Adolescence

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE  by J.D. Salinger

The Catcher in the rye is a novel written by J.D. Salinger (1919-2010) and published in 1951.

The novel is about Holden Caulfield, a teenager who is both the narrator and the protagonist.

All the events took place in two days in which he moves to New York after being expelled from Pencey, a private school. He is supposed to be back home for Christmas holidays on Tuesday but he decides to loaf around NYC until his parents receive the news of his expulsion.

When he arrives in NY, he books a room in a hotel and after spending all night in some clubs, he is scammed by a prostitute and her ‘sugar daddy’, Maurice. The day after, because he feels alone, he calls his friend Sally to enjoy the afternoon with her and later calles another friend, Carl Luce, to spend the evening with him. At the end of the day, Holden still feels deeply alone and because of that, he decides to go home and see his sister Phoebe, who is the only one who can understand his loneliness. After confiding in her about his feelings, he goes to the house of his teacher, Mr Antolini, where he lives an embarrassing situation, so he leaves  and sleeps in a station. The last day he decides to leave NY so he meets his sister again to say goodbye, but she persuades him to stay. In the last chapter, he tells us he is in a sanatorium from where he’s writing the novel.

Why such a title? The answer is in the chapter twenty-two, when he talks to his sister Phoebe: in this chapter we can find references to a famous Scottish song by Robert Burns. The original song is:

Gin a body meet a body

Coming through the rye;

Gin a body kiss a body,

Need a body cry?

But when Holden tells his sister about this song, he mistakes the words and says:

If a body catch a body

coming through the rye;

Thinking about these words he images a lot of children playing in a field of rye near a cliff; every time someone comes close to the cliff and fall off, Holden would be down there to catch them. He wants to be the catcher in the rye who saves those children.

The title is one of the best examples of the crisis of adolescence, one of the main themes of the novel.
Holden is a teenager who, observing the adults’ world, doesn’t want to grow up and be part of it (that is what we usually call “Peter Pan syndrome”), because he can’t stand its “phoniness”. That’s why he leaves in his own “little universe”, made of illusions and dreams and describes it in an ironical way. The word “phoniness” is often used by the protagonist to describe the hypocrisy and  corruption of the adult’s word.

Another important topic covered by Salinger is Holden’s alienation. It could be read as if he feels different and superior, but this is just a way he uses to protect himself and maintain the stability of his life (the hunting hut he always wears is a symbol of self protection).

The hunting hut is a symbol as much important as the the ducks in the central park lagoon and the museum of natural history. The ducks symbolise the curiosity of youth. In fact Holden wonders where the ducks go in the winter, while the second one expresses the surprise that only an adolescent can feel when visiting it.

This book, which is a ‘cult’ of the 60’s , could be considered as an atypical ‘bildungsroman’.  The protagonist doesn’t want to face the growth process. It is written in a very original narrative style: a colloquial language characterized by cut sentences and bad words to express Holden’s spontaneity and a urban slang which reflects the protagonist’s age and shows us his attitude to the world.

This is one of the best novels to understand how difficult could be to become an adult, and how an adolescent might be scared by his future. It shouldn’t be a reading only for young people but also for adults, who usually forget how it was to be a teenager.

Biolchini Martina
Cozza Giulia
Russo Federico
Russo Simona
Sacco Giuseppina

Dystopia

Book Review – Animal Farm by George Orwell

Suppose that the animals of a farm revolt against their owner? How would it be? And why?

In this political allegory (or beast fable?), Orwell brilliantly highlights how a revolution can degenerate into a totalitarian regime. The animals are fed up with their poor life conditions, therefore, inspired by the wise pork Old Major, decide to overthrow the farmer and start to govern themselves. Old Major, with his great oratory skills, tries to sway all the animals in the farm that the farm owner is their enemy and he is the reason of their bad living condition due to animals’ exploitation. But some porks, that become the leaders of the revolution after Old Major’s death, hold the power with physical strength, exploit and manipulate other animals through propaganda and the animals' ignorance.

Napoleon perfectly embodies the degeneration of the rebellion: at the beginning it seems to follow the Seven Commandments, approve Animalism and the revolution, but soon after he establishes a totalitarian and authoritarian regime, killing one of his supporters, Snowball. Also Squealer and the dogs will play a crucial role: the dogs protect the figure of Napoleon and strike terror to anyone who questions his decisions; Squealer’s task is to convince all the animals that “Napoleon is always right”, manipulating historical events of the farm and changing the Commandments in order to maintain and reinforce the regime’s power.

It’s evident the reference to the Russian Revolution of 1917: for instance the philosophy created by the pigs called Animalism has to be compared to communism, Napoleon embodies Stalin, Snowball Trotskji, Old Major resembles Lenin, while Boxer is Stakanov. But in the end nothing will change for the better as the animals hoped.  

