THEMES
Alienation Within a Society
The major theme in The Catcher in the Rye is that of alienation within a society that is increasingly sacrificing its value system for the sake of monetary gain. It is also that of alienation within a society that is conformist, where no one has the courage to be true, honest, and different. Holden Caulfield is a solitary rebel who is alienated because he cannot conform. Holden perceives his loneliness and isolation and wants to break the confines of his seclusion by making some form of human connection. Unfortunately, all the people he reaches out to are unable to accept him. Holden is faced with denial and rejection from all quarters.
Throughout the book, Salinger stresses the need for interaction and communication, which seem to be disappearing in the postwar America.
Your browser does not support the IFRAME tag.
Minor Themes
Corruption of Society
Salinger highlights the increasing degree of corruption that is an aspect of modern day existence. This corruption of society is represented by characters, such as Maurice, who lie, cheat, and bully to get what they want. There is also a horde of nameless people who seem take perverse pleasure in things like filling public walls with profane graffiti.
The Difficulty of Growing Up
Another theme that Salinger develops is the difficulty of adolescence. Growing up is often intolerable in a society that does not provide stability and values to the youth on the verge of adulthood. This is a recurring theme in Salinger’s novels.
Phoniness in Life
Finally, Salinger paints a clear picture of the phoniness in life, where artists sacrifice their art for fame and mothers cry fake tears in movies. Holden Caulfield is totally disgusted at the phonies that people the world. Through Holden, Salinger is trying to make the reader see the need for honesty and integrity in the modern world.
MOOD
The mood in The Catcher In The Rye is dark, bleak, gloomy, and depressing. Holden is a troubled, searching, frustrated, and alienated youth; since he is the narrator of the story, his personal mood colors everything in the novel. There is even a sense of impending danger, doom, and death throughout the plot since everything around him seems to confirm Holden’s troubled state of mind.
LITERARY ELEMENTS
SETTING

The novel is framed by the first and last Chapters, which take place somewhere in California in a psychiatric rest home. The main action of the novel takes place first at a boarding school in
Agerstown, Pennsylvania and then mainly in New York City. The narrative is evocative of
Manhattan in the 1950’s, taking place at and around the various landmarks of New York City, such as Grand Central Station, Greenwich Village, Radio City Music Hall, and the famous
Central Park.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major Characters
Holden Caulfield
The sixteen year-old narrator whose experiences form the action of the novel. He seems to have a history of expulsion and failure at various prep schools because of his inability to adjust to institutional life and the world in general. His recent expulsion from Pencey Prep and a series of other harrowing experiences lead him to an inevitable emotional breakdown.
Phoebe
Holden’s younger sister, whom he loves and respects completely. She is ten, but very clever and passionate. Throughout the book, Holden thinks Phoebe is the only person in the world who 2understands and loves him completely. Towards the end of the plot, he is disappointed that Phoebe scolds him for being expelled from school and questions what he is going to do with his life. She makes it up to him, however, when she packs her suitcase and wants to run away with him.
Minor Characters
Allie
Holden’s younger brother who died of leukemia on July 18, 1946. Allie was extremely close to
Holden, and Holden believes that Allie was "about fifty times as intelligent" as anyone Holden has ever known. Allie had a fielder’s mitt that he had written poems all over in green ink, to give him something to read when he was in the outfield all alone. Holden keeps the fielder’s mitt with him wherever he goes.
D.B.
Holden’s older brother, a writer who once published a collection called ‘The Secret Goldfish’.
D.B. is now employed as a scriptwriter in Hollywood. This occupation, in Holden’s eyes, is equivalent to prostitution. Holden speaks mostly of D.B.’s "selling out" to Hollywood.
Your browser does not support the IFRAME tag.
Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield
Holden’s parents who are unable to provide him with the parental understanding that he needs. Mr. Caulfield is a corporation lawyer, and Mrs. Caulfield is a housewife. Very little is revealed about these two characters, and only Mrs. Caulfield is ever seen, and then only briefly.

Mr. Antolini
Holden’s English teacher from Elkton Hills who is now teaching at New York University. Holden holds him in the highest regard and believes him to be a guardian of morality. In his hour of need, Holden goes to Mr. Antolini for help. Mr. Antolini is a sensitive man, about D.B.’s age, married to a wealthy older woman.
Mrs. Antolini
Mr. Antolini’s wife, who is both more wealthy and older than her husband.
Jane Gallagher
Holden’s childhood friend. Though they never actually dated, they used to hold hands. Jane is best remembered by Holden for the way she used to keep all her kings in the back row during checkers. She is never actually present in a scene, but is constantly in Holden’s thoughts and memories. Holden seems to feel tremendous respect and affection for Jane, and holds her up as a pure and spotless friend and person.
Sally Hayes
A girl that Holden sometimes dates, though he thinks she is a "pain in the ass". She is sensible, practical, boring, and, in Holden’s words, "phony as hell".
Ward Stradlater
Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep who is fairly conceited. He is a good-looking prep school athlete with a notorious history of having sex with girls. He has a date with Jane Gallagher in the beginning of the novel and fights with Holden when he returns from that date.
Robert Ackley
A boy who stays in the room next to Holden’s at Pencey Prep. He is, according to Holden, a
"terrific bore" and a "slob" in personal hygiene. However, Holden is in his own way quite sympathetic toward Ackley and at times even seeks his company.
Carl Luce
Holden’s academic advisor from Whooton. He is the first person to introduce Holden to sex education . Holden considers him an "intellectual" and seeks his companionship while in New
York even though he does not much care for him.
Maurice
The elevator operator at the hotel in which Holden stays. He also functions as a "pimp" and a bully.
Sunny
The young prostitute that Maurice sends to Holden room. Though she seems very young, she is very businesslike and hardened.
Mrs. Morrow
The mother of a fellow boarder, Ernest Morrow. Holden meets her on the train to New York and has a conversation with her.

The two nuns
Holden meets two nuns at a cafeteria in Grand Central. They have come from Chicago to teach in a school in New York . One of them is an English teacher and talks with Holden about
Romeo and Juliet.
Mr. Spencer
Holden’s history teacher from Pencey Prep. He shows a great deal of concern for Holden’s future, but Holden thinks he is too old and pathetic.
Lillian Simmons
A woman D.B. used to date. She is a typical phony, who loves to attract attention.
James Castle
A student at Elkton Hills who committed suicide.
Mal Brossard
Holden’s friend at Pencey Prep.
George Something
A friend of Sally Hayes from Andover.
Rudolf Schmidt
The janitor in Holden’s dorm.
Many other names are mentioned in the narrative, but they are minor characters without much significance in an analysis.
CONFLICT
Holden Caulfield is the protagonist and narrator of the novel, and all the events in the plot revolve around him. He is a sixteen-year-old boy who has trouble fitting in and finding a place for himself in life. There is nothing heroic about Holden, and he is often considered an antihero.
Holden’s antagonist is his inability to fit into society. Throughout the novel, he is pitted against different characters, social situations, educational environments, technology, and the world in general. But Holden is really fighting himself, and until he learns who he is and finds a place for himself he the world, he cannot be at peace.

This is a novel of progressive climax, where one high point in the plot leads up to the next, as follows:
The first climax is reached when Holden ends up lying on the floor with a bleeding nose after his roommate Stradlater has beaten him a fight that Holden started. Holden has lost his first battle against the world and escapes form Pencey.
When Holden has been beaten by the pimp Maurice at the end of Chapter Fourteen, he is once again lying on the floor incapacitated with the pain from the impact. His second direct confrontation has ended in defeat. With no where to go, he heads to Grand Central Station.
Your browser does not support the IFRAME tag.
In his search for human connection, Holden gathers his courage, places a phone call to Sally, and sets a date with her for the afternoon. He tells her about his plan to run away out West and suggests that she join him. She scoffs at his foolishness and walks out, leaving him again rejected and in isolation.
The fourth climax occurs when Holden faces rejection from the one little person upon whom all his hopes are anchored--Phoebe. This has the most shattering impact on Holden, and he is forced to search elsewhere for understanding. Hence he goes to Mr. Antolini for help.
The fourth climax occurs when Holden is rejected by Mr. Antolini, the last person he has to turn to for help. He is sure that this man, above all others, will be able to understand his needs and accept him. To his horror, Mr. Antolini gives Holden an academic lecture about scholastic performance. Then he approaches Holden in the middle of the night, touching his on the forehead. Holden interprets he gesture as a sexual advance.
The actual climax is never viewed in the course of the novel, only foreshadowed by the miniclimaxes and proven by Holden’s stay at a psychiatric hospital. Sometime after the close of action in the book, life amongst the "phonies" gets to be too much for Holden. The reader is forced to imagine the inevitable outcome of this story - the total mental breakdown of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.
The novel ends in tragedy for Holden when he finally realizes he cannot win his battle. He returns home to his parents and is obviously sent to a psychiatric hospital to "rest" before retiring to the world that has defeated him.

CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 1
Summary
The novel opens with the first-person narrator, Holden Caulfield, speaking directly to a psychoanalyst or psychologist. Because he has had a complete mental breakdown, Holden has been sent to this "rest home" for treatment. As he talks, his mind frequently wanders and, therefore, his story is often filled with digressions. The first digression is about D.B., Holden’s older brother who is a writer. He feels that D. B. has "sold-out" in his literary career, for he is now in Hollywood writing screenplays, like a "prostitute".
Holden quickly establishes the time frame which he wants to discuss, beginning with the day he leaves Pencey Prep, one of the many schools from which he has been expelled. The remainder of the Chapter is a flashback to the time of his expulsion; it is a Saturday just a few days before Christmas vacation. In the flashback, Holden is going to visit his history teacher.
Before he reaches the teacher’s house, Holden stands on a hill overlooking Pencey, searching for a sense of closure; he wants to have one positive farewell thought. He then recalls an early evening football game with two friends. Satisfied that the memory is a pleasant one with which he can leave, he continues on his way to the history professor’s home.
Notes
The Catcher in the Rye is structured as a first person narrative that makes use of direct address, flashback, and digression. An example of the narrator’s direct address is found in the opening line of the novel when Holden says, "If you really want to hear about it. . ." Holden is actually speaking to the psychoanalyst in the story, but at the same time, he appears to be directly addressing the reader. In this first Chapter, Holden also employs the technique of flashback, where he quickly shifts to a time in the past. As he speaks to the therapist, Holden begins to tell about the day he left Pencey Prep, just a few days before Christmas. Holden is also guilty of digression in this opening Chapter, as seen in his references to his brother D. B.
Throughout the novel, Holden, as the narrator, will employ direct address, flashback, and digression, sometimes rather erratically, to tell his story. The effect of the constant use of these techniques is an air of confusion, reflective of Holden’s tormented state of mind. His life, and what is happening to him, does not make sense; therefore, Holden is incapable of sorting things out and telling them in a strictly chronological or orderly way.
This first Chapter clearly establishes the youth of Holden Caulfield. He is a young man who has just been kicked out of another prep school. As the narrator, he speaks a typical teenage language, filled with exaggeration, slang, and curse words. This authentic language helps to establish Holden’s personality and voice. It also helps to establish him as a credible narrator, for the story is about a troubled teenager.
Holden also has many individualized characteristics in his speech. He constantly substitutes nouns for adjectives, as in the phrase, "David Copperfield kind of crap". He is often unable to find precise words for many of his thoughts, so he awkwardly stops in mid-thought and hesitates. These tendencies, coupled with the fact that Holden ends many of his sentences with phrases like "and all," indicate that the speaker is confused and self-conscious. In fact, his narration becomes almost a stream-of-consciousness narrative, where things happen inside the narrator’s head and then appear to be quickly written down.

In this Chapter, Holden makes it clear that he is not in the hospital because of poor physical health, but because of a nervous breakdown. This information is important, for it helps to establish the mood and point of view of the narrator. The fact that Holden is in a psychiatric hospital certainly influences the way the story is told, read, and understood. In other words, the setting in this first Chapter, which serves as the front-end of a frame narrative, is extremely important.
It is important to notice that when Holden flashes back to the day he left Pencey Prep, he is pictured alone, standing on top of a hill. He has risen above the pettiness of Pencey and looks down on it, both literally and figuratively. He wants to leave town with a positive thought about the school, even though he has been expelled. He thinks hard to come up with a pleasant memory and recalls an evening football game with friends. He is satisfied that this recollection is positive enough. As a result, he can proceed on this wait to call on his history teacher.
CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 2
Summary
Holden visits Mr. Spencer, and their conversation inevitably turns to Holden’s failure in school and his pitiful career as a student. As the visit progresses, Holden grows increasingly impatient and annoyed with old Mr. Spencer for pointing out all of his shortcomings. Mr. Spencer forces
Holden to listen as he reads aloud from one of Holden’s most recent papers, which is a shoddily written, half-done report on mummies. Mr. Spencer then reads the note that Holden has written on the bottom of the report, apologizing for his failure to perform well on the paper. In the note, Holden reassures the professor that he is not a bad teacher. The failure rests in Holden alone. Nonetheless, Holden is mortified by what has transpired at this meeting.
He feels worse than when he came and cannot wait to escape Mr. Spencer’s house.
Notes
Much is learned about Holden in this chapter. First, he expresses admiration for the elderly teacher, who "if you thought about him just enough and not too much, you could figure it out that he wasn’t doing too bad for himself". Evidently he respects the old man enough to pay him a visit on a Saturday night. While visiting with the teacher, it is apparent that Holden is simply not a student. The teacher criticizes his lack of effort and even reads from one of
Holden’s reports, which is unacceptably completed. It is significant that Holden himself writes a note on the bottom of the work, which reveals his sensitive side. He apologizes for not doing well on the report and confirms that he to blame for his failure, not the teacher. In other words, Holden is very aware of his own lack of effort, but does nothing to correct it. In schoolwork, like in life, Holden seems bored and unchallenged.
In a stream-of-consciousness manner, Holden’s mind begins to wander in this scene. Instead of concentrating on Spencer’s words, he begins thinking about where the ducks in Central Park go when the water freezes. The imagery is symbolic, because Holden can identify himself with the ducks--hemmed in and freezing. His wandering thoughts are also an effort to avoid
Spencer’s questions, especially when he asks, "How do you feel about all this?" The truth of

the matter is that Holden, even though he is constantly thinking, is trying desperately not to feel anything. This avoidance is the first foreshadowing that Holden is heading toward a breakdown. He does not want to feel, because it hurts too much; but running from his feelings creates desperation and resolves nothing.
This scene marks the first of many in the novel where Holden becomes disillusioned with someone. Many of the people whom Holden has once admired, such as Spencer, become suddenly pathetic and phony to him. To indicate Holden’s negative attitude toward Spencer, the boy notices, as if for the first time, that the teacher is aging and ill; he is also filled with unpleasant smells and sounds, an image of death and destruction approaching. Holden is suddenly repulsed by and alienated from Spencer. The rest of the book will be filled with similar images of Holden’s sense of repulsion, alienation, and doom.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 3
Summary
The chapter opens with Holden giving a few details about Mr. Ossenburger. He is a former student of Pencey who became an undertaker; Holden’s dormitory is named after him. Then
Holden turns his attention to his own reading habits and lists his favorite authors. His brother
D.B. tops the list, followed by Ring Lardner, Isak Dineson, and Thomas Hardy. His literary thoughts lead him into another flashback. As he is settling down to read, a dorm neighbor,
Robert Ackley, interrupts Holden. Although Holden drops several hints that he wants the boy to leave, Ackley is blind to Holden’s subtleties. Ward Stradlater, Holden’s athletic roommate, enters the room to get ready for a date and interrupts the half-hearted conversation between
Holden and Ackley. Ackley, who is always uncomfortable around Stradlater, quickly leaves.
Notes
The chapter opens with Holden’s startling confession that he is a liar. This statement is interesting in that it causes the reader to question the credibility of the narrative even further.
First, it was learned that Holden is in a psychiatric hospital; now he admits that he is not truthful. There is a paradox in this latest revelation. If Holden is honest in saying he is a liar, perhaps the reader should not believe the narrative because it is full of lies. On the other hand, if Holden is a liar, but honestly confesses it, perhaps he is a very honest narrator, who plans to tell the truth throughout the story. The reader is left to form his own opinion.
Holden’s love of reading and his list of favorite authors are also revealing. There is irony in the fact that Holden considers himself uneducated, almost illiterate, but he loves to read, which is the antidote to a lack of education. His choice of authors is very significant. He places his own brother at the top of the list, but in the first chapter he states that D.B. has "sold-out" to
Hollywood as a writer. The second on his list, Ring Lardner, is a pessimistic and cynical twentieth century writer of short stories, which criticize the average person for being stupid, cruel, and dull. Isak Dineson and Thomas Hardy are equally pessimistic. Holden, therefore, chooses reading material to match his own pathetic state of mind and outlook on life.
In the flashback to Pencey, Holden reveals that he is intolerant and impatient. Holden is annoyed at Ackley’s entry into his room and rudely hints that he should leave. Like Holden,
Ackley is portrayed as an alienated young man, who is liked by no one. Holden paints a particularly bleak picture of his neighbor. "He was one of those very, very tall, roundshouldered guys. . .about six four with lousy teeth. . .I never once saw him brush his teeth.
They always looked mossy and awful. . .Besides that he had a lot of pimples." Ackley seems

even more pathetic than Holden, for his shabby physical appearance intensifies his isolation.
Unlike Holden, Ackley wants to belong and constantly tries to gain acceptance, even from
Holden. By contrast, Holden is self-alienated, purposely distancing himself from others and preferring his own thoughts to conversation.
In this chapter, Holden again refers to "phonies," who are the objects of his scorn and disgust.
Even though Holden admires the strong, athletic build of his roommate Stradlater, he judges that he is a "phony kind of friendly." It would seem that Holden’s entire world is littered with
"phonies;" in truth, he uses this expression as a catch-all phrase for everyone from whom he wants to distance himself.
It is important to notice Holden’s emphasis on Ossenburger as an undertaker. Since Holden’s dormitory at Pencey is named after this man, it becomes yet another symbol of death and doom, foreshadowing Holden’s miserable existence and breakdown and intensifying the dark and gloomy mood.
CHAPTER SUMMARY AND NOTES
CHAPTER 4
Summary
Holden follows Stradlater to the bathroom, where they spend some time talking. Stradlater asks Holden to write a descriptive essay for him since he is going out on a date. Holden agrees to write the composition and is surprised to find out that Stradlater’s date is Jane Gallagher, a girl that Holden knows well from childhood and likes. He tells Stradlater some things about
Jane, including how well she dances and how she keeps the kings in the back row while playing checkers. Stradlater, uninterested in Holden’s trivia, quickly gets ready and leaves.
Holden sits in his room thinking about Jane and Stradlater until Ackley returns.
Notes
In this Chapter, the negative Holden compares the handsome, athletic Stradlater to the pathetic Ackley, calling them both "slobs." In truth, Holden is much more like Ackley than
Stradlater. He follows his roommate into the bathroom and badgers Stradlater with questions and trivia, in an annoying manner similar to Ackley. Holden, like Ackley, is seeking acceptance and connection; but his behavior alienates him, and the reader knows that the popular
Stradlater probably judges him in the same low estimation that he judges Ackley. Proof of this lies in the fact that he barely listens to Holden when he talks about Jane. He also gets out of the room as quickly as possible, but not before asking Holden to write an essay for him.
Stradlater is all the things that Holden cannot be -- well built, athletic, "handsome in a Year
Book sort of way," and popular among the girls. Though Holden does not detest Stradlater, he does envy him, even if it is at a subconscious level; the envy is apparently strengthened when he finds out that Stradlater is dating Jane Gallagher. Holden feels protective toward Jane since he has known her since childhood and is familiar with her insecurities; he is particularly worried that Stradlater might try to have sex with her. On the other hand, Holden is not selfconfident enough to pursue Jane for himself.
CHAPTER 5

