English 3201
The Catcher in the Rye
Chapter 1
1/ He wrote this terrific book of short stories…now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being
a prostitute.” (1-2)
Holden introduces the theme of phoniness through his comment upon his bother,
D.B.. He respected his brother when he was a “regular writer” (1) and called him “my
favourite writer.”(18) However, now that he writes for the movies, he thinks his
brother is a sellout and that is why he uses the term, “prostitute”. He sells
something that Holden views as sacred and personal – his unique and individual
talent to write – for a Jaguar that “damn near cost him four thousand bucks.”
2/ “Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few of these guys came from these very
wealthy families, but it was all full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is,
the more crooks it has…” (4)
Holden’s cynicism becomes apparent quite early in the novel. He always speaks in
extremes and generalities and his criticisms are just a way of Holden distancing
himself from a society he feels no part of and a society he feels no desire to be a part
of.
Chapter 2
1/ “The funny thing is, though, I was sort of thinking of something else while I shot
the bull.” (13)
Holden talks to Professor Spencer, who has just failed him in History, and Spencer is
trying to help Holden gain direction in his life. Holden pretends to listen but really
thinks of Spencer as a “nice old guy who didn’t know his ass from his elbow,” (8)
Holden hates being “surrounded by phonies” but readily admits he is “the most
terrific liar you ever saw.” (ch.3; 16)
2/ “…I just couldn’t hang around there any longer…his sad old bathrobe with his
chest showing…” (15)
Holden is disgusted by the lack of physical hygiene of so many characters in the
novel -Stradlater, Ackley and Spencer. His disgust with Spencer, Ackley and
Stradlater symbolizes his disgust with the world in general. Just as Holden loses his
innocence towards the world and the beauty that he saw in it in his youth
disappears, so too it is with people. The more you get to know people, the more
disillusioned you become by their flaws and imperfections. People, like the society
they inhabit, don’t hold up well to scrutiny and the dignity we attribute to them often
seems misplaced as we grow and lose our child-like naiveté and innocence. Holden
is openly disgusted with people and society because he uses self-imposed alienation
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to distance himself from a world that has let him down and, he finds, is nothing like
the world he believed in as a child. As we age, we often find our parents, our
teachers, our peers, our jobs, our mates to be nothing like the romantic naïve
preconceptions we hold on to for so long.
3/ “I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen
over.” (13)
The ducks and the frozen pond are two of the more important symbols or motifs in
the novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden’s curiosity about the ducks symbolizes his
child-like and innocent curiosity about the world in which he lives. It is an innocence
that is being rapidly striped away by a cold and “frozen” world that drives the ducks
south and Holden into emotional seclusion. The frozen pond symbolizes this cold,
cruel, unfeeling and unforgiving world. However, the fact that the ducks come back
every Spring suggests that this alienation does not have to be permanent. It is not
impossible for Holden to once again feel a part of the world that has cast him aside
and that he, in turn, is pushing aside for his own emotional well-being.
Chapter 3
1/ a) “Ackley…was about six four-with lousy teeth…I never even once saw him brush
his teeth. They always looked mossy and awful…Besides that, he had a lot of
pimples.” (19)
b) “[Ackley’s] ears were dirty as hell” and “he was always cleaning his fingernails.”
(22)
Ackley’s disgusting physical habits isolate him from the society that assaults him. He
and Holden are more alike than Holden would like to admit as is evident by the fact
that they are the only boys not at the football game. While Holden’s isolation is selfimposed by his cynicism, Ackley’s is created by his unattractive exterior. The end
result, however, is the same. Both characters are protected from the dangers of
intimacy and interaction by their retreat from the world they exist within. Again,
Ackley, like Spencer, symbolizes the unattractiveness of a world and the people in it
when both are scrutinized too closely. The fact that Holden openly states his disgust
of Ackley symbolizes his disgust with the world he has come to find is nothing like the
one he envisioned as a naïve innocent child. The fact that he tolerates Ackley and,
as can be seen throughout the book, tries his best to include him in activities with
others, shows how he recognizes himself in Ackley and recognizes his own desire for
some kind of connection to other humans.
2/ Holden “put on [his] new hat and sat down and started reading Out of Africa.”
(19) This is very ironic that Holden puts on this rather unusual red hunting hat
indoors but, despite how cold it is outside, does not wear it when he goes near the
football field or when he goes out to visit Spencer. This irony highlights the internal
conflict in Holden’s head. The hat, with its unusual appearance, is a symbol of
Holden’s desire to be an individual in a world that is all about conformity. When he
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wears it, he is asserting his individuality and his separateness from a world into
which he feels he does not fit. However, when he goes out in public, he does not
wear it. This is ironic because one would think it would be in public where Holden
would most want to assert his individuality. However, the fact that he only wears it
when he is alone suggests he is torn between asserting the uniqueness of his identity
and his desire for interaction and connection. When he goes out in public, as cynical
as he is, what he really wants is to connect to a world and the people in it. He only
pushes that world away because he fears the world will push him aside anyway.
Chapter 4
1/ “You remember what I said before that Ackley was a slob to his personal babits?
Well, so was Stradlater, but in a different way. Stradlater was more of a secret slob.
He always looked all right, Stradlater, but for instance, you should’ve seen the razor
he shaved himself with. It was alwys as rusty as hell and full of lathers and hair and
crap. He never cleaned it or anything. He always looked good when he finished
fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyway…” (27)
While Ackley is obvious in his lack of personal hygiene, Stradlater is a “secret slob”.
He is just as unattractive in so many ways as Ackley but, superficially, he is more
acceptable to the outside world. Either way, Stradlater is more of a “phony” than
Ackley because of the veneer of attractiveness he presents to the outside world. He
is preparing for a date with Jane Gallagher so it is apparent that he is one of the more
sexually experienced boys at Pencey and this theme of, the pressure of adolescent
sexuality, is beginning to be presented in the novel. This theme implies that being
sexually active as an adolescent involves being a fraud and a fake as sex comes not
from intimacy in a relationship but from the illusion of being the kind of person who
could be intimate or could be decent. This outward facade of attractiveness helps to
push this illusion to the forefront. Stradlater’s phoniness and lack of depth is
obvious when he tells Holden he is going on a date with “Jean” Gallagher when her
name is “Jane”. (31) He is only thinking of one thing with Jane and it is not emotional
intimacy or even sexual intimacy. It is just sex.
2/ “She wouldn’t move any of her kings. What she’d do, when she’d get a king, she
wouldn’t move it. She’d just leave it in the back row. She’d get them all lined up in
the back row. Then she’d never use them. She just liked the way they looked when
they were all in the back row.” (31-32)
Holden knows Jane and seems to care about her. The fact that he knows small but
intimate details about her, including how she likes to place her chess pieces and that
she is a ballet dancer that “used to practice about two hours every day” (31)
suggests an intimacy far beyond any that Stradlater is willing to attempt or that
Stradlater is capable of. All the while Holden is telling Stradlater this, all he is doing
is “combing his gorgeous locks” and then “parting his hair all over again. It took him
about an hour to comb his hair.” (32) When Holden says “I kept thinking about Jane
and Stradlater having a date with her and all. It made me so nervous I nearly went
crazy.” (34) he is revealing a lot about himself. He knows Stradlater is a “sexy
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[sexual] bastard” (34) and can’t bear the thought of Stradlater betraying his intimacy
with her and in reality, Holden’s innocence. It is yet one more blow to the romantic
and innocent view of something beautiful that Holden sees or once saw in the world
he now abhors. Ironically, despite Holden’s disgust of Stradlater, he is willing to write
an English paper for him even though he knows he is being used by Stradlater. It
highlights Holden’s desperation to form any kind of bond with any one. He tries to
please Stradlater while at the same time, despising him. He says “I might. I might
not” (28) but he knows he will simply to find any connection, no matter how
superficial and “phony”. That desperation disillusions and inwardly destroys a part of
him.
3/ When Stradlater notices his hat and comments upon it he “[takes] off [his] hat”
(29) even though he “still had [his] red hunting hat on” (27) indoors. He again wears
it as a symbol of his individuality and separateness, but in the company of others he
sacrifices that individuality to try and fit into a world he hates with people he loathes
but needs. The fact that Stradlater immediately asks Holden to write his English
composition immediately after noting how “sharp” the cap was, tells not only how
superficial and phony Stradlater is but how desperate Holden is to fit in.
Chapter 5
1/ “I and this friend of mine, Mal Brossard,…decided we’d take a bus…and have a
hamburger and maybe see a lousy movie. I asked Mal if he minded if Ackley came
along with us” (35-36)
Holden constantly recites Ackley’s imperfections including “sinus trouble, pimples,
lousy teeth, halitosis” and “crumby fingernails” but, still, he says “you had to feel a
little sorry for [him].” (39) This shows how Holden recognizes what it feels like to be
on the outside looking in and he has a certain level of empathy for Ackley.
Consequently, he wants to include Ackley in the night out to the movies. He wants to
give to Ackley what he doesn’t receive himself – acceptance and connection – and
at the same time he, himself, wants to connect in any way he can with somebody,
even if it is just Ackley. He highlights Ackley’s flaws as a way of rejecting him and,
thus, alienating himself from society as a form of self-protection. At the same time,
he wants to include Ackley as away of not being alienated. This contradictory and
conflicting set of emotions on Holden’s behalf, account for a mixture of cynicism and
compassion. He is at war with himself.
2/ “[Ackley] started picking at his pimples.” (37)
The constant emphasis on Ackley’s pimples highlights how society focuses on
exterior, physical flaws that are literally and figuratively only on the surface. Society
automatically rejects because of this superficiality and its own superficiality. Society
has no interest in looking beneath the surface and seeing what an individual is really
like. This superficiality of society and the people in it is what Holden hates and what
he views as “phony”. The pimples on the surface might also symbolize a lack of
substance with respect to Ackley’s inner character. He may very well be an
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individual of little depth or quality which is also a factor that leads to Holden’s
rejection of society as a whole. He finds so few in it worthy of seeking any
connection with.
3/ “After [Ackley] left, I put on…my old hunting hate.” (37)
Once again, Holden refuses to wear the symbol of his individuality – the red hunting
hat – in public. Like his cynicism, the hat helps him separate himself from society by
its uniqueness but, at the same time, his failure to put it on in public demonstrates
his desire to in some way, connect to a world he finds very, very cold indeed.
4/ Holden’s description of Allie’s baseball mitt is a way for Holden to stay connected
to his dead younger brother who died of leukemia. When he talks of Allie, it is not
with the same cynicism and disgust he views the rest of humankind. He sees Allie as
“fifty times as intelligent” as him and “the nicest, in lots of ways.” (38) Now we get a
sense, as a reader, for Holden’s desire to disconnect form society as a way of
protecting himself. When the people you love most disappear, it is hard to count on
other relationships to be ones you can trust in and count on for some form of
permanency. This anger over the loss Holden has suffered manifested itself in the
form of anger when he “broke all the windows in the garage…the night [Allie] died”
(39) but now it comes through in the form of Holden’s cynicism and contempt for the
world and the relationships he longs for but which ultimately end up being unfulfilling
and disappointing.
Chapter 6
1/ Stradlater returns home and voices his displeasure over Holden’s descriptive
essay on a baseball glove and was “sore as hell.” (41). The fact that Holden only did
it as a favour for Stradlater highlights how selfish Stradlater is and how desperate
Holden is to connect to anyone. For someone who is so obviously in tune with
Stradlater’s flaws, it is rather ironic that he would agree to do anything for him. He is
just trying to combat his isolation with some attempt, however feeble, at connection.
2/ “[Stradlater] was sitting on the edge of his bed, cutting his…toenails. (42) Like
Ackley’s pimples, Stradlater’s toenails may be a symbol of a deeper ugliness that he
possesses, in his case, his selfishness and vanity as he walks around “stroking his
bare chest.” (41) When Holden says, “You were always watching somebody cut their
damn toenails or squeeze their pimples” (42) he is really saying “you were always
watching some superficial, selfish and morally ugly individual who never lives up to
what you hope he or she may possibly be.”
3/ “I told him he thought he could give the time to anybody he felt like. I told him he
didn’t even care if a girl kept all her kings in the back row or not… [he doesn’t] even
know if her first name is Jean or Jane.” (44)
Holden despises Stradlater for being able to have sex (“give the time to”) with Jane
(who Holden cares deeply about) but lacks the capacity for any other kind of deeper
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intimacy, the kind of intimacy to know a girl likes to keep “all her kings in the back
row.” Adolescent sexuality is a theme in The Catcher in the Rye. This physical desire
is a strong one in adolescent life but just as powerful is the disappointment that
comes when an adolescent realizes that sex does not automatically bring intimacy.
