don’t even worry about “kicking me out”, I was going to leave anyway. The people, the teachers, even the way that “we eat the same food every Saturday night,” I had already packed my bags. The way the people act around everyone else compared to how they act when no one is around just shows how the students of Pencey are pure “phonies”. Especially Stradlater.

He fits the role perfectly. When he is alone, all he does is mope around relishing in his true personality of being a “secret slob.”  However, when he is out with his friends, he tries to act all cool pouting his big chest fuelled with his big ego, adamantly displaying his bravado. Thinking he is better than the rest of us because he wants to impress his mates. Just like when he went out with Jane Gallagher, I told him several stories about her and he subtly acted uninterested and all he did was ask me to complete his English assignment for him. How does an egotistical boy like him, get a date with such a flattering woman like her? When he got back from his little play-date, all he did was insult me. How can a man whom people believe to be such a leader, and someone whom we should aspire to be like, not even do their own assignments, but then have the audacity to dismiss my hard work as crap. [lights up a cigarette] this will set him straight, Stradlater hates it when I smoke in the room, or so he’s told me. Its hard to tell in this paradox school whether someone truly likes or dislikes anything. Even when I approach him about “Jean”, friendly asking a question, about my ex-girlfriend Jane, he doesn’t tell me anything. Every inch of my body boiled with anger and hatred, I felt like the only person at Pencey who wasn’t a phony, the loneliest person at Pencey. Stradlater ducks and comes back at me after attempting to connect against his jaw with my flurrying fists. Somehow I ended up with the bloody nose, but I don’t care. I’m glad I got expelled; no one is themselves at this stupid school.

I don’t understand the need for popularity, all they do is get known by more people and eventually become so engaged in popularity that their grades start to drop off and so have a negative attitude in life, which hinders their future ambitions instead of if they had have focused on being themselves.

Why do people judge me just because I am not a hotshot like them, bloody phoneys more like it. They don’t know me, they don’t know anything about my life, and so they shouldn’t ever try and judge me. I depict who I am, and who I want to be, not them, I am the Catcher in the Rye.

Expository Piece

What matters most is how you see yourself.

In a world where everyone is a critic, what is most important is how your toughest critic, you see yourself. How you view yourself is more important than the thoughts of some anonymous, insignificant stranger on the street that you will most likely never see you again. 

Those people who constantly want to have the approval from every one around them but they are usually the first to fall. Often the media and celebrities tell us that we should be comfortable in our own skin, but most of them who tell us so, have body alerting cosmetic surgery. Michael Jackson is an infamously known musician, what is most sad about Michael is not just his death, but how he ended up towards the latter end of his life. So consumed about how the world around him saw him, he went to great lengths to change how others saw him. He died a shell of his former self-try to appeal to the outside world other than himself. If only he cared more about what he saw in himself then maybe he could be around to this day to entertain the millions like he once did so well. This is the polar opposite of what Holden Caulfield stood for; he did not let others dictate his life.

Though Holden is not a star but a fictional character he is a shining example of how he sees himself and is not afraid to be himself. Often seen wearing his “hunting hat” it is a shining example of how he is comfortable in the way he sees himself. It is a representation of his individuality and to not be the thing he so greatly despises, a phoney. While others would not be caught dead wearing such a daggy hat, Holden embraces it whole heartedly because it meant something to him and he saw it as something he could not let go of. Another person who embodies what matters most is how you see yourself like Holden, is Lady Gaga. 

Lady Gaga is an influential musician who inspired many people young and old to be happy with who they are. From her over the top costumes to her very outlandish lyrics she has always not cared how others viewed her and only cared about how she sees her self. One of her most well known songs “Born This Way” was about as Lady Gaga said herself” is about being yourself, and loving who you are and being proud”. She does not see her self as the so called “freak” or “weirdo” as she is called on daily basis, but sees her self as a normal average person from humble beginnings.

So in actual fact what matters most is how you see yourself, because you can turn out like Michael Jackson and trying so hard to appeal to everyone else. Or you can be your own person and only care about how you look to oneself and be happy with who you are.

List of Slang Words By Holden Caulfield.

Phonie 

Goddam 

Hulluva

Old

Crazy

Faggy

Dough

Marbles

Loaded

Bucks

Lousy

Hell

Damn
And all
Crooks
Ax
Terrifically
My ass
Knockers
Buzz

Identity Is Not Static but Always Changing

Within our Identity is: Our environment, our behaviour, our capabilities, our beliefs and values which defines who and what kind of person we are.

As we grow older we discover new things about us and how we identify ourselves, throughout the experiences we face in our lives. Identity formation is defined as the combination of personal, social and cultural experiences that combine to form an individual’s identity.

Identity is not static, and never will be; it is the result of continuous interaction with the environment. People in our lives such as friends, family, teachers and idols affect the way we identify ourselves; they are a big factor in building our personality. Past experiences we go through can also have an impact on our identity, if we're growing; we're always going to be out of our comfort zone. 

Another aspect of how identity continues to change is through communication with others.

The people we choose to be around with affects how we identify ourselves. Our friendships in and out of school play a big role in shaping how we act towards certain situations. 

A reference to Henry Lawson story about the drovers wife would be after her husband abandons her and she if left with her children. Her identity is forced to grow, and she is shaped into a stronger and supportive mother, although her old traits are still there, new ones have been added, strengthening her Identity.

Despite our identity continually developing over time, some aspects from earlier on in our lives stay constant. For example if you ask your parents what their favourite song is their not going to say "stupid hoe" by Nikki Minaj, but something they remember listening to when they were 16.

Because of this, past identities are still relevant to the present.

"what we are never changes, but who we are never stops changing"

Song - I Still Call Australia Home

I've been to cities that never close down,

From New York to Rio and old London town,

But no matter how far or how wide I roam,

I still call Australia home.

I'm always trav'lin',

And I love being free,

And so I keep leaving the sun and the sea,

But my heart lies waiting — over the foam.

I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning 'round the world,

Away from their families and friends,

But as the world gets older and colder and colder,

It's good to know where your journey ends.

But someday we'll all be together once more,

When all of the ships come back to the shore,

I realize something I've always known,

I still call Australia home.

But no matter how far or how wide I roam,

I still call Australia, I still call Australia,

I still call Australia home.

The Fair Go, Has Fairly Gone.

Click here for Article

The Union Buries it's dead

This story demonstrates the similarities between the past and now.

The quotes within the story suggest the drinking culture is present and active within Australia. Visiting the pub to drink and have some downtime is demonstrated as a part of their life and identity to escape the hardships of working in a desolate wasteland. "unionism is stronger than creed. Drink, however, it stronger than unionism… more than two thirds of the funeral were unable to follow. They were too drunk"

Even though the drowned man was not known to the people who attended his funeral, they took the effort to bury him because they were all members of the same Union. They took the liberty to take care of their own.

When the narrator expresses that nothing matters, he means that nothing is being taken seriously but it should be. People are drinking at a funeral too drunk to walk, a priest is being called the devil, and no respect is being shown. Women are absent in the story, probably staying at home in the bush. Henry Lawson is poking fun at the blokes.

Examples of humour include the "warning" given to the young man on horseback at the beginning of the story. The priest attending the funeral was also called a devil, and his hat held above his head, even when he's standing in shade.

Examples of the physical discomfort of the day is expressed throughout the story. The holy water is said to have evaporated as soon as the drops hit the coffin, and the hot dusty road on the way to the cemetery.