‘Catcher in the Rye’
by J.D. Salinger
Opening
• The opening has the task of luring the
reader into the story – capturing the
reader’s interest
• To give info on setting (where, when, social
context)
• Establish a mood/atmosphere etc.
• Give info/clues about the main
character(s)
Opening of ‘Catcher’
- Does the opening of ‘Catcher’ fit the
general purpose of a novel’s opening?
- What do we learn, especially about the
character Holden Caulfield?
- What narrative and verbal techniques does
Salinger use to get the reader ‘hooked’?
Some questions to help you think:
Chapter 1 Questions
1. Who is Holden Caulfield?
2. Who is D.B., and why is Holden somewhat contemptuous of
him?
3.What does he say about his school?
4. Who is Selma Thurmer, and why did Holden like her? 
what does it show about Holden’s character?
5. Who is Mr. Spencer, and why was Holden going to visit
him? Why do you think did Mr Spencer wanted to see H.
6. What does Holden think about the other students who
attend Pencey?
7. Does Holden blame others for his flunking out of school?
 Write short answers to those questions (bullet points are
fine) and think how Holden is portrayed. Include quotes
from the text if you can, so your answers are based
on clear ‘evidence’
Chapter 2
1. Did Holden agree with Dr. Thurmer’s description of life as a
game? Explain your answer.
2 Was Pencey Prep really the fourth school from which Holden
was asked to leave? Explain your answer.
3. Why did Holden write Mr. Spencer a note at the end of his
examination paper?
4. What was Holden thinking about while he said the following:
“I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told
him how I would’ve done exactly the same thing if I’d
been in his place, and how most people didn’t appreciate
how tough it is being a teacher.”
 Why do you think Holden is concerned about the ducks
during the winter (13)? (Hint: perhaps he feels an affinity
with their situation?)
5. Holden told Mr. Spencer not to worry about him.
What reason did he give for not worrying?
Chapter 3 and 4
1. How does Holden determine whether a book is
outstanding?
2. Ackley: What does Ackley usually do when he
comes to visit Holden? What does Holden find
annoying about him?
3. Stradlater: Why does Ackley not like
Stradlater? p. 21 What does Holden say in
defense of Stradlater?
4. According to Holden, Ackley and Stradlater are
both slobs. In what way are they different as
slobs?
5. What favour does Stradlater ask of Holden?
“What really knocks me out is a book that,
when you’re done reading it, you wish the
author that wrote it was a terrific friend
of yours and you could call him up on the
phone whenever you felt like it.”
–Holden Caulfield
Can you think of a book that inspired you so
much that you felt you’d really like to have
a conversation with him/her?
Chapter 5 and 6
1. Allie: What does Holden write about for
Stradlater’s composition? p.33
2. Why did Allie have writing on his baseball
mitt?
3. How did Allie die? How did Holden react
to Allie’s death? p.34
4.Why is Holden so interested in what
happened on Stradlater’s date?
 What do we learn about Holden in those
chapters?
What we learn about Holden:
• In Ch 5 and 6 Holden shows that he tries to look past
people’s faults, e.g. when he defends Stradlater when Ackley
says he is a “conceited sonuvabitch”
• He doesn’t like ‘slobs’ and is concerned about manners that fit
a private and privileged education which is sort of ironic as he
tries to disassociate himself from this environment
• He is also concerned for Jane as he is convinced that
Stradlater, the “sexy bastard”, is going to have sexual
intercourse with Jane because he knows what Stradlater is like
with dates. He knows Jane: feels protective of her; respects
her innocence, conservative attitude and decency she displayed
when she was close friends with Holden: “she liked to keep all
her kings in the backrow”
• We also see that Holden, despite being physically weaker and
beaten by Stradl., stands up for what he believes and does not
give in. He is sensitive about Allie and he defends Jane (and his)
honour but we also detect jealousy as he probably would have
liked Jane as a date for himself. He makes clear that he
despises non-genuine/non-honourable behaviour concerning girls
and is prepared to ‘fight’ for his morals/beliefs,
something we’ll see later on again when Maurice beats
him
Chapter 7, 8 & 9
1. Why do you think Holden “was sort of crying” (p.46)
when he left Pencey?