This compelling book is a dystopian novel because it presents the worst of the possible worlds. Animal Farm is interesting and captivating, moreover makes the reader think about the origins and the development of totalitarianism. In fact, although by a superficial reading it may seem a simple tale because the characters are animals and the language is easy to understand,  it actually has a deeper meaning: it's a passionate attack to greed, corruption and selfishness which ruin the good aims of freedom and equality after a revolution.

It is a dystopia but it looks real!

Adamo Mario, Bilotta Emilia, 

De Munno Melania, Feraco Livia,

 Lovati Francesca, Madrigrano Rossella, 

Sicilia Martina, Venneri Ludovica

A break with the past

Book Review -  Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

A break with the past, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ by Virginia Woolf, is a modern novel set in just one day of June 1923.

It reflects the society during the first postwar period and it is one of the best examples of a new technique: the ‘stream of consciousness’, also used by James Joyce in his ‘Ulysses’.

An upper class society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party at her house. Her destiny crosses paths with Septimus Warren Smith, a veteran of World War I who saw his best friend dying and now suffering from depression that will draw him towards suicide. The reader will assist Clarissa’s long day while she is giving the party and Septimus’s tragedy at the same time.  

Let me suggest you to read this classical novel for the following reasons :

² Originality of the plot;

² Humour and wit;

² A genuine prose;

² Careful description of modern society;

² Feminism;

² The disclosure of the characters’ thoughts;

² A well mixed range of feelings, from despair to happiness;

² An interesting psychological development;

² Brevity.

‘Mrs Dalloway’ will leave you with a true sense of warmth and life worthy living!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Chiara De Stefano

Lifestyle, Values and Fashion in England during the reign of Queen Victoria

Come vivevano in Inghilterra all'epoca della Regina Vittoria? Quali erano i valori, gli usi e i costumi? Come trascorrevano la vita quotidiana? Come era la moda e quali erano le differenze tra le classi sociali? In questo video in inglese, da noi realizzato, vi presentiamo lo "spirito dell'epoca" al tempo in cui l'Inghilterra era l'Impero più potente del mondo e la Regina Vittoria (1837 - 1876) era 'Imperatrice delle Indie'. 

How do you like it? Looking forward for your comments!!! 

"Curiosity killed the cat"

 Why thriller and horror stories are so popular?                                              

Studying Edgar Allan Poe we wondered why nowadays people are so attracted to these kind of stories. In the last two years the 54% of tickets sold in cinemas are meant to horror or thriller movies; in addition in the ranking of the most read books in the USA in 2015, 6/10 are thrillers. Even if in Italy this kind of stories is not as popular as in the USA, a detective story book come up at the third place of the most enjoyed books list; this masterpiece was written by Andrea Camilleri who is one of the most appreciated writers of this genre. Moreover, in Scandinavia, because of their lack of famous traditional literature, this new genre is developing very much and becoming appealing in the world (all the stories are set in snowy places and murders are so cruel and violent). Children are also part of the audience with video games and spooky TV fictions. 

Why is this genre irresistible?

Brain scan research in 2010 by Thomas Straube at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena shows that scary movies actually activate fear responses in the visual cortex – the part of the brain responsible for processing visual information, the insular cortex, the thalamus and the dorsal-medial prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain associated with planning, attention, and problem solving. According to a study at the School of Communication at Purdue University, one reason for the appeal is how you feel after the movie. This is called the ‘excitation transfer process’. After watched this kind of film any positive emotions you experience are intensified. Furthermore, some people may like scary movies because they enjoy the adrenaline rush of being scared while being safe. Other interesting aspects are that these books and films arise motivation as people like suspense, solving a crime or simply peeping into others’ incredible bad lives. To sum up, watching horror movies would not traumatize your psyche if you are conscious of being mentally strong enough to watch them.

But do not let children watch these kind of movies because they are in the most fragile period of their life and they could be shocked.

Realized by

Cozza Giulia

De Stefano Chiara

Russo Simona

(IV A)

"A Cold Case"

Abbiamo immaginato di essere giornalisti del ‘New York Tribune’ (fondato nel 1841) al tempo di Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849), autore di “The Raven”, “The Black Cat” e altri racconti horror. Riportiamo, di seguito, il nostro articolo sulle misteriose circostanze della sua morte. Ci siamo basati su fatti storici veramente accaduti  link fonte 

              

NEW YORK Tribune

             

A STRANGE EVENT IN BALTIMORE

A month ago, a body was found along the main street of Baltimore. We are writing about this event because some strange circumstances have been noticed during the investigation. Police is still working on this case but it is thought that the corpse belongs to a foreign traveller who was going to Philadelphia. The causes are still unknown but the police has got his own opinion: the deceased was identified with the name of Edgar Allan Poe, a poet who lived in Boston. The first hypothesis is that he died because he used to abuse of drugs, such as opium, and get hardly drunk. In fact on October 3rd some witnesses saw him in a pub called ‘Gunners Hall’ stupefied with drink and wearing bad trousers, a filthy shirt and hat. But someone disagrees with this reconstruction. In fact Poe’s doctor, John Moran, after having analyzed his corpse, excluded that his death had been caused by the use of alcohol or drugs, although the doctor is not considered reliable by the police because he submitted different and discordant depositions.