In fact, it may help to breed alienation and isolation as a result of its potential to
disappoint. This passage shows not only the shallowness and moral bankruptcy on
Stradlater’s part but it also shows a certain depth of character on the part of Holden,
despite his surface cynicism and abrasiveness. As a result of yet another important
relationship in Holden’s life being a disappointing one, he reacts to Stradlater with
violence. He ends up with “blood all over [his] mouth and chin.” (45) but the level of
contempt Holden shows for Stradlater just using Jane as a sexual conquest reveals
how much she means to him. He is equally disgusted by the fact that Stradlater does
not even know her name. This symbolizes Stradlater’s inability to know who she
really is. Again, Stradlater shows his lack of capacity for any intimacy whatsoever,
beyond a deep love of himself and his appearance. Holden’s anger may also be the
result of being let down by Jane for allowing herself to be seduced by Stradlater. He
sees something in her that makes him want to get closer to her but her association
with Stradlater taints and tarnishes this and possibly makes him believe she is yet
anther person who has failed to live up to his expectations. All these emotional
disappointments are why Holden detaches himself form the company of others. It is
for his own emotional self-preservation.
4/ “…[Holden] heard old Stradlater close the door and go down the corridor” and
then found his “hunting hat” and “put it on.” (45)
Again, Holden’s hat is worn in the absence of human company. If he wears it and
shows his individuality around others, he fears he will be rejected. Holden’s internal
conflict continues.
Chapter 7
1/ a) “I just kept laying there…thinking about Jane and all. It drove me mad when I
thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere…Every time I thought about it I
felt like jumping out the window.” (48)
b) “I got to feeling so lonesome and rotten I even felt like waking Ackley up” (50)
The impact of Stradlater’s being with Jane cracks Holden’s armour of cynicism and
apathy and his vulnerability become obvious as it did in chapter 5 when he attacked
Stradlater. The reader is reminded that Holden, despite his intelligence and
intellectual maturity, is after all, just an adolescent boy trying to make sense of a
world that has stripped away his innocence far too early. Despite his cynicism, he
has a romantic ideal in his mind when he thinks of Jane, and Stradlater has,
somewhat, shattered this ideal in his mind. It bothers him so much that he even
says, “I almost wished I was dead” (48) and “My nerves were shot” (51). This
suggests the fragility of his emotional state and mental well-being.
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Holden is so lost and alone after learning of Stradlater and Jane that his isolation
becomes unbearable and he repeatedly says he is “lonesome”. He is so lonesome
that he “even felt like waking Ackley up” and is not even put off by the “white stuff on
his face, for his pimples.” (46) After his perceived destruction of his idealistically
romantic view of Jane, he needs connection more than ever, even if it is in the form
of someone like Ackley. Ackley’s disgusting personal hygiene and annoying manner
only serve to highlight how desperate the normally cynical and detached Holden is at
this point. His comment to Ackley about “joining a monastery” (50) and his action of
waking Ackley up to talk about it shows his internal conflict between isolating himself
from and connecting to society.
2/ Holden again “put [his] red hunting hat on and turned the peak around to the
back, the way [he] liked it” (52) when he leaves Pencey and is away from all the
other students at the school. He asserts his individuality when he has isolated
himself from anyone in the school and steps out into the night all alone. Alone, he
can’t be rejected for his individuality.
Chapter 8
1/ a) “That hat I bought had earlaps in it, and I put them on – I didn't give a damn
how I looked. Nobody was around anyway. Everybody was in the sack.” (53)
b) All I did was take off my hunting hat and put it in my pocket.” (53)
Again, Holden's hat symbolizes the individuality he is afraid to assert when others are
around. He is only willing to wear it now because “nobody was around”. He fears
being rejected for who he is so he hides who he is. When he boards a train and
faces the possibility of being exposed to a lot of people, he takes it off and puts it in
his pocket.
2/ a) “'Rudolph Schmidt,' I told her. I didn't feel like giving her my whole life history.'”
(54-55)
b) “She was around forty or forty-five...but very good-looking” (54)
c) “'He's one of the most popular boys at Pencey.'”
d) “'Old Mrs. Morrow didn't say anything, but boy, you should've seen. I had her
glued to her seat. You take somebody's mother, all they want to ear about is what a
hot-shot their son is'” (56)
e) “'But I'll bet, after all the crap I shot, Mrs. Morrow'll keep thinking of him now as
this very shy,modest guy that wouldn't let us nominate him for president.'”(57)
f) “'I have this tiny little tumour on the brain'” (58)
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Holden meets a woman on the train who turns out to be the mother of a
student at Pencey by the name of Ernest Morrow. Holden uses an alias (Rudolph
Schmidt) which symbolizes his refusal to let anyone see who he really is or to let
anyone get to know the real Holden Caulfield. He “didn't feel like giving her [his]
whole life history” because that would have involved or risked letting someone get
close to him. He strikes up these conversations with total strangers rather than
following through on his desire to call people he cares about (Jane, Phoebe) so as to
avoid the risk of being rejected by people her cares about. If Mrs. Morrow gives him
the brush-off, it is no great loss as she means nothing to him anyhow just as he
means nothing to her.
The fact that he tries to get some kind of intimacy with her highlights how
desperate he is for any kind of intimacy, whatsoever, even if it is only a short term
closeness. When Holden chooses a woman who is “very good-looking”, it reveals the
internal conflict within Holden that makes it so hard for him to discern the difference
between sexual attraction and real intimacy or love. He holds on to his idealistic view
of romantic love all while his body and mind are driven by the longing of sexual
desire and the longing for sexual fulfillment.
Everything Holden tells Mrs. Morrow is all with the intention of making her feel
good about her time with him and, as a result, making him feel better about himself
as he feels close to her. He does this by telling Mrs. Morrow that Ernest was “one of
the most popular boys at Pencey.” By making her feel good about her son, he feels
good about himself because she is viewing him with affection and a genuine respect.
He likes the fact that he “had her glued to her seat” and even though “all the crap
[he] shot” is a lie, it is fitting for the type of intimacy he is establishing with Mrs.
Morrow because this intimacy is also a lie. It is just a substitute for real intimacy and
real caring. Holden ups the stakes even further at the chapter's end by telling Mrs.
Morrow he has a “tiny little tumour on the brain.” Again, through her feeling
sympathy or pity for him, it allows him to experience something akin to real love and
real affection but without the strings, attachments or complications that come with
real love and real intimate relationships.
Chapter 9
1/ a) “Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz, and find out when
Jane's vacation started, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, it was pretty late to call up.
Then I thought of calling up this girl I used to go around with quite frequently, Sally
Hayes, because I knew her Christmas vacation had started already – she'd written
me this long, phony letter, inviting me over to help her trim the Christmas tree
Christmas Eve and all – but I was afraid her mother'd answer the phone and
all...then I thought of calling up this guy that went to the Whooton School when I was
there, Carl Luce, but I didn't like him much. So I ended up not calling anybody.” (59)
b) “I kept toying with the idea...of giving old Jane a buzz...I was going to tell whoever
answered the phone that i was her uncle. I was going to say her aunt just got killed
in a car accident...The only reason I didn't do it was because I wasn't in the mood. If
you're not in the mood, you can't do that stuff right.” (63)
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Yet again, Holden makes excuses not to contact people who seem to matter to him.
His fear of real connection and real intimacy is only matched by his insatiable desire
and longing for it. This struggle within Holden is part of the confusion that has
compromised his innocent romantic view of a world that is nothing like the one he
envisions or longs for. By not contacting Jane, he is able to keep his view of her and
their “relationship” on some kind of romantic pedestal. He is afraid to test the
relationship for fear that it will not live up to the view of it that he has in his head. By
not contacting Jane, his imaginings of what it would be like if he were with her are
left intact, as fragile as they are.
2/ “'By any chance do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it's frozen
over.'” (60)
The ducks are once more mentioned and again serve to highlight two things. First,
Holden's curiosity about the ducks shows a childlike innocence of the world that
contrasts greatly with the adolescent cynicism he shows towards the adult world. As
well, the ducks again symbolize the alienated and isolated people like Holden who
“fly south” to escape a “frozen” world that is cold and unfeeling.
3/ “'Would you care to stop on the way and join me for cocktail?'” (60)
Holden again tries to create superficial intimacy by striking up a conversation with
people, like Mrs. Morrow, who he is not likely to ever see again. He asks the cabbies
to join him for a cocktail because of his desperate loneliness. However, unlike Jane
or Phoebe, he risks nothing by revealing anything of himself to them because they
mean nothing to him. They can't reject him because he doesn't need them . With
Jane it is different. He is afraid that he does need her and the intimacy she can
provide and this frightens him. He fears he may lose it once he acquires it.
4/ “We got to the Edmont Hotel, and I checked in. I'd put on my red hunting cap
when I was in the cab, just for the hell of it, but I took it off before I checked in. I
didn't want to look like a screwball or something.” (61)
Yet again, Holden refuses too wear his cap in public as he continues to hide his true
self from an ever judgemental world. The cap is what makes him feel special or
unique and different. Sadly, he fears his uniqueness will make him “look like a
screwball or something” to the cruel, cold world that takes no mercy on anyone who
happens to be not like everyone else or not cut from the same mold as everyone
else.
5/ a) “You'd be surprised what was going on on the other side of the hotel. They
didn't even bother to pull their shades down. I saw one guy, a gray-haired, very
distinguished- looking guy with only his shorts on, do something you wouldn't believe
me if I told you. First he put his suitcase on the bed. Then he took out all these
women's clothes, and put them on. Real women's clothes – silk stockings, high
heeled shoes, brassiere, and one of those corsets with the straps hanging down and
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all. Then he put on this very tight black evening dress. I swear to God...he was all
alone too.” (60)
b) “Then in the window almost right over his, I saw a man and a woman squirting
water out of their mouths at each other.” (62)
c) “The trouble was, that kind of junk is sort of fascinating to watch, even if you don't
want it to be.” (62)
d) “...I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw. Sometimes I can think of
very crumby stuff I wouldn't mind doing if the opportunity came up. I can even see
how it might be quite a lot of fun, in a crumby way...to get a girl and squirt water or
something all over each other's face. The thing is though, I don't like the idea. It
stinks, if you analyze it. I think if you don't really like a girl, you shouldn't horse
around with her at all, and if you do like her, then you're supposed to like her face,
and if you like her face, you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to it, like
squirting water all over it. It's really too bad that so much crumby stuff is a lot of fun
sometimes.” (62)
e) “Girls aren't too much help, either, when you start trying not to get too crumby,
when you start trying not to spoil anything really good. I knew this one girl, a couple
of years ago, that was crumbier than I was. Boy was she crumby! We had a lot of
fun, though, for awhile, in a crumby way. Sex is something I really don't understand
too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules
for myself, and then I break them right away. Last year I made a rule that I was
going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I
broke it the same week...the same night...I spent the same night necking with a
terrible phony named Anne Louise Sherman. Sex is something I just don't
understand. I swear to God...After awhile i sat down in a chair and smoked a couple
of cigarettes. I was feeling pretty horny” (62-63)
f) “'Well, you don't know me, but I'm a friend if Eddie Birdsell's. He suggested that if I
were in town sometime, we ought to get together for a cocktail or two...I couldn't
remember if his name was Edmund or Edward. I only met him once, at a...stupid
party.'” (64)
The above passages highlight Holden’s innocence and his internal struggle. The
kinky sex acts described above show how sex can be used for physical pleasure
without the slightest hint of intimacy or emotional closeness whatsoever. However,
adding to Holden’s confusion is the fact that while he finds the acts arousing and
titillating, he also finds them “crumby” and is bothered by the fact that “crumby stuff
can be a lot of fun sometimes.” He, in his innocence, has equated sex and intimacy
or romantic love as one and the same. The realization that is beginning to dawn
upon him now is that sex and sexual arousal can have absolutely nothing in common
with intimacy as is evidenced by the couple spitting water at one another. Though he
knows “how it might be quite a lot of fun”, he feels that if “you really like a girl...then
you're supposed to like her face, and if you like her face, you ought to be careful
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about doing crumby stuff to it.” The way he deals with this conflict is by calling up
total strangers like Faith Cavendish (quote f) who can possibly provide the sexual
turn on that a young, adolescent male is seeking without the intimacy he so desires
but also is so fearful of being hurt by. In the above quotes, the kinkiness of the sex
play symbolizes just how far sex and intimacy can be. Holden is beginning to see this
in himself when he says “I’m probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw” but
admits he “[doesn’t] like the idea” of sex as nothing more than a turn on. He is
driven by two desires. One is for sexual fulfillment and the other is for emotional
connection. What he doesn’t realize is that for all this to come in one package is
rare and it is when you’ve probably found true love. He is somewhat ashamed and
embarrassed by the fact that his own lust for sex can be so removed from the loving
and caring of true intimacy. He is bothered by the fact that the phoniness he sees in
a person like Stradlater is also a part of his own make-up as he tries to find sexual
pleasure at all costs. Finally, in his innocence and confusion, he simply admits that
“sex is something I really don't understand too hot.”