2. Mrs Morrow: Why does he lie to her about Ernest?
What does he want her to think about Ernest’s
personality?
3. What does he discuss with the cab driver on the way
to Edmont Hotel?
4. What does Holden think about the people he
observes from his Hotel window? What is opinion on
‘necking’ and sex? P.56
5. Why do you think does Holden decide against calling
Jane Gallagher? Who does he call instead and what is
the primary reason for it? P.56/57
Chapter 10 & 11
1. What do we learn about Phoebe? How does Holden
feel about her? p.60
“ I and Allie used to take her to the park with us,
especially on Sundays.” p. 61 What impression do
we get of Holden’s family in the past?
2. What does Holden think about the 3 girls he meets in
the Lavender Room? p.62
3. What do we learn about Holden and Jane’s
relationship in the past?
Chapter 12,13 & 14
1. What is the ‘theme’ of the first paragraph?
2. Holden asks Horwitz (the cab driver) about the
ducks. What is Horwitz’s answer?
3. Who does he meet at Ernie’s? Why does he leave
the bar? p.78
4. Sunny: Explain what happened between Holden
and Sunny? What is his excuse (official and
inofficial) for not sleeping with her? P.86/87
5. Sunny and Maurice come back to Holden’s room?
Interpret Holden’s resistance to give Maurice
the $5. What does it say about him?
Chapter 15 & 16
1. Why does Holden not want to tell his mother
that he was expelled? P.97
2. Who does he phone and organises a date
with?p.95
3. Holden meets two nuns – why does he like them
as well as feels sorry for them? What do we
learn about Holden’s personality and
upbringing?pp.97, 103
4. How does the little boy walking with his parents
uplifts Holden’s spirit? p. 104 ( original song)
5. According to Holden what is the best thing
about the museum? Why does he think this way?
P.108,109,110 (find quotes)
Chapter 17, 18 & 19
1.How does Holden feel about Sally? p.112, 113
2.What article of clothing does Holden associate with “Ivy League
types”? p.114
3.Holden and Sally go ice-skating and have a conversation. What is
Holden trying to convince her off? How does she respond?
 Holden gives a summary of the date at the end of the chapter
(p.121) – what is he confused about and why?
4. What do we learn about D.B. and Holden’s thoughts on war?
5. Ch 19: Carl Luce: Who is he? How does the conversation between
the two go in the Seton Hotel Bar? What was the main subject of
their conversation? How does Holden come across to the reader?
(contrast to Carl)
 “When in hell are you going to grow up?”(C. to H.) p.131
Ivy League
• Ivy League is the name generally applied to eight
universities (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard,
Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale) that over the years have
had common interests in scholarship as well as in athletics.
Stanley Woodward, New York Herald Tribune sports writer,
coined the phrase in the early thirties. In 1936 the
undergraduate newspapers of these universities
simultaneously ran an editorial advocating the formation of
an “Ivy League” but the first move toward this end was not
taken until 1945. In that year, the eight presidents entered
into an agreement “ for the purpose of reaffirming their
intention of continuing intercollegiate football in such a way
as to maintain the values of the game, while keeping it in
fitting proportion to the main purposes of academic life.”
Chapter 20 & 21
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Holden gets drunk and pretends he’s the “only guy with a bullet
in their guts” (p. 135). When in the story did we see a similar
scene? What does it suggest about Holden?
How does he feel leaving the Wicker bar? P.138
What does Holden imagine when he sits down by the lake? P.139
What motivates him to leave the lake and go home? P.140/141
Why does Phoebe get upset with H. at the end of chapter 21?
Chapter 22, 23 & 24
1.What is Holden’s response to Phoebe’s request to
name one thing he likes? P.153/154
2. Who was James Castle and why does H. admire
him? P. 153
3. What does H say is the “only thing I want to be”?
P. 156  explain
4. Ch 23:Who is Mr. Antolini? P. 157 , 163
What advice does he give Holden?
5. What is the reason why Holden leaves Antolini’s
apartment all of a sudden?
Antolini quotes:
“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.”
 Why do you think is this good advice
to Holden?
