Brendan McMorrow
Mr. Barnes

+ English 3

24 August 2012

The Catcher in the Rye Timed Write

            Although some may argue that Holden Caulfield would be a good candidate for Nuevos Amigos because of his love for children, Holden should not be accepted into the Big Brother – Big Sister Program (Nuevos n.p.). While he does show compassion towards certain people, his negative qualities would prevent him from helping the new students adjust to high school. He does not fit the criteria of being optimistic, tolerant, or dedicated, and for these reasons his participation in Nuevos Amigos would be detrimental to both the school and his student buddies.

            In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden spends the majority of his time complaining about his life and the people around him. By the fourth page of the story he has already called his brother a “prostitute” (Salinger 4), says his parents are “touchy as hell” (1), called his school “strictly for the birds” (4), and says that he hates the movies. This behavior continues throughout the novel, ranging from Holden complaining about people stealing his gloves (116) to their word choice (138). Just reading Holden’s thoughts can be depressing, with him calling every other person a phony and how everything killed him. At West High we want to start our incoming freshmen off with a positive attitude, not tell them how horrible of a school we are. No doubt Holden would find something in our school to complain about and give the incoming freshmen a negative outlook on our school before their first day even started.

            Besides having a positive attitude, another thing we look for in our Nuevos Amigos candidates is dedication. While Holden was devoted to his sister Phoebe, in almost every other aspect of his life he has shown a lack of dedication. He was kicked out of Pencey Prep because he failed all of his classes except English, showing a clear lack of effort and commitment to his classes and schoolwork. Besides Pencey Prep, he also left in Whooton School (15) and Elkton Hill (19), once again showing a lack of commitment to his school. Because Holden has not shown dedication to any of his previous schools, there is no reason to believe that would be any different at West High. Nuevos Amigos must commit to their buddies, calling them two to three times before orientation and two to three more times throughout the school year, and it is unlikely that Holden would be able to commit to his buddies (Nuevos n.p.). We want our freshmen to take pride in our school and be committed to better both the school and themselves. Nuevos Amigos are supposed to be role models for the incoming freshmen, but Holden Caulfield would be setting a poor example if he is accepted into the program.

            Holden clearly does not have a positive attitude and has shown a lack of commitment and dedication, but some would argue that his love for children would make him a good candidate for Nuevos Amigos. They point to his relationship with his sister Phoebe as an example of his compassion for children. While Holden is certainly capable of compassion and truly loves Phoebe, he is not tolerant of people with differing viewpoints. He constantly calls people who do not share his views “phony” and judges just about everyone that he meets. He even calls his friend Luce a “pain in the ass” (193), when Holden was being the immature one. This clearly demonstrates how Holden thinks that he is always right and views anyone who doesn’t agree with him as phony and annoying. In West High we strive for tolerance and accept everyone for who they are (Nuevos n.p.). If Holden was accepted into Nuevos Amigos, incoming freshmen would likely not be accepted by him and would give them a poor start to the school year.

            A Nuevos Amigos buddy should have a positive attitude, tolerant of others, and devoted both to the school and to his or her buddies (Nuevos n.p.). Holden has demonstrated time and time again that he does not posses these qualities, and is a poor candidate for Nuevos Amigos. His negative attitude and intolerance would give the new students a poor view of West High and be a horrible way for them to start the year, and his lack of commitment means he would not be likely to call the students. These reasons make it evident that Holden Caulfield would make a poor Nuevos Amigos buddy and should not be accepted into the program.