Catcher In The Rye:

Chapter 17: When Holden met Sally

By Laura, Sofia, Jess and Melissa.

Characters in Chapter:

Major:• Sally• Holden

Minor:“George

something”

Summary of Scene• Sally is ten minutes late but looks terrific in her black coat

and matching beret. She is thrilled that they will get to see the Lunts and is impressed by the performance. At one point Holden gets caught up in his words and expresses his love for Sally, only to hate her after the show. Holden is less than thrilled, first by the performance on stage and then by Sally’s performance in the lobby. He dislikes the way she talks with an Andover student named George. After the show, they go ice skating even though Holden suddenly changes his thoughts and feelings regarding Sally quickly from love to hate. His ups and downs are most evident in this chapter as the reader is opened to his spontaneous behaviour. Holden tries to talk about how he truly feels with Sally. However, her responses are less than surface deep and materially expressed. He asks her to run off to Massachusetts and Vermont with him. The date ends badly and he walks out.

Significance of this Chapter• This chapter introduces us to the spontaneous

nature of Holden Caulfield. • It is the first time Holden has discussed his true

feelings aloud with someone. • It is also the first time Holden has admitted his

feelings to himself – other times, although he may have referred to his desire to escape and his disgust and depression in response to his society, Holden had yet to truly address them.

• Pivotal point in the novel – from this scene Holden enters a downward spiral of depression and increasingly erratic behaviour – Holden seems to ‘lose control’. Hereafter, he is unable to keep from speaking his thoughts as he had been able to previously.

What do we already know about Holden?

Important Quotes:• “The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her.

I didn’t even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and wanted to marry her. I swear to God I’m crazy. I admit it.”

• “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.”

• Sally Hayes – “Oh, darling, I love you too. Promise me you’ll let your hair grow. Crew cuts are getting corny. And your hair’s so lovely.”

• “I sort of hated old Sally by the time we got in the cab...”• “’Well, I hate it. Boy do I hate it,’ I said. ‘But it isn’t just that. It’s

everything.’”• “’Don’t shout, please,’ old sally said. Which was funny because I

wasn’t even shouting.” • “’Here’s my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of

here? Here’s my idea. I know this guy down in Greenwich Village that we can borrow his cab for a couple of weeks. He used to go to the same school I did and he still owes me ten bucks. What we could do is, tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, and all around there, see. It’s beautiful as hell up there. It really is .’ I was getting excited as hell, the more I thought about it, and I sort of reached over and took old Sally’s goddam hand. What a goddam fool I was. ‘No kidding,’ I said. ‘I have about a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can take it out when it opens in the morning, and then I could go down and get this guy’s car. No kidding. We’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out. Then, when 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 own wood in the wintertime and all. Honest to God, we could have a terrific time! Wuddaya say? C’mon! Wuddaya say? Will you do it with me? Please!’”

Quote Analysis• “The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I didn’t even like

her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and wanted to marry her. I swear to God I’m crazy. I admit it.”

“I sort of hated old Sally by the time we got in the cab...” These two quotes convey Holden’s fickleness and inconsistency – he thinks he

is in love with Sally one moment and then hates her the next. This conveys Holden’s confusion over his own emotions – he may think he knows himself but he is unsure of his feelings. It is also an example of Holden’s shallowness – he thinks he’s in love with Sally simply because she looks good. He knows he does not like her as a person and yet he says he wants to marry her. This conveys Holden’s hypocrisy – throughout the novel he expresses his disgust at people who base their lives around superficial values and yet Holden does the same thing. This could also be an example of the effect our society has on us - Holden, although he abhors it, is tainted by the values of the society he has been raised in. This means that Holden’s expression of the desire to run away later in the scene could be an analogy for his desires to not only physically leave his society but to also leave behind the traits (materialism, shallowness etc) which his society has instilled in him.

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

This quote conveys Holden’s loss of control. It is as though a damn has broken in Holden and he is not only unable to control what he says but is also unable to control himself physically – for example, the volume of his voice. It also conveys how Holden is unaware of his loss of control. He does not even realise that he is raising his voice.

• “’Here’s my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of here? Here’s my idea. I know this guy down in Greenwich Village that we can borrow his cab for a couple of weeks. He used to go to the same school I did and he still owes me ten bucks. What we could do is, tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, and all around there, see. It’s beautiful as hell up there. It really is.’ I was getting excited as hell, the more I thought about it, and I sort of reached over and took old Sally’s goddam hand. What a goddam fool I was. ‘No kidding,’ I said. ‘I have about a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can take it out when it opens in the morning, and then I could go down and get this guy’s car. No kidding. We’ll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out. Then, when 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 own wood in the wintertime and all. Honest to God, we could have a terrific time! Wuddaya say? C’mon! Wuddaya say? Will you do it with me? Please!’”

