The Catcher in the Rye

Transcription

1 The Catcher in the Rye BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF J. D. SALINGER Jerome David Salinger grew up on Park Avenue in New York. His father was a successful Jewish cheese importer, and his mother was Scotch-Irish Catholic. After struggling in several prep schools, Salinger attended Valley Forge Military Academy from He went on to enroll in several colleges, including New York University and Columbia, though he never graduated. He took a fiction writing class in 1939 at Columbia that cemented the dabbling he had done in writing since his early teens. During World War II, Salinger ended up in the Army's infantry division and served in combat, including the invasion of Normandy in Salinger continued to write during the war and in 1940 he published his first short story in Story magazine. He went on to publish many stories in the New Yorker, the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, and others from 1941 to In 1951 he published his only full-length novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which rocketed Salinger into the public eye. Salinger hated his sudden fame and retired from New York to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he has lived ever since. He continues to avoid contact with the media, and has ceased to publish. No one knows if he continues to write. HISTORICAL CONTEXT INTRODUCTION Many parallels exist between Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, and J. D. Salinger: both grew up in upper class New York, both flunked out of prep schools, and so on. It's no surprise, then, that Salinger's experience in World War II should cast a shadow over Holden's opinions and experiences in The Catcher in the Rye. World War II robbed millions of young men and women of their youthful innocence. Salinger himself witnessed the slaughter of thousands at Normandy, one of the war's bloodiest battles. In Catcher we see the impact of Salinger's World War II experience in Holden's mistrusting, cynical view of adult society. Holden views growing up as a slow surrender to the "phony" responsibilities of adult life, such as getting a job, serving in the military, and maintaining intimate relationships. World War I was supposedly "the war to end all wars"; World War II proved that this claim was as hollow as the "phony" ideas adult characters impose on Holden throughout The Catcher in the Rye. RELATED LITERARY WORKS Not much is known about the influences Salinger drew upon to write The Catcher in the Rye. It is known that during World War II he met with Ernest Hemingway in Paris, which suggests that Salinger admired Hemingway's work. Even if that's true, it's difficult to trace any particular author's influence in Catcher because it's written in such a fresh and unique voice with a degree of candor and brashness perhaps unprecedented in American fiction. KEY FACTS Full Title: The Catcher in the Rye When Published: 1951 Literary Period: Modern American Genre: Coming-of-Age Novel (Bildungsroman) Setting: Agerstown, Pennsylvania and Manhattan, New York in Climax: When Holden leaves Mr. Antolini's apartment Antagonist: Stradlater, Phonies, and Adults Point of View: First person (Holden is the narrator) EXTRA CREDIT Banned in the Rye. Many critics dismissed the book as trash due to its healthy helping of four-letter words and sexual situations, and even today Catcher in the Rye has been banned in school districts in Washington, Ohio, Florida and Michigan. PLOT SUMMARY Writing from a rest home where he's recuperating from some illness or breakdown, Holden Caulfield says he'll tell the story of what happened to him just before the previous Christmas. Holden's story begins at Pencey Prep on the day of the big football game. Instead of going to the game, Holden, who has just been expelled for failing four of his five classes, visits Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. Mr. Spencer lectures Holden about playing by the rules and thinking about his future. Holden pretends to agree with what he hears, but actually thinks Mr. Spencer is a "phony." Back in his dorm room, Robert Ackley, Holden's irritating neighbor, interrupts Holden as he tries to read, and Ward Stradlater, Holden's conceited and goodlooking roommate heads out for a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl Holden knows and likes. Before he leaves, Stradlater asks Holden to write an English composition for him while he's away. Holden writes about his dead brother Allie's baseball mitt. When Stradlater returns, he says that the essay isn't on topic, and refuses to reveal the details of his date. Holden attacks and insults him. Stradlater punches Holden in the nose. Holden decides to leave Pencey early. He takes a train to New York and rents a room at the Edmont Hotel. He soon feels 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 1

2 lonely and depressed and starts acting strangely. He wears a red hunting cap everywhere he goes, asks cab drivers what happens to the ducks in the central park lagoon during the winter, and wanders around from the Hotel lounge to another bar trying to pick up women whom he claims to hate. Back at his hotel, the elevator man, Maurice, offers him a prostitute for $5. Holden agrees, but is so uncomfortable when she arrives he says he can't have sex because of recent surgery. She demands $10. When he refuses, she returns with Maurice. Maurice punches Holden in the stomach while she takes another five dollars. The next morning, Holden makes a date with a girl he knows named Sally Hayes. He then wanders around town, and hears a boy singing a song while coming out of church: "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." Hoping to find his younger sister, Phoebe, Holden walks all the way to the Museum of Natural History, which he loves for its unchanging exhibits. But he decides not to enter the museum, and takes a cab to meet Sally Hayes instead. The date does not go well. The play they see annoys Holden, as does the fact that Sally talks to a boy Holden thinks is phony. After going ice-skating, Holden begins to talk about everything he hates, and asks Sally to run away with him to a cabin in New England. She refuses and asks him to stop shouting. He insults her, makes her cry, and leaves. Later that night, Holden walks to Central