Secondary Research: Annotated Bibliography for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

CPT Secondary Research: Annotated Bibliography

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

McClinton-Temple, Jennifer. “abandonment.” McClinton-Temple, Jennifer, ed.

             Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.

             Bloom’s Literature. Facts On File, Inc. www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=
             WE54&WID=101976&SID=5&iPin=ETL0001&SingleRecord=True.

l  Abandonment does not only have a negative connotation since active choices can be made.

l  One of the example can be found in Bible when Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, and they were abandoned by God in their point of view.

l  It does not only appear in the Bible, but it is also found in literature as well, like it is reflected in the story of Oskar who feels like being abandoned by his father because of the death of his father.

l  While abandonment results in happy ending in some of literatures as the story of Adam and Eve, it also results in tragedy as in Sophocles' Oedipus the King.

l  Some philosophers believe that the physical separation between babies and their mother when they are born gives them a major strength in their life, and this can be one of the reason why Oskar successfully grows up by overcoming his grief.

l  McClinton-Temple mentions: “Yi Fu claims that adult anxiety disorders can be attributed to specific child-rearing practices; in particular, he says, frequent and regular separations, or even frequent and regular threats of abandonment have huge consequences later in life,” and it highlights the importance of overcoming one’s ordeals in order to grow up successfully as Oskar does.

l  McClinton-Temple recognizes that people live with the fear of losing their lover and this is the element that makes us weakened, since she states: “[H]umans innately fear being abandoned and that as we grow older, we are consumed by a feeling that we will lose our most prized object: another human being.”

l  The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre does not believe that humans have the ability to understand the ordered world, and that is the reason why he declaims that people are alone and are abandoned in the world, as Oskar feels after the sudden death of his father.

l  McClinton-Temple states: “On a personal level, all human beings feel a fear of abandonment stemming from our childhood separations from our parents. Additionally, however, in the modern world, whole communities might live in a general state of abandonment based on that world’s impersonal, disconnected nature,” as it appears when Oskar tries to find all of the people who have the last name ‘Black’ and they do not welcome Oskar at first.

McClinton-Temple, Jennifer. “family.” McClinton-Temple, Jennifer, ed. Encyclopedia of

             Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom’s Literature.
             Facts On File, Inc. www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=1019
             76&SID=5&iPin=ETL0013&SingleRecord=True.

l  As Leo Tolstoy left one of the most famous comments on a family that highlights the importance of family happiness, Oskar lives in a happy family and his father is the greatest person in the world at least for him, but his happiness is totally broken after the death of his father.

l  From family children get their beliefs and values, learn the real world of adults, which deeply affects their life, and this is the reason why Oskar overcomes his grief and grows up because he follows the teaching of his father.

l  Family ties lead people to have the power against their hardships, but it also can be a weakness which eventually destroys them, as it is reflected in the story of Oskar who is weakened due to the death of his father, but he grows up eventually by overcoming his grief with the support of his mother.

l  As McClinton-Temple cites the sociologist Jerome Kagan that “children identify most readily with their parents, and that before adolescence they believe they share the same basic qualities and values with their ‘parental models,’” Oskar gets a huge shock due to the death of his father since his father is his role model.

l  “In addition to helping to identify us, family also provides us with a haven in times of adversity,” since “[f]amilies have a tendency to protect their own and to shut out the outside world if need be” (McClinton-Temple).

l  People are deeply saddened when they lose somebody that they love, such as a family member. In the case of Oskar, he loses his father.

l  The ancient Greek philosopher Plato highlights that family is important for people since it gives a “sanctuary from public life,” as Oskar’s sanctuary is given by his father.

l  People need to know the beauty of the elements of daily life, and they need to appreciate for that.

l  Not all family provides comfort. Oppositely, many people makes their family’s life harder.

l  McClinton-Temple states: “When family, for whatever reason, disappoints us, we turn to others to provide identification, support, comfort, and sanctuary,” and this is found in the story of Oskar who leaves his mother and wandering around New York since he thinks that his mother does not love him anymore.

l  When Oskar comes back home, he realizes that his mother supports him and loves him, which emphasizes the importance of family, as McClinton-Temple mentions that a lot of things are getting weaker because of the changes and problems in the modern world, but family is far away from it, so stable.

