Notes: Chapters 1-8

The Catcher in the RyeJD Salinger

Chapter One

Holden is telling the story

from some form of mental wellness center/ psychiatric institution in California (17 years old) He recounts the events of the

past Christmas in PA/NYC (16 years old)

1. From where is Holden telling his story?

Chapter One

Holden labels his brother, DB, as

a “prostitute,”or sell-out Holden does not believe that

DB is using his gift of writing for the right reasons- rather, he is contributing to the superficiality of Hollywood films (for $$$) and wasting his talent

2. Why does Holden call his brother a “prostitute”?

Chapter One

Pencey Prep is an all-boys private

boarding school in Agerstown, PA. Holden dislikes how prestigious

the school boasts itself to be, claiming that is just as “lousy” as any other school False advertising

Quote: page 2

3. Describe Holden’s attitude toward Pencey Prep.

Chapter One

Time:

Winter of 1948-49; around Christmas time

Place: Agerstown, PA (Pencey Prep.)

This fictional town/school likely based on Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, PA, where Salinger attended

4. Provide the initial setting of the story Holden narrates.

Chapter One

Holden feels like he is

disappearing while running across the road. Symptom of his nervous

breakdown? Crossing the road = taking the

next step in life Does Holden fear moving on in life?

5. What strange feeling does Holden experience while crossing

Route 204?

Chapter One

Who does he visit?

Holden visits his (former) History teacher, Mr. Spencer

Why does he visit? He has been expelled from Pencey and

wants to “feel some kind of good-by… when I’m leaving a place I like to know I’m leaving it.” (4) Holden is looking for closure;

permission

6. Who does Holden decide to visit at the end of the chapter and

why?

Chapter One

Chapter Two

He always seems to be yelling He is wearing a ratty, old bathrobe that he “was

born in” He is sickly with the grippe and smells like Vicks His old, white and hairy legs His bed is hard “like a rock” He overtly picks his nose He can’t toss items onto the bed that is mere

inches away from him He repeats and re-emphasizes things He reads Holden’s lousy essay out loud to him

(reinforced humiliation)

7. List some of Mr. Spencer’s nuances which both annoy and fascinate

Holden.

Chapter Two

Old Spencer says:

“Life is a game one plays according to the rules.” Spencer’s advice demands that

Holden conform to others’ expectations of him

According to Spencer, Holden lives outside of the rules and, therefore, fails

8. What advice/life lesson does Spencer try to teach Holden?

Chapter Two

From the note Holden writes to

Spencer, attached to his awful essay, we can infer that Holden is much more concerned with his teacher being let down by him than he is concerned with flunking his course. He is willing to admit defeat and

is honest/forthright about his failures

9. What does Holden’s note to Spencer tell us about Holden’s character?

Chapter Two

English

Holden is expressive in writing and well-read when he has the choice “I’m quite illiterate but I read a lot.” Paradox = self-defeating truth

10. Which subject is the only subject Holden did not fail at Pencey?

Chapter Three

While talking to Mr. Spencer, Holden becomes

preoccupied with the ducks of Central Park, NYC:

“I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park… I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go… I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away.”

Q Why might Holden be thinking such thoughts? What does this tell us about his character?

Discussion!Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Holden purchases a red hunting

hat for $1 “The way I wore it, I swung the

old peak way around to the back– very corny, I’ll admit, but I liked it that way.” Holden’s hunting hat is a motif in

this story- a recurring symbol Discuss hat’s possible symbolism?

11. Describe the hat that Holden recently purchased in NYC.

Chapter Three

Holden is “quite illiterate” but “reads

a lot” Paradox: Self-defeating truth

Holden reads upon choice and not upon force; a book is successful only if the author seems genuine

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you feel like it.” (18)

12. Describe Holden’s take on literature. How does Holden evaluate whether or not a book he has read is

succesful?

Chapter Three

Robert Ackley = Holden’s neighbor in the dorms. He can be described as pimply, annoying, intrusive

and messy. Ackley annoys Holden but he secretly respecting

him for being at least honest about who he is and how he acts: He rarely brushes his “mossy” teeth He interrupts Holden often, especially when Holden

wants to be left alone He is very touchy with Holden’s items, namely his

picture frame of Sally Hayes (Holden’s ex-girlfriend) He cuts his fingernails “all over the room”

Quote: Page 20

13. Describe Holden’s suitemate, Robert Ackley. How does he feel about

Ackley?

Chapter Three

Holden accidentally leaves the

team’s equipment on the subway while on the way to a match in NYC

He is ostracized by the team but brushes it off or seems unaffected by his irresponsibility “It was pretty funny, in a way.” – Holden to us

(3) “Nobody won.” – Holden to Ackley (20)

14. How does Holden, manager of the Pencey Prep. Fencing Team, ironically

mismanage the team?

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Ward Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, is

“yearbook handsome” and appears to be self-obsessed and conceited

Quote: Page 27 Holden calls Stradlater a “secret slob”

because he appears to be very neat and orderly by appearance, and yet behind closed doors he is as messy as anyone Stradlater’s razor used as a symbol to

exemplify this point

15. How does Holden describe his roomate, Ward Stradlater

Chapter Four

Stradlater happens to be going on a

date with Jane Gallagher (he mistakenly calls her Jean) Holden seems startled by the

coincidence of it all, because he knows Jane from being her neighbor in the town where his family has summer home

16. Who does Holden find out Stradlater is dating?

Chapter Four

Holden finds Jane’s strategy (or lack

thereof) in checkers as amusing. She arranges all her kings in the back

row and refuses to move them (in checkers, kings should purposely be used to go on the attack)

Holden is intrigued by Jane’s non-conformist and pacifist attitude Quote: Pages 31-32

17. What peculiar memory does Holden have about the way Jane plays

checkers?