Park to look at the ducks in the lagoon. There are no ducks, it's freezing, and he imagines he might die, which he knows would make Phoebe miserable. He decides to go home to see her. Holden sneaks into his family's apartment, wakes Phoebe, and tells her he's leaving to go live on a ranch in Colorado. Phoebe realizes Holden has been expelled, and asks him what he wants to be in his life. Holden says he'd like to be a catcher in the rye, who rescues children by catching them before they fall off a steep cliff at the edge of a giant rye field. Holden then goes to visit Mr. Antolini, his favorite former teacher. Mr. Antolini warns Holden that he's headed for a "terrible fall" and tries to convince him to be less rigid and judgmental. Holden listens, but is too tired and falls asleep. He wakes when he feels Mr. Antolini's hand stroking his head. He thinks Mr. Antolini is doing something perverted and leaves. Holden decides to say goodbye to Phoebe before heading west. He meets her at the Museum of Art, where she begs him to take her with him. He refuses, and then promises that he won't go either. He takes her to the zoo, where he watches her ride the carousel. Phoebe gives Holden back his red hunting hat, which protects him from the rain that has just started to fall. Holden's story shifts back to the rest home, where he now wishes he hadn't told so many people his story, because it only makes him miss the people he tells about. MAJOR CHARACTERS Holden Caulfield The novel's narrator and protagonist, Holden is a seventeen year-old high school junior who has flunked out of prep school several times. His sister is Phoebe, and he has a deceased younger brother, Allie and an older brother, D. B. On the brink adulthood, Holden struggles to bridge the gap between the innocent perfection he perceives in childhood (namely in Phoebe and Allie) and the "phoniness" that he thinks makes up most of adulthood and the rest of society. The strategy that Holden uses to counter the onslaught of prep school teachers and pubescent classmates that threaten his childhood innocence is evasion: he ditches school for New York and spends a few days bouncing between hotels and bars. Holden's escape to New York is an act of desperation, not maturity, as shown by his often inappropriately childish behavior throughout the novel. He wears an awkward hunting hat in the middle of Manhattan and asks cab drivers about the ducks in Central Park, for example. Holden's eventual mental breakdown, which occurs some time before he begins writing his story, signifies the severity of his suffering as he faces the inevitability of growing up. His dream of becoming a "catcher in the rye" represents his wish to save other children from the descent into adulthood that he vainly tries to resist. Phoebe Caulfield Holden's younger sister. Though only ten years old, Phoebe is considerably more mature than Holden. She is a voice of reason throughout the novel, both in Holden's thoughts and in the advice she gives to him in person. Phoebe is also unusually perceptive: her insight into Holden's misanthropy, his hatred of almost everything, is a key turning point in the novel. It's no coincidence that perhaps the most level headed and intelligent character in the novel is a child. Holden idealizes childhood and values children's ideas and opinions more than those of adults. Phoebe's intelligence and wise counsel offer a strong contrast to the lectures he receives from the various teachers and headmasters that he despises. Mr.. Antolini Holden's former English teacher, now an instructor at New York University. Mr. Antolini is one of the few adults Holden respects, and one of the few who is willing to both engage with Holden and yet also not to let Holden get away with any of his tricks. He warns Holden that Holden is headed for a "terrible fall." MINOR CHARACTERS CHARACTERSCTERS Allie Caulfield Holden's deceased younger brother. Allie died of leukemia on July 18, 1946, when Holden was thirteen. Holden describes Allie as intelligent, calm, and friendly. D.. B. Caulfield Holden's older brother. Holden looks up to D.B., but is disappointed in his decision to go to Hollywood to 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 2

3 write for the movies, which Holden thinks is an act similar to prostitution. Jane Gallagher A summer girlfriend of Holden's. Jane is one of the few people of whom Holden speaks fondly. In fact, he idealizes her so much that he makes her sound perfect. Ward Stradlater Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep. Though Stradlater is attractive and popular, Holden despises him for his arrogance and his "secret" dirty hygiene. Robert Ackley The peculiar and annoying student who lives in the room next to Holden's. Ackley's bad skin and teeth make him physically repulsive to Holden. Sally Hayes A beautiful girl whom Holden has dated in the past. Sally is an example of women to whom Holden is attracted, but does not respect. Mr.. Spencer Holden's history teacher at Pencey Prep who tries unsuccessfully to motivate Holden to "play by the rules," and take more responsibility for himself and his academic performance. James Castle A student at Elkton Hills (Holden's former school) who committed suicide by jumping out of his window after an argument with another student. Faith Cavendish A former stripper whom Holden calls to arrange a date shortly after he arrives in New York. Mr.. Haas The headmaster of Elkton Hills, Holden's former school. Carl Luce Three years older than Holden, Luce was Holden's student advisor at the Whooton School. Maurice The elevator operator at the Edmont Hotel, who makes extra money by being a pimp. Sunny A teenage prostitute who Holden sees at the Edmont Hotel. Horwitz The taxi driver who explains to Holden about the ducks in the Central Park lagoon. Bernice Krebs A girl Holden dances with at the Edmont Hotel's nightclub. Lillian Simmons An obnoxious girl that D.B. once dated. Holden avoids her at Ernie's. Dr.. Thurmer The Pencey Prep headmaster. He tells Holden that "life is a game," advice that Mr. Spencer repeats to Holden at the beginning of the novel. Ernest Morrow A boy who Holden considers the "biggest bastard" at Pencey. Holden meets Ernest's mother on the train to New York. Rudolf Schmidt The Pencey Prep janitor. Holden uses his name when he