Catcher in the Rye

Chapters 17 -19

Chapter 17

What signs of Holden being an impulsive character do we see in this chapter?

Date with Sally Hayes

Starts at the theatre ‘The Biltmore’

How does this go?

What other side to Holden do we see?

Chapter 18

Date continues at the ice rink.Holden tries to tell Sally about his problems How does her reaction upset him?How stable do you think Holden is at this time?What gives you clues to this?Find evidence in the textThe date ends with Holden walking out on SallyWhat is Holden's reasoning for why the date ended in this way?

Chapter 19

Holden thinks about phoning Jane Gallagher againPhones Carl Luce and arranges to meet upGoes to see a filmMeets up with CarlWhat is Holden’s mood like now?What do we learn of him through his conversation with Carl?How does this meeting end?What is the impression of Holden you are left with at the end of Chapter 19?

What is the significance of the following quotes?

‘I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I’m crazy. I don’t even like her very much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her …I swear to God I’m crazy, I admit it.’ pg 112

‘It was one of the phoniest conversations you ever heard in your life…the worst part was the jerk had one of those very phony, Ivy league voices, one of those very tired, snobby voices.’ pg 115

What is the significance of the following quotes?

Then I sort of started lighting matches.I do that quite a lot when I’m in a certain mood…it’s a nervous habit.’ pg 116

‘ “Did you ever get fed up?” I said. I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something?” ’ pg 117

‘ “Don’t shout, please,” old Sally said. Which was very funny, because I wasn’t even shouting.’ pg 117

What is the significance of the following quotes?

‘We’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff till the dough runs out…I could get a job somewhere and we could live somewhere with a brook and all, and later on we could get married or something. I could chop all our wood in the wintertime.’ pg 119

‘ “What?” she said, “I can’t hear you. One minute you scream at me and the next you-” ’ pg 119

‘C’mon let’s get outa here,’ I said ‘you give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth.’ pg 120