Summary
Holden has dinner in the dormitory, where steak is always served on Saturday night. After dinner, Holden indulges in throwing snowballs and horsing around with some fellow students.
He then agrees to go into Agerstown with his friend Mel Brossard and Ackley. Both Brossard and Ackley have already seen the movie that is playing, so they simply eat hamburgers and play pinball before heading back to the dorm. Broussard goes to play cards, and Ackley pesters Holden, who finally tells him he has to leave for he has an essay to write, obviously the one for Stradlater. In the composition, he describes the baseball glove that belonged to his little brother Allie, who died from leukemia. Allie had written poems in green ink all over his baseball glove so he would have something to read when he played outfield. Holden cherishes the mitt, keeping it with him at school.
Notes
Another, more social side of Holden is seen in this chapter. After Saturday supper in the dorm, he goes outside with fellow students to play in the snow and horse around. He even goes into town with his friend Mel Broussard. Ackley comes with them, proving that Holden is really not so repulsed by Ackley as he would have it seem. Back at school, Broussard goes off to play cards, and Ackley follows Holden to his room and pesters him.
Ackley is told to leave so that Holden can write the essay for Stradlater. His willingness to do his roommate’s schoolwork, while he is out on a date, is an indication that Holden wants to be accepted by Stradlater. As a subject, he chooses a baseball mitt that belonged to his little brother Allie. He admits that he treasures the mitt, revealing the sensitive side of Holden.
The mention of the mitt provides entry to another flashback. Holden idolized this little brother and reacted violently to Allie’s untimely death. In reaction to the deep hurt he was feeling at the loss, Holden violently broke windows, injuring himself in the process; he also refused to sleep in the house, staying in the garage. It is important to note that the two people Holden has cared about the most, his brothers D.B. and Allie, have been separated from him--one by career and the other by death. Part of Holden’s alienation obviously stems from this fact.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 6
Summary
When Stradlater returns from his date with Jane Gallagher, he is in a terrible mood. He asks about the essay, and Holden gives it to him. When he reads about Allie’s baseball mitt,
Stradlater freaks out and tells Holden he does not do anything right. Holden, who had been very pleased with the composition, takes it from Stradlater and rips it up.
Holden’s emotions are strained, because he has been anxious about Stradlater’s date with
Jane.
When he quizzes Stradlater about the date, he responds mysteriously; his cryptic manner infuriates Holden, who starts a fight. Stradlater wins the fight easily and prepares to go out, telling Holden to clean himself up, since he is a bloody mess. Holden goes in search of Ackley.

Notes
Although Holden makes a deliberate effort throughout the novel to act as if he does not care about anything, it is very obvious in this chapter that he cares about many things. He is obviously upset that Stradlater is going on a date with Jane and worries about the intentions of his roommate. Jane is a childhood friend of Holden, and he apparently still cares about her deeply, even remembering the manner in which she plays checkers.
Holden’s concern over the date with Jane grows so intense that by the time Stradlater returns,
Holden has worked himself into a frenzy. It is only natural that when Stradlater rudely criticizes the essay on the baseball mitt, Holden loses it and rips the paper to pieces. He has spent his Saturday night doing his roommate’s homework, and his efforts are not even appreciated. Holden is also very sensitive above the subject matter of the composition, for he has written about Allie’s glove, a subject that Holden regards with reverence. Since Holden keeps the glove with him at school, Stradlater is surely aware of its importance.
Holden tries to interrogate Stradlater about his date, clearly trying to get information about whether Stradlater has had sex with Jane. When Stradlater gives a mysterious answer, Holden fully loses control and attacks Stradlater, who is taken by surprise and not interested in fighting. Holden, however, persists until Stradlater is forced into the fracas. Holden loses the fight, as he always does, and looks a bloody mess. Stradlater, treating Holden like a child, instructs him to clean himself up.
Holden’s portrayal of Stradlater provides the reader with more information about both of the boys. Stradlater, part of the in-crowd, is a smooth talker and a good-looking kid with a nice body. Holden obviously feels a bit jealous of him, calling Stradlater one of the "athletic bastards" who all stick together. The sensitive Holden will never be a part of this in-crowd. In fact, Stradlater, who seems totally devoid of feelings, is a stark contrast to Holden. He does not appreciate that Holden has sacrificed his Saturday night to do his homework. Instead, the callous, conceited athlete says that Holden never does anything right. He obviously cannot understand how a boy of sixteen could be so sensitively attached to a baseball mitt. Stradlater and Holden simply exist on two entirely separate planes and cannot understand each other.
The fight between the two boys is the first peak in the rising action of the novel and serves as a mini-climax. Up to this point, Holden has done a lot of talking and a lot of thinking, but he has not participated in much action, even in his flashbacks. In this scene, he literally erupts into a rage, revealing that his emotions are not in check and that he lies to himself about not caring for anything. Holden has stewed all even about Stradlater’s date with Jane. When he is mysterious about what has happened on the date, Holden cannot hold back and loses total control. When he attacks Stradlater, the reader knows he does not stand a chance against this fit athlete. Holden is destined, as always, to come out on the losing side of the battle.
It is significant to note that as a narrator Holden appears to be very honest in this scene, making the reader trust him. He certainly has the opportunity to paint any picture that he wants, but he seems to be very realistic in his portrayal of the fight. It is certainly not a kind portrait that he draws of himself or Stradlater. Holden even implies that he is to blame for the fight, as well as Stradlater.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 7
Summary

Holden retreats to Ackley’s room and asks if he can spend the night with him. Ackley refuses and tells Holden to leave, making it clear he thinks Holden is crazy. Holden persists, wanting to talk; this time Ackley ignores him, so Holden finally leaves. Feeling isolate and alone, he makes up his mind he will leave Pencey Prep immediately and go to New York, without telling anyone.
Notes
This chapter further reveals Holden’s loneliness and depression. Holden is so desperate for connection that he pesters Ackley. He says, "I felt so lonesome all of a sudden I almost wished
I was dead." When Ackley ignores Holden, he becomes even more desperate, more aware of his own pathetic loneliness. "It was even depressing out in the street. You couldn’t even hear cars anymore. I got feeling so lonesome and rotten." When Ackley still does not respond,
Holden leaves, with an angry and sarcastic remark.
Feeling really alone, Holden decides he will leave Pencey and go to New York City. Since no one here has given him the attention he needs or cares about his departure, he shouts out childishly, loud enough to wake everyone in the dorm, "Sleep tight, ya morons." It is a weak gesture that merely shows how desperately Holden wants some interaction. In the end, however, it is his sadness and not his anger that leaves a lasting impression. He admits, "I was sort of crying, I don’t know why."
CHAPTER 8
Summary
Since it is too late to call for a taxi, Holden walks to the train station. On the way, he washes the blood from his nose with snow. The train comes soon and is practically empty, although tonight Holden would actually prefer for it to be full. At Trenton station, a lady boards the train and strikes up a conversation with Holden, recognizing his school’s insignia on one of his suitcases. It turns out that she is the mother of one of Holden’s classmates, a boy named
Ernest Morrow. Holden tells her several lies about her son; they are good lies, the kind a mother wants to hear. He also tells her his name is Rudolf Schmidt, though that is the name of the janitor at the school. He ends the conversation by telling her he is on his way to have a tumor removed from his brain.
Notes
As usual, Holden’s narrative provides his opinions and thoughts. He tells the reader he likes to travel at night when the train is empty. However, given his mental state on this particular night, he finds that the empty train only reinforces his loneliness. He is relieved and happy when Mrs. Morrow boards, so he has someone to talk to. When he finds that she has a son at
Pencey, he creates a multitude of lies about Ernest to make her feel good. When he calls himself Rudolf Schmidt, it is a textbook attempt to run away from his identity. It is significant that he chooses the name of the lowly janitor; he is so depressed he cannot imagine himself to be anyone better. In fact, he assumes a second identity, even worse than the first, for he tells Mrs. Morrow he is going in to the city to have a brain tumor removed. For the time being, it would seem that an artificial life with a brain tumor is preferable to his own.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES

CHAPTER 9
Summary
Arriving at Penn Station in New York, Holden considers calling someone. He mentally runs through a list of people, but after twenty minutes, he emerges from the phone booth having called no one. He walks to the taxi stand and hails one to take him to the Edmont Hotel, which is cheap and sleazy. For lack of anything better to do, Holden looks out the window of his room and notices the "perverts and morons" in the windows across from his; he spies crossdressers and a couple having kinky sex. Bored with the view, Holden thinks about calling Jane
Gallagher. Instead, he calls a woman named Faith Cavendish, whose telephone number he was given from some "guy that went to Princeton". Although not a prostitute, she supposedly
"does not mind doing it once in a while". On the phone, Holden explains that he is feeling
"pretty horny", but gets no response. Since the phone call proves unproductive, Holden remains alone and frustrated.
Notes
In New York, Holden feels a desperate urge for human connection. He goes into a phone booth and stays for twenty minutes, but can think of no one to call. In his loneliness, Holden even tries to strike up a conversation with the taxi driver, asking him whether he knows where the ducks from Central Park go when the water freezes. Once again, Holden is concerned about their safe escape, a concern that parallels his own unrealized need for a safe haven. At the hotel, which is sleazy and gloomy to match his mood, he looks out the window for human contact and spies only perverts. He finally calls Faith Cavendish, who is known as a loose woman, but even she rejects Holden. At the end of the chapter he feels more isolated and depressed than ever.
CHAPTER 10
Summary
Still desperate for connection, Holden contemplates calling his younger sister Phoebe, but changes his mind because his parents would be most likely to answer the phone. Since he is not tired, he decides to go to the Lavender Room, the nightclub at the hotel. He washes up, changes into a clean shirt, and heads downstairs. In the club, Holden is given a bad table, and the waiter refuses to serve him alcohol without an I. D. Three women are seated at the next table, and Holden summons up the courage to ask if any of them would care to dance. He eventually dances with all three and pays for their drinks. When they get up to leave, he tries unsuccessfully to convince them to stay, even though they are not interesting company.
Shortly after they depart, Holden leaves as well.
Notes
Holden’s need for human contact is again underscored in this chapter. He first thinks of calling
Phoebe, his younger sister whom he adores. He never feels threatened by her, for "if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you’re talking about. I mean you can even take her anywhere with you." It is significant to note that Phoebe is only ten years old,