More quotes by Antolini:
• “I have a feeling that you’re riding for some
kind of terrible, terrible fall.” p. 168
• “you’re going to have to find out where you
want to go. And then you’ve got to start
going there.” p.170
• Academic education will “ begin to give you an
idea of what size mind you have.” p. 171
Chapter 25 & 26
1. This Chapter tells us something about Holden’s
decline, mentally and physically. What evidence
can we find in this chapter for this? Think of
possible reasons for it.
(p. 177, 178, 180, 185)
2. Why do you think is Phoebe so determined to go
away with Holden?
3. The carrousel: p.189 and 190 Holden watches
Phoebe on the carousel. What epiphany (clarity of
thought) has he got when he watches her on the
carrousel?
4. chapter 26: Where is Holden? What do we learn
about him?
“Catcher” as a coming-of age
or ‘Bildungsroman’
Characteristics of a Bildungsroman:
- Protagonist grows from childhood to adulthood
- Protagonist got a reason to embark on their
journey, away from family/home
- Process of maturation is long, involving repeated
clashes between the protagonist’s needs/desires
and the views and judgments enforced by an
unbending social order.
 Does this general description fit to ‘Catcher’?
How might the novel slightly divert from the
definition?
Tracing Holden’s ‘journey’
Pencey Prep: ………………. 
1.
Symbolism
(and BRIEF explanations)
The carrousel’s gold ring
- = hope, dreams, challenges: part of growing up
- Children have to take risks/need to grow up
and adults must let them (even though loss of innocence)
- need a goal in life and then trying to achieve it even
if it’s hard, etc.
2. The Museum of Natural History
- Reflects Holden’s desire for things to stay
‘frozen’/unchanging = represents ideal world for H
(but: even displays change now and then),
- Holden’s wish for the past to be constant – wish
Allie was still alive; refusal to change/grow up
3. The ducks in the Central Park lagoon
- Curiosity of youth
- The ducks’ perseverance in the face of difficulty resonates
with H (his own situation)
- Ducks reprs.change that isn’t permanent but cyclical (=hope?)
- Fear of things disappearing - Allie ‘disappeared’, desire for
stability and the past to come back, hate for
unpredictability/conflict
half frozen lake reflects H’s state of mind/life
(transition)
Others: Allie’s baseball mitt, the red
hunting hat, movies, prep school life
Themes (issues/main ideas the novel deals with)
The author shows us themes through: characters, their actions, relationships,
dialogue, events, language, setting etc.
Themes we can track throughout the novel:
Death and coping with it
 Allie’s death and H inability to come to terms with it creates the
following themes/issues; H is haunted by Allie’s death, his tomb at
the graveyard, memories
1. Painfulness of growing up (transition from childhood to adulthood)
H resists: stepping out of the past into the future, progressing,
leaving the past behind and becoming an adult; deals with
confusion, doesn’t acknowledge his fears and that adulthood
mystifies him, can’t let go of childhood (innocence, curiosity,
honesty)
2. Alienation (as a form of self-protection)
H feels he doesn’t belong into this world; isolation = proof that he is
‘better’ than most people around him; interaction with others
confuse/overwhelm him; inability to form ‘normal’ relationships and
relate to/understand people –outsider, non-conformist, doesn’t fit
in; he doesn’t address his emotions or the source of
his troubles; wants human contact/love but his wall of
bitterness prevents this
Themes contd.
3. Romanticism vs Reality
H’s ideal world (relationships, past, future,
H’s own innocence and longing for
it/protecting it) in contrast with reality
(“Life is a game”); feels his values are not
understood by others
4. Phoniness of the adult world
H’s view of the world and fear of
becoming an adult; despises superficiality,
hypocrisy, pretension, shallowness he sees
around him – reason for him to
withdraw/alienate himself from that
world; for him the world is B&W but
he himself is evidence for the grey areas
Task: Choose one of the themes
and find relating incidences from
the text as well as quotes and if
applicable symbols or setting that
illustrate the theme.
Then: Go round the class to take
down notes from the work of your
peers for the other themes.
Quote
Chapter/
section/
incident
Setting/location
Theme
__________
Quote
symbol