McClinton-Temple, Jennifer. “grief.” McClinton-Temple, Jennifer, ed. Encyclopedia of
             Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom’s Literature.
             Facts On File, Inc.www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=1019
             76&SID=5&iPin=ETL0018&SingleRecord=True.

l  When people encounter the grief, it brings chaos in our life—especially for the loss of a loved one as Oskar closes himself off from the world after the death of his father.

l  On the one hand, grief gives us huge stress, on the other hand, it gives us the power that leads us to find the meaning of our life. That is reason why Oskar wanders around New York to find all people who have a last name ‘Black.’

l  Literature is the one of the most effective ways to express one’s grief, and historically, it has been used to help people overcome their grief.

l  As McClinton-Temple states: “Grief, by its very nature, disrupts us, places us at a loss for words,” Oskar closes himself from the world and stays in his room everyday.

l  Mourning, due to a loss of a loved one, makes people think that their world is not working properly, as Oskar loses the meaning of life after his father’s sudden death.

l  It is hard to overcome one’s grief as it is reflected in the story of Oskar: “Moving through grief requires a great deal of hard work on the part of the mourner” (McClinton-Temple).

l  There is stages of grief, suggested by Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, which comes after the death of one’s lover, and it “followed by a period of anger, followed by some kind of depression or disorganization, with a final period of acceptance or reorganization” (McClinton-Temple).

l  “Grief has been defined by many as an ‘open wound’—and others want to look away from that wound, because to acknowledge it is invariably difficult and confusing” (McClinton-Temple), which makes it harder for people to overcome their grief.

l  It may be impossible to overcome their grief even though mourners acknowledge it. This is shown in Hamlet when Ophelia commits suicide because she cannot overcome her grief occurred by the death of her father, and this is the reason why Oskar successfully grows up.

l  Literature is maybe one of the most important ways that leads readers to overcome their grief as a therapy. The Catcher in the Rye

Han, Xiaomei. “A study on the painful transition of adolescent in J. D. Salinger’s writing.”

             Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 4, no. 11, 2014, p. 2384+.
             Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=ko_k12hs_d7
             1&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA394184505&asid=eef3b782312bd685434ae28e0
             d74060a. Accessed 26 Nov. 2016.

l  The adolescence means to become adult and it frequently causes a painful “identity crisis;” it eventually leads one’s physical and mental growth.

l  Holden ultimately grows up as Han states: “After experiencing the fall of idealism and a series of symbolic death, [Holden] finally found his place in the adult world.”

l  Holden experiences a painful transition during his adolescence since he rejects adaptation to the world of adults, which results in him not belonging to either child or adult worlds.

l  Holden does not acknowledge reality and is trying to find idealism in an adult’s world that is full of phonies and liars, and this is the first task for Holden that he needs to overcome in order to grow up.

l  There are some adolescents who refuse to grow up, such as Holden, since they cannot accept injustice, ugliness, and pain.

l  The difference between Holden and the most of other adolescents is that Holden stands against the ugliness of society for his idealism while others just ignore it.

l  Symbolic death—or blood—is important in a process of maturing, and it appears when Holden is knocked out with blood due to the fight with Stradlater, which ultimately leads him to leave the school: “In fact, this is the beginning of his maturing journey” (Han).

l  After Holden leaves the school, he experiences the symbolic death again when he has a fight with Maurice in New York, and it makes him consider committing suicide due to his sorrow and depression, which represents the climax of Holden’s process of growing up.

l  As Han says: “Even though Holden loves niceness and purity, he can't break away from the evil and ugliness of the society. He has no other choice but to enter adulthood. In this sense he really needs a symbolic death as a child and a rebirth as an adult,” Holden does not freely grow up, but is forced to.

l  Holden ends his adolescence—which means he grows up ultimately—when he first agrees the existence of God while he watching his sister Phoebe riding merry-go-round.

l  Holden’s meaningless wandering in New York symbolizes his important and unavoidable journey from adolescence to adulthood, and he conquers his hardships in his journey with his bravery.

l  Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye who helps children to keep their innocence, but by the end of the novel, he gives up his dream since he realizes that it is basically bad for children’s growth and his dream is unachievable.