and yet Holden feels greater companionship with her than anyone else in the book; she is too young to judge Holden, but lovingly accepts him as he is. Holden is looking for the same kind of acceptance throughout life.
Since he fears one of his parents will answer the phone, Holden does not try to reach Phoebe.
Instead, he goes down to the nightclub in the hotel. Even here he is made to feel rejected, for he is seated at a bad table and not allowed to order an alcoholic drink. His attempt to engage the three girls in conversation and dancing is another attempt on Holden’s part to connect with humanity. Although they show no interest in Holden, they dance with him and expect him to pay their bill. In the end, however, they too desert Holden, leaving him once again terribly alone and depressed.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 11
Summary
Holden leaves the club and sits in the deserted lobby thinking about Jane and Stradlater. He is still concerned about what might have happened between them. He remembers how he met
Jane and thinks about why he likes her so much. He remembers that she always keeps her kings in the back row while playing checkers and closes her eyes while striking a shot in golf.
Holden also recalls a particularly touching moment when the mere presence of her stepfather reduced poor Jane to tears, which she tried to hide. He can still see her wiping the tears from the checkerboard.
Holden then starts thinking about his brother D. B. and remembers a bar he used to take him to. Holden leaves the hotel, calls a cab, and heads to the bar.
Notes
In this section, more is learned about Jane Gallagher, the girl for whom Holden obviously feels so much. Jane comes across as a highly insecure girl who is shy, non-assertive, and cries easily. The bond that Holden shares with Jane is an interesting one. Though they never kissed, they held hands often, which gave Holden a comfortable feeling of companionship that helped to disperse his insecurities. Given the tender feelings Holden has toward Jane, it drives him crazy to think of her in Ed Banky’s car with Stradlater.
Holden is not sufficiently comforted by his fond memories of Jane. He still desperately needs to connect in person with humanity. When he remembers the bar that D. B. has taken him to visit, he calls a cab and heads there, hoping to find some human interaction.
CHAPTER 12
Summary
On the way to the bar in a taxi, a depressed Holden mentally complains that he always gets
"those vomity kind of cabs." Once again Holden tries to strike up a conversation with the driver and find out where the ducks take refuge in winter. The taxi-driver scowls at his

question and begins to talk about fish instead. As earlier, Holden asks the taxi-driver to have a drink with him and is again rejected.
Holden enters Ernie’s and is surprised at how crowded it is at such a late hour. He is shown to yet another bad table, at which he is able to hear the miserable conversations of the couples on either side of him. While Holden sits there smoking and drinking, a girl named Lillian
Simmons comes up to him and asks about his brother D.B., whom she once dated. She introduces the sailor who is with her and asks Holden if he would like to join them. Holden refuses the offer, saying he is about to leave. Holden is immediately sad that he told this lie, for he now feels compelled to leave since he has said he was going.
Notes
Holden is obsessed about the fate of the Central Park ducks in the same way he is obsessed about Jane’s date with Stradlater. On the way to Ernie’s, he again asks the taxi driver about them, and his question is like a sad, repeated refrain heard often in the novel. The reader now understands that the ducks are really a symbol for Holden, and he is really asking where can
he go and how he can escape the unbearable. The taxi drivers never have an answer about the ducks, just as Holden has no answer about his miserable existence. The constant repetition of the duck question serves to unify the plot and strengthen the picture of the frustrated, trapped existence that Holden is stuck in. Similarly, his descriptions of his journeys by train and taxi are reflective of the mechanical nature of his life and enhance the quest motif of the novel.
Holden’s depression increases at Ernie’s, largely because of the people seated around him. He desperately wants and needs human contact, but he cannot view the people in the bar as human. On one side of Holden, some guy is "giving his girlfriend a feel under the table" while telling her about someone who almost committed suicide. On the other side, an unattractive guy talks to his interested but even more unattractive date about football. Holden is disgusted by both couples and also by Lillian and her sailor. Holden seems to harbor a deep-seated resentment for those who are the center of attention, part of the in-crowd to which he will never belong.
Holden’s thoughts about the proprietor, Ernie, are in a similar vein. Ernie has "a big damn mirror in front of the piano, with this big spot light on him, so that everybody could watch his face while he played." He also attracts attention by "putting all these dumb, show-offy ripples in the high notes, and a lot of other very tricky stuff", to which the crowd reacts with a lot of cheering. Holden feels sad that an artist sells himself out to the crowd in order to gain approval. He feels that Ernie has succeeded in the total commercialization of art, which is vulgar to Holden.
In Holden’s opinion, the approval of the general public is a detriment to any good thing. When a person becomes a part of the in-crowd, the soul seems to be lost. Popularity has destroyed the writing of D.B., the music of Ernie, and the sensitivity of Stradlater.
There is deep irony in this chapter. Holden goes to the bar because he desperately wants to be around people, to leave his isolation behind; but his depressed state of mind will not let him connect to anything. Everything he sees and hears is painted in a negative light. The taxi is
"vomity." The couples seated beside him engage in "miserable" conversation. Ernie is "vulgar" as he sells out his art to popularity. Even the personal invitation to sit with Lillian and the sailor is disgusting to him. When he leaves Ernie’s, he is more depressed than ever.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 13

Summary
Holden walks back towards his hotel in the cold, lamenting the loss of his gloves, which he thinks were stolen by someone at Pencey. To regain some of his warmth, Holden puts on his hunting hat and decides to stop in another bar. He changes his mind when he sees two tough looking guys emerging from the bar.
Back at the hotel, Holden is solicited by the elevator operator, Maurice, who promises to send him a prostitute in fifteen minutes. Holden agrees to the offer, but regrets his decision almost immediately. He cleans up and then paces nervously around the room, waiting for the girl.
Sunny soon arrives, and Holden introduces himself as Jim Steele. He tries to act suave, but no matter how hard he tries, Holden, still a virgin, is still extremely uncomfortable. The girl’s businesslike manner only makes him feel more awkward. When he tries to strike up a conversation, Sunny wants to know what he is waiting for. She sits on his lap and tries to seduce him. It is more than Holden can handle. He apologizes, pays her five dollars, and tells her to leave. Sunny tells Holden the price is ten dollars. He refuses to pay her more than he agreed on with Maurice, and she leaves with an insult and a veiled threat.
Notes
This chapter reveals several new aspects of Holden’s personality. When he is walking in the cold, he comments that someone at Pencey probably stole his gloves. He imagines what he would have said if he had caught the thief. Then he is honest with himself and admits he would probably say very little since he is a coward at heart. Rather than punch the thief and accuse him openly, Holden says he would have attacked him with sarcasm. The fact that two guys coming out of a bar is enough to discourage Holden from going in is further proof of his cowardice. But his cowardice is fed by the fact that he is weak and never wins in a fight, as seen in an earlier chapter.
Another example of Holden’s fear occurs in the scene when Holden agrees to let the elevator operator get him a prostitute. Instantly he regrets his decision since he is a virgin.
Inexperience and fear assail him in his hotel room as he tries to prepare himself for her visit.
He tries to strengthen his resolve by telling himself that the prostitute will be good practice if he ever decides to marry. He also imagines himself becoming like Monsieur Blake, a fictional character in a book he once read. Monsieur Blake was a charming and sophisticated rake, ruthlessly getting what he wanted from women.
Holden tries to be suave with the prostitute, introducing himself as Jim Steele. His nervousness, however, gets in the way, and he trips over his suitcase. He finds himself unable to take action and tells Sunny he just wants to talk. He tries desperately to engage her in some meaningful dialogue, but she grows frustrated, sits on his lap, and tries to seduce him.
To get out of the bad situation, he finally tells the prostitute that he is unable to have sex because he is recovering from an operation on his "clavichord." He pays her the agreed amount of five dollars, but she demands ten. When he refuses, she threatens him and leaves.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 14
Summary
After Sunny leaves, Holden smokes a few cigarettes and thinks about a time he refused to

take his little brother Allie with him somewhere. The thought depresses him, and he unexpectedly gets into bed with the urge to pray. When he tries to form the words of a prayer, all he can hear is Sunny calling him a "crumb-bum". As he decides to get up and have another cigarette, there is a knock on his door. Maurice and Sunny are waiting outside. The pimp demands another five dollars from Holden, insisting that the price was ten dollars. Holden refuses to pay in a voice that was "shaking like hell".
As Maurice threatens him, Sunny goes into the room and takes an additional five dollars from
Holden’s wallet. Totally frustrated, Holden bursts into tears and challenges Maurice to a fight.
Maurice punches Holden in the stomach. He falls to the floor, crying and hurt, as Maurice and
Sunny leave. When Holden gets off the floor and collects his thoughts, he imagines himself killing Maurice in the elevator. He also fantasizes that he is a tough guy from the movies, who has been shot in the abdomen, and he pictures himself committing suicide by jumping from the window. Holden tries to calm himself by taking a bath; he then attempts to go to sleep.
Notes
While Holden sits alone in his room, his depression seems unbearable. He focuses on a time long ago when he refused to take his little brother Allie somewhere he wanted to go. Holden wishes he could un-do that wrong. Feeling total guilt over his dead brother, he is hit with the urge to pray, even though he is an atheist. Unfortunately, he cannot form the words for a prayer, because he keeps hearing Sunny calling him "crumbbum."
Although Holden is a totally vulnerable character, he does not like his vulnerabilities being exposed. This is evident in his wish that he was dressed when Maurice and Sunny barge in on him. As he threatens Maurice, he feels weak, and his voice is shaking, but he feels if he were wearing clothes, at least he could have maintained a certain amount of dignity. It is for the same reason that he would have "given anything" to not have started crying in front of them.
Holden reveals a lot about his philosophy of life in this chapter, especially when he claims to be an atheist. He says, "I like Jesus and all, but I don’t care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible". What Holden really dislikes is the preaching of religious texts and their teachers. He believes that Jesus is generous and forgiving, and that he would have forgiven even Judas. In Holden’s mind, it is the disciples who are the true phonies as they pretended to be Christ-like but were never generous like their Master. Holden, therefore, says his problem is not with God, but with religion that is rooted in dogma and preached by "phonies".
When prayer does not come to comfort Holden, he consoles himself with delusions of murder and death. He imagines himself as a tough guy who, despite being shot in the abdomen, manages his revenge quite successfully. He pictures himself killing Maurice in the elevator.
Then Holden imagines killing himself by jumping out the window to the street below, but he cannot bear the thought of lying dead on the streets with a crowd of people gathering to look at his body. If he could only be sure somebody would cover him up as soon as he landed, he might consider it. In the end, he accepts reality and acknowledges there is no escape from the pain and misery of his existence.
It is important to note that this chapter represents a mini-climax, another peak in the continuing rising action. It is the second fight that Holden experiences in the book. As in the first fight against Stradlater, Holden is defeated by Maurice, which makes him feel weaker and more miserable than ever. He even contemplates suicide, but is not strong enough to carry through with even that plan, making a weak excuse for himself. Holden continues his downward spiral, from which there seems to be no return. In fact, Holden acknowledges at the end of this chapter that there is no escape from the pain and misery of his existence.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES

CHAPTER 15
Summary
Holden wakes up at around ten o’clock on Sunday morning, surprised not to have slept later.
He is about to call room service, but his fear that Maurice will deliver the food makes him change his mind. He also thinks about calling Jane Gallagher, but calls Sally Hayes instead.
They make a date for two o’clock that afternoon. He realizes he does not have much money left, so he checks out of the hotel.
Holden takes a taxi to Grand Central Station. He checks his baggage into a locker there and eats breakfast in the cafeteria. Two nuns come and sit near him and he talks to them; one is an English teacher and Holden discusses literature with her. He notices their cheap suitcases, which make him think of Dick Slagle, whom he roomed with at Elkton Hills. Dick, like the nuns, had very cheap luggage, which he hid in shame under his bed. Holden had very nice, very expensive luggage that he at first kept on the racks for everyone to see. Out of concern for Slagle, Holden decided to put his luggage under his bed, too. Slagle took Holden’s luggage from under the bed and pretended it was his. The memory of this incident really bothers
Holden, and he is not sure why; he thinks it has something to do with inequality and hypocrisy, two things he hates.
While they are eating, Holden decides to give the nuns a contribution of ten dollars despite the fact that he is low on funds. He even offers to pay their bill, but they refuse. After they leave,
Holden wishes he had given them more than ten dollars.
Notes
Holden goes to Grand Central Station, the main transportation center in New York. Most people pass through Grand Central Station on their way to some other place, but Holden selects it as his destination. Since he does not seem to belong anywhere, it seems like the perfect place to go; no one else belongs there either.
Holden goes to the cafeteria at the station to have breakfast. When two nuns come in and sit by him, he strikes up a conversation with them. When he learns one is an English teacher, he discusses Romeo and Juliet with her. While they are eating, Holden notices their cheap suitcases and decides to give them ten dollars, even though he has little money left. He also offers to pay for their food, but the nuns will not let him. After they leave, Holden wishes he had given them more money.
The entire incident with the nuns brings out a new characteristic in Holden. He openly identifies with an underdog. The people on the margins, like himself, are a source of concern and sympathy for him. He is touched by the poverty of the nuns and their cheap suitcases and gives them ten dollars, even though he is not a religious boy. When he discusses Romeo and
Juliet with the nun, Holden’s sympathy is for Mercutio, a minor character and underdog in the play. Holden also remembers Dick Slagle, his Elton Hills roommate who had shabby suitcases.
In order not to embarrass him with his expensive suitcases, Holden generously hides his own under his bed. Everything about Holden seem to cry out against inequality, injustice, and hypocrisy, even when he is just having a polite conversation in a train station with a nun.
It is important to notice that Holden’s cowardice is again depicted in this chapter. He will not call for room service because he is afraid that Maurice might bring him the food. He wants to call Jane, but does not have enough courage to dial her number. His generosity is also shown.

Although he cannot afford it, he gives the nuns ten dollars; after they leave, he wished he had given more.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 16
Summary
Holden finishes his breakfast around noon and decides to take a walk since he has two hours to spare before his date with Sally Hayes. While he is walking, Holden cannot help but think about the nuns and their collection basket. This sets him off imagining what his mother, aunt, and "Sally Haye’s crazy mother" would do if they were given the job of collecting money for charity.
Holden has no particular direction in mind, but finds himself walking toward Broadway and decides to stop by a record store and buy a record for Phoebe. He wants to get her a rare record called ‘Little Shirley Beans’ by "this colored girl singer, Estelle Fletcher". On his way,
Holden comes across "this family that you could tell just come out of some church", and the little boy attracts Holden’s attention. The boy is walking behind his parents, who are obviously poor. But the boy is happy and sings to himself. In fact, his carefree attitude and song even help to dispel some of Holden’s depression.
Holden enters a store and buys the record he wants to take Phoebe. Then he goes to a nearby drugstore to give Jane Gallagher a call. This time he really does call her house, but hangs up without asking for her because her mother answers the phone. Holden then buys a newspaper, checks to see what is playing, and buys tickets for "I Know My Love". It is a show he has little interest in seeing, but he thinks Sally Hayes will love it.
Next, Holden takes a taxi up to Central Park to look for Phoebe and give her the record.
Though Phoebe often visits Central Park, she is not there, so Holden starts walking toward the
Museum of Natural History, reminiscing about past trips he has made there. When he arrives, he changes his mind about going in. Instead, he hails a taxi and heads for the Biltmore to meet Sally Hayes.
Notes
At the beginning of the chapter, Holden cannot stop thinking about the nuns, one of whom reminds him of Mrs. Morrow. This is probably because Mrs. Morrow and the nun are the only two people with whom Holden has had real conversation since he left Pencey Prep. All other attempts at communication--with the taxi drivers, the three secretaries at the bar, and the prostitute--have failed miserably.
Holden seems most comfortable in the world of children. He believes all of them are like
Phoebe, honest and unpretentious--never phony. It is obvious that Holden is crazy about his little sister. He wants to buy her the record because he instinctively knows she will like it. As soon as it is purchased, he wants to find Phoebe in the park and give it to her. When he cannot find his sister, Holden asks a little girl in Central Park who knows Phoebe if she would like to join him for a hot chocolate. He also helps two mismatched children play on the seesaw. In spite of his kindnesses, the children act like they do not want Holden around. Even these innocent beings reject him; he does not belong once again.
Holden also watches a young boy walking on the curb behind his parents. The child is singing to himself, and the song goes "if a body catch a body coming through the rye". This child’s

happiness has a cheering effect on Holden, probably because he has always liked the song about the rye. Later, he will confess to Phoebe that he has always thought of himself as the catcher in the rye--a person who protects children from the adult world.
Holden is heading for the natural history museum, reminiscing about past visits there when he was young. What he liked best then, and still likes, is the permanence of the exhibits, the way the Indian in the display has always caught two fish and is about to catch a third. The only thing that changes, Holden reflects, is the people who go there. Holden wonders if Phoebe thinks of this and wonders if she feels changes in herself the way he feels them inside him.
When Holden finally arrives at the museum, he discovers he no longer wants to go inside. He gets in a cab and goes to find Sally, losing an opportunity to see the differences in himself reflected by the exhibits in the museum.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 17
Summary
Holden is early for his date with Sally, so he waits for her and indulges in a bit of girl watching.
Sally arrives ten minutes late, but since she is looking extremely nice, Holden decides not to be upset with her. They watch the play for which Holden has bought tickets, and he reluctantly admits the show is not bad. Afterward, Sally suggests they go ice skating at Radio City, mostly because she wants to rent one of those little skating skirts to show off her legs. However, both
Holden and she are miserable skaters, and they finally retreat to the bar for cokes. While having refreshments, Holden is suddenly roused from his depression with the thought of running away. He asks Sally to go with him, but she dismisses his idea, thinking he is being weird. They fight and Sally leaves with hurt feelings.
Notes
This chapter shows Holden in an extremely agitated frame of mind; he insists he is "crazy" and repeatedly says, "I am a madman". Although Holden is able to state this, he is unable to see what prompts his strange behavior. He cannot understand that his need for companionship has driven him to near desperation.
As they have cokes, Holden suddenly decides he wants to run and away and invites Sally to go with him. He feels animated and excited at the prospect of the two of them together. Sally, however, does not even realize Holden’s seriousness when he proposes his plan. She responds with a typically safe, practical, middle-class approach, suggesting that they can do all of what
Holden wants, but in the correct order and after they have finished with college. Holden is devastated to hear her practical response. In his near hysterical state of mind, he calls Sally a
"pain in the ass". Quite naturally Sally is hurt, and the afternoon is ruined.
The real tragedy of this scene is that for a moment Holden thinks he has found the answer to his problem, thinks he has made a human connection, and feels there is hope. Unfortunately, as much as he tries to convince himself that Sally understands him and as much as he tries to think she should go with him, she is as far away from his emotional state as she can be. She does not understand Holden, which frustrates him even more. He feels he is so close to the solution, and in his frustration at discovering he is not, he strikes out and hurts the one person in the story who cares about Holden.

CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 18
Summary
After Sally leaves, Holden realizes he is hungry and goes into a drugstore to buy a Swiss cheese sandwich and a malted milk. While in the drugstore, he decides to give Jane Gallagher another call. Since he is free all evening, he thinks it would be nice to get together with her, but she is not home. Holden then goes through his entire address book looking for someone to call. Finally he decides to call Carl Luce, his academic advisor from the Whooten School. He arranges to meet Carl for a drink at ten o’clock. Holden does not particularly like Carl, but says he is in the mood for some intellectual conversation. Holden then decides to see a movie to pass the time. Holden enjoys neither the movie nor the Christmas special presented beforehand. He leaves the cinema and seems dissatisfied with all of mankind.
Notes
Holden does not appear particularly upset over the failure of his date with Sally. In fact, he decides to get together with Jane Gallagher. When he calls her, she is not home. More out of boredom than anything else, Holden calls Carl Luce, a guy he admits he does like very much;
Holden says it is because he is in the mood for intelligent conversation, but in reality it seems there is no one else Holden can think of who might agree to see him. Carl, for his part, is too busy to dine with Holden, but agrees to get together for a quick drink.
In the meantime, Holden goes to see a movie and spouts some more of his philosophy about movies and phonies. A woman in the theater cries throughout the movie, which would seem to indicate she is tenderhearted; but Holden has seen her ignore her small child’s pleas to go to the bathroom and knows that she is not a kind-hearted lady. She is just another phony in a cruel world. As Holden leaves the theater, he thinks about war, since the film seems to deal with the subject. He believes that Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell To Arms falls into the same mushy kind of sentimental category that the film does, for it romanticizes war in a phony way.
He does not understand how D.B. or anyone else can appreciate such supposed works of art or even compare them to really great works like The Great Gatsby. Holden decides that romance and the Christmas spirit are two of the worst instances of phoniness. When he leaves the cinema, he is feeling even more depressed.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 19
Summary
Holden is to meet Carl Luce at the Wicker Bar, which is in a very nice hotel. The bar often features Tina and Janine, who sing silly songs in French and English. Holden recalls that they are not very talented, but that everyone in the bar gets all excited about the duo. The thought of their phoniness, naturally, bothers Holden.
Holden arrives at the Wicker Bar early and manages to find a seat even though it is crowded.
While he waits, Holden drinks scotch and sodas and watches some gay guys at the bar. He begins to think about sex, a subject that he expects he will have lots to talk about with Carl