Chapter 10
1/ “You never saw a little kid so pretty and smart in your whole life...I'm the only
really dumb one.” (67)
Holden is talking about his sister Phoebe here and speaks of her with the same tone
with which he spoke of his dead brother, Allie. He puts himself down at her expense
almost as if he feels unworthy in her presence. Part of Holden's problem seems to be
his guilt for having survived while Allie died. This has only added to his self-loathing.
The fact that he recognizes himself as being no better than the people he despises
for their phoniness and shallowness causes him to worship someone like Phoebe
who he sees as a truly beautiful human being from the inside out. This also leads
him to find excuses not to call her because he is trying to maintain a certain distance
just in case she leaves like Alliedid when he died.
2/ a) “She was really a moron. But what a dancer. I could hardly stop myself from
sort of giving her a kiss on the top of her dopey head...She got sore when I did it.”
(71-72)
b) “I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That's the thing about girls.
Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even
they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and ten you never know where
the hell you are.”(73)
Holden, again, shows his own phoniness as his adolescent sexual drive causes him
to mistake lust for some form of love. Despite the fact that he views a girl he met at
a club as a “moron”, he can't help from falling “half in love with her”, kissing her on
the head and telling her she's a “very good conversationalist” (72), which is
something a moron would not be. It is, indeed, quite possible to find a person who
has personal qualities you detest, to be quite attractive physically. However, in
Holden's naivete and innocence – and his desperation for some form of emotional
11
and physical attachment -he mistakes this sexual attraction for love. Once again, his
confusion over the two feelings leaves him not knowing “where the hell you are” with
respect to intimacy and relationships. To fall in love with and then kiss a total
stranger who he views as being a moron certainly underscores the confused state of
mind in which Holden finds himself. Again, like Stradlater, he is presenting a false
face in order to find sexual fulfillment. However, he is really fooling himself by
thinking it is some form of love he is chasing.
Chapter 11
1/ While the previous two chapters focus upon the superficiality of sex and sexual
attraction, chapter 11 is in stark contrast as it finally reveals Holden's relationship
with Jane in a little more detail. From those details we can see an intimacy quite
unlike the sexual superficiality of chapters 9 and 10. Holden admits he “got...Jane
Gallagher on the brain” (76) and discusses how “[he] really got to know her quite
intimately.” (76) He goes even further to show that maybe he is not as naïve as he
seems when he says, “You don't always have to get too sexy to get to know a girl.”
(76)
2/ We see this intimacy that is so tender and so loving without any hint of sexuality –
though there are hints of sensuality – in the numerous incidents Holden reveals
about his time spent with Jane one “whole summer long” (76)
a) “She was the only one, outside my family, that I ever showed Allie's baseball mitt
to..I told her quite a lot about him. She was interested in that kind of stuff” (77)
Holden's closeness to Jane is not only shown by the fact that he confides in her
about something so personal as Allie but also by the fact that she “was interested” in
what he had to say. Her listening to what he had to say with interest, shows how she
must care for him in the same manner he cares for her. And that is intimacy.
b) “Then she really started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over
– anywhere – her eyes, her nose, her forehead, her eyebrows and all, her ears – her
whole face except her mouth and all. She sort of wouldn't let me get to her mouth.”
(79)
c) “I held hands with her all the time...That doesn't sound like much..but she was
terrific to hold hands with...We'd get into a...movie or something, and right away we'd
start holding hands, and we wouldn't quit till the movie was over...you never even
worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you
were happy. You really were.” (79)
d) “One time, in this movie, Jane did something that just about knocked me out...I felt
this hand on the back of my neck, and it was Jane's. It was a funny thing to
do...most girls if you see them putting their hand on the back of somebody's
neck...they're doing it to their husband or their little kid...it's so pretty it just about
kills you.” (80)
12
The kissing here shows intimacy and not sexuality because the kissing of the eyes
and nose and forehead and eyebrows shows a familiarity with, and a closeness to,
that sex doesn't, necessarily, even come close to achieving. This kind of physical
contact, like the touching of the neck in the quote (d), shows a genuine caring and
love for another human being because it is so devoid of sexual overtones. The
kissing of the mouth can be quite sexual and when Jane “wouldn't let [Holden] get to
her mouth” , it may not necessarily suggest that she does not like Holden that way. It
may simply be that she does not want to spoil the intimacy and closeness of this
moment with something as trivial and emotionally detached as sex. The touching of
the neck is linked to a husband or a child because there is no stronger love than the
love held for the person you choose to marry and the child you choose to bear. By
comparing Jane's touching of Holden to the touching of a husband or child is to
highlight how close Jane must feel to Holden to do this. Holding hands (quote c) is
the same kind of intimacy. It is being intimate without being sexual and when
Holden and Jane hold hands for an entire movie “without changing the position”
(79)and without “[quitting] till the movie was over” (79), and without moving beyond
this simple act, it shows, once again, how intimate two people can get without
getting sexual.
Chapter 12
1/ “The fish don't go no place. They stay right where they are, the fish” (82)
The fish, unlike the ducks that flee the frozen lake - and winter - for the warmth of
the south, stay right where they are and adapt to their environment. The fish
symbolize the individuals who can accept the coldness and phoniness of society and
still find their own happiness within it by adapting to the world they are forced to
inhabit. They are a contrast to the ducks who represent the people who escape from
society because they find it too inhospitable and alienating. When Holden asks the
cab driver, Horwitz, “Do you happen to know where [the ducks] go in the wintertime”
(82), what he is really asking is “where do the people who can't cope with the
loneliness and cruelty of this world go to find some sense of peace or even escape?”
2/ Holden's loneliness leads to his desperate attempts at connection when he asks
Horwitz,“Would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?” (83) He
asks a total stranger to have a drink with him because of his desperate loneliness
but the fact that Horwitz is a total stranger reminds the reader that Holden chooses
strangers because they mean nothing to him. Because of this, he does not have to
fear being rejected by them. This “relationship” offers no risk of pain. It is safe. It is
his way of distancing himself from society for his own emotional well-being and selfprotection but at the same time, not being alone.
3/ “It was very phony...I don't even think he knows anymore when he's playing right
or not. It isn't all his fault. I partly blame all those dopes that clap their heads off –
they'd foul up anybody if you gave them a chance. Anyway, it made me feel
depressed and lousy again...”
13
(84)
Holden is referring to the saxophone player, Ernie, who he sees performing at a club
one night. Ernie is yet one more example for Holden of all the phoniness and fakery
in society. He has to fake what he plays to please the audience. He puts in “all
these dumb, show-offy ripples in the high notes” (84) because he knows this is what
the audience, in their musical ignorance, applauds. Holden feels Ernie hasn't played
what he feels for so long that he's forgotten how to do it. Ernie symbolizes how, even
though we may hate the phoniness of the world, we, ourselves, have to be fakes or
phonies to survive in this artificial world of our own making. If we do it for long
enough, we start to forget that we, ourselves, have become phonies. It just becomes
the way we survive and keep ourselves protected.
4/ “Anyway, this JoeYale-looking guy had a terrific looking girl with him. Boy she was
good-looking. But you should've heard the conversation they were having...what he
was doing, he was giving her a feel under the table, and at the same time telling her
all about some guy in his dorm that had eaten a whole bottle of aspirin and nearly
committed suicide. His date kept saying to him, 'How horrible...Don't, darling.
Please, don't. Not here.' Imagine giving somebody a feel and telling them about a
guy committing suicide at the same time! That killed me.” (85-86)
This conversation witnessed by Holden shows the blurred and confusing line
between sex and real intimacy. The boy is obviously “horny” for the girl as he is
“giving [her] a feel” but the conversation about a near suicide would normally be a
serious conversation between two people connecting on some level of intimacy. Part
of the reason why Holden can't tell the two things apart (sex and intimacy) is that
people often fake intimacy to attain sex. The boy could care less about the individual
who nearly overdosed. He just uses this very personal incident to try and make the
girl think he is a caring and sensitive person. If she thinks this, more than likely, he
believes, he will be able to have sex with her. It seems to be working for him here.
More than anything else, this incident serves as a contrast to real intimacy and real
connection between two individuals who care deeply for one another.
5/ “I'm always saying 'Glad to've met you' to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If
you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff , though.” (87)
Holden's comment comes after just meeting some “Navy guy” for the first and last
time. It highlights how he is beginning to accept the fact that to survive in this world,
one has to put on a false face. To be always honest and say what you feel and show
who you really are is to risk rejection for not not trying to fit or blend in and be phony
and fake just like everyone else.
Chapter 13
1/ “...I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on – I didn't give a damn
how I looked.” (88)
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Holden acknowledges here that his hat is not only part of who he is but, more
importantly, he is afraid to assert his true individuality and identity when he is out in
public. For once, he musters up the courage to not “give a damn” what others think
and let society see at least a part of the real Holden Caulfield. Unfortunately, for the
most part, it is more bravado than real conviction as Holden continues to retreat
further and further within himself as the novel progresses.
2/ “...I brushed my teeth...then I put on another clean shirt. I knew I didn't have to
get all dolled up for a prostitute or anything, but it sort of gave me something to do.”
(91-92)
Whether Holden knows it or not, the reason he is getting “all dolled up for a
prostitute” is because he is not only trying to satisfy his adolescent sexual desires,
but he is also trying to satisfy his longing for emotional intimacy and connection. His
getting dressed up as if he is going on a date signifies his desire for intimacy. The
fact that he is doing it for a prostitute signifies his inability to strive for real intimacy
and his desire to protect himself from the emotional mine fields of real relationships,
real connection and real intimacy. A prostitute allows him to keep his emotional
distance because that is what a prostitute does in her profession. Finally, a prostitute
can, at least, satisfy his teenage lust for sexual intercourse. When Holden says, “If
you want to know the truth, I'm a virgin”, (92) the reader can understand why the
conflict at war within Holden is such an intense one. For Holden to be a virgin at this
age only heightens his longing and lust for sexual connection - as much for curiosity
as for “horniness.”
3/ “'My name is Jim Steele'” (94) Holden tells the prostitute, Sunny. Once again he
keeps his emotional distance by never letting anyone, even a prostitute, see the real
Holden. This distance - and his alias - allows him to keep himself safe and protected
once more.
4/ “I know you're supposed to feel pretty sexy when somebody gets up and pulls
their dress over their head, but I didn't. Sexy was about the last thing I was feeling. I
felt much more depressed than sexy.” (95)
Holden always pictured a girl undressing as a sexy but also, a very romantic and
intimate thing. For him, the two go together. When Sunny does it, it is very
workman-like and does not have a hint of intimacy or sensuality to it. For Sunny,
when she gets undressed, it is the same as someone else putting on their work
clothes. It is just an afterthought. It is not at all as Holden envisioned it would have
been. Sunny's lack of sensuality makes Holden feel very unsexy and unaroused. In
fact, the sense of disillusionment makes Holden feel “more depressed than sexy” as
his idealistic views of love and sex continue to crack and crumble under the strain of
his naïve romanticism.
5/ “'Do you feel like talking for awhile?'” (95)
15
Holden's question to the prostitute, Sunny, shows Holden's warped sense of reality
and love. He wants to “talk” to a prostitute just as he talked to Jane because talking
is a form of intimacy. Unfortuntely, he is paying a prostitute to have sex, not to talk.
Sunny “looked at [Holden] like [he] was a madman.” (95) because intimacy and
talking are the last things on her mind, as they should be the last things on his mind
at this time. If he were with someone he truly loved, then it would make perfect
sense. Because Holden has sex and intimacy, and love and lust, so mixed up, it
leads to these very incongruent and contradictory situations in Holden's young and
troubled life. Sunny represents something he both wants and despises, something
he needs but fears. He is too scared to, both, call Jane and sleep with Sunny. He
takes refuge in his isolation but this isolation only intensifies his alienation, his
loneliness and, ultimately, his pain.
6/ “I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody in the store knowing
she was a prostitute and all. The salesman probably just thought she was a regular
girl when she bought it. It made me feel sad as hell – I don't know why exactly.” (96)
It makes Holden “feel sad as hell” even though he doesn't “know why exactly”
because he pictures a beautiful woman buying a beautiful dress to go on a date with
a man she loves. He is trying to make the hooker to whom he has paid cash so she
will have sex with him, into this girl he has envisioned in his romantic, idealistic head.
When he begins to realize the two don't match up very well, his disillusionment
makes him “sad” and only heightens his sense of depression and confusion. This
sense of disillusionment leads him to ask Sunny, “'...Do you mind very much if we
don't do it?'” (96) because by now, Holden “felt more depressed than sexy” (96)
Chapter 14
1/ “I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the
bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to
know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was
was alive, they were about as much use to him as a hole in the head. All they did
was keep letting him down.” (99)
The supposed betrayal, in Holden's mind, of Jesus by his Disciples tells more abut
Holden's mental state than it does about the relationship between Jesus and his
Disciples. Holden's discussion of the Disciples reveals how he feels betrayed and
hurt by all the relationships he forms. He feels let down by Allie's death and by his
inability to move to where he would like to in his relationship with Jane. He views
connection and intimacy as being the first steps to betrayal and pain and it is for this
reason he hesitates in forming any lasting and meaningful relationships with anyone,
including members of his own family.