Chapter Four

Holden “nearly drops dead”

because Jane is his idyllic female; he is secretly in love with her and, so, immediately worries about what Stradlater is going to do with her while on this date

18. Why do you think Holden is seemingly preoccupied with

Stradlater’s date?

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

He is reluctant to disturb the

sanctity and serenity of the winter landscape

He starts to attack but stops himself from taking action This mirrors what he finds

intriguing about Jane playing checkers (aligning her kings but not moving her kings)

1. Why doesn’t Holden throw the snowball he creates?

Chapter Five

Holden writes a descriptive

account of Allie Caulfield’s baseball mitt Holden adores this mitt

because it is inscribed with Allie’s favorite poetry

Holding on to this mitt allows Holden to keep a piece of his brother with him at all times

2. About what did Holden write Stradlater’s composition?

Chapter Five

Holden’s late younger brother Died in 1946 of leukemia (11

years old; two years younger than Holden)

Physical red hair Personality intelligent; kind

Quote=38-39

3. Describe Allie Caulfield.

Chapter Five

Holden isolated himself from

others and violently broke the windows in the garage

Subsequently Holden broke his hand (still has trouble making a fist)

He has trouble remembering the incident

Quote=39

4. How did Holden react to Allie’s death?

Chapter Five

Homage to Allie’s life Reminder to Holden of the

unique attributes of Allie’s personality

Loss of innocence/childhood Coping with

death/depression

5. How may Allie’s mitt be considered symbolic?

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Stradlater reacts angrily He ackowledges Holden’s

inability to follow directions and does not thank him for his effort

Holden rips up the composition and throws it in the garbage

Quote=41

6. How does Stradlater react to Holden’s composition?

Chapter Six

Holden is preoccupied with the

events Stradlater’s date with Jane Stradlater refuses to tell him what

happened on the date Holden is irked by Stradlater’s

ungrateful nature Holden tries to punch Stradlater;

Stradlater ultimately pins him to the ground and reluctantly punches him, knocking him out

Quote=44

7. Describe the physical altercation between Holden and

Stradlater.

Chapter Six

Holden is fascinated with

violence, especially its aftermath, but considers himself a “pacifist”

Pacifist = someone who refuses to result to violence

Holden appears to be a contradictory character

Quote=46

8. Does Holden consider himself much of a fighter? Why or why

not?

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Holden is seeking comfort,

companionship and hospitality Holden is avoiding the

consequences by distancing himself from Stradlater

Holden might want to pretend to be someone else

Holden is as intrusive as Ackley Contradictory nature of Holden

9. What can one infer about Holden’s character from his request to sleep in

Ely’s bed?

Chapter Seven

He decides to leave PP and

arrive in NYC several days earlier than his parents expect him

He will lay low and kill some time before his parents receive the expulsion letter from Thurmer

He feels extremely lonely and depressed

Quote=51

10. Describe Holden’s impulsive decision to leave Pencey Prep. How does he feel at this

time?

Chapter Seven

The ice skates were a gift from

his mother; she bought him the wrong kind of skates Gratitude v. Ingratitude

They remind him of failing school/ failing to live up to his mother’s expectations

Quote=52

11. Why do Holden’s ice skates make him sad?

Chapter Seven

Holden is crying, unsure of how to

feel as he leaves, and yet is excited about the uncertainty/mysteries ahead

He sells his typewriter in order to make a little extra cash; he’s “loaded,” however, due to a generous and senile grandmother.

Holden puts on his red hunting hat and hollers, “Sleep tight, ya morons!” An attempt to find closure?

12. Describe Holden’s state of mind upon leaving Pencey Prep. What does he yell as he

leaves?

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Holden meets Mrs. Morrow, mother or

Ernest Morrow, who also attends Pencey Prep

Holden seems attracted to/interested in her: She has a nice “telephone” voice She is 40-45 years old, mature,

attactive and well dressed Holden admires the way she smokes

cigarettes; offers her a drink Quote=54

13. Describe Holden’s perceptions of the woman who gets on the train in Trenton.

Chapter Eight

Holden doesn’t have the heart to tell

Mrs. Morrow how much he son is hated at PP He calls himself “Rudolph Schmidt”

(janitor at Holden’s dorm, PP) Reasons to lie?

Holden wishes to avoid the cruelty in a mother knowing the truth about their son

Holden would not want someone else telling his mother the truths about him

Holden wants to feel as if he is important or belongs

14. Whose name does Holden provide for Mrs. Morrow? Why might Holden not want his true identity

revealed?

Chapter Eight

Name/identity Rudolph Schmidt Ernest Morrow is “popular” and well-

liked at PP Ernest wouldn’t let students at PP

nominate him for president of his class because he was too “modest.”

Holden left school early to have a brain tumor surgically removed in NYC

He can’t visit the Morrows’ summer home because he will be in South America with his grandmother

15. Identify at least (3) lies Holden tells Mrs. Morrow.

Chapter Eight

To see how far he can go/how

gullible an audience can be To avoid his depressive state of

mind, woes and failures Deteriorating mental state/lies

are as credible as truths to Holden

To confuse Ernest Morrow later on

16. Why do you believe Holden tells such outrageous lies to Mrs.

Morrow?

Chapter Eight