Luce. Carl arrives and begins to drink. He seems bored and anxious to leave. At several points in the conversation, he tells Holden to grow up and quit being so childish. Holden persists in talking about sex even though Carl seems uninterested. Once again, as with Sally, Holden grows excited while talking and has to be told to lower his volume. When Carl is ready to leave, Holden pleads with him to stay a little longer. Carl, however, has had enough of Holden.
As he departs he suggests that Holden should be psychoanalyzed.
Notes
The opening of this chapter seems to be a repetition of Holden’s earlier remarks about the selling of talent and the difference between real art and popular art. When he remembers the duo that sometimes sing at the Wicker Bar, he thinks about the phoniness of their performance and the audience’s response. It is interesting to note that Holden is very quick to condemn the patrons of the places he himself chooses to go; it is like he is condemning himself. On the other hand, since he chooses to go places where it always seems "the phonies are coming in the window", it is possible that Holden’s depression stems from not finding any place free of phoniness.
Though Holden looks forward to Carl’s arrival, it is mostly out of extreme boredom. He does not like Carl, but usually enjoys his stories about his sexual escapades. Holden acts as if he has learned all he knows about sex from Carl. By the time his friend arrives, Holden has abandoned any thought of "intellectual conversation" in favor of a frank discussion of sex; but
Carl is not interested in talking about sex on this night. As a result, what little conversation they have is halting and uncomfortable.
Carl reveals to Holden that his father is a psychoanalyst. Holden asks Carl about being analyzed, and Carl says it seems to help a person understand himself. Carl, however, has no understanding of Holden. Since he does not recognize Holden’s desperation, Carl gets ready to leave. Holden begs him to stay and states, "I’m lonesome as hell." Carl does not seem to care.
When he suggests Holden undergo psychoanalysis, it is not given as friendly advice, but stated in annoyance and without the remotest shred of human concern. Holden has been rejected one more time.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 20
Summary
Holden remains at the Wicker Bar, getting drunk. A singer named Valencia, accompanied by some "flitty looking guy with wavy hair," is performing. Holden prefers Valencia to Tina and
Janine and asks the headwaiter to invite her to join him for a drink. Either the waiter does not give her the message or she is not interested, because she exits quickly when her act is finished.
In his drunken stupor, Holden begins once again to pretend he is wounded in the stomach; he keeps putting his hand under his jacket to prevent the bleeding. He decides again to call Jane, but phones Sally Hayes instead. She is not pleased with his phone call in the middle of the night and, realizing he is drunk, tells him to go home and go to bed. Before leaving the bar,
Holden soaks his head in a basin full of cold water to sober up.
Once outside, Holden starts walking toward Central Park to see for himself whether the ducks are safely taken care of. He has some trouble finding the duck pond, even though he knows

this part of the park very well. When he finally reaches the lagoon, the ducks are gone, which makes Holden think about death. He decides he wants to see Phoebe and makes his way towards home.
Notes
Holden remains in the Wicker Bar for a while after Carl leaves getting increasingly drunk because he is lonely and has nowhere to go. He playacts the gangster scene in his head, imagining Jane coming to nurse his wounds. He even calls Sally, in spite of the hour, and tells her Rocky’s mob has gotten him. It becomes increasingly clear that Holden is on a downward spiral, gathering momentum as he falls. When he reaches the lagoon, he discovers that the ducks do indeed have somewhere to go, for they are absent; he, however, belongs nowhere.
Holden, sinking further into his depression, thinks about contracting pneumonia and dying.
While Holden is imaging his own death, he does not want to suffer the torturous experience of a burial ceremony; he hopes that "somebody has sense enough to just dump (him) in the river or something". He does not like the idea of being in a cold and dark cemetery
"surrounded by dead guys with visitors coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday." Holden remembers visiting Allie’s grave when it was raining; he hated it that Allie had to stay there when everyone else ran for cover and continued living their normal lives.
Though Holden is desperately low on money, he skips his remaining change across the water of the duck pond; it is a sign that he is no longer thinking about the future or his own survival.
This action, coupled with his thoughts on death, seem to indicate an increasingly troubled and dangerous state of mind. Finally, Holden decides to see Phoebe one last time before he dies.
Though he has previously stayed away from home out of guilt, shame, and dread of his parents’ reaction to his latest expulsion, he cannot resist the urge to see to Phoebe. He knows her presence will comfort him.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 21
Summary
Holden arrives at the apartment building and believes he has had "the best break in years" because the elevator boy is a substitute who does not recognize him. Holden makes up a silly lie, which ends up confusing the elevator boy enough that he lets Holden up without asking too many questions. Fortunately, Holden has the house key and makes a tiptoed journey through the apartment to Phoebe’s room. When she is not in her bed, Holden remembers that she sometimes sleeps in D.B.’s room. He finds her sleeping soundly and watches for awhile.
Before he wakes her, Holden sits down at the desk and reads one of her school notebooks.
As expected, Phoebe is thrilled to see him. She tells him about all the recent happenings in her life. Holden listens with a great deal of care and affection and is happy just to be with her. She tells Holden their parents are at a party in Connecticut and will not be home until late.
Suddenly she realizes Holden is home from Pencey earlier than he should be and asks if he has been kicked out again. Holden tries to lie his way out of the situation, but Phoebe sees through him and gets upset. She covers her head with a pillow and refuses to talk to him.
Notes

All day long, Holden has been wanting to see Phoebe; he even tried to find her in Central Park.
Now that he is finally in the same room, he lovingly watches her sleep and looks at her schoolwork before he wakes her. It is like he is trying to be a part of her world and reestablish his connection with her. At the same time, Phoebe is obviously a calming influence that brings out Holden’s sensitive nature. After she is awake, he listens to her report of daily activities with almost reverential awe. He even says, "I felt swell, for a change . I didn’t even feel like I was getting pneumonia or anything anymore." Holden has assured the reader all along that Phoebe understands him best, so this meeting is highly important and emotionally charged, a key scene in the continuing development of Holden’s emotional breakdown.
Phoebe is thrilled to see her brother, and they converse as equals, with mutual affection for one another. Holden shows Phoebe the broken record he and bought her. She tells him she will save the pieces for sentimental. Holden is touched by her kindness, and in a manner typical to him, he can only say "she kills me".
Unfortunately, all the hope Holden has banked on this very important meeting quickly gives way to tremendous disappointment. Phoebe guesses that Holden has been expelled again and gets very upset. She refuses to talk to Holden, burying her head beneath a pillow and yelling
"Daddy’ll kill you." It is an unexpected affirmation that Holden is a failure, and this rejection is by far the most shattering blow to an already Holden’s already devastated ego. He has believed all along that Phoebe will understand what no one else seems to and that Phoebe will accept him for what he is. When she turns her head away, Holden is defeated, and the novel will rapidly spiral to his total breakdown.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 22
Summary
Holden tries to coax Phoebe out of her anger, but she is too disappointed. She knows that the family will once again be thrown into chaos with the news of Holden’s most recent expulsion.
Each time Holden tries to steer the conversation away from his actions, Phoebe draws him back in. Finally, Phoebe challenges Holden to name any one thing that he really likes, and asks him what he would like to become. After some thought Holden tells her that he wants to be the catcher in the rye. Phoebe’s response after a long silence is, "Daddy’s going to kill you".
Holden says he does not care; then goes into the living room to call Mr. Antolini, his English teacher from Elkton Hills.
Notes
Holden manages to coax Phoebe into talking to him again, but she insists they talk about his problems. Holden tells her not to worry; he is going to go out west and live on a ranch.
Phoebe reminds him practically that he cannot even ride a horse. She adds insult to injury by saying, "I suppose you failed every subject again" and inquires as to why. Holden cries out in anguish, "Oh God, Phoebe, don’t ask me. I’m sick of everybody asking me that." Up to this point, however, only Mr. Spencer has asked Holden these questions. His outcry suggests that he has been asking himself the same question over and again.
Holden goes off on a tangent. He tells Phoebe that artificiality has penetrated to the very core of human beings, so that even Mr. Spencer, in order to keep his job, would "practically kill himself chuckling and smiling" when Thurmer interrupted his lectures with "corny jokes". It is the fact that this artificiality abounds in society that troubles Holden. While Stradlater and

