Chapter 5

Holden expressed his grief about Allie when he punched all the windows out in the garage and then tried to punch out the windows in the family car too, but couldn’t because his hand was already broken. I can relate to Holden’s anger about not being able to control something so important in his life. I feel angry when I think I’ve been treated unfairly and I think that’s how Holden felt. He still grieves for the loss of his brother because he keeps Allie’s baseball mitt with him. I think he was using the composition as a way to cope with the loss and as a tribute to his little brother, but also because he thinks about him a lot and misses him. No one close to me has died yet, but I have had some losses. My sisters are a lot older than me and moved away from home when I was little. I think sometimes it would be nice to have a brother. I don’t think society always handles death in a positive way. Sometimes there’s too little grief and occasionally there’s too much. Society seems to be confused about how to handle most situations and can’t personalize grief so that all people are comfortable.