2/ “I remember I asked old Childs if he thought Judas, the one that betrayed Jesus
and all, went to Hell after he committed suicide. Childs said certainly. That's exactly
where I disagreed with with him. I said I'd bet...that Jesus never sent old Judas to
16
Hell...I think any one of the Disciples would've sent him to Hell...but I'll bet anything
Jesus didn't do it.” (100)
In Holden's continuation of his discussion of the Jesus / Disciple relationship, he
shows, once again, his idealistic and overly romanticized view of things. He pictures
Jesus as an all-forgiving and ever-compassionate individual who forgives even the
most horrific of sins and trespasses. Holden sees in Jesus the kind of person who he
wishes he had in his life. This kind of unconditional love is what he longs for
because he feels he is too unworthy to ever be accepted by any normal human being
in society. His self-loathing has led him to look up to yet one more person with whom
he can never form a lasting and intimate relationship. With Jane, it is a girl he loves
but always makes excuses to not call. With Sunny, it is prostitute with who could
never ever love him – as he could never love her – or hurt him. With Jesus, it is a
figure who exists only in the Bible or in myth or in the mind of only the most faithfilled. Jesus is yet one more idealized individual and relationship he can hold in his
mind as perfect without the risk of seeing that relationship and idealized view of it
come crashing down in the cruel , cold light of reality.
3/ “'You're a dirty moron...You're a stupid chiselling moron, and in about two years
you'll be one of these scraggy guys that come up to you on the street and ask for a
dime for coffee. You'll have snot all over your dirty, filthy overcoat, and you'll be -'
Then [Maurice] smacked me. I didn't even try to get out of the way or duck or
anything. All I felt was this terrific punch in my stomach.” (102)
Holden reveals two things about himself here. Firstly, he is a very intelligent young
man who is probably a very good judge of character. He knows exactly what kind of
a bully and a thug that Maurice is and the reason why Maurice slugged Holden in the
stomach is, probably, not because of what Holden said but because what he said is
so accurate. Maurice knows that Holden has him pegged and probably knows more
about him than he would ever be willing to admit about himself. Holden struck a
nerve with Maurice. This passage also reveals that, as mentally unstable as Holden
may be, he is still a person of principle – thanks in part to his overly idealized view of
the world. In chapter 13, Holden views himself as “yellow” (89) when he says he
wouldn't have the “guts” (89) to confront and take a “sock” (89) at the person who
stole his gloves at Pencey Prep. However, even then he acknowledges, “Maybe I'm
not all yellow” (89) and this piece of self-awareness proves to be quite accurate in
chapter 14 as Maurice tries to extort $5.00 out of Holden for services provided by
Sunny. The agreed upon price was $5.00 but Maurice says it was $10.00. Holden
stands up to the physically superior Maurice and refuses to pay. His courage and
conviction is even more admirable when he remarks, “God was I scared” (102) He is
beaten for his stand but refuses to give the money until it is forcibly taken from him.
Holden has his own sense of dignity that he refuses to surrender at any cost – even
it it does involve physical harm to himself.
4/ “The goddam movies. They can ruin you.” (104)
17
The movies, and Holden's dislike for them, symbolizes not only his romanticized and
idealized view of the world he inhabits – and how that view is not an accurate
reflection of reality - but, also, how this view has caused Holden not to be able to
function in the world that he is forced to inhabit every day. The fake and overly
romanticized world of the movies has “ruined [him]” and as his protective cocoon of
innocence falls away, this world that he sees reflected in movies - and that exists in
his head - is nothing like the one he sees and feels every day. The real world is far
more harsh and painful and unforgiving and far less ideal and romantic. It shatters
him. The movies are just a symbol of the fake world of childhood innocence that
hides the dark cruelties of the adult real world.
Chapter 15
1/ “I thought I'd give old Jane a buzz, to see if she was home yet and all, but I wasn't
in the mood.” (105)
Once again, Holden longs to call Jane but makes excuses not to do so. He desires
intimacy with her but fears rejection from her.
2/ a) “I used to think [Sally Hayes] was quite intelligent...I think I'd have found [out
that she wasn't] a lot sooner if we hadn't necked so damn much. My big trouble is I
always sort of think whoever I'm necking is a pretty intelligent person.” (105)
b) “[Sally] gave me a pain in the ass but she was very good-looking.” (106)
Holden's confusion over sex versus love is evident here. Sally turns Holden on
sexually and it clouds his judgement about what kind of a person she really is. He
naively believes that if he is attracted to her then she must have qualities worthy of
loving. He finds her intelligent because he is looking for it in her. He wants to justify
his “necking” with and being attracted to her. The second quote acknowledges how
much she bothers Holden but because “she was very good-looking” he overlooks
what it is about Sally that gives him “a pain in the ass”. His libido is clouding his logic
and his emotions and is making him think the emotions he is feeling are real and
true.
3/ a) “[The nun] had a pretty nice smile when she looked at you. She had a big nose,
and she had on those glasses with sort of iron rims that aren't too attractive, but she
had a helluva kind face.” (109)
b) “'Oh Romeo and Juliet! Lovely! Didn't you just love it?' She certainly didn't sound
like a nun...I mean that play gets pretty sexy in some parts, and she was a nun and
all” (111)
c) “After [the nuns] left, I started feeling sorry that I'd only given them ten bucks for
their collection.” (113)
18
Like all Holden's encounters that leave him emotionally scarred and wounded, his
encounter with the nuns is no different. Holden has an overly simplified view of
adulthood and an overly idealized and romanticized view of childhood. This
simplistic divide between childhood, which he sees as innocent and good, and
adulthood, which he sees as phony and evil, causes him much pain as he leaves his
own childhood behind for the adult world he has been thrust into. This labelling of
childhood as good and adulthood as evil, is a good way for him to rationalize his own
opting out of the adult world and his encounter with Maurice only serves to reinforce
this opinion. However, the nuns upset his world view - and Holden, himself because they do not conform to his stereotypical view of all adults and all adult
institutions - namely, religion and the church. Holden views himself as an “atheist”
and sees the church as one more adult institution that likes to control the mind and
suck the individuality out of its blind followers with its phony and superficial
practices. However, the nuns are not “too attractive”, like Ackley, but unlike Ackley,
they seem to possess a decency and a sense of compassion behind their “nice
smile” and “kind face”. With them, it isn't a mask. The fact that they are openminded about a sex-filled play such as Romeo and Juliet shocks him even more. It
gets him wondering if it is possible for some adults and some representatives of
adult institutions to not be phony. He is struck so much by their kindness that he
regrets not giving a larger donation because it is very rare for him to encounter such
decency and such a lack of pretense and phoniness. They ate simple meals (“toast
and coffee” [110]) and had simple “straw baskets” (109) with which to carry their
collections and he respects them for doing what seems to be natural for them. He
probably respects them even more because he knows he lacks this courage to be
who he really is in public. Holden is too afraid to even wear his red hunting hat in
public but the nuns don't mind carrying their ratty straw baskets in the work that they
have chosen to do. The realization that he may be more of a fake than the adult
nuns unnerves and shakes Holden and the world view that has sustained and
nurtured his cynicism and his sense of disconnection for so long.
Chapter 16
1/ a) “I couldn't stop thinking about those two nuns. I kept thinking about that beatup old straw basket they went around collecting money with when they weren't
teaching school. I kept trying to picture my mother or somebody, or my aunt, or Sally
Hayes crazy mother, standing outside some department store and collecting dough
for poor people in a beat-up old straw basket. It was hard to picture...That's what I
liked about those nuns. You could tell, for one thing, that they never went anywhere
swanky for lunch. It made me so damn sad when I thought about it, their never
going anywhere swanky for lunch or anything. I knew it wasn't too important, but it
made me sad anyway.” (114)
The impact of the nuns on Holden's thinking has obviously been great as he
continues to ponder his encounter with them in chapter 16. The mentioning of his
mother, his aunt and Sally Hayes' mother hints at from where his cynicism comes.
He feels he has been surrounded by phonies all his life and, as a result, he just
assumes every adult is a fake. He is still trying to process the information that
19
maybe the nuns are not fake or phony. Holden says about Sally's mother, “If they
just dropped their dough in her basket, then walked away without saying anything to
her, ignoring her and all, she'd quit in about an hour. She'd get bored. She'd hand in
her basket and then go someplace swanky for lunch.” (114) The nuns impact him so
strongly because they are nothing like the other adult role models he has had in his
life to date.
2/ “I figured I'd give old Jane a buzz...I should've at least asked [her mother] if old
Jane was home...but I didn't feel like it.” (118)
Yet once more, what Holden wants is want he fears most – connection to someone
he cares deeply for. The pain of loneliness is only outstripped by the pain and fear of
loss and rejection.
3/ “In the first place, I hate actors. They never act like people. They just think they
do...If an actor acts [a play] out, I hardly listen. I keep worrying about whether he's
going to do something phony every minute.” (117)
Acting/movies is again a symbol of phoniness and the over-simplified and
romanticized view of the world that, in the long run, only serves to hurt us as we grow
up and have our innocence so brutally and cruelly stripped away.
4/ Holden spies a young girl who may know his sister, Phoebe. His encounter with
her reveals to the reader his attitude towards childhood and children, in general. He
offers to tighten her skates and she is very polite and grateful. Holden remarks, “she
was a very nice, polite little kid. God, I love it when a kid's nice and polite...Most kids
are. They really are.” (119)
His thoughts on the little girl, like his thoughts of Phoebe, are filled with affection and
happiness. He sees children as being good because to him, they represent
childhood, itself. He loves their innocence jus as he loves the innocence of
childhood. They are untouched by the cynicism with which he has had to shield
himself from the onslaught of a cruel and cold adult world.
5/ “I took my old hunting hat out of my pocket while I walked, and put it on. I knew I
wouldn't meet anybody that knew me.” (122)
The hunting hat continues to be a symbol of Holden's true self and his individuality.
His continued fear of someone seeing him in this hat symbolizes his fear of letting
anyone see the real him. He is afraid of being rejected for his individuality so he
hides the hat and himself from the world by isolating himself from that world.
6/ a) “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed
right where it was. Nobody's move. You could go there a hundred thousand times,
and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would
still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water
hole...Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be
20
you...(121) Then a funny thing happened. When I got to the museum, all of a
sudden, I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks.” (122)
b) “Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick
them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know it's
impossible, but it's too bad anyway.” (122)
The introduction of the museum as an important symbol in the novel occurs in
chapter 16. The museum symbolizes the hopelessly idealized world that Holden has
locked in his mind. This world is like childhood. It is unchanging and is forever
innocent, free of the complexities of the adult world with which Holden is unable to
deal. He wants to freeze time and make his world devoid of anything that could taint
or destroy the innocence of childhood. Just as things in “big glass cases” in
museums never change because of their isolatuion, that is how Holden would like his
world to be from birth to death. However, his loss of desire to enter the museum
when he arrives there symbolizes how you can't stop the world from changing
because you can't stop yourself from changing. Even if the world did remain the
same – and it doesn't – it would always look different to Holden because he is
growing up and he is changing. As a result, his perspective from which he views the
world and society is changing. If he is not the same, then the way he views the
world, whether it has changed or not, will not be the same. Simply put, as he
matures, he has to see the world and the people in it more maturely. He has to grow
up. He has to realize and deal with that simple fact of life. Change is a certainty in
life and Holden's refusal to enter the museum symbolizes his inability to accept and
deal with change. He recognizes that he is always changing and he is “different” but
he does not like it. Until he is able to adapt to change of any kind – especially the
changes that come with the journey from childhood to adulthood – he will never be
able to forge any meaningful or lasting relationships, nor will he ever be able to find
any permanent happiness in the adult world in which he has to live.
Chapter 17
1/ “...I just sat down...and watched the girls...In a way it was sort of
depressing...because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them.
When they got out of school and college, I mean. You figured most of them would
probably marry dopey guys...Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them
at golf...Guys that are very mean. Guys that never read books. Guys that are very
boring...” (122)
Holden, here, is once again watching his idealized view of childhood take a beating
as he has begun to realize that the innocent, romantic dreams of childhood about
love and relationships are probably not realistic. He thinks about girls as they grow
up and how all the romantic dreams they have about the guys they will marry are
really just fantasies as they end up in relationships that are not the least bit ideal,
romantic or fulfilling. This links closely with his notion of being “the catcher in the
rye” who saves children from running through the rye and over the cliff. A part of him
wishes he could save them all from the trauma and sadness of losing their innocent
21
dreams as they leave childhood and enter the adult world of heartbreak and
disillusionment.
2/ a) “Finally, old Sally started coming up the stairs, and I started down to meet her.
