Hazel Weatherfield was a 16 year old girl who lived in The Catcher in the Rye’s version of The Great Gatsby’s setting The Valley of Ashes. She became friends with Holden Caulfield after he saved The Great Swallow from becoming roadkill. The reader is introduced to Hazel as she comes home from school and discovers her father, Bill, drunk and sobbing on the couch. After going to church with him badly hungover, she goes to bed for a well-deserved sleep only to be woken up by The Holy Spirit (her conscience).
He tells her that it isn’t right that The Great Swallow lives a life that makes him miserable and that he should be allowed to die if he wants. So Hazel goes to The Great Swallow’s tree and finds The Catcher in the Rye, who is able to speak The Holy Spirit’s idea into The Great Swallow. The Great Swallow agrees, but first asks The Catcher in the Rye if he can live with him for a little while since he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. The Catcher in the Rye agrees, not fully understanding why his new companion wants to leave his home.
Hazel Weatherfield was born on July 4th which signified that she had strong will power and an indomitable spirit. Her family didn’t have much money, but they were still happy together. Hazel became friends with Holden Caulfield after he saved The Great Swallow from becoming roadkill. The last line tells the reader that The Valley of Ashes is The Great Gatsby’s setting The Valley of Ashes, which can be interpreted to mean that Hazel and Holden team up and save The Great Swallow in The Catcher in the Rye’s version of The Great Gatsby.
Bill Weatherfield was Hazel Weatherfield’s father, who enjoyed drinking and smoking when he could afford it. He was usually busy with his job as a manager at The New York State Bureau of Motor Vehicles, but after work he would enjoy himself by getting drunk and crying about how terrible everything was until his wife came home from work. This continued for months until The Holy Spirit comes to visit him while he is so drunk that he thinks God is calling on The Phone. The Holy Spirit tells Bill that The Great Swallow isn’t happy and if he doesn’t want to die he should set him free.
The next day, Bill wakes up with a terrible hangover and goes to church where The Holy Spirit reminds him of what he said the night before. The two then go to The Great Swallow’s tree, but The Catcher in the Rye is already there talking with The Great Swallow about how they should run away together. Hazel shows up shortly after and suggests that The Catcher in the Rye allow The Great Swallow to come live with them for a while until they can figure out something more permanent for him.
The Holy Spirit was best described by Hazel as her conscience or The Voice on The Phone. He first visited Bill Weatherfield after The Great Swallow had been saved from becoming roadkill. The Holy Spirit told him that The Great Swallow wasn’t happy and if he didn’t want to die, The Catcher in the Rye should set him free. The Holy Spirit later returned to Bill’s house when he was drunk and crying about how terrible everything was until his wife came home from work.
It is during this conversation that The Holy Spirit tells Bill that The Great Swallow isn’t living a fulfilling life and if he doesn’t want to die, The Catcher in the Rye should allow him to live with them for a while until they figure something more permanent out for him. The Great Swallow was Hazel’s friend and The Holy Spirit’s protagonist. The Great Swallow was close to The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye’s protagonist, but even The Great Gatsby didn’t know that The Catcher in the Rye was The Great Swallow’s best friend.
The reason for this is because The Great Swallow and The Catcher in the Rye were born around the same time and lived their lives thinking they were each other. Hazel meets up with The Great Swallow after he has been saved from becoming roadkill by Holden Caulfield and later learns that he wants to run away with Holden Caulfield because he feels like a prisoner in his own home (trees). While Hazel is able to convince The Catcher in the Rye to let The Great Swallow stay with them, The Holy Spirit is able to convince Holden Caulfield that The Great Swallow isn’t happy and he should allow The Catcher in the Rye to keep him.
The Valley of Ashes is the setting for The Catcher in the Rye, which can be interpreted as New York City where Hazel Weatherfield lives. The name refers to the pollution left behind by The Manhattan Company’s factories on the wetlands of The Bronx River estuary. Holden Caulfield refers to The Valley of Ashes as “the worst part” of New York City because it was dirty and infested with mosquitoes (unhappiness). The only people who live there are those who don’t have anywhere else to go, such as The Great Swallow and The Catcher in The Rye.
Holden Caulfield is The Catcher in the Rye’s protagonist, who has been assigned to capture The Great Swallow by The Holy Spirit after he starts living with Bill Weatherfield. Holden Caulfield works at a school where he teaches younger kids how to play baseball, but also takes time during class hours to tell them stories about The Mississippi Mermaid and The Lady of The Dunes because he knows it makes people happier. Holden Caulfield first meets The Great Swallow when Hazel brings him home one day after finding him as roadkill.
Holden Caulfield then spends the next month coming over to Bill Weatherfield’s house everyday to convince The Catcher in The Rye to allow The Great Swallow to come live with them. Holden Caulfield is eventually able to convince The Catcher in The Rye that The Great Swallow wants to be free and they should let him go for a while until they can figure out something else permanent so The Great Swallow won’t have to run away again.
The Mississippi Mermaid is the protagonist of one of Holden Caulfield’s favorite stories from The Sisters, which he tells his younger students after class hours instead of lessons because it makes people happier. The story revolves around a man who falls madly in love with The Mississippi Mermaid and spends his last days on land living together on an island with her even though she has webbed toes and gills. After The Mississippi Mermaid dies of pneumonia, The Lady of The Dunes decides to take The Mississippi Mermaid’s body with her so she can give her a proper funeral.
The story emphasizes that The Catcher in The Rye should always let The Great Swallow free no matter how much he wants him to stay. The Lady of The Dunes is the protagonist of The Sisters, which depicts how her husband was murdered by The Devil and his townsfolks think she did it because she is more beautiful than they are (see looks). The Lady of The Dunes goes to live without sleep or food for three months on top of where her husband’s body laid after the townsfolk buried him there.