This quote demonstrates Holden’s disgust at the materialism of his society. He is so disgusted that it has driven him to the opposite extreme. “’it’s full of phonies and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddam Cadillac someday,’” The contrast between this and the aforementioned quote illuminates the difference between the ideals of Holden and the ideals common in many in his society. It also conveys Holden’s childish idealism – he believes a life not based around materialism where money is scarce – a life so different to Holden’s wealthy, privileged life so far – would be easy and simple whereas the reality is, poverty is not so wonderful. This shows how Holden has taken his wealth for granted.

Themes:• The loss of innocence• Effect our perspective has on our actions/ emotions • Effect society has on people• Hypocrisy and inconsistency• Materialism• Truth/Lies• Selfishness• Depression

Similarities between Holden and Sally:

• Superficial: Although Holden believes himself that he is apposed to the “phony” and superficial world that is emulated in adults he is very image based. This is shown when he suddenly forgets that he is angry when Sally is late and completely overlooks her rudeness as he acknowledges her attractiveness. For example “The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I'm Crazy. I didn’t even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and wanted to marry her…If a girl looks swell when you meet her who gives a dam if she's late”. This shows how Holden has no respect for the true character of Sally and only finds her attractive because of her outward exterior. Much like Holden, Sally too is a very superficial character which is shown when she instructs Holden to grow his hair in order to be current in the fashion at the time. “Crew cuts are getting corny and your hair is so lovely”. Even though Sally had not seen Holden for a long period of time this shows her need for control over him and desire for his looks to be “perfect” and complementary to her outward appearance. This also outlines how like Holden, Sally overlooks people who do not match her desired physical standard.

• Spontaneity: Both characters express a spontaneous nature that is not different from the nature of adolescents today and in the past. Sally quickly without thought asks Holden if he wants to go Ice skating with her after the movies. Although Holden doesn’t want to go he attends anyway much to his reluctance. Also Holden shows this quality when suddenly he asks Sally to run away with him and go “on a adventure”. The total flow of conversation before hand was completely on another topic so this shows how Holden’s train of thought can be unpredictable.

• Lack of Understanding or meaning: When Holden and Sally are in the car they share a very brief conversation where they exclaim and proclaim their love for each other. Although in knowing that they both have not seen or made contact with one another for many months these comments do not appear to be completely realistic or valid. “I told her I loved her and all. It was lie, I didn’t mean it and all”. This shows Holden’s casual and flighty use of an extremely significant word that should not be taken lightly. To this comment Sally replies “Oh darling I love you too” and then, in the same breath says “Promise me you’ll let your hair grow. Crew cuts are getting corny. And your hair’s so lovely.” This shows how Sally also casually uses the word ‘love’ – she speaks about it in the same instance as Holden’s hair as though they hold equal importance.

•

Differences Between Holden and Sally:

• Attention seeking: Sally loves attention. She loves to be in the spotlight and always wants to be talked about. This is explained when it is said that “She had one of those very loud embarrassing voices". Unlike Holden Sally is a very extroverted person who when given something to gossip about she will keep on speaking until there is nothing more to uncover or spread. Also, unlike Holden Sally does talk even when she has nothing to say. Holden prefers to internalize his thoughts and appear to be feeling differently to how he is actually thinking. “Old Sally didn’t talk much, except to rave about the Lunts because she was busy rubbering and being charming.” Sally only talks when there is gossip or when her social status could be potentially improved or promoted.

• Hypercritical: Sally hides no traces of her character and is very open with who she is as a person. She has no shame in being a socially dependent teenager whose life is based on appearances and materialistic aspects. However, although Holden throughout the book appears completely opposed to this lifestyle he actually partakes in some aspects himself. This is shown when he engages in smoking activities and openly offers Sally drinks. Although he thinks of himself as an outsider Holden is always trying to fit into the social hierarchy and material living that is so fabricated in the adult lifestyle he disapproves of.

• Alienated: Although Holden tries to maintain an intelligent conversation Sally cannot respond the right way in the eyes of Holden and her flighty, surface based attempts are rejected. Holden feels extremely upset after this meeting as his loneliness and depression gets deeper and deeper. “ The terrible part is that I meant it when I asked her to go.” And that really is terrible because it show that Holden has lost control of himself. This causes Holden to feel even more lonely because he is completely alienated from someone he has known for a long time.

Internal/External Conflict• Internal Conflict: An internal conflict for Holden is his fear of

intimacy. This is created when his younger brother Allie dies. The emotions that reside within Holden cause him to alienate himself from others and to become bitter. From here he builds a protective wall, this stops him from confronting this troubles and interacting with other people on a personal level. Holden’s alienation is a source of support but also the start of his problems.

In chapter 17 Holden’s loneliness cause him to date Sally Hayes and his self protective wall drives her away.

• External Conflict: An external conflict for Holden is how he portrays the world as phoney. Holden describes adults as shallow and not genuine. Holden says these things because Phoniness is not realistic to him and it gives him a reason to hide away from life’s real meanings

Interesting Trivia – It Kills You

• And all = 6 times used • It killed me = 4 times used • It really did= 4 times used • Phoney = 4 times used • I swear =4 times used • Goddamn = 8 times used