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Notes: Chapters 1-8
The Catcher in the Rye
JD Salinger
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Chapter One
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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?
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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”?
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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?
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Chapter Two
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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.
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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?
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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?
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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?
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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
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Chapter Three
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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
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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
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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?
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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?
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Chapter Four
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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
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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?
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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?
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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
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Chapter Five
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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?
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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?
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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.
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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?
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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?
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Chapter Six
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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?
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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
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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?
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Chapter Seven
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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?
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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
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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?
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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
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Chapter Eight
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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
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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
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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
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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