OBSERVATIONS,QUESTIONS, & COMMENTS

1. Told in first person point of view

2. Story will be autobiographical – a fictional memoir
3. Story will be an extended flashback – last Christmas
4. Brother is rich; excellent writer,
5. Calls brother a “prostitute” for selling-out his writing talent to Hollywood

6. What does D.B. stand for?

7. Parents “nice” but “touchy as hell”- what does he mean by “nice” why is

“nice” in italics? Are they nice on the outside – but really cruel or worse
– indifferent to him and his brother?
8. Any other siblings? Friends in his life?
9. Jaguar costs $4000 – must take place during either 40s or 50s
10. Narrator is in California – near his brother D.B.
11. What is the narrator’s name?
12. Where was he born?
13. Where is he exactly? What is this “crumby place”? A

home? Rehab? Jail? Hospital? He says that he got “pretty

run down” before he had to go wherever he is now…
14. What does he mean by all “that madman stuff last
Christmas”?
15. How old is he?
16. What school does he or did he go to?
17. Is he smart?
18. Is he knowledgable about the world?
19. Kid seems sarcastic, random and prone to hyperbole
20. Kid seems to be honest, straightforward – telling the
truth?
21. Doesn’t seem like he talks to too many people
22. Doesn’t seem like he has a good relationship with anyone
23. Loner
24. He has a secret that he’s waiting to tell – hasn’t even told
his brother everything
25. Is he rich, poor?
26. Why does his brother visit him every week?
27. Jealous of his brother’s success?
28. Angry that his brother left for California?
29. Why does he like his brother’s short story “The Secret
Goldfish” so much? Does it relate somehow to the theme
of the story?
30. What is this “David Copperfield crap”?
31. He curses/uses slang – goddamn, crap, prostitute, hell –
all softer curses, though
32. Why doesn’t he talk about his childhood?
33. Kid seems like a rebel
34. Seems pessimistic – even cynical

35. Maybe the father treats him worse than his mother
36. Doesn’t seem like parents really wanted kids
37. Seems like he’s putting on some kind of tough act for the
reader
38. Has Holden done anything to make his parents “touchy”?
39. Why does he hate the movies?
40. Could be going home in a month? Where is home?
41. Seems preoccupied w/money – Jaguar will this be symbolic?

42. Parents are private – very private – do not want family life made public

43. Is he against the world or his the world against him?