11A1: Catcher orals

Catcher in the Rye orals

 

• Alone or in pairs


• 5 minutes per person


• Look at criteria


• presentations on Wednesday

1. Create a monologue by one of the other characters in the novel, reflecting on specific themes of the novel from his or her perspective. Give yourself time to present a rationale of your performance. (If in pairs, it can be a conversation between two characters, neither of them Holden.)
2. Identify yourself as one (or two) of the psychologists with whom Holden speaks at the end of the novel. Present a general diagnosis of his behaviour, focusing on themes and how they are developed.
3. Look at one of the following topics and explain how the novel develops one of the topics:

 ·         relationship to parents                                         

·         relationship to male peers

·         relationship with authority figures            

·         attitude about education                           

·         attitude about religion

·         attitude about art and literature                            

4. Identify one aspect of the novel’s social criticism (social, political, economic, religious) and develop its position on that criticism, trying to place it in the context of 1950s American culture.
5. To what degree is the novel about gender or social class? Is the novel defined by Holden being male or upper middle class, or is it more universal than that?