introduces himself to Ernest Morrow's mother on the train to New York. Mal Brossard A friend of Holden's at Pencey. In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own colorcoded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in black and white. PHONINESS THEMES Holden constantly encounters people and situations that strike him as "phony," a word he applies to anything hypocritical, shallow, superficial, inauthentic, or otherwise fake. He sees such "phoniness" everywhere in the adult world, and believes adults are so phony that they can't even see their own phoniness. And Holden is right. Many of the characters in the novel, from Ackley and Stradlater, to Sally, to Mr. Spencer are often phony, and say and do things that keep up appearances rather than reflect what they truly think and feel. Yet even though Holden is right that people are phony, Catcher in the Rye makes it clear that Holden's hatred of phoniness is still self-destructive. Though Holden is constantly pointing out the phoniness in others, he is himself often phony. At various times in the novel, he tells pointless lies, claims to like or agree with statements or ideas he hates, goes out with girls he doesn't like, all to try to feel less lonely or to avoid direct confrontations. The point, then, is that, yes, people are "phony" and can't live up to Holden's wish that the world be simple, a place of black and white. But in the end what Mr. Antolini is trying to make Holden see is that while this "phoniness" is harmful and hurtful, it doesn't make people evil or worthy of hate. It makes them human. Holden, in effect, is wishing that the world could be inhuman, could be something that it never can be. ALIENATION AND MELTDOWN From the very first scene of Catcher in the Rye, when Holden decides not to attend the football game that the rest of his school is attending, it is clear that Holden doesn't fit in. What makes The Catcher in the Rye unique, however, is not the fact that Holden is an alienated teenager, but its extremely accurate and nuanced portrayal of the causes, benefits, and costs of his isolation. In short, alienation both protects and harms Holden. It protects him by ensuring that he will not ever have to form connections with other people that might wind up causing awkwardness, rejection, or the sort of intense emotional pain he felt when Allie died. Just as Holden wears his hunting cap as a sign of independence, separation, and protection from the world, he creates his own alienation for the same purpose. The problem, though, is that Holden is human. He may wish that he didn't 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 3

4 need human contact, but he does. So while his alienation protects him, it also severely harms him, making him intensely lonely and depressed. He therefore reaches out, to Mr. Spencer, or Carl Luce, or Sally, but then his fear of human interaction reasserts itself and he does his best to insult or make the very people he wants to connect with angry at him. Holden has gotten himself caught in a cycle of self-destruction: his fear of human contact leads to alienation, which leads to loneliness, which causes him to reach out to another person, which excites his fear of human contact and leads to a terrible experience that convinces him that people are no good, which leads to alienation and so on. WOMEN AND SEX Like most teenagers, Holden struggles with his sexuality. He considers himself a "sex maniac," but is also completely inexperienced. In addition, he has very strong and often contradictory feelings about women. Most women, such as Bernice Krebs and Sally Hayes, he sees as utterly stupid, largely because they seem interested in boys and men, whom Holden knows from experience are up to no good. On the other hand, Holden sees Jane Gallagher as a perfect woman: kind, loving, gentle, innocent, wonderful. In other words, he idealizes her. Yet the fact that he is so frightened to call or talk to her implies that he knows that she can't possibly be as perfect as he wants her to be. In the end, Holden's feelings about women and sex mirror his feelings about society as a whole. He desperately wants to have a girlfriend, have sex, and achieve emotional intimacy, and at the same time is desperately afraid as well. CHILDHOOD AND GROWING UP In contrast to all adults whom Holden sees as riddled with flaws and phoniness, he sees children as pure, gentle, innocent, and perfect. The characters he speaks most fondly about in the novel are all children: Allie, Phoebe, and the poor boy he hears singing the song about the "catcher in the rye." He constantly dreams up schemes to escape growing up, such as fleeing to a New England cabin or working on a ranch out West. The only role that Holden envisions for himself in life catching children before they fall off a cliff is symbolic of his wish to save himself and other children from having to one day grow up. However, Holden's view of perfect childhood is as incorrect as his view of the adult world as entirely "phony," and just helps Holden hide from the fact that the complex issues ranging from sex, to intimacy, to facing death, all of which he will have to face in growing up, terrify him. Further, this form of delusional selfprotection can only last so long. Holden will grow up, whether he likes it or not. Mr. Antolini and Phoebe both make it clear that unless he learns to accept the complexities of adulthood, he will end up, at best, bitter and alone. MADNESS, DEPRESSION, SUICIDE If "phony" is the most frequently repeated word in The Catcher in the Rye, "crazy," "madman," and "depressed" rank close behind it. Because Holden is the narrator of the novel, and because he seems in so many ways to be a typical teenager battling typical teenage issues of identity, it seems like he is using these words for effect. In other words, when he says he's crazy he seems to mean that he's acting oddly, or inconsistently, or stupidly, but not that he's actually going insane. And when he says he wishes he were dead, it likewise seems at first as if he's using the phrase as a teenage expression to make his emotions seem as intense to you as they seem to him. But as the novel progresses, it begins to become clear through hints and an intensification of Holden's own language that Holden really is on the verge of losing it, and really is seriously thinking of killing himself as the only way out of this world he can't control or understand. SYMBOLS Symbols appear in blue text throughout the Summary and Analysis sections of this LitChart. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE What Holden most wants to be in life is someone who stands on the edge of a cliff in a rye field catching children before they fall. The image is symbolic of Holden's desire to save both himself and other children from having to grow up into an adult world he sees as "phony." The image is even more symbolic because it is based on Holden mishearing a song based on Robert Burns ( ) poem "Coming Thro the Rye," which is about two bodies meeting in the rye to have sex. Holden's misinterpretation underscores both his desire to shield children from the adult world, and his misunderstanding about just how innocent the world of children is. HOLDEN'S RED HUNTING HAT Holden's red hunting hat is a symbol of his alienation. It protects him, and makes him feel unique, but also singles him out as strange, which in turn reinforces his alienation. The hat is also a symbol of Holden's attachment to childhood it's the kind of goofy accessory that a proper adult wouldn't wear. THE DUCKS IN THE LAGOON IN CENTRAL PARK Holden's fixation on the ducks is also a symbol of his struggle with change and growing up. He wants things to 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 4

5 stay the same, but the ducks prove that one must adapt to the environment, that one has to change in order to survive. At the same time, the ducks offer hope: though they disappear each winter, they always reappear. THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Holden loves the permanence of the exhibits at the Museum of Natural History because, unlike people, the displays never change. This constancy satisfies Holden's desire to stop time and remain in childhood. Note: all page numbers for the quotes below refer to the Little, Brown edition of The Catcher in the Rye published in Chapter 2 Quotes "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." "Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it." Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No game. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Page Number: QUOTES When Mr. Spencer advises Holden to see his life as a game, Holden pretends to affirm the sentiment. But in reality, he believes this worldview is only helpful to those who already hold positions of relative advantage. The disconnect between Holden s external speech and his interior monologue marks his distance from adult society. His spoken language is polite and submissive, using the term sir and repeating with subservience I know it is. I know it, as if he does not have any additional independent thoughts. Yet when the text moves into his mind, we see a very different tone: one that immediately swears my ass and then goes on to invalidate his previous comment. Holden s specific contention with Mr. Spencer s point is worth considering: he finds the thoughts of empowered adults irrelevant because their advice only applies to those within parallel positions of power the ones on the side where all the hot-shots are. That is to say, the metaphor of the "game" implies a mindset that presumes one can actually dictate the rules. Holden does not simply say that he is disadvantaged in the game, however, but rather denies the entire metaphorical system. With the use of interior monologue, he rejects the worldview hoisted on him by others and sets the stakes of his own game. Chapter 3 Quotes [Ackley] took another look at my hat while he was cleaning them. "Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, for Chrissake," he said. "That's a deer shooting hat." "Like hell it is." I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was taking aim at it. "This is a people shooting hat," I said. "I shoot people in this hat." Related Characters: Holden Caulfield, Robert Ackley (speaker) Related Symbols: Page Number: 30 As Holden sits in his room reading, his neighbor Ackley arrives and teases him for wearing the hunting hat. In response, Holden adopts an aggressive and morbid personality. Holden s red hat plays an important symbolic role throughout the text as an image of both independence and of ridicule. Here, it is primarily the second, for Ackley claims Holden is out of place for wearing a hunting hat in the dorm room. This disconnect stresses how Holden refuses to conform to the structured setting of his school: his clothing belongs in a freer, more rural setting. When anticonformism makes him an object of derision for Ackley, Holden becomes oddly morbid: that the hat becomes a people shooting hat might be a mere jest, but when Holden reiterates, I shoot people in this hat the tone grows more serious. Lighthearted as the scene might appear, it also carries a dark humor that Holden would be willing to harm other humans treating them as flippantly as he would a deer. The hat thus symbolizes Holden s misanthropic status both due to its physical appearance and to the way he turns it into a sardonic threat LitCharts LLC v Page 5

6 Chapter 5 Quotes My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder's mitt. He was left-handed. The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Allie Caulfield Page Number: 49 Holden decides to write the essay for Stradlater about his own brother Allie. He begins the description with this endearing comment on how Allie covered his baseball mitt in poetry. Salinger presents this passage as an interior, self-correcting monologue inside Holden s head: After he makes the first comment on the left-handed fielder s mitt, Holden is careful to clarify that this was a pragmatic necessity for his brother because He was left-handed. Similarly, he goes on to specify that the left-handedness is not the pertinent feature of the mitt: What is descriptive as the essay is reportedly supposed to be is how it is covered with poetry. Adding the detail In green ink then reinforces the sense that the text is Holden s process of thinking-through the essay he will write. It is as if he imagines an audience in his head receiving the monologue being transcribed by Salinger. Beyond making use of unusual stylistic elements, this passage marks the first more humanizing presentation of Holden s character. Whereas before he has seemed entirely misanthropic, here he shows earnest interest in Allie, and an idealization of his lost younger brother. Thus Holden does not seem to be merely distant from his family, but rather remains at least partially connected to them through this memory. Furthermore, his interest in the poems on Allie s mitt reveals Holden s attraction to certain forms of art. He does not, in fact, find everything to be phony. I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it... It was a very stupid thing to do, I'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn't know Allie. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Allie Caulfield Page Number: 50 Holden describes his aggressive reaction to Allie s death. He notes that his behavior was irrational, but also defends himself based on the unique connection he had with Allie. This interplay of reason and unreason is mediated by Holden s parents response to his actions. That they wanted to have him psychoanalyzed after his aggressive behavior would strike the reader as entirely rational given their position and Holden affirms this sympathetic interpretation when he says I don t blame them. I really don t. He then offers evidence of how this choice would be reasonable by reiterating how ludicrous his behaviors would have seemed. In particular that he acts just for the hell of it highlights his own awareness of the lack of rational motivation. A turn comes, however, when Holden says I hardly didn t even know I was doing it, indicating that he should be absolved from the guilt of the mania because he was not conscious of his actions. The next defense you didn t know Allie is of a rather different nature, for it relies not just on ignorance but implies that the aggressive response was actually reasonable considering the importance of his brother. Beyond continuing to humanize Holden and implying that his current psychic issues are the result of a lost brother this passage showcases Holden s fraught relationship to his own conduct. Salinger illustrates how one may defend rash actions even as they accept how others would see them as inappropriate. Chapter 7 Quotes When I was all set to go, when I had my bags and all, I stood for a while next to the stairs and took a last look down the goddam corridor. I was sort of crying. I don't know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, "Sleep tight, ya morons!" I'll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor. Then I got the hell out. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 6

7 Related Symbols: Page Number: 68 Holden decides to depart Pencey and leave for New York City. As he leaves, he experiences a round of intense emotions, followed by an aggressive renunciation of all those who remain. Salinger makes this passage a parody of departure narratives: The packing of bags, the moment of reflection, and the crying are all aspects of classic departures. Yet when Holden does not know why he is crying, he subtly denies that his emotional responses are due to this normal emotional arc. Perhaps he does feel some sadness at leaving a comfortable environment, but the emotion seems to stem more from his disillusionment and frustration with this supposedly phony society. Holden more assertively renounces that society through his use of the red hunting hat: He wears it as a form of selfaffirmation, as an indication that he is hunting humans, and as a reminder that he can behave the way I liked. That renunciation of normal social codes comes to a climax when he yells into the hallway parodying the farewell phrase of sleep tight by actually rudely awakening everyone. In this moment, Holden shows himself not just to be mentally distant from and critical of those around him, but also willing to openly renounce and mock those he deems phony. Chapter 9 Quotes You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Related Symbols: Page Number: 78 Holden asks his cab driver about the Central Park ducks. Though the question is earnest, the driver does not take him seriously. On the surface, Holden s question seems ridiculous, or even sarcastic, thus showing that his occasional earnest statements are rebuffed by a society that expects social acts to be relatively artificial. Here, we get a sense of why Holden sees others as phony for they demand such a practiced and coded type of social interaction that they do not have direct and meaningful conversations. The inability of a cab driver to answer this straightforward question speaks to such a disconnect. More specifically, the ducks are a symbol for a helpless animal that has been abandoned in the middle of winter. That Holden wonders about their winter lodgings demonstrates his attention to beings that have been abandoned and implies that he he has a similar worry for himself. In a sense, Holden is just like the ducks: uncertain of where to go now that he has entered a harsh adult world. Chapter 10 Quotes She knocked me out. I mean it. I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Bernice Krebs Page Number: 95 While at the Lavender Room, Holden begins to dance with Bernice Krebs. He momentarily abandons his critical mindset to give this praising description of women. Holden s statements are a complicated combination of abhorrent sexism and refreshing earnestness. On one hand, it is relieving to see him say with relish you never know where the hell you are for this sense of reckless abandon seems a hard-fought battle from Holden s tendency to judge everything as phony. Indeed, becoming knocked out" or crazy might be taken as an accomplishment for Holden, perhaps even as a sign of maturity considering it marks an interest in women. The passage, however, also forefronts the way Holden objectifies women. He treats females as a general they group, and belittles their intelligence with the reference to they re sort of stupid. In this sense, Holden s behavior further incriminates him in the eyes of the reader. Thus the passage, as is characteristic of Salinger, makes the 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 7