She looked terrific...I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I'm crazy. I didn't
even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and
wanted to marry her.” (124)
b) “She had one of those very loud, embarrassing voices when you met her
somewhere. She got away with it because she was so damn good-looking but it
always gave me a pain in the ass.” (124)
c) “...when we were coming out of this big clinch, I told her I loved her and all. It was
a big lie, of course, but the thing is, I meant it when I said it. I'm crazy. I swear to God
I am.” (125)
d) “'Oh, darling, I love you too,' [Sally] said. Then, right in the same damn breath, she
said, 'Promise me you'll let your hair grow. Crew cuts are getting corny. And your
hair's so lovely.'” (125)
e) “If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late?” (125)
f) “I sort of hated old Sally by the time we got in the cab...(128) She really did look
damn good...though.” (129)
Holden again shows his confusion over love and sexual attraction. Sally gave him “a
pain in the ass” and he “hated” her and found her “embarrassing” but she “looks
swell”. Feelings as intense as these adolescent sexual urges make him mistake
them for love and as a result of his burgeoning sexual desires, he feels like he is”in
love with her and [wants] to marry her.” However, even when he tells her he “loved
her and all” and even “meant it when he said it”, he still knows “it was a big lie”
because it does not fit with his romantic and idealized view of what he thought love
would be like. He feels like he is “crazy” because he can't understand why he is so
attracted to someone he can't stand. In his childhood innocence, it is not how he
imagined love would be and this confusion leads to his sense of disillusionment and
his belief that he is crazy. Sally is no better as she tells Holden “'I love you, too'” and
then makes him promise to “let [his] hair grow”. Her feelings are based on the same
superficial feelings of sexual attraction as Holden's are and this does nothing to help
Holden differentiate between love and lust.
3/ “'Look,' I said. 'Here's my idea...What we could do is, tomorrow morning we could
drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont...It's beautiful as hell up there...I have about
a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank...We'll stay in these cabin camps and stuff
like that till the dough runs out. Then, when the dough runs out, I could get a job
somewhere and we could live somewhere with a brook and all and, later on, we
could get married or something. I could chop all our own wood in the wintertime and
all. Honest to God, we could have a terrific time'” (132)
22
Holden's naïve romantic notions are in full bloom here as he suggests to Sally that
they run away together to a cabin in the woods and get married. It is no coincidence
that he suggests an isolated cabin away from society because, once again, it is
Holden running away from the real world to which he cannot connect or deal.
However, his idealistic and overly simplistic view of what he thinks love and
marriage and happiness is shows the reader someone who is not in touch with
reality or who is not yet emotionally mature. He has repeatedly stated his dislike for
Sally and his sudden desire to marry her shows a young boy who is desperately
lonely and will take human connection in any from, whatsoever. When Sally says to
Holden, “'Stop screaming at me please'” (132) and Holden, in his mind, believes it
“was crap, because [he] wasn't even screaming at her.” (132), it shows both his
pleading desperation and how mentally troubled he is to not realize he is screaming.
His impending breakdown is becoming more and more obvious to the reader as the
novel progresses.
Chapter 18
1/ “I've watched that guy [who plays the kettle drum] since I was about eight years
old...He only gets a chance to bang them a couple of times during the whole piece,
but he never looks bored when he's doing it. Then when he does bang them, he
does it so nice and sweet, with this nervous expression on his face.” (138)
The kettle drum player has a small and, seemingly, insignificant part to play in the
Rockette's Christmas show but when he bangs the kettle drum, he puts every thing
into it and obviously enjoys his role. Holden can relate to him because he is not a
phony or a fake like Ernie who tries to please the crowd by playing “show-offy” stuff
that they might like. Neither is he a phony or a fake like some of the main attractions
in the Rockette's show who look like “they could hardly wait to get a cigarette or
something.” (137) Holden can also probably relate to the kettle drum player
because he reassures Holden that, despite his seeming insignificance in this big,
wide universe, he can still matter and have a life and purpose of some consequence
and meaning...and most importantly, be happy within that life. This gives Holden a
sense of hope, no matter how small, when he is feeling most hopeless.
2/ “You take somebody that cries their eyes out over phony stuff in the movies, and
nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart.” (140)
Holden watches a movie immediately after the Rockette's show and its phoniness
and it's fake happy ending makes him “...want to puke all over himself.” (139)
because he is beginning to see that movies which have “everybody at this long
dinner table laughing their asses off” (139) are not a reflection of adult reality. Not
every life, as in the movies, ends with a happy ending where the “homey babe [gets]
married...the drunkard gets his nerves back” or the blind “can see again (139) as
they all live happily ever after. The movies and actors, throughout the entire book,
serve as a symbol of the phoniness of, not only the adult world, but of our idealistic
and overly romanticized childhood view of that adult world. The above quote goes
23
even further to suggest that people who buy into this fake view of the world end up
being nothing but phonies themselves who, s a result, are”mean bastards at heart.
Holden could quite easily be talking about himself here as he watches what he,
himself, is becoming with his shield of contempt and cynicism.
Chapter 19
1/ This chapter reveals a hint of homophobia on the part of Holden which is not
uncommon for an adolescent who is still discovering his own sexuality and who is
still trying to come to terms with it. It is even more of a daunting task for Holden
because he is still a virgin who, as of yet, lacks the sexual experience needed to
become comfortable with who he is sexually. He says about an acquaintance, Carl
Luce, that “Old Luce knew who every flit (homosexual) and Lesbian in the United
States was. All you had to do was mention somebody – anybody – and old Luce'd tell
you if he was a flit or not.” (143) Holden becomes so paranoid about homosexuality mainly because of his own sexual inexperience - that he “kept waiting to turn into a
flit” (143), himself, because Luce had once said that “you could turn into one
practically overnight, if you had all the traits and all.” (143) He is so paranoid about
it that he even thinks that Luce is “sort of flitty himself” (143) because he would
“goose the hell out of you while you were going down the corridor.” or “”he always
left..the door open...whenever he went to the can (143) Holden finds that, “that
stuff's sort of flitty.” (143) This hint of homophobia is relevant because it comes into
play later on when Holden has his encounter with Mr. Antolini. It allows the reader
to, possibly, have a better perspective on, and a better understanding of, the
“incident” that caused Holden to flee, than Holden has himself.
2/ When Holden meets Carl Luce for drinks, the same irrational behaviour he
displayed with Sally continues as he is crudely personal in his discussions with Luce.
Holden realizes he is “getting a little too personal.” (147) and, as with Sally, he “was
getting excited and...was talking a little too loud” (147) as he queries Luce about sex
and his sex life. Luce is in no mood for “any typical Caulfield questions” (146) as
Holden asks Luce about such things as whether sex is “better in China” (146) or
whether a woman “in her late thirties” is “better for sex” (145) than a younger
woman. Holden's obsession with sex is only partly because his mind is off-balance.
His inexperience and his desire to try and find out why he can't always distinguish
true love and connection from sexual desire and “horniness” are also at the core of
his constant harassing of Luce. He believes Luce “lost his virginity when he was only
fourteen” (145) and he thinks Luce “[knows] quite a bit about sex and all” (145)
because he would always have these “sex talks...late at night” (143) while Holden
was at Whooton – another school out of which Holden failed. When Holden's
constant badgering causes Luce to leave, Holden pleads with him to stay because he
was feeling “lonesome as Hell.” (149) Once again Holden makes a feeble attempt at
trying to make a connection to another person but ends up pushing them away
before he gets rejected himself. This is the pattern that defines all Holden's
relationships. He also finds Luce - like Sally and Ackley and Stradlater - a “pain in
the ass” (149) but he'll take any kind of companionship at this point to combat the
painful loneliness he is experiencing every day. This is another aspect of Holden's
24
relationship pattern. Rather than call Jane or Phoebe – people he genuinely cares
about – he calls people like Luce and Sally Hayes or makes contact with prostitutes
like Sunny. These are relationships where he has to put nothing at stake so there is
nothing to lose. They simply take the edge of his loneliness for a very short time.
They do nothing to permanently offer any respite or relief from it. They are just one
more part of the shell of alienation he has woven around himself to protect himself
from the potential pain of real commitment and from the stripping away of his
childhood innocence and romantic idealism.
3/ “You know what the trouble with me is? I can never get really sexy – I mean really
sexy – with a girl I don't like a lot. I mean I have to like her a lot. If I don't, I sort of
lose my...desire for her and all. Boy, it really screws up my sex life something awful.”
(148)
And this is why he can't have sex with Sunny or go beyond“necking” with Sally Hayes.
Because Holden equates sex with intimacy and love, he thinks it is wrong to have sex
with someone he doesn't love. He may love Jane, so it follows that she should be the
one he has sex with. The only problem with that is the fact that if he develops a
loving and a sexual relationship with Jane, he has to let her see the real him and he
has to trust she will love him back and not reject him for who he is. He also has to
run the risk of losing that relationship or having it not live up to the romantic ideal he
has in his head – and this is exactly the fear that has made him cut himself off from
people, and from society as a whole, in the first place. This is, ultimately, Holden's
dilemma and not only is it why “[his] sex life stinks”, (148) but it is why his life stinks.
He does one of two things. He, either, forms meaningless relationships with
meaningless people for a short period of time that only leave him more lonely
afterwards, or he forms no relationship, whatsoever, with the people he truly cares
for so as to avoid the pain of rejection and loss. Either way, it leads to the life of
complete and utter loneliness and hopelessness that eventually pushes Holden to
the mental breakdown that hospitalizes him.
Chapter 20
1/ a) “A flitty-looking guy with wavy hair came out and played the piano, and then
this new babe, Valencia, came out and sang...I sort of gave her the old eye, but she
pretended she didn't even see me...I told the [headwaiter] to ask old Valencia if she's
care to join me for a drink...but he probably didn't even give her the message.” (149)
b) “I felt like giving old Jane a buzz...But when I got inside this phone booth, I wasn't
much in the mood to give old Jane a buzz...so...I gave Sally Hayes a buzz.” (150)
c) “I sort of tried to make a date with [the hat-check girl] for when she got through
working, but she wouldn't do it. She said she was old enough to be my mother and
all” (153)
The above quotes show Holden again making excuses not to establish a real
relationship with Jane (“I wasn't much in the mood”) and then, instead, opting to
25
engage in very superficial meaningless ones that can temporarily dull the ache of his
deep loneliness. He fails in his attempts to pick up the hat-check girl and the singer,
Valencia, and to somehow reconcile with Sally Hayes after upsetting her earlier that
day. With each successive failure to connect, Holden withdraws deeper and deeper
into his protective shell of cynicism and loses more faith in himself. As he becomes
more cynical, he becomes more desperate to break out of his loneliness and risks
rejection yet again. And the cycle continues. When he “[strikes] up a conversation”
(152) with Valencia's “flitty-looking” piano player, he finds “he wasn't too...friendly”
(152) as he tells Holden to “go home and hit the sack”. (152) Holden is so overcome
by yet one more rejection and one more connection he can't seem to make, that,
when he “went out to the hat-check room, [he] was crying...because [he] was feeling
so damn depressed and lonesome.” (153) He is sick and tired of “all these
handsome guys...combing their goddam hair” (a reference to the superficiality and
phoniness he sees in people and society) who then “beat it on you”. (153) Holden's
breaking down and crying seems to fly in the face of all the cynical and witty
comments he usually makes (which, themselves, are a mask of bravado with which
he protects himself) and it gives the reader yet one more example of Holden's fragile
mental state, as well as a foreshadowing his impending “fall”. On a different note,
Holden's attitude towards Valencia's piano player shows, again, a slight streak of
homophobia as he refers to him as a “flitty-looking guy” who spends all his time
“[combing] his golden locks”. (152) Again, these comments are setting up the
reader for his encounter wit his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini.
2/ a) “Then, finally, I found [the duck pond]. What it was, it was partly frozen and
partly not frozen. Bit I didn't see any ducks around. I walked around the whole
damn lake...but I didn't see a single duck.” (154)
b) “I started picturing millions of jerks coming to my funeral.” (154)
c) “They all came when Allie died...I went with [my parents] a couple of times, but I
cut it out. In the first place, I certainly don't enjoy seeing him in that crazy
cemetery... (156) what nearly drove me crazy [was] all the visitors could get in their
cars and turn on their radios and all and then go some place nice for dinner –
everybody except Allie. I couldn't stand it.” (156)
d) “I started thinking how old Phoebe would feel if I got pneumonia and died...She'd
feel pretty bad if something like that happened. She likes me a lot.” (156)
What ties all these passages together is the idea of unexplained disappearances. It
is no coincidence that Holden immediately thinks of death and funerals immediately
after being unable to locate the ducks. The disappearing ducks symbolize people
who seem to disappear from our lives in an instant either through death or just plain
leaving. Holden doesn't know where the ducks are or why they left. The same is true
of Allie. He knows Allie is in a hole in the ground but, being an atheist, does not take
comfort in him being some place better in the afterlife. Just as the ducks
disappeared, so did Allie from Holden's life, and with just as little explanation or
reason. Holden's fear of connecting or loving something or someone who may be
26
gone in an instant makes the reader understand why Holden is so alienated and
disconnected, and the role Allie's death played in him feeling this way. The idea of
Holden picturing people coming to his funeral is rather ominous as it hints at a dark
destiny for the novel's troubled young protagonist. On a more positive note, his
realization that Phoebe “likes [him] a lot” and would “feel pretty bad” if he died,
suggests to the reader there may be hope for Holden. He can still recognize he is
worthy of love and is, in fact, loved by someone he, himself, cares deeply for. This,
alone, is reason enough to stick around and choose life over death.
