Expulsion as a Positive; Is School Fair?
In "the Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger two key instances showcase 'the system' used to kick boys out of private all-boys prep schools. The first is at the very beginning of the story. The main character, Holden Caulfield, refuses to apply himself at Pencey Prep, his school at the beginning of the story. Since he fails in every class except English, he is expelled. Then, near the end of the story, Holden tells the reader, through unique second person narration, about a few guys who got expelled when Holden was at Elkton Hills. The leader of the group was Phil Stabile. Stabile and his friends threatened a boy named James Castle, after he "called... [Stabile] a very conceited guy"(Salinger 188). They locked Castle in his room and hurt him in a very "repulsive" way, but Castle still wouldn't take back what he said (Salinger 188). Castle ultimately jumped out the window, and Stabile and his friends got expelled for inadvertently causing Castle's death. Interestingly, 'the establishment' helped both Holden and Stabile in these two very different cases.
Holden is extremely frustrated with the state of all-boys prep schools. He no longer thinks the knowledge school has to offer him is helpful. Flunking is predetermined to be something that gets someone expelled, and since Holden knows this, he repeatedly fails a majority of his classes and then gets kicked out of multiple schools. In this case, 'the system' of school supports Holden and allows him to run around New York on his own for the majority of the book.
'The system' also helps Stabile, but in a completely different way. Stabile is expelled from school for inadvertently causing Castle's death, as mentioned earlier, but he is not put in jail or punished in any other way. In normal circumstances, one would expect to be punished, or at least put on trial, for being present at the sight of someone's death. Instead, 'the system' allows Stabile to escape free of charge, to attend a different school and continue on with his life.
Even though both Holden and Stabile get what they want out of the expulsion, whether that is to leave school, or avoid jail, both cases still make us wonder something Holden is silently asking much of the book: is the system fair? I would argue, these two cases showcase the favoritism the system shows to it's most popular students. Stabile obviously has a lot of friends and influence, whereas Holden is more of a self-described loner. Even though Holden's schools do rightly expel him for failing his classes, Elkton Hills does not administer fair judgement by giving Stabile and his friends a weak punishment for the magnitude of their crimes.
Hi Cadence,
ReplyDeleteThis was brought up in my class and I thought it was a very interesting topic. Holden's complaints about "the system" initially seem like he's just complaining about applying himself, but after learning about James Castle, you see how crazy it is that him failing his classes got him the same punishment as a boy who jumped another student. I agree that Elkton Hills had a completely unfair "system".
I think it's really interesting to think about getting kicked out of school as a good thing. I agree that Holden partially thinks it's good, because he sees the idea of graduating (growing up) and the system of school as bad. However, I think that Holden also sees it as bad. Yes, he sees intelligence as god-given, not earned through school, but when speaking of Phoebe, D.B., and Allie, he refers to their intelligence often in reference to school, and thinks of himself as stupid. I wonder if Holden grew more okay with the idea out of fear of the alternative rather than actually equating expulsion to a good thing.
ReplyDeleteHi Cadence, I like how you framed expulsion as a part of a larger social system instead of individual punishment. I agree with you that this system is corrupted by favoritism towards power and popularity. I think this really aligns with Holden's beliefs in distrusting institutions and authoritative figures. I really enjoyed your blog :D
ReplyDeleteHey Cadence! Wow, I never thought of this private school perspective from the book but I think you did a wonderful job of describing both situations. I love how you mentioned the aspect that both Holden and Stabile got what they want from being expelled but the consequences were not correctly administered. There should've been a lot more punishment and legal actions taken towards Stabile but somehow nothing happened to him. Amazing blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Cadence,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting connection to make that I wasn't thinking about when this was introduced. You definitely get the hint that Holden believes the system to be a scam, but expulsion as kind of an almost wanted punishment. I certainly believe Holden to understand that it's reasonable when he's expelled, because his behavior has warrented that, which I believe makes him more trustworthy in his frusteration surrounding others' expulsion being their only punishment.
Great post!
This is a really interesting topic, how in the book, expulsion is a good thing but in the worst way possible. Holden and Stabile do both ultimately get what they want out of the system, but in the worst way possible. They're both better* off than they would've been otherwise, and what's interesting is that Holden seems to want to get something more out of school, but as he says in his argument with Sally, he doesn't, which you could argue is a fault with the school. And Stabile literally gets away with a crime by being expelled instead of arrested. It's almost to the point where you could make the argument that Elkton does students a favor by expelling them.
ReplyDeleteWhile this is an extreme and tragic example of what falls under the general category of "bullying," Holden is not incorrect in his assumption that these kinds of crimes were not taken as seriously as they probably should have been by authorities. He is sure that this must be a CRIME, to cause someone's death like this, in such a callous and cruel manner. But for the school, he implies, it's more a matter of maintaining appearances--get the "bad apples" out, and maintain the illusion that the school is a safe and noble institution of learning. The logic is quite similar to his cynical take on how Pencey maintains such high academic ratings by "giving guys the boot quite frequently" if they threaten to lower the ratings. Likewise, the school can claim that bullying is not tolerated, since these guys were removed from the program--but the point isn't to punish the perpetrators, or achieve justice for poor James Castle.
ReplyDeleteIn 2010 (the year of Salinger's death, coincidentally) a freshman at Rutgers was secretly videotaped in his dorm during a date with another man (by his roommate), and the humiliation and public exposure led him to panic and jump off the George Washington Bridge. The roommate who filmed him ended up avoiding jail time by pleading guilty to one count of attempted invasion of privacy. The "attempted" is especially glaring--they couldn't even convict him of actually INVADING this guy's privacy, which seems to me to be beyond dispute. So in some ways we maybe haven't come far enough when it comes to consequences for bullying and harassment.
Hi Cadence! I agree with your question of 'is the system fair'. This was something brought up briefly in my section, but I think you do a good job of going deeper. It would be cool to read more if you ever turn it into an essay!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Cadence! It is a very interesting and striking comparison to see Holden nearly encouraged to throw away his potential as someone who doesn't conform to the standards for him in society, but protects those who choose to bring pain on those around them. It is a very harmful double standard that both enables and hurts those who "benefit" from it. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a good comparison, Cadence--- I had never realized how much more resentment Holden would have for the bullies that ended up driving James Castle to suicide considering they received the same punishment that he ends up getting all the time. It definitely leads to a lot of further contemplation about the education system, and then more deeply about the American education system and the _private_ American education system in New York, on top of that. It's such a heavy topic to consider that at the end of the day, those institutions are trying to make money, ultimately, and that they repeatedly expel whatever students get in the way of that as a means to an end, no matter the severity of the crime. It really is a lot to think about, and I think you did a great job in bringing that to light :)
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