Empathic Response: Catcher in the Rye

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Empathic Writing Portfolio task: The Catcher in the Rye: Imagine that Holden’s psychiatrist suggests that he write a letter to Allie to provide some sort of ‘closure on his grief. Write Holden’s letter to his dead brother. Dear Allie, You can’t believe what I’ve been up to lately. In the first place, before they gave me the ax and all, I got the hell out of old Pencey. I just wish you’d been there, You’d know how I felt to leave. I got into a bunch of crumby stuff after I left. I met a bunch of people, most of ‘em were phonies, they really were. Besides, some were decent - some I didn’t mind. Anyway, before all that crazy stuff happened, I remember writing this damn composition for old Stradlater. I'm not someone who’d write a whole composition, I’m really not, but I did it anyway. I wrote about your baseball mitt, it was depressing as hell. But it was most terrific composition you ever saw. Old Stradlater was sore as hell about it, though, God how I hated him. Anyway, I bought this Red Hunting Hat back in New york. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it was really corny - I’ll admit, but I still wore it. I remember wearing it one night in the goddam cold, drunk as hell, Boy, was it dark. You wouldn’t have enjoyed it there, but do you remember those ducks in that little lake near Central Park South? Well, I went to see what the hell those ducks were doing and all - but I still just felt blue as hell. After all that stuff, I had the most terrific break you could imagine, I managed to get home to say hello to Old Phoebe and then beat it. It was really a terrific break. All I remember was Old Phoebe sore as hell ‘cause I got the ax. Boy, was she depressing me, I couldn’t get my goddam mind straight. You’d think that I’d be the type of person to just leave, but I stuck around for a while. Next thing you know, I’m sitting in Mr. Antolini’s

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