The reference to a pond “partly frozen and partly not frozen” symbolizes both
the world and the transitional state in which Holden finds himself. Holden is “partly
frozen” because he has chosen to shut down certain feelings in order to protect
himself. He is “partly not frozen” because it is obvious through many of his
comments about Jane and Phoebe and his mother and even his dead brother, Allie,
that he still cares deeply for them all and he is unable to completely shut himself off
from having these feelings. If he does not get help, he will, eventually, become fully
“frozen” and encounter the “fall” Mr. Antolini fears for him.
The comment about the pond also symbolizes the world in which Holden lives.
Yes, it is a cold and “frozen” world that often seems to be uncaring and
unnecessarily cruel. And, indeed, there are many relationships that will be painful
and hurtful as people come and go throughout your life. Despite all this, however, if
you open yourself up to other people and believe in your own worthiness, you will find
individuals who will care for you and love you for who you are and you will also find a
sense of purpose that will fulfill and sustain you as you travel through life from birth
to death. Whether the world is “partly frozen” or “partly not frozen” has as much to
do with you, and your perspective on it, as it does the world, itself.
Chapter 21
1/ “It's funny. You take adults, they look lousy when they're asleep and they have
their mouths open, but kids don't. Kids look all right. They can even have spit all
over the pillow and they still look all right.” (159)
Holden's complete faith and belief in the beauty of childhood and childhood
innocence is evident as he sneaks home and into D.B's room to see Phoebe. As she
sleeps, he is struck by how beautiful a child looks when he or she is asleep – unlike
adults who “look lousy” – and the sleeping child acts as a metaphor for childhood,
itself, which, in its innocence, is beautiful and perfect – unlike the “lousy” adult
world.
Chapter 22
1/ “[Pencey] was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean
guys in your life. For instance, if you were having a bull session in somebody's room,
and somebody wanted to come in, nobody'd let them come in if they were some
dopey, pimply guy. Everybody was always locking their door when somebody wanted
to come in. And they had this...secret fraternity that I was too yellow not to join.
There was this one pimply, boring guy, Robert Ackley, that wanted to get in. He kept
27
trying to join, and they wouldn't let him. Just because he was boring and pimply.”
(167)
The theme of isolation and alienation is directly referenced in this passage as Holden
talks about how people like Ackley are made outcasts for purely superficial reasons.
Acceptance and inclusion depend on these superficial standards set by a phony and
judgemental society. This is why Holden is so afraid to let people see the real him.
He is afraid of being rejected the same way Ackley is. He knows he is a phony, too,
and that he, in his own way, judges Ackley and others the same way the rest of
society does. However, even though he finds Ackley disgusting and bothersome, he
still makes a point of including him in things like going to the movies. He knows what
being isolated feels like. Sadly though, when he says “I was too yellow not to
join...this secret fraternity” that the other boys would not let Ackley join, it reveals
how even though Holden hates the superficiality and phoniness of the world, and of
himself, it also reveals how he lacks the courage not to be a phony, himself. It is
what he has to do to fit in and not be totally rejected by the world in which he must
live and survive. He hates the isolation and loneliness of his own separateness and
he will do anything to combat it, whether it is paying a prostitute like Sunny to spend
time with him or inviting a total stranger of a taxi cab driver out for a drink or even
joining some phony fraternity that at least gives him some reprieve from his own
loneliness, no matter how temporary or personally disgusting.
2/ Phoebe's conversation with Holden sheds some light on why Holden has trouble
dealing with people who care about him and whom he cares about, himself. When
you allow yourself to be intimate with someone else, whether it be a family member
or a lover, you must accept the risk of them calling you on your phoniness and not
letting you get away with being anyone other than your true self. The people you are
close to will do this because they know you so well. If they care about you and truly
know you, they do not want anyone but the real you. This is why Holden, even
though he may love Phoebe or Jane, also fears intimacy with them. They can be a
mirror into which he is forced to look and see someone who is not always honest or
perfect or true...himself. Phoebe does this for Holden in their encounter in this
chapter. When Holden says to Phoebe that he flunked out of Pencey because he
“'just didn't like anything that was happening at Pencey'” (169), she refuses to let
him off the hook that easily and she confronts him on his own cynicism when she
says to him, “'You don't like anything that's happening.'” (169) When Holden says
that isn't true, she asks him to, “'Name one thing'” . (169) Holden, when confronted,
suddenly becomes unable to think clearly and says he “couldn't concentrate ...
Sometimes it's hard to concentrate.” (169-170) Rather than try to find something
positive in his life, he avoids even thinking about it by letting his mind wander. It is
no coincidence that when his mind does wander away from what Phoebe asks him to
think about, it is a young boy named James Castle who he thinks about. James
Castle was another boy who was on the outside looking in at Elkton Hills (another
school Holden had attended). He was bullied by a boy names Stabile and six of his
friends. He eventually escaped them and their bullying when they came to his room,
by jumping out the window to his death. As in the last chapter, when Holden is
confronted by issues that disturb him – the disappearance of the ducks in chapter
28
21 and Phoebe's confronting him on his cynicism towards life in this chapter –
thoughts of death preoccupy his mind. It shows the fragile state of Holden's mind
and how he is veering dangerously close to being not being able to cope with being
alive in this world. When Holden says, “This was about all I could think of...those two
nuns...and this boy James Castle” (170), it also shows the turmoil that is raging in
his head. While James Castle may be a foreshadowing of his own “fall” and his own
bad ending, the nuns may preoccupy his thoughts because they give him a possible
reason to live and find things that are not phony and fake and people that are,
indeed, good and true and exactly what and who they appear to be. These thoughts
show a young boy teetering on the ledge who could go either way.
Phoebe, however, keeps pushing Holden and confronting Holden when she
says, “'You can't even think of one thing'” (171) Eventually, the best he can come
up with is, “I like Allie” (171) She, again, won't let him off easily and says, “Allie's
dead” (171) When Holden responds by saying he likes “'sitting here with you, and
talking, and thinking about stuff...'” (171), Phoebe says “'That isn't anything really'”
(172) Finally, when Phoebe suggests he could be a lawyer like his father he says,
“'Lawyers are all right I guess – but it doesn't appeal to me'” (172) He likes the idea
of being a lawyer if he could “'go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time'”
(172) However, he realizes that “you don't do that kind of stuff if you're a lawyer. All
you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink
Martinis and look like a hot shot. And besides. Even if you did go around saving
guys' lives and all, how would you know if you did it because you really wanted to
save guys' lives, or because...you really wanted to...be a terrific lawyer, with
everybody slapping you on the back and congratulating you...How would you know
you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't. (172) Holden's discussion
of being a lawyer is quite telling. There is the juxtaposition of his childhood, romantic
and idealistic view of the adult world - lawyers “[save] innocent guys lives”- with the
real world view of lawyers - people who just “make a lot of dough and play golf” and
only do what they do to be recognized and have “everybody slapping [them] on the
back”. Holden views this as being “phony” and, even more disturbing to him is the
fact that, if he were a lawyer, he might not even be able to tell, himself, if he were
being a phony or not.
What he doesn't realize is that it can be both. Your purpose in life should be
something that offers benefits to others and in doing this, it should give you a feeling
of self-satisfaction and pride that comes when people acknowledge your
accomplishments and skills. When Holden is able to see a common ground between
his innocent, romantic and idealistic notions of childhood and some of the harsh
realities of the real world, and, then, accept some sort of compromise between the
two, he will be a lot better off emotionally. Not everything has to be totally fake or
totally real. There is a happy medium if he can just grow up and take some of his
childhood idealism and apply it to a world that isn't always perfect or ideal. Finally,
the fact that his father is a lawyer, suggests why he might feel closer to his mother.
Perhaps he sees his father as a fake or phony or, perhaps, he has this same problem
of telling whether his father is a lawyer for noble reasons or for phony ones.
3/ “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of
rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around – nobody big, I mean –
29
except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I
have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they're running
and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and
catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know
it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy. (173)
It may not be crazy but it may drive Holden crazy – if it already hasn't - trying to
protect every child from what he perceives is a threat to childhood innocence –
which is what the falling over the cliff represents. This is his romantic innocent view
of the world coming to the fore, yet again. This passage is one of the most important
in the novel because it explains the symbolism and the significance of the title.
Holden's wanting to be the “catcher” protecting the children from coming blindly out
of the tall rye and tumbling over the cliff to their death, symbolizes Holden's wanting
to protect all the children from losing their innocence and their idealism as they
enter the adult world. The metaphorical death of falling over the cliff represents a
death almost as painful, - the death of innocence. And with this death comes the
birth of cynicism. The tall rye grass symbolizes the complexities of the adult world
that you can't see coming when you are a child. When a child is running through the
rye, he or she doesn't realize the drop off a steep cliff that is awaiting them, just as a
child does not realize that the adult world is lurking just beyond childhood and is, in
its own way, just as threatening and just as menacing. However, Holden's
detachment from reality is obvious yet again. When Phoebe asks him to choose
something he would really like to do or be, he chooses something too idealistic to
ever be practical. He can't save all children from being hurt, either by falling over a
cliff or by losing their innocence. However, if he set foot in the real world, he can be
the “catcher in the rye” of a different sort. He could find a purpose that helps people
cope with the pain of adulthood and the painful problems that come with being an
adult. This is what teachers and police officers and doctors and psychiatrists and
councillors and volunteers do all the time. The loss of innocence, and the loss of
some of our idealistic and romantic notions that go along with it, can't be stopped
from happening as we learn the painful lessons of the adult world, but this loss and
pain hcan be made to be a lot lesser of a burden if there were adults young people
could turn to to cope wit their disillusionment and their suffering. In a sense, people
who do this are catchers in the rye. Holden is too idealistic and unrealistic to see
this yet. But he will have to if his life is to ever have any meaning or purpose.
Chapter 23
1/ “Old Mr. Antolini felt his pulse and all, and then he took off his coat and put it over
James Castle and carried him all the way over to the infirmary. He didn't even give a
damn if his coat got all bloody” (174)
Mr. Antolini's caring for James Castle's dead body is significant because it shows a
man who is compassionate and decent and who truly seems to give himself to the
well-being of the young. In a way he is the sort of “the catcher in the rye” that Holden
wishes he could be. This is relevant because when Holden interprets Mr. Antolini's
stroking of his head while he sleeps as the action of a pervert, the reader is
30
suspicious of Holden more than Mr. Antolini. Holden has already shown a streak of
homophobia and his behaviour, up to this point, has already been quite irrational
and hard to understand. Salinger chooses to develop Mr. Antolini's character in this
compassionate light for this sole purpose of undermining and contradicting Holden's
negative view of him later on in the novel.
2/ “[Phoebe] put the dough in my hand” and said, “'You can take it all....I tried to give
it to her, but she wouldn't take it....Then, all of a sudden, I started to cry. I couldn't
help it. I did it so nobody could hear me, but I did it. It scared hell out of old
Phoebe...and she came over and tried to make me stop...she put her old arm around
my neck, and I put my arm around her, too, but I still couldn't stop it for a long time.'”
(178)
This passage demonstrates two things. Firstly, it shows the fragile state of Holden's
mind. We've seen his mental imbalance before with his shouting at Sally Hayes and
Carl Luce and his attempt to get Sally to run off to a cabin in Vermont and marry him,
among other things. Here, he breaks down for no other reason than this simple act
of compassion and kindness by Phoebe. His breakdown into crying is so out of
character that “it scared hell out of...Phoebe” and this suggests that Holden's
impending fall is getting nearer and nearer. Secondly, it shows how desperate
Holden is for someone to be there to help him break out of his prison of loneliness.
To him, the world is so brutally cold and unforgiving, and so lacking in hope, that
when he finally does encounter love he is too overwhelmed by it to keep his
composure. What he has with Phoebe is what he longs for and needs. It is also what
he fears because he has already been through the pain of losing it with the death of
his brother, Allie.
3/ “...I took my hunting hat out of my pocket and gave it to [Phoebe]...She didn't want
to take it, but I made her. I'll bet she slept with it on.” (180)
Holden's giving of the hat to Phoebe shows the love and intimacy between them. His
giving it is a symbol of a relationship that works two ways. This is what Holden needs
but has been lacking and, sadly, what he fears because of the emotional
commitment and risk that is involved. Furthermore, the hat has always acted as a
symbol of Holden's true self and identity. His giving it to Phoebe symbolizes his
letting her see who he really is. This, as stated, involves a lot of risk because being
rejected and left alone is what terrifies Holden. The exchange shows a still alive
potential in Holden to forge healthy and nurturing relationships with people who love
him and whom he loves. Just as there is an impending fall over the cliff lurking on
Holden's horizon, there is also a hope that the fall can be prevented before it is too
late.