8 protagonist simultaneously more human and less sympathetic. Chapter 13 Quotes If you want to know the truth, I'm a virgin. I really am. I've had quite a few opportunities to lose my virginity and all, but I've never got around to it yet. Something always happens... I came quite close to doing it a couple of times, though. One time in particular, I remember. Something went wrong, though I don't even remember what any more. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Page Number: 120 Holden accepts an offer from the elevator operator Maurice to be sent a prostitute. As a result, he reveals his anxiety over being a virgin and recounts his botched attempts to have intercourse. The novel s tone shifts markedly here into a confessional. There is an implied listener in the phrasing If you want to know as if Holden sees himself speaking earnestly to a judgmental audience. The following lines are similarly defensive and self-critical: he affirms that this is not due to a lack of interest from women, for he has had quite a few opportunities. Rather it seems to stem from some personal fear or insufficiency yet Holden is unable to articulate just what this is. Though he can remember one time in particular, he cannot or chooses not to recall it with any specificity. The reader is left only with the paltry information something went wrong. As is characteristic of Salinger s writing, this passage causes the reader to empathize more with Holden, even as he also seems less likable. His hiring of a prostitute marks a lack of moral compass, but this saddened reflection on virginity shows him at his most vulnerable. Salinger implies that Holden s earlier brazen behavior is just a front for personal insecurity about his ability to sexual perform and his resulting relative lack of experience. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Sunny Page Number: 123 When the prostitute Sunny comes to Holden s room, his fear develops into depression and paralysis. Holden declines to have sex and explains, here, that the refusal comes from how sad he found the scene. The moment clarifies the occasions Holden referred to earlier when he could have lost his virginity. It shows that in such instances, he becomes distraught by the depressing circumstances of the interaction. Sexual interest alone is insufficient to make him pursue sex, and Holden thus seems to want to search for something meaningful. One should note, however, that Holden s response is not based on any kind of ethical principle. (He would likely find such moralizing to be phony. )Rather it is based on an immediate emotional response as well as on the appearance of the scene in which he finds himself. Holden, above all, is disheartened by the physical detail of the green dress, and his reference to the stupid movie indicates that he is filtering his experience through a cinematic lens. That is to say, Holden seems to be watching the movie of his life, as well as the movie of Sunny s life, play out and he becomes depressed when he understands the nature of this hypothetical film. The reference to the movies also implies that Holden's earlier criticism of "phony" movies and the people who enjoy them extends even to his instincts. This also suggests that Holden truly does want something meaningful from sex, since he feels he couldn't do it with just anyone, particularly someone he doesn't respect. Chapter 14 Quotes It took me quite a while to get to sleep I wasn't even tired but finally I did. What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory. The trouble was, I just didn't want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth. She was depressing. Her green dress hanging in the closet and all. And besides, I don't think I could ever do it with somebody that sits in a stupid movie all day long. I really don't think I could. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Page Number: LitCharts LLC v Page 8

9 After Sunny takes his money and Maurice punches him in the stomach, Holden tries to fall asleep. He considers suicide, but decides against it because of an imagined social response. This passage shows Holden at the depths of his despair. Whereas his earlier comments have certainly conveyed depression and angst, contemplating suicide marks a significant shift toward the worse. He does not even try to hide the fact, explicitly using the term committing suicide and only then using the more euphemistic phrase jumping out the window. As with the prostitute, what stops Holden from acting is not an ethical belief nor a rational consideration but rather an issue with the cinematic quality of what would take place. Here, what he finds depressing is the way others would look at him all gory. This image reiterates the way Holden tends to see his life as a movie playing out before him, in which his actions are made largely based on whether he would be pleased or disheartened by the quality of the movie. Suicide is only ruled out because the resulting scene for the stupid rubbernecks would not fit with his aesthetic wishes. Chapter 16 Quotes The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move. You could go there a hundred times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving that same blanket. Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Related Symbols: Page Number: As he considers visiting the Museum of Natural History, Holden contemplates the value of the permanent exhibits. He is comforted that they stay the same in the face of his own ever-shifting personality and experiences. This passage brings up the question of aging and adolescence within the novel: the reader must wonder why Holden would find it meaningful that everything always stayed right where it was. His references to Nobody in Nobody d move and Nobody d be different indicate that Holden identifies actual people in his life with the inanimate exhibits before him. (Otherwise he would say Nothing instead of Nobody. ) Thus the Museum of Natural History becomes a site of permanence and consistency, both things that Holden values and would likely juxtapose with the everchanging adult society he has repeatedly deemed phony. In addition to representing stability, the museum also serves as a way for Holden to visualize his own identity formation. In saying The only thing that would be different would be you, Holden implies that he values understanding the specificities of this difference. That is to say, a museum becomes a useful thought experiment in assessing one s maturation and development. Salinger thus shows Holden to have, despite his tendency for rashness, a desire for both stability and introspection. I got up close so I could hear what he was singing. He was singing that song, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." He had a pretty little voice, too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to the curb and singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any more. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Related Symbols: Page Number: 150 As Holden walks by a church, he hears a boy singing the tune from which the novel s title will be taken. He finds in this moment a source of endearing and heartening purity that contrasts with his otherwise disheartening existence. When Holden refers to the tune as that song, he shows himself to be already familiar with it indicating that it has a nostalgic effect. Though the meaning of the song s image is not yet clear, we can already see in the image of catch a body that it describes one body supporting another LitCharts LLC v Page 9

10 Through the rye summons a rural environment that opposes the harsh city, while the hypothetical If gives the tune a dreamy quality. It seems to exist in an idyllic alternative universe, one that brings Holden a sense of real peace. What Holden finds particularly moving, however, is less the content of the song than the way in which the boy sings it. Specifically, he does so for the hell of it : entirely for himself and with no regard to the indifference of cars, brakes, or even his parents. The boy, then, would epitomize the kind of earnest poetics that Holden identifies with Allie and also opposes the phony adult society that acts solely based on social recognition. It is no coincidence that Holden has this spiritual moment near a church, for the catcher symbol will act like a psalm or incantation for the lost Holden. She was a very nice, polite little kid. God, I love it when a kid's nice and polite when you tighten their skate for them or something. Most kids are. They really are. I asked her if she'd care to have a hot chocolate or something with me, but she said no, thank you. She said she had to meet her friend. Kids always have to meet their friend. That kills me. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Page Number: 155 Holden asks a girl about Phoebe and, as they part ways, he gives this odd, nostalgic reflection on childhood. He adopts an adult perspective again, observing the actions of kids as pure and admirable. Earlier, Holden s critical eye has been primarily oriented toward adult society. By presenting himself as an outsider toward more mature social interactions, Holden maintained his status as an adolescent and marked himself as relatively young. Yet here he adopts the perspective of an adult who gazes from a distance on the behaviors of the young. His repeated invocation of kid, particularly in the generalized plural kids implies that Holden considers himself outside of this group. Indeed, his ability to make general statements on how most kids are implies that he has gathered enough data on their behaviors to make an objective and universal statement. Holden s reflection speaks to the earnestness he finds valuable in childhood. When the girl says she had to meet her friend, she adopts adult language, which Holden finds quite comical: That kills me. Whereas he might find the same behavior artificial were it to come from a peer or an adult, Holden finds it to be entirely genuine coming from the girl. Salinger demonstrates Holden s soft spot for younger children when he takes on this adult perspective and clarifies that Holden may be trying to hold onto his own adolescence to preserve this innocent state. Chapter 17 Quotes Then, just to show you how crazy I am, when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was a lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I'm crazy. I swear to God I am. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Sally Hayes Page Number: 163 Holden and Sally travel to the theater in a cab, and Holden finds himself acting increasingly irrational. He simultaneously professes his love, claims the statement is a lie, and defends the validity of the lie. Salinger continues to construct a complicated, selfcontradictory psyche for Holden: he seems capable of telling a lie that is also true in that he meant it at the moment when he spoke it. This disparity points out the fickleness of human identity, a factor that Holden despises in others but continues to encounter in himself. He describes such volatile emotions an indication of lunacy I m crazy but Salinger implies, rather, that they are a universal aspect of the human experience. It is important, here, to observe the reemergence of Holden s confessional tone. The phrases just to show you and I swear reinforce how Holden feels his life to be constantly on display. He sets a high stake in an implied audience of his life, one that could presumably note the inconsistencies between his thoughts and his actions. Part of this stems from the structure of a novel, in which a character is indeed "on trial" through the narrative but it also speaks more generally to Holden s self-conscious character. He is self-admonishing, even self-hating, yet he also desperately wishes to be absolved of his guilt LitCharts LLC v Page 10

11 "You ought to go to a boys' school sometime. Try it sometime," I said. "It's full of phonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques." Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Sally Hayes Page Number: 170 As Holden and Sally talk about schools, Holden offers a condemnation of his academy, and attacks its artificial rituals and social behaviors. It is difficult to know what to make of Holden s comments here. On one hand, they might simply speak to his depressive nature, reaffirming how he finds everything in his world meaningless. On the other, one could identify a cultural critique in Holden s words. Indeed, there is something artificial about the group-think style of living that places these high-achieving boys on a trajectory from study to goddam Cadillac. Holden is articulating, in immature language, a genuine criticism made by members of the counter culture. His focus on communal rituals such as the football team and empty discussions all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day are similarly poignant. Indeed, many readers may empathize with the feeling that social rituals are meaningless and repetitive. Yet Holden is notably guilty of these very same behaviors: himself fixated on girls, liquor, and sex. Salinger thus gives us a character who offers genuine insights on social practices, but whose views also seem self-defeating and invalidated due to how carelessly they are applied. Page Number: 172 Holden interrupts Sally to further reject the trappings of adult life. He claims that living together when they are older would be horrifying and not at all equivalent to escaping to the woods now. That Holden denies the existence of marvelous places in the future speaks to his deep anxieties about adulthood. Evidently, all experiences after college are held to be banal and phony. They are entirely different not because of their physical environment, but rather because of how codified and mechanical his life will become as an adult. Whereas escaping to the woods as an adolescent holds the potential of complete isolation (and perhaps a perpetuation of the "innocence" of childhood), travel as an adult brings baggage both literal and metaphorical. Holden is perturbed by the suitcases and stuff that would weigh them down, as well as the social networks that demand goodbyes and postcards. He identifies isolation and ease of travel with youth and sees adults as living artificial and ensnared lives. Though this may be an exaggerated image, Salinger once again grants Holden the benefit of a compelling critical eye. Adults, indeed, are weighed down by these concerns, and thus Holden s wish to hold on to his adolescence is admirable even as it is unreasonable. Chapter 22 Quotes Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around nobody big, I mean except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I said no, there wouldn't be marvelous places to go to after I went to college and all. Open your ears. It'd be entirely different. We'd have to go downstairs in elevators with suitcases and stuff. We'd have to phone up everybody and tell 'em good-by and send 'em postcards from hotels and all... It wouldn't be the same at all. You don't see what I mean at all. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker), Sally Hayes Related Characters: Holden Caulfield (speaker) Related Symbols: Page Number: 224 When Phoebe asks Holden what he would like to be, he returns to the tune he heard earlier about the catcher in the 2017 LitCharts LLC v Page 11

12 rye. Holden says he would like to be the catcher in the song, one who would prevent the kids from falling to harm. Holden s answer strikes Phoebe and likely the reader as relatively nonsensical. Catching children in the rye is not an actual profession, but perhaps this is why Holden finds it genuine as compared to the phony work done by his parents. Indeed, the way Holden introduces the phrase Anyway, I keep picturing indicates that his profession is not based on logical consideration but rather an idealized image of what he would life to look like. This response, then, verifies that Holden sees his life through a cinematic eye and makes choices according to the aesthetics and earnestness of this imagined film. Through this filmic image, Holden wishes to be a savior for younger children. He does not himself wish to remain in a state of childhood, explicitly saying nobody big, I mean except me, thus showing that he does value maturation. That merit comes from how Holden would be able to assist the thousands of little kids, demonstrating that he finds real value in acts of altruism. This imagined profession speaks to a genuine sense of goodness within Holden, but it also reveals his own wish to be saved from falling over the metaphorical cliff of adolescent despair. Holden may want to be the catcher in the rye, but he simultaneously wants to be caught by someone and thus Salinger s title refers to the protagonist as both catcher and caught, both thoughtful adult and astray youth. "You don't like anything that's happening." It made me even more depressed when she said that. "Yes I do. Yes I do. Sure I do. Don't say that. Why the hell do you say that?" "Because you don't. You don't like any schools. You don't like a million things. You don't." "I do! That's where you're wrong that's exactly where you're wrong! Why the hell do you have to say that?" I said. Boy, was she depressing me. "Because you don't," she said. "Name one thing." "One thing? One thing I like?" I said. "Okay." The trouble was, I couldn't concentrate too hot. Sometimes it's hard to concentrate. Related Characters: Holden Caulfield, Phoebe Caulfield (speaker) Page Number: 220 When Holden complains about the other students at Pencey, Phoebe challenges him to name something he likes. She pokes fun at his misanthropic behavior, showing that Holden s critical views are equally and unfairly applied to everything. The brilliance of Phoebe s comment, You don t like anything that s happening is that it points out the indiscriminate quality of Holden s criticisms. If he does indeed find everything negative, then his specific contentions with each school and each thing cannot be taken seriously. This would render Holden a banal cynic, as opposed to a genuine outsider who can articulate compelling views. To defend his position, Holden finds himself ironically affirming that he enjoys some elements of life: yet his repeated insistences Yes I do. Yes I do. Sure I do, only repeat empty terms instead of actually providing an example. And when he is pushed to name one thing, he cannot come up with a single example. We should note that Holden is at least partly sensitive to Phoebe s criticisms. Were they to come from another character, Holden would likely find her points irrelevant or themselves phony, yet here he takes them quite seriously. Salinger stresses, then, Holden s close relationship to his siblings and the way he will accept criticism from those whose opinion he values. Furthermore, Holden does not want to just be seen as a depressive who finds everything meaningless: he evidently maintains a wish to enjoy certain things and to defend that his criticisms of specific phony things are indeed valid. Chapter 24 Quotes This fall I think you're riding for it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking LitCharts LLC v Page 12