According to some other eyewitnesses, before Poe died he had gone to vote for the municipal election at “Ryan’s Fourth Ward Polls”. The poet could have been involved in a fraud there, which is called “cooping”. This practice consists in kidnapping the victim and obliging him to vote for a candidate. A man named Joseph Walker found him lying on the street outside the polls. The poet was in bad shape so he was taken to the Washington Medical College Hospital in a carriage where he died after a few days of terrible agony on October 7^th at the age of forty.

There are also other strange facts related to Poe’s death that the police is analyzing. The first one is that the poet’s luggages were not found immediately, but only some weeks later thanks to his cousin, and, weird enough, each one of them had been found in different places.

The second unusual event is that doctor John Carter’s walking stick was found in Poe’s right hand on the day of his body discovery. This stick is not a common one because there is a blade in its inside. Therefore the police thought that Poe might been used it to defend himself against his aggressors.

We still wonder - ‘Is his death a murder or suicide?’

Actually, there are no more news about his death but we will continue investigating to keep you informed.

November 7th,1849                                                                                                                                                     

Mario Adamo &

   Giovanni Macchione

If you would like to know more, click here 

Palchetto Stage's "Pride and Prejudice"

Jonathan Blakeley’s interview on

“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

On the 2nd of December 2015 we went to the cinema “Garden” in Rende (CS) with our English teacher, Mrs Cuconati, to see “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, performed by the theatre company “Palchetto Stage”.

After the show, we politely asked Jonathan Blakeley, Mr. Darcy in the play, an interview. We’ve been very much impressed of the brilliant work the company did to dramatize the novel.Here’s what he said about the play.

1) When did you read the book the first time?

I had studied Pride & Prejudice in book form at school during English Literature class, it's a common book for students aged 14-16 to study in what are considered as GCSE study years in England. I haven't read the book in its entirety myself however I know that Steve and Kate (Mr and Mrs Bennett) are both big fans of the novel.

2) Where are you performing right now?

We actually finished our tour on the 19th February in the town Crema which is just south of Milan, so we are all back home in London now. Our tour ran from October 21st - February 19th, and we covered the entirety of Italy in the five months we were touring.

3) How many years have you been acting?

I have been acting professional (since leaving drama school in New York City) since 2010, so that would be nearly six years both in New York and in London as well as touring with productions around the USA and one production in Dublin, not forgetting our tour of Italy!

4) Have there been some troubles in re-adapt the text to the representation?

The text wasn't adapted by the actors but by the tour companies Palketto and APL, it's a tricky script to squeeze into 1 hour and 40 minutes, you have to hit key points, so at times it felt rushed however I feel we got a good grip on it as actors to make it work for you.

5) What kind of relationship do you have with the other actors?

The relationship is a strong one, none of us knew each other before the show so you have to get to know one another very quickly, this is common in theatre, you rarely work with the same people. I feel very fortunate to have spent my time in Italy with my cast and of course my Italian crew who travelled with us, almost like a family, we have all become close because of the Tour and I am truly thankful for that.

6) What do you feel when you are on stage?

It varies from performance to performance, sometimes you're very connected with the stage, actors, audience and context of the play from your characters perspective and sometimes those are missing which can make the performance very interesting. When it all comes together and works there is no greater feeling, it's like an electric pulse that runs through your spine, down to your feet and into the stage, it's exciting and can move you in unpredictable ways, that's when theatre becomes alive.

7) Would you like to act again in our Country?

I would yes! I had a great experience performing for Italian audiences and being able to perform in some truly stunning theatres. Italy in itself is one to truly behold, your history, architecture, art, geography, food, or......people are what makes it such an attractive and vibrant place to visit. However the driving could improve slightly.

8) Did you notice some differences between the Northen and the Southern students’ reaction to the play?

There were some differences yes but nothing drastic. For instance in the south the audiences were a lot of receptive and vocal, you would cheer, clap and shout out during the play, which happened occasionally in the north but nowhere near as much. This is unheard of in England, the audience is normally very refined and quiet until the very end, so it was welcome and exciting to perform for such a vibrant audience.

9) We noticed that you talked really slowly and punctuated - how difficult it was to change  your language to the foreign students?

At first in the rehearsal process it was difficult, in England naturally we speak to each other a lot faster and with less stress on certain words and sound within the words along with less gesturing! However it became second nature by the start of the tour and hopefully as an audience you could all understand what was being said.

10) How did you enjoy the role of Mr Darcy, one of the most fascinated characters created by Jane Austen?

It was great to play such an iconic character. Mr Darcy has this large cult following that really has put him on the map as one of the leading male figures of romance not just in literature but also in life. Throwing away any stereotypical judgments I had of him during rehearsal was tricky, I had to make him my own version of Darcy in my own unique way, like any actor does when playing a character. He was fun to play, multilayered and often times surprising, he was wonderful. 

De Stefano Chiara

Click here to watch a trailer of the show