Chapter 24
1/ a) “'You don't care to have somebody stick to the point when he tells you
something.'”
31
“'Oh, sure! I like somebody to stick to the point and all. But I don't like them to
stick too much to the point. I don't know. I guess I don't like it when somebody
sticks to the point all the time.'” (183)
b) “'Don't your think if someone starts out to tell you about his father's farm, he
should stick to his guns, then get around to telling you about his uncle's brace? Or, if
his uncle's brace is such a provocative subject, shouldn't he have selected it in the
first place as his subject – not the farm?'”
“'I didn't feel much like thinking and answering and all. I had a headache and I
felt lousy. I even had sort of a stomach ache, if you want to know the truth.'” (184)
c) “'...you were cutting classes. Coming unprepared to all your classes.'”
“'I didn't cut any classes...I didn't attend once in a while...but I didn't cut any. I
didn't feel at all like discussing it...I still had this awful headache'” (186)
Mr. Antolini does the same thing with Holden that Phoebe does. He calls him on his
phoniness and his self-deception. Holden's inability to focus and commit to anything
until it's completion – be it school or a simple conversation - is a possible symptom of
a person who is on the verge of a mental breakdown. His hatred for staying on topic
during his Oral Expression course, he believes, is the result of being bored. Mr.
Antolini suggests this is just the excuse of a young man in denial who is unable or
unwilling to focus. Mr. Antolini uses logic to explain to Holden why “digression” from
a topic is not always the best thing to do when speaking publicly. Holden even
begins to see Mr. Antolini's point and says, “'Yes...I guess [a person] should'” stay on
the “'subject...that interested him most'” (184) but he then immediately retreats into
his excuse of not being able to concentrate or pay attention because he has “a
headache”. The headache – or nausea or vomiting – seems to always come when
he is faced with the stress of having his wall of denial and isolation challenged and
he is then forced to face issues in the real world. This is what Mr. Antolini is doing to
him here. Holden reacted in the same manner with Phoebe when his mind
wandered off the topic of trying to name one thing he liked and he started thinking,
instead, about young James Castle's death. Here, he just says he “didn't feel much
like thinking and answering.” He is afraid to face up to his own phoniness while at
the same time condemning and ridiculing it in others. Holden does the same thing
when Mr Antolini confronts him about skipping classes at Pencey. He says he didn't
“cut any classes”, he just didn't attend once in a while. When he is, again,
confronted with the lack of logic in this argument, he uses the same old excuse of an
“awful headache” and he tries to hide behind the argument that he simply “didn't
feel at all like discussing it.”
2/ “'I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall... (186)
this fall I think you're riding for – it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man
falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and
falling...'” (187)
This piece of ominous advice to Holden by Mr. Antolini is an allusion to the title of the
book and to the passage where Holden talks about wishing he could be the “catcher
32
in the rye” saving all the children from falling over the cliff. It is rather ironic that the
child who will be falling, according to Mr. Antolini, is Holden. As well, the fall may be
a lot worse than just the loss of his innocence. It may be a total mental breakdown
or even his own demise. Even more ironic, as Mr. Antolini gives Holden advice on
how he can possibly straighten out his life, he is acting, in a way, like Holden's
“catcher in the rye”. Holden's pushing him away in the belief that Mr. Antolini is a
pervert may symbolize Holden's inability to take the advice or the help that could,
possibly, save him. Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, also tried to help or save
Holden earlier in the novel but Holden's view of the entire adult world and all adults
as phony makes him unable to take the help he needs when he is offered it.
3/ “'The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while
the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.'” (188)
This piece of advice by Mr. Antolini bolsters the argument that he is, indeed, just a
kind-hearted, good Samaritan of a person who is just looking out for the welfare of
Holden; he is not the perverted pedophile Holden thinks he is. He seems to
understand Holden quite well, but even he probably doesn't understand just how
much this statement applies to Holden. Holden, in his overly romanticized, fakemovie view of the world, sees death as something that can be romantic. His
repeated imagining of himself being shot in the stomach sees him portraying himself
as a noble victim of a cruel and mean-spirited world. Mr. Antolini suggests, with this
saying, that the truly mature person is the person who can fulfill his purpose or
“cause” in life without any fanfare or glory, or foolishly romantic pretensions. He or
she does it because it is who they are and it is the right thing to do. It just feels right
and feels natural as it fulfills them and makes them happy. The reader can't help but
recall Holden's conversation with Phoebe over becoming a lawyer. He feared that if
he became a lawyer, it would just be for having people “slapping you on the back and
congratulating you.” Holden, himself, would rather be a lawyer just to help people
and because it would bring him personal pleasure as it offers him a sense of
purpose and fulfillment. What Holden fears is that he would have to be a fake or
phony if he was to be a successful lawyer. He would have to “make a lot of dough
and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink Martinis and look like a hot
shot” or he would not amount to much as a lawyer and, by extension, person. Mr
Antolini is, basically, saying that if you are not a phony you'll probably be a little less
noticed but you certainly will be happy. It would be like Holden always wearing his
red hunting hat. He would be true to himself and that is the person you must believe
in the most, and be true to, if you are to be happy. If the rest of the world is phony –
and it probably is – stop trying so hard to be like the rest of the world.
4/ “Then something happened. I don't even like to talk about it... (191) [Mr. Antolini]
was...sitting on the floor right next tot he couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort
of petting me or patting me on the goddam head. Boy, I'll bet I jumped about a
thousand feet..I started putting on my damn pants in the dark. I could hardly get
them on I was so nervous. I know more damn perverts...than anybody you ever met,
and they're always being perverty when I'm around.” (192)
33
This is, perhaps, the most debated incident in the novel: whether or not Mr. Antolini
really was attempting to molest Holden. As stated, Holden's uncertainty about his
own sexuality (due to his lack of sexual experience), his already outlandish irrational
behaviour in his dealings with Sally Hayes and Carl Luce, and his apparent
adolescent homophobia, tends to make the reader believe he is overreacting here.
Adding to this belief is Holden's comments as the chapter closes when he says,
“When something perverty like that happens, I start sweating like a bastard. That
kind of stuff's happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can't stand it.”
(193) “Twenty times” of having perverts come on to him seems a bit exaggerated
and this tendency towards overstatement and exaggeration makes it hard for the
reader to trust what he is saying here about Mr. Antolini is true. All this, coupled with
Mr. Antolini's caring nature in the way he picked up James Castle's dead body and
his loving advice given to Holden earlier in the chapter, tends to leave the reader
believing that Holden is o bit paranoid and edging ever closer to the mental
breakdown the reader can see coming. Just a few minutes earlier, Antolini was
warning Holden about his impending “terrible fall” and was trying to instill in him the
importance of a sense of purpose in life and how an education can help him get
there. He tells him, “'...once you have a fair idea where you want to go, your first
move will be to apply yourself in school'” (189) He goes on to tell him something that
directly address what he is feeling about the phoniness and coldness of society when
he says, “'you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and
frightened and even sickened by human behaviour. You're by no means alone on
that score...Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as
you are right now'” (189). He adds that, “'an academic education will'” (190) help
you realize this and sort it all out. What Antolini is offering here is the form of
intimacy that Holden most fears – the kind that comes from real caring and real
trust. Holden's continued inability to separate sexual intimacy from a more deeply
felt emotional intimacy and caring may be what led to this confusion and to Holden
doing what he always does – fleeing and disconnecting himself from anyone who
tries to get close to him before he gets let down or “left” as he has been “left” before.
Chapter 25
1/ “I mean I wondered if, just maybe, I was wrong about thinking he was making a
flitty pass at me. I wondered if maybe he just liked to pat guys on the head when
they're asleep. I mean how can you tell about that stuff for sure? You can't. I even
started wondering if maybe I should've got my bags and gone back to his house, the
way I'd said I would. I mean I started thinking that even if he was a flit he certainly'd
been very nice to me. I thought how he hadn't minded it when I'd called him up so
late, and how he'd told me to come right over if I felt like it. And how he went to all
that trouble giving me that advice about finding out the size of your mind and all, and
how he was the only guy that'd even gone near that boy James Castle I told you
about when he was dead. I thought about all that stuff. And the more I thought
about it, the more depressed I got. I mean I started thinking maybe I should've gone
back to his house. Maybe he was only patting my head just for the hell of it. The
more I thought about it, though, the more depressed and screwed up about it I got.”
(194-195)
34
Yet more evidence of, both, Holden's fragile state of mind and Mr. Antolini's
innocence. Holden, himself, begins to doubt his previous assessment of Antolini as
a pervert. He begins to realize that Mr. Antolini had taken a lot of time and “trouble
giving me...advice” and as he acknowledges his possible mistake in judgement, “the
more depressed [he gets.]” Probably, the most revealing statement made by Holden
is when he says, “...even if he was a flit he certainly'd been very nice to me.” This
statement suggests that Holden's attitude towards Mr. Antolini comes mainly from
his homophobia. He speaks of homosexuality as if it were some form of evil that is a
threat to any one who encounters it. The above quote also demonstrates Holden's
extremes in his reaction to things. At first he is sure Mr. Antolini is a pervert when he
strokes Holden's forehead. Now he thinks it is himself that is “screwed up”. Just as
Holden cannot trust his own feelings and thoughts, neither can the reader trust one
word that comes out of his mouth or one thought that comes from his head. His
mental state is too much in doubt.
2/ a) “While I was walking, I passed these two guys that were unloading this big
Christmas tree off a truck. One guy kept saying to the other guy, 'Hold the
sonuvabitch up! Hold it up, for Chrissake!' It certainly was a gorgeous way to talk
about a Christmas tree. It was sort of funny, though, in an awful way, and I started to
sort of laugh. It was about the worst thing I could've done, because the minute I
started to laugh I thought I was going to vomit. I really did. I even started to, but it
went away.” (196)
b) “Anyway, it was pretty Christmasy all of a sudden. A million little kids were
downtown with their mothers, getting on and off buses and coming in and out of
stores.” (197)
The novel is set during the time leading up to Christmas for a reason. The Christmas
season is the time when people seem to be closest to one another. Families and
friends gather around each other and spend time together that they often don't get
to spend during the rest of the year. Unfortunately, for those who are lonely,
Christmas only heightens that loneliness and reminds them how disconnected from
human contact they actually are. Holden is probably in this category and what
makes it even worse for him is the fact that, for him, Christmas is a direct link back
to, and a reminder of, the innocence and wondrous beauty and carefree, joyful
feeling of childhood. When he hears a man use foul language to refer to a Christmas
tree, he finds it shocking because it detracts from what he has always thought of a
Christmas tree and Christmas as being. It was “funny” because it was so unusual
but it is also “awful” because it is like saying something ugly or perverse about
childhood, itself. Holden is much more used to thinking of Christmas as it is
presented in quote (b) with “little kids...downtown with their mothers...coming in and
out of stores.” He views this as being much more “Christmasy” than someone
referring to a Christmas tree as a “sonuvabitch”. It is yet one more childhood
memory for Holden being tarnished and corrupted by its contact with the adult world
and one more depressing detail that Holden has to try and deal with as he grows up
and enters that adult world.
35
3/ “...I kept walking up Fifth Avenue, without any tie on or anything. Than all of a
sudden, something very spooky started happening. Every time I came to to the end
of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to
the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd
ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating like a
bastard – my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing
something else. Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking
to my brother, Allie. I'd say to him, 'Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me
disappear. Please, Allie' and then when I'd reach the other side of the street without
disappearing, I'd thank him. Then it would start all over again as soon as I got to the
next corner. (197-198)
Holden's “spooky” feeling of going “down, down, down” after he “stepped off
the...curb” alludes to his discussion of being “the catcher in the rye” when he wanted
to save other children from falling over the cliff. This passage reminds the reader
that it is Holden who is the one in danger of falling over this “cliff” and that he is the
one who needs to be saved by a “catcher” of some kind. This passage also reminds
the reader of Holden's conversation with Mr. Antolini when he was being warned by
his former English teacher that he is heading for a “terrible, terrible fall” if he doesn't
learn to grow up and leave his childhood and childish idealism behind. In all three
instances, it is the falling away of innocence and the painful emotional fall that
comes with it as we leave childhood naivete for adulthood reality that is being
symbolized by the falling imagery that runs throughout the book. Holden's talking to
his brother, Allie, pleading with him to not “let [him] disappear”, is significant
because it reminds the reader of the impact of Allie's “disappearance” upon Holden.
As previously stated, Holden is troubled by people and things (the ducks) that seem
to disappear without any warning or reason, whatsoever. He is afraid of being one of
those things that “nobody's ever see..again” and by pleading with Allie to save him,
he is linking Allie's disappearance to his own inevitable fading away from society and
the world until, firstly, he has contact with no one or nothing and, finally, he just dies.