Maurice are the more obvious symbols of brutality, thoughtlessness and insensitivity are inherent to all the people Holden comes in contact with.
Holden wants to protect children, like Phoebe, from the insensitivity. When he says he wants to be the catcher in the rye, he is saying he wants to protect the innocent children playing and enjoying their youth. He tells Phoebe that when he hears the song about the catcher in the rye, he imagines children playing in a field, innocent and free. But somewhere in that field there is a cliff, and sooner or later, the children will come near the cliff. Holden wants to catch them, keep them from falling off the field. He believes that is his calling to be the catcher, to be their protector. Obviously, since the title comes from this scene, there is symbolic meaning behind Holden’s words. The rye field becomes a symbol for the freedom and purity of childhood. Holden wants to shield the children from the hidden cliff, which symbolizes the cruel realities of the adult world. Children are not phonies; they live and love without artifice and ulterior motives. Holden wants to be a part of that world, not the grown-up world of pretension and cruelty.
Phoebe, ever the realist, points out that Holden has misquoted Burns, for the poem goes, "If a body meet a body coming through the rye", not "if a body catch a body." Her correction suggests that Holden’s goal is unrealistic and impossible, because he does not even know what the song means. Phoebe, his little sister, also understands and accepts that everyone must change. No one can stay in the rye field forever.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 23
Summary
Holden’s phone conversation with Mr. Antolini is very brief, for he is afraid his parents may return any moment and find him at home. Mr. Antolini quite nicely invites Holden to come over even though it is late at night. Holden rushes back to the room and discovers that Phoebe has turned on the radio. He asks if she would like to dance, and she jumps out of bed eagerly.
After a while, when they are resting, Phoebe hears their parents come in and hurriedly switches off the light. Holden puts out his cigarette and hides in the closet. Their mother comes into the room to check on Phoebe, and Phoebe, to protect her brother, lies and says she has been smoking. When their mother finally leaves, Holden comes out of the closet. He tells Phoebe he is going and asks her to loan him some money. She willingly hands over all her Christmas money and Holden quite unexpectedly begins to cry. His tears flow for a long time, and when he finally stops, he sneaks out of the house.
Notes
Dancing seems to be an important activity for Holden. Earlier in the novel, he speaks about the various types of dancers and how he enjoys dancing with someone who can keep in step with him. It is not surprising then that Holden suggests that he and Phoebe dance to the music that is playing on the radio. Though dancing in the middle of the night seems strange, it is an experience that pleases both brother and sister. Despite the difference in age and height, they seem to move well together; while they are dancing, they are on similar wavelengths, just as when they are in conversation. The whole experience is soothing and enjoyed for
Holden. For the first time in the novel, he momentarily feels connected, no longer alone. It cannot last, however, for Holden’s parents will soon be home.
This chapter is the third in a series that shows the close bond between Holden and Phoebe.
Throughout the novel, Holden has spoken of his love and admiration for Phoebe. Now the

reader sees it returned. Phoebe is even willing to lie for her brother, telling her mother that she was smoking in her room. When Holden tells Phoebe he needs money, she immediately gives up her Christmas fund. Phoebe loves Holden, and he knows it. Still her expressions of love touch Holden deeply.
At the end of the chapter, Holden almost wishes his parents would catch him sneaking out, though he does not have the courage to face them and explain on his own. Holden probably senses that he is breaking apart and needs to be caught.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES
CHAPTER 24
Summary
Feeling dizzy, Holden takes a taxi to Mr. Antolini’s house. Mr. Antolini asks Holden what is troubling him and why he has failed again. Holden begins an explanation, hoping that Mr.
Antolini will understand. Antolini, however, is full of advice and does not give the compassion and acceptance Holden seeks and needs. Holden grows tired of the advice and wants the conversation to end. When he yawns, Mr. Antolini stops talking and helps Holden make his bed. The exhausted boy drops off to sleep almost immediately. He wakes in the night to find
Mr. Antolini stroking his forehead. Holden interprets the gesture as something perverse. He panics and decides to leave immediately, telling Mr. Antolini that he has forgotten to collect his suitcases from the locker at Grand Central Station.
Notes
Holden tells the reader that Mr. Antolini has been the best teacher he has ever had, referring not only to his academic qualities but his worth as a person. In the previous chapter, Holden thinks about a young boy at Elkton Hills who committed suicide by jumping out a window. The boy’s broken body lay on the ground below until Mr. Antolini came along and covered the boy with his coat, then "carried him all the way to the infirmary. He didn’t even give a damn if his coat got all bloody." Mr. Antolini possesses compassion and caring that Holden finds quite wonderful. It is only natural that Holden looks to him for help when he needs it most. That is why Holden calls him in the middle of the night and asks to see him. Holden feels certain this man will understand and accept him for who he is.
Holden thinks about Mr. Antolini’s influence on D.B. This man recognized that D.B. had talent and tried to keep him from going to Hollywood, where talent is wasted. To Holden, Mr. Antolini is not merely an intellectual, but somebody who is sensitive and moral, not phony.
When Holden arrives at the Antolini residence, he expects to be understood. He believes this great man will see his point of view, but instead Holden is given a very academic lecture about how brilliance and creativity are fueled by education and scholarship. While Mr. Antolini has correctly analyzed Holden’s trouble, his response to it is theoretical, practical advice from the head. What Holden needs is acceptance and understanding heart. Mr. Antolini just make
Holden feel more rejected.
It is especially tragic when Holden wakes to find Mr. Antolini touching him in a manner that seems perverse. What was supposed to be his safest haven filled with compassion has become something shameful and dirty. Once again, Holden is on his own.
CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES

CHAPTER 25
Summary
It is in the early hours of Monday morning when Holden returns Grand Central Station. He decides to sleep on one of the benches in the waiting room because he has nowhere else to go. He wakes around nine, as the hustle and bustle of the working day begins. He thinks about the night before and the incident with Mr. Antolini; he wonders if he has misinterpreted
Antolini’s touch. Disturbed by these though, he tries to think of something else. He reads a magazine someone has left behind. It is some kind of health magazine, however, and Holden gets more depressed, certain he has cancer and is dying.
Holden decides to go out and buy himself an inexpensive breakfast. He does not want to spend too much of Phoebe’s money. Since his stomach is upset, he just drinks coffee. He leaves the train station and walks out to Fifth Avenue. All around him, people seem to be in the Christmas spirit, which is depressing to Holden. He begins to imagine he is disappearing, becoming invisible. He thinks the distance it takes to cross the street keeps growing and fears he will never reach the other side; it is like a death dream. He then begins to talk to his dead brother, asking him to help him cross the street. Each time Holden makes it across another street, he thanks Allie.
After a while, Holden sits down on a bench to formulate a plan of action. He decides he will hitchhike "way out west". However, he decides to meet Phoebe one last time and say goodbye. He goes to her school and delivers a note asking her to meet him in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art for lunch. Since he has nothing else to do, he goes to the museum to wait.
While Holden waits, he meets two young boys and helps them locate the display of Egyptian mummies. The tomb-like structure makes Holden ill, and he goes to the bathroom and faints.
Once he revives, he goes out to wait for Phoebe. She is twenty minutes late, but she is no longer mad. In fact, she shows up with a suitcase, announcing her intention to go with Holden.
He scolds her and tells her no, which makes her sulk. Finally, Holden convinces her he will not leave. He takes her to the zoo, and they end up at the carousel. Holden watches as she rides the carousel over and over, bringing the action of the novel to an end.
Your browser does not support the IFRAME tag.
Notes
At the beginning of this chapter, Holden is re-thinking the scene with Mr. Antolini. He questions whether his judgement of Mr. Antolini was premature and wonders if it is possible that the touch was a harmless gesture of paternal affection. He thinks he probably should have returned to Mr. Antolini’s house after he retrieved his luggage. This self-doubt illustrates a change in Holden; throughout the novel he has quickly made moral judgments about everyone and everything. The change, however, does not indicate that Holden is getting better. Instead, he begins to seriously believe that he has cancer and is going to die within a few months, simply because he has had an ulcer in his mouth for two weeks. This fear of death turns into paranoia as he begins to think he is disappearing. He beings to talk to Allie, begging for help, in a manner typically associated with psychological disorders like schizophrenia. Holden appears to be deteriorating at an alarming pace.
While Holden is walking, he comes across two men unloading a Christmas tree off a truck. One of them says repeatedly, "Hold the sonuvabitch up; Hold it up, for chrissake. This provokes a

bitter laugh from Holden who thinks "it certainly was a gorgeous way to talk about a
Christmas tree". There is bitter irony in the scene where something special and related to
Christmas is so easily profaned. It is a harsh world.
Holden sees profanity as phony and wants to eliminate from the world; therefore, he takes it upon himself to erase the offensive graffiti from the school stairway and halls. Everywhere he sees obscene words written, he tries to clean them up with the attention and commitment of an obsessed or compulsive person. He thinks about Phoebe and other children seeing the words, a vision that infuriates him. By cleaning the walls, he thinks he has become the catcher in the rye, shielding the children from the brink of corruption. But there are too many obscenities painted and carved into the walls. Holden is forced to accept the fact that he cannot catch everyone or everything or clean up all the graffiti.
Faced with the inescapable fact that he cannot be the catcher in the rye, Holden tries to picture himself living away from sick society. He definitely decides to go out west and imagines himself in a little cabin somewhere far away from everyone. D.B. and Phoebe may visit him, but only under strict observance of the rule "that nobody (can) do anything phony when they visit". Before he leaves town, Holden feels he has to see Phoebe and say good-bye.
He goes to her school and leaves a note, telling her to meet him for lunch at the Museum of
Natural History. While waiting for her, he goes down into the Egyptian tomb at the museum.
At first he feels a certain peace that comforts him; but then he associates the peace with death, which upsets him. Then he notices graffiti even in the tomb. He feels overwhelmed and barely makes it to the bathroom before he faints. When he recovers, he goes up to meet
Phoebe.
When Phoebe arrives, she proves her love for Holden. She is twenty minutes late for their meeting because she has gone home and packed her suitcase. She announces to her brother her plan to accompany him out west. Holden scolds her harshly, partly because he is shocked and partly because he is still a little sick. Instantly he is sorry for his harshness; he decides to make it up to her by taking her to the zoo and carousel in Central Park and promising her that he will not go away. The action of the novel ends with Holden watching his beloved sister ride round and round on the carousel; it is the symbol of his spinning world.
CHAPTER 26
Summary
Holden is speaking to the analyst in the rest home, saying that he cannot say much more because it is irrelevant. He predicts he will be discharged soon, and he will be attending a different school next September. Holden somewhat regrets having discussed his private experiences with so many people, because in a way he misses the people he has spoken of.
Hence, he ends with a dictum "Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody".
Notes
Holden’s flashback sequence is brought to a close, and this chapter returns to the present with
Holden in the rest home. He says he has been psychoanalyzed and has "rested". He still feels, however, that he does not understand himself, does not quite know what the truth is. He also still feels lonely and alienated and seeks love and acceptance. The reader is left to wonder if
Holden Caulfield ever finds happiness.

