As the article says, "you just might have a rattle, as well" ("Your Rattle No One Else Can Hear?"). For Holden, this rattle is the death of his brother, Allie. Although he died a few years ago, Holden is still sensitive about his death and is depressed that he no longer has anyone to talk to. Allie's baseball mitt that Holden keeps helps him deal with his death in its own way. The article is really about things that shake up our lives that we're dealing with, but maybe other people aren't dealing with and/or can't relate to the pain you're feeling.
Not many people know about the baseball mitt; Holden keeps it to himself and doesn't share it with others unless he's really close with them. He says, "all I had to do was change Allie's name so that nobody would know it was my brother and not Stradlater's" (Salinger 44). In the article, the salesman couldn't hear the rattle. This is symbolizing people that aren't close to the author, and how the salesman doesn't share the same pain as the author does. Then, there are also people who do know about the baseball mitt, just like the husband in the article, since he heard the rattling of the car, and it affected him, too.
The author of the article uses the simple rattle of the car to push forward the greater idea of other people not understanding pain in our lives to help simplify it. Most of us have experienced how annoying a car rattle is, and we know what it's like to try and show the rattling (or something else) to someone and it's gone.
The loss of his bother has left Holden without anyone to talk to. In chapter 9 we see him trying to communicate with the taxi driver when he says, "by any chance, do you know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?" (Salinger 67). This proves that the death of his brother has rattled up his life.
The loss of his bother has left Holden without anyone to talk to. In chapter 9 we see him trying to communicate with the taxi driver when he says, "by any chance, do you know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?" (Salinger 67). This proves that the death of his brother has rattled up his life.
I found it very interesting that you made the connection between the ducks in the park at winter and Allie, and how when Holden asks about the ducks, he's really asking about where he thinks Allie went after he died. I never made that connection, or even thought about it. I thought Holden just really liked ducks. The connection I made about Allie and Holden was that I noticed how whenever Holden talks about Allie, he always comments on Allie's intelligence for example on page 38, Holden says "He was terrifically intelligent". I also noticed that Holden was failing many of his classes. I thought that the reason that Holden does so badly in school is because he doesn't want to overshadow Allie. He doesn't want anyone forgetting that Allie was the smart one in the family so he doesn't involve himself in his school work as much as he could. Also in your post, you mention the article and how everyone has a rattle in their life no matter how small, did the article say what the rattle was for the author, or did the article just leave it open?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your feedback! I had never thought about how Holden might be purposely failing his classes in order to preserve his brother's image. But now that I think about it, I have to agree. Another reason he might be failing his classes is because he wants to get attention from his parents. Ever since Allie died, he hasn't had anyone to talk to, as I mentioned in my blog post when I quoted the scene where Holden was asking about the ducks. Holden failing his classes might be him trying to outreach to his parents. In chapter 5 he tries to get the attention of his parents when he breaks all the windows in the garage. This could just be another way to do that.
DeleteTo answer your question, in the article it does not state what the rattle was for the author. It was trying to validate the reader's rattle, and it gave examples for what that rattle could be. The article did, however, start off with a story about a car's rattle, and used this as a metaphor for the rattle in our lives.
(In addition to my reply above)
DeleteDo you think another reason Holden is failing his classes is to get his parent's attention as well?