It is a rather ominous image and foreshadows what seems to be awaiting Holden if
he does not get the help soon that is needed to cope with growing up.
4/ “...I figured, I'd go down to the Holland Tunnel and bum a ride, and then I'd bum
another one, and another one, and another one, and in a few days I'd be somewhere
out West where it was very pretty and sunny and where nobody'd know me and I'd
get a job...I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn't know me
and I didn't know anybody. I thought...I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.
That way I wouldn't have to have any...stupid useless conversations with anybody...I'd
be through with having conversations for the rest of my life. Everybody'd think think I
was just a poor deaf mute-mute...and they'd leave me alone...and I'd build a cabin
somewhere with the dough I made and live there for the rest of my life...I'd meet this
beautiful girl that was also a deaf-mute and we'd get married. She'd come and live in
my cabin with me, and if she wanted to say anything to me, she'd have to write it on
a ...piece of paper, like everybody else. If we had any children, we could hide them
36
somewhere. We could buy them a lot of books and teach them how to read and
write by ourselves.” (198-199)
Two things are demonstrated by this passage. Firstly, Holden's desire to head
“somewhere out West..where nobody'd know [him]” symbolizes, once again, his
desire to alienate and isolate himself from the world so as to avoid any of the pain
that can come with intimacy and contact with others. Pretending to be “one of those
deaf-mutes” who would “be through with having...useless conversations” further
demonstrates the depth and degree of isolation he is trying to find for himself. His
intensity of desire for disconnection is so extreme that it is yet one more symptom
and signal of a very troubled mind. His wanting to “meet this beautiful girl that was
also a deaf-mute” and then “get married...and live in a cabin” shows not only an
overly romanticized view of his existence but also a very unrealistic and totally out of
touch one. His desire to have children with this deaf-mute girl and then “hide them
somewhere” borders on insanity and symbolizes his total obsession with keeping all
children, especially his own, completely disconnected from the corrupt adult world
that is awaiting them on the horizon just beyond their childhood.
5/ “While I was walking up the stairs, though, all of a sudden I thought I was going to
puke again.” (201)
Holden's nausea and fainting spells are rather disturbing because they are the
physical symptoms of an emotionally troubled mind. His mental health is so
precarious and at risk that the stress of it is starting to show up in physiological
effects, of which “[puking]” is one.
6/ a)“...while I was sitting down, I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd
written 'F*#* you' on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe
and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it
meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them – all cockeyed, naturally –
what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a
couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever'd written it...I kept picturing myself
catching him at it, and how I'd smash his head on the stone steps till he was good
and goddam dead and bloody.. Bit I knew, too, I wouldn't have the guts to do. I knew
that. That made me even more depressed.” (201)
b) “...I saw another 'F*#* you' the wall...It wouldn't come off. It's hopeless anyway
couldn't. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the
'F*#* you' signs in the world. It's impossible.” (202)
c) “That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful,
because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there,, when you're
not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write 'F*#* you' right under your nose. Try it
sometime. I think, even, if i ever die, and they stick me in a cemetery, and I have a
tombstone and all, it'll say'Holden Caulfield' on it, and then what year I was born and
what year I died, and then right under that it'll say 'F*#* you.' I'm positive, in fact.”
(204)
37
Holden's being upset by the 'F*#* you' graffiti on the walls symbolizes Holden's
being upset with the things that can threaten a child's innocence. Holden is afraid
some “little kids would see it...and then finally some dirty kid would tell them...what it
meant” and destroy their innocence to a certain degree. His realization that it was
“hopeless” and that “if you had a million years” you could never “rub out even half
the F*#* you signs in the world” symbolizes that even Holden is beginning to see the
futility of trying to protect childhood innocence from the ravages of the adult, real
world. He is now beginning to see the hopelessness of trying to “find a place that's
nice and peaceful” - which, itself, is a symbol of childhood - “because there isn't any”
once you set foot in the world outside of childhood. This realization, along with the
death of Allie, is, ultimately, what has led to Holden's depression and desire to
withdraw from a world that he sees as inflicting pain upon innocent children
everywhere.
7/ “...I thought I might give old Jane Gallagher a buzz before I started bumming my
way out west, but I wasn't in the mood.” (202)
Holden, again, makes excuses not to call someone who he may be forced to be
intimate with and who knows the real Holden. He isolates himself from Jane to, yet
again, avoid possible rejection by her. He is so afraid that if she gets to know him,
she will cast him aside and reject him for who he is. He likes Jane and, so, the risk
of her doing this would be all the more painful for him to deal with. As a result, he
just makes no contact with her, whatsoever, and, thus, keeps himself safe from her
rejection. At the same time, however, all this only serves to intensify his own
loneliness.
8/ “When I was coming out of the can, right before I got to the door, I sort of passed
out...I felt better after I passed out. I really did. My arm sort of hurt, from where I
fell, but I didn't feel so damn dizzy anymore.” (204)
As before (#5), Holden's emotional illness is beginning to show physical side effects
due to the stress he is under. It shows just how in danger Holden is. Both his body
and mind are under siege from the ravages of his mental breakdown and his inability
to deal with the adult world. All this is the result of Holden trying to cling on to
childhood ideals and romantic views of a world nothing like the one he is beginning
to discover as an adolescent.
9/ “And I'd let D.B. come out and visit me for a while if wanted a nice, quiet place for
his writing, but he couldn't write any movies in my cabin, only stories and books. I'd
have this rule that nobody could do anything phony when they visited me. If any
body tried to do anything phony, they couldn't stay.” (205)
Once again, Holden is trying to fight back threats to his innocent and naïve childhood
view of the world by hiding himself in a cabin in the woods away from society – and
the adult world – where he is protected from “anything phony”. His statement that,
“anything phony...couldn't stay” shows how out of touch he really is. He thinks he
38
can simply run from the world and create a place that is safe and where the innocent
ideals of childhood can always thrive and exist and overcome the cruel and harsh
realities of adulthood. No such place exists and no such place can be created. The
sooner Holden realizes this, the sooner Holden will be able to find happiness in and
connection to the real world of adults that everyone has to eventually find meaning
and purpose within.
10/
“'Please, Holden. Please let me go...'
“'You're not going . Now, shut up!...' I was almost all set to hit her. I thought I
was going to smack her for a second. I really did.”
“She started to cry.” (206)
“'I thought you were supposed to be in a play at school and all...' I said very
nasty.
'Whuddaya want to do? Not be in the play for God's sake?' That made
her cry even harder. I was glad. All of a sudden I wanted her to cry till her eyes
practically
dropped out. I almost hated her. I think I hated her most because she
would be in that
play any more if she went away with me.” (207)
This is a pivotal encounter in the novel because when Phoebe packs up and decides
to leave with Holden it is probably not because she wants to run away with Holden. It
is, more likely, because she wants to protect him from whatever it it is that is wrong
with him. She is showing that she loves him and cares for him and wants to be with
him. Unfortunately, her desire to be close to him – which is the kid of intimacy he
has been craving but also trying to avoid for the entire novel – is what causes him to
push her away just as he found excuses to push away Jane and Mr. Antolini. He
becomes so desperate to do so that he reacts to this little girl he loves so much, with
anger. He talks of wanting to “hit her” and was even “going to smack her for a
second.” He is so intent on pushing her away that when he “made her cry”, he
“wanted her to cry till her eyes practically dropped out”. He even begins to “[hate]
her” because this way he can justify distancing himself from her. Not only does he
not hate her, he does not even want to make her cry. However, it is the only way he
can drive her away from him. The reason why he would want to do such a thing is to
not have to deal with the possibility of someone he loves disappearing out of his life
as Allie did. If he can alienate her with his actions, he will be protected from the
possibility of her leaving him. It is one of the central themes of the novel and this is
one of the best examples of this theme in The Catcher in the Rye.
11/ “...she said, 'So shut up.' It was the first time she ever told me to shut up. It
sounded terrible. God, it sounded terrible. It sounded worse than swearing.” (208)
As with the man cursing the Christmas tree (#2), a small child saying “shut up”
seems obscene to Holden and “worse than swearing” because it goes against the
perfect world that is childhood. In that world, children don't swear because they
have no need to swear. They are always happy. Like the “F*#* you's” on the wall,
Holden sees a child saying “shut up” as a threat to childhood innocence and
Holden's naïve attempt to preserve it.
39
12/ a) “anyway, we kept getting closer and closer to the carousel and you could hear
that nutty music it always plays. It was playing 'Oh Marie!' It played that same song
about fifty years ago when I was a little kid. That's one nice thing about carousels,
they always play the same songs. (210)
b) “...I felt so damn happy all of as sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around
and around [on the carousel]. I was damn near bawling. I felt so damn happy, if you
want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice,
the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you
could have been there.” (213)
Like the museum, the carousel is a symbol of preserved childhood and preserved
childhood innocence. Time is frozen and everything associated with that time
remains intact and unchanged or untouched The carousel playing the “same song”
it played “fifty years ago when [Holden] was a little kid” symbolizes this eternal link to
the past and to the possibility of growing up but not growing out of childhood. The
carousel “going around and around” with Phoebe on it makes Holden “so damn
happy” because for one brief moment he is able to live in the childhood he is
fighting so desperately to hold on to and not leave behind. This image of Phoebe on
a carousel is a snapshot of his own childhood frozen in time where everything is
perfect and everyone is happy. A carousel is the perfect metaphor for this because it
is a symbol that is eternally linked to childhood. It is on children's music or jewelry
boxes and countless children's movies and pictures. It has always been and will
always be associated with the image of children and childhood, itself. For these few
moments Holden is able to believe that childhood and the innocent beauty and
wonder that comes along with it can be something that never ends or dies. Sadly, it
this belief that is at the core of Holden's inability to function in the real world. He has
yet to realize that childhood is not like a carousel that always goes around to the
same music. Life is always changing and the world is always changing. The sooner
Holden stops trying to prevent this change – and allows himself to change with it –
the better off he will be and, most certainly, the happier he will be.
13/
“She took the dough off me. 'I'm not mad at you anymore,' she said”
“Then what she did – it damn near killed me – she reached in my coat pocket
and took out my red hunting hat and put it on my head.” (212)
This exchange of Holden giving Phoebe the money he owes her and Phoebe giving
Holden back his red hunting hat shows intimacy at work and shows what Holden
needs to do to be happy. Every relationship involves give and take between two
people who care about one another very much. This exchange “damn near killed
[Holden]” and made him so happy because he so seldom gets to experience this give
and take of an intimate and loving relationship. He won't allow himself to do so. At
this point, here, he is just enjoying the moment he is experiencing with Phoebe and is
not worrying about whether or not she is going to “disappear” out of his life as Allie
did or as the ducks disappeared from the pond. And in this moment, he is very
happy.
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Phoebe giving Holden back his red hunting hat also symbolizes Holden getting
back his identity and Phoebe forcing him to be who he really is when he is with her.
The cap is a symbol of the real Holden Caulfield and Phoebe giving him his hat back
is Phoebe saying, in a symbolic way, that she wants Holden to be himself, and no
one else, when he is with her. This may also be another reason why he is happy here.
He finally has the freedom to be himself as he is with a person who accepts him and
lets him be who he really is. This is what we all want out of our relationships with the
people we love and care about.
Chapter 26
1/ “A lot of people, especially this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps
asking me if I'm going to apply myself when I go back to school in September. It's
such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you're going to
do till you do it? The answer is, you don't. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear
it's a stupid question.” (213)
2/ “D.B. Asked me what I thought about all this stuff I just finished telling you about.
I don't know what the hell to say. If you want to know the truth, I don't know what I
think about it. I'm sorry I told so many people about it. About all I know is, I sort of
miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance...Don't ever
tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” (213-214)
These two passages give a rather conflicting outlook on Holden's future. The first
passage suggests that, even though Holden is undergoing psychological treatment,
he is still quite cynical and pessimistic towards the world. When asked if he is going
back to school in September, he thinks it's a “stupid question” and focuses on this
rather than the fact that people are trying to help him through his emotional
breakdown. However, the second passage shows Holden admitting that he misses
all the people he encountered throughout the novel and acknowledges that if you
“tell everybody anything” (in other words, allow yourself to get close to someone)
then you “start missing everybody.” He is, basically, acknowledging that intimacy
causes you to care and, yes, miss people. He is realizing how relationships work and
may be even accepting this as a fact of life. However, when he says, “I'm sorry I told
so many people about it”, we see a hint of the old Holden who wants to keep himself
isolated from others and the intimacy that comes along with trusting and connecting
with others. The reader is left in doubt as to whether Holden's fate is a happy one or
a sad one and maybe that is a rather fitting ending for this novel, in particular. This
is because, in the real world, happy endings are never guaranteed and the future is
always in doubt. Maybe Holden's life is like every other life on earth. Every day is a
blank page that can end in triumph or tragedy, joy or sadness. However, as with
Holden and his life, there is always the hope that tomorrow will be a better day and,
ultimately, it is this hope that sustains us and keeps us moving forward towards our
future.
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