In terms of the narrative, this chapter completes the frame that was begun in chapter one.
The novel has come full cycle, and the plot is completed; the reader is left with the impression that a "whole" story has been told. This final chapter is an anticlimax, because the real action of the novel ended the chapter before. But a sense of closure and completeness is given here, even though Salinger does not answer all the questions about his protagonist, Holden
Caulfield.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield is characterized as a young, impulsive, self-declared loner. He does not fit in anywhere, often not even trying to find a place for himself. He keeps failing in traditional roles: he has been sent away to school, probably because he is a difficult son; he flunks out of school after school, because he refuses to do his work or try; and he is liked by no one and has no real friends, male or female, because he is strange and isolates himself. From the beginning of the story, his lack of acceptance makes him feel alienated; in turn, he is angry, dissatisfied, and frustrated. Holden seeks to place the blame for his misery on outside people and things, which he normally judges as phony. He longs for honesty and integrity, but he seems to be the only authentic person he knows. He longs for connection, but no one understands him. He blames the world, with its phoniness and insensitivity, for bringing him down.
Running away from still another school, Pencey Prep, Holden spends time alone in New York
City, where he meets with one defeat after another. He is unable to perform with a prostitute, is beaten up by a pimp, is laughed at and rejected by his date Sally. When he goes home to see Phoebe, the one person he has always felt he could count on, she even questions Holden.
Holden’s search for meaning becomes a tragedy as he realizes over and over again that he will never find what he is a looking for. He is an idealist clinging to a vision of a society that he will never find. He is a loner looking for human connection that he will never find.
Holden is a tragic hero, not in the classic sense, but because he is a troubled teenager who cannot seem to do anything right in the eyes of a phony society or find a place where he can fit in. His downfall is not from some tragic flaw in his being or some low moral characteristic.
In fact, Salinger portrays him as a sensitive youth that adores his little sister and treasures the baseball mitt of his dead brother. Although he is not religious, and even calls himself an atheist, he tries to pray and cares about the downtrodden and the underdog. He donates ten dollars to two nuns when he sees their shabby suitcases and then feels bad that he did not give them more, even though he is practically broke himself. In a desperate act, he tries personally to eradicate all the graffiti in New York City, so the children will not have to see the obscenities. In fact, when Phoebe questions him about what he wants to become in life,
Holden says he wants to be "the catcher in the rye," protecting the children from falling off the cliff into a world of misery and phoniness. It is clear to see that Holden’s downfall happens because he is unrealistic about himself and the world.
Holden as an Antihero
Holden can really be best defined as a modern day antihero. He is pictured as a weakling, easily beaten up by Stradlater and Maurice, who leave him bleeding and crying on the floor.
He is pictured as a coward, who is afraid to go in a club when he sees two tough guys coming out and afraid to call Jane Gallagher because her parents might answer the phone. He is a failure, who flunks out of school and has no friends. Throughout the novel, Salinger shows
Holden to be exposed and vulnerable time and time again. It is truly a pathetic picture, a

teenager with no self-confidence and no direction who can find no place for himself in the world. Everything about Holden Caulfield is antiheroic.
PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
The basic structure of The Catcher in the Rye follows the picaresque framework of episodic narration. The picaresque narrative derives its name from the Spanish ‘picaro’, meaning rogue, and its typical story concerns the escapades of the hero. Picaresque fiction is realistic in manner, and often satiric in aim. Examples of such literature are Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones,
Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The Catcher in the Rye can be compared with the above works because its structural framework is a first person narrative that centers around a single individual whose loosely strung escapades are connected by the fact that they are events in the life of the protagonist and develop the same theme of loneliness and isolation.
There is a slight variation from the picaresque tradition in the novel, because Holden’s escapades are not so much adventures as ‘mis-adventures’, the cumulative effect of which leads him to a sanitarium. While there is no dramatic change in Holden’s personality nor has he reached a complete understanding of himself or the reasons for his breakdown, the reader can still detect a certain change of attitude in the young man while he is in the sanitarium.
Holden the narrator, as opposed to Holden the picaresque hero, realizes his own failings from a retrospective stance. When Holden, upset with Sally’s rebuff, tells her "you give me a royal pain in the ass," he also laughs at her. In retrospect, Holden is able to see his own fault in that failure and says, "All of a sudden I did something I shouldn’t have. I laughed."
The novel is held together by tight time and place constraints. The events in the body of the novel take place within four days, basically in New York City. A single character, the protagonist Holden Caulfield, is central to all the action. Holden is also the center of the frame narrative, which takes place in an unnamed place in California. The frame begins after
Holden’s breakdown sometime in December and ends sometime before the following
September. All of the action in the book is given in a series of flashbacks from Holden’s point of view.
Even though Holden’s story is told by him in retrospect, the plot is filled with rising action, leading to the climatic event of his breakdown. The first Chapter serves as an introduction to the main character and his basic problems. The next twenty-four Chapters present Holden’s misadventures, which comprise the rising action of the plot. Each misadventure, or episode, has its own miniclimax leading to a defeat for Holden that is increasingly more traumatic than the last. After each tragic misadventure, Holden feels more rejected and isolated than ever.
Since Holden’s total breakdown is not presented in the book, making the reader imagine the actual climax of the plot, there is also no falling action. The final Chapter, the closing of the frame narrative, serves as the conclusion.
The novel is written in a realistic manner, and the character of the city of New York is accurately represented as a metaphor for the increasingly commercial world, devoid of feelings. In this respect, the novel might be considered satiric in nature since it is about the loss of human connectedness. A perfect example of this is when Holden tries to call Jane but is unable to because " the phone didn’t answer". At the end of the novel, the plot has not reached a satisfactory resolution, for Holden’s quest for connectedness has been fruitless; he has not found a home, a place to belong. He has sought ideal love and acceptance, but at the end of his journey, he is not at peace. Instead, he is in an asylum undergoing a "rest cure".
The reader is left to wonder if Holden will ever find a place to belong.
Though the plot of the novel is driven by the quest motif and the protagonist undergoes a journey, which is both actual and metaphorical, Holden never finds his "holy grail." Neither is

his quest noble or heroic. Instead, Holden experiences a series of misadventures each leaving him to feel more rejected and lonely than before.
THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS
The Catcher in the Rye is concerned with the theme of alienation faced by the individual in an ever-changing environment. Salinger portrays the world as a place where basic human values of affection and compassion are being replaced by a love of money and power, known by the middle class as "success". Holden is an idealist clinging to a world that no longer exists.
The Catcher in the Rye is a novel that exposes the loneliness and insanity inherent in modern day existence. Holden’s confusion is blamed on the demented world he inhabits. Salinger presents the pathetic condition of the world through the imagery of falling. The metaphor of the Fall is introduced by Holden when he talks about his vision of being a catcher in the rye, preventing innocence from falling over "some crazy cliff" into the reality of life. Ironically,
Holden is unable to prevent his own fall, which looms large over him. Even Mr. Antolini warns him that he is heading for "a terrible, terrible fall .... a horrible kind", where he will not be permitted "to feel or hear himself hit bottom". Holden wants desperately to be caught, but there is no one around to catch him.
It is essential to note that after Holden falls, he is given help at the sanitarium and some glimmer of hope is seen for him. It is not clear, however, whether he will be able to leave his idealistic notions behind. At least he is preparing himself to go to a new school and start again. It is symbolically relevant that Holden’s fall occurs at the end of the year, during
Christmas, and that the narrative leaves the reader with the possible hope of a new beginning, a fresh year for Holden Caulfield.
AUTHOR'S STYLE
Salinger presents The Catcher in the Rye through a first person point of view; however, the narrator, Holden Caulfield, is not wholly reliable in his understanding and reporting of events.
First he is a youth, a young boy of sixteen who does not have much experience in living.
Second, he is extremely depressed during the four days he is on his own in New York, and his mood colors everything. Third, Holden tells his story through flashbacks, and memory is never perfect. Because of these things, the reader has to make some assumptions and perform some interpretation on the story.
As opposed to an omniscient narrator, Holden Caulfield is a naive narrator. He is still a teenager, an innocent child, as evidenced in the scene with the prostitute. As a result of his innocence, the reader and the people surrounding Holden often see and understand more than he does, creating many moments of dramatic irony. Since Holden is looking for himself, seeking a place to fit into life, he tells about things that happen to him, without any comprehension. Even when he has moments of truth, he is often unable to articulate his thoughts because of his youth and depression. As a result, Holden evokes a strong sense of pathos as he desperately searches for and misses the meaning of life.
Holden’s fumbling, halting speech adds authenticity to his character. Salinger presents him as a realistic teenager, given to digressions and obscenities typical of a boy his age. The swearing, however, is not employed by Salinger to show an attitude of daring, but to convey a deep-seated insecurity in his main character. Therefore, all of the language of the novel enhances thematic concerns as well as characterization. The result is that the reader fully understands Holden Caulfield and the trauma that he experiences.
HUMOR IN THE

Although The Catcher in the Rye is a depressing and gloomy book, there is also humor to be found in it. Much of the humor derives from the ridiculous situations that Holden finds himself in, especially when he interacts with strangers. Some of the lighter moments, however, border on ‘black humor’, a device often employed by writers to expose the absurdity of human existence. The perfect example of black humor is found in the men who were cursing as they unloaded the Christmas tree, even taking Christ’s name in vain. Holden recognizes the pathetic nature of the scene when he sarcastically says, "It certainly was a gorgeous way to talk about a Christmas tree." Such phrases and other special use of language add more humor to the story; and the reader is often forced to laugh at Holden’s frank, misguided, opinions.
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Would you define Holden Caulfield as the modern day tragic hero? Explain with examples from the text.
2. Discuss the relationship of Holden and Phoebe and show how Phoebe is the more realistic of the two.
3. Explain from where the title of the novel comes and what it means.
4. Explain five of the defeats that Holden endures in the course of the novel.
5. Show how the city of New York attains a character of its own.
6. How is the novel "framed" by the first and last Chapter? How does the frame affect the plot?
7. What is your understanding of the word "phony" from the reading of the text.
8. Do you consider Holden an atheist? Explain with sufficient examples from the text.
9. Do you agree with the view that Holden has a latent death wish? Why?
10. Comment on the language and style of the novel The Catcher in the Rye?
11. Why is it impossible for Holden to make contact especially in a physical\sexual form?
12. Discuss the thematic concerns of the novel and show their relation to the time in which the book was published.
13. Who would you judge to be the least phony character in the book and why?
14. Who would you judge to be the most phony character in the book and why?
15. What is the point of view in the novel and how does it affect the mood and the plot?