l  By the end of the novel, Holden reveals that he receives therapy due to the dilemma of his unachievable dream, which indicates the fact that he fails to be the catcher of the rye and is forced to grow up by accepting the world of adults.

l  “The whole novel shows a painful transition of Holden from childhood into adulthood. Even though the future is uncertain, Holden bravely breaks off his severed ties with the dead past in order to accept maturity. At his most triumphant moment, Holden has ended his story beyond the world’s woes and disillusionments” (Han).

l  Through this novel, readers indirectly experience the social codes in that period in America; moreover, it leads people to think about adolescent crisis nowadays. Pettineo, Jeff. “Innocence and Experience in The Catcher in the Rye.”

Pettineo, Jeff. “Innocence and Experience in The Catcher in the Rye.” McClinton-Temple,

Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing,

2011. Bloom’s Literature. Facts On File, Inc. www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?It

emID=WE54&WID=101976&SID=5&iPin=ETL0975&SingleRecord=True.

l  Holden tries to protect innocence of children that he cares, such as Phoebe, which indicates the reason why he says that he wants to be the catcher in the rye, and this represents his wish that he wants to stay in his adolescence.

l  “Holden wishes to be the one who preserves the innocence of youth, even though it is Phoebe, his young sister, who ‘saves’ him from his fall” (Pettineo).

l  Holden has a fear of the adult’s world that is full of phonies, wealth, and sex since it makes him confused. However, he loves children due to his brother Allie who is dead now.

l  His efforts toward keeping children’s innocence appears when he sees a “fuck you” inscription and tries to erase it.

l  Pettineo comments: “As a teenager, [Holden] is also trying to understand human sex and sexuality, stimulated and excited by the prospect of sexual contact but also terrified by the ‘unknown,’ confessing at one point that he is a virgin.”

l  Holden wants children to have life experiences, but this is inconflict with his wish for children to keep their innocence. As a result, there is an awkwardness because in order to experience something, children need to know what failure is, and this is the main reason why he decides not to be the catcher in the rye anymore.

l  Holden seems like he does not change much after he passes his adolescence. Oppositely, he partially changes since “he is starting to come to terms with the ephemeral and dynamic nature of human existence” (Pettineo), which reveals the fact that he actually grows up even though he is forced to. Pettineo, Jeff. “Isolation in The Catcher in the Rye.”

Pettineo, Jeff. “Isolation in The Catcher in the Rye.” McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed.

Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011.

Bloom’s Literature. Facts On File, Inc. www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=

WE54&WID=101976&SID=5&iPin=ETL0976&SingleRecord=True.

l  Holden isolates himself since he tries to provoke others by deprecating them that they are inferiority, which indicates that Holden does not fit into the society of adults due to his aggressive personality toward liars.

l  Holden wants to have an acquaintance, but he rejects everybody since they have ambivalent personality—they are phonies and liars, and this is the main reason why he does not want to be a part of adults’ society.

l  Firstly, he isolates himself from his own classmate and he feels lonely a lot as he feels that he has a fear of disappearing, and from this it is revealed that Holden is not strong enough to survive in the society of adults.

l  Later on, Holden thinks that he can go West and live anonymously, which also proves that he has a weak personality since he tries to avoid his ordeals instead of encountering them.

l  Holden maybe thinks that the only way to keep his innocence is to disconnect himself from the world, and he even writes a letter to his sister Phoebe. This reveals that Holden still has a connection with his sister unlike his will to live alone.

l  However, when Phoebe comes to the museum and says that she will follow him, he gives up his plan because he realizes that his plan will ruin Phoebe, which indicates the fact that he decides to stand against the world of adults that is full of phonies and liars in order to protect the children’s innocence.

l  Like Pettineo states: “[T]he novel’s final passage is an almost ‘mature’ understanding of the fleeting nature of relationships . . . perhaps he begins to realize that the time he has to spend with people is precious and not to be wasted,” Holden reveals that he starts to accept the world—not just standing against it—and he ultimately grows up.

l  Although Holden says that he plans to go West and be a mute to disconnect himself from society, he still leaves a connection with others by indicating that he still wants to help children.