The article discusses how the author experiences a rattle in her new car that greatly bothers her and her husband, but when she goes to get it fixed, the repairman cannot hear it and thinks she is crazy. She then relates this to everyone having their own "rattle" that others will invalidate and say that it doesn't exist, but deep down, bothers you to the root of your existence. She correlates her experience in a beautiful transition, "Dear Reader, you just might have a rattle, as well. Maybe not in your kinda, newish car. Rather, that thing that is the thorn in your side, that others can’t see or detect that you’re told to get over." So, the article isn't actually just about the noise in her car, but rather how she felt when she went to get it fixed and how she made that connect to her reader.
I think Holden's rattle is the loss of his brother. We even had to wait five chapters before Holden's character even breaks that news to us. He nonchalantly slides in, "He wrote [the poems] on it so that he'd have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat. He's dead now... You'd have liked him," (Salinger 43). Holden discusses a sentiment of Allie, his baseball glove, and then casually slides in the fact that he's dead from cancer, gives the date he died, and then continues talking about the glove, just like it was a minor detail. Holden presents this detail like a rattle. It's little, but we know its there by the loving description he gives of him, and that the loss has left him with a pain no one else knows.
We all have a rattle, maybe as big as Holden and the loss of his brother, or as small as the article's author and a little annoyance in her new car.
Hey Hannah! This is Michael. I think you're right in saying that Allie's death is Holden's rattle. You said that Holden told us that Allie died as if it was a minor detail, and that makes it seem like a rattle, which I think is true. I also think that this matter-of-fact way of talking is a way for Holden to hide how hurt he really is. He ends talking about his brother saying, "I mean I'm not going to be a ****** surgeon or a violinist or anything anyway" (Salinger 39. I think the way he says this makes the reader thing that Holden can just laugh it off or write it unimportant, but we can tell that it means much more to him than he's letting in on. Do you think Holden is as hurt by Allie's death now as he was at the time of the death?
ReplyDeleteHey Michael! I think he is. We’re on the same page for sure. I saw the same exact connection and even commented that on your blog. I think the author makes it slightly obvious what a rattle is and that they work together very well. We all have a rattle, don’t you think?
DeleteHannah, this was a joy to read! I completely understand how you made the connection from the author's car to Holden's brother. WHen Holden says," My hand still hurts me once in a while" do you ever think that he is showing us some weakness to his strength? I agree with what you said on how he slides it in, but notice how he says that. It makes you wonder if he'll show us a more sensitive side to him again in the book.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was very good and i wanted to keep reading. While i was reading, the part that really caught my eye is how you said it took Holden 5 chapters to finally even tell us about Allie. Knowing that is a topic that can mean so much to someone, Holden made it very brief. I really like the quote on page 38 where Holden was describing the glove saying how there were poems on it, and then he just says "he is dead now." Holden's personality seems to be brief with everyone but do you think that he didn't really want to talk about Allie or was he just being himself?
ReplyDeleteIt's true, I also believe Holden's rattle is the death of his brother because in the article, "Your Rattle No One Else Can Hear?", the narrator says an example of another rattle "the chronic pain that doesn't go away from a long ago injury". I see a connection within that quote and the part in the book when Holden tells us "My hand still hurts me once in a while, when it rains and all, and I can't make a real fist anymore..." (51). What can you conclude from both of these quotes?
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