The Catcher in the Rye
JD Salinger
Notes: Chapters 1-8
Chapter One

Chapter One
1. From where is Holden telling his
story?

Holden is telling the story from
some form of mental wellness
center/ psychiatric institution in
California (17 years old)
He recounts the events of the past
Christmas in PA/NYC (16 years old)
Chapter One
2. Why does Holden call his
brother a “prostitute”?

Holden labels his brother, DB, as a
“prostitute,”or sell-out
Holden does not believe that DB is
using his gift of writing for the right
reasons- rather, he is contributing to
the superficiality of Hollywood
films (for $$$) and wasting his
talent
Chapter One
3. Describe Holden’s attitude
toward Pencey Prep.

 Pencey Prep is an all-boys private
boarding school in Agerstown, PA.
 Holden dislikes how prestigious the
school boasts itself to be, claiming that
is just as “lousy” as any other school
False advertising
 Quote: page 2
Chapter One
4. Provide the initial setting of the
story Holden narrates.

 Time:
 Winter of 1948-49; around Christmas
time
 Place:
 Agerstown, PA (Pencey Prep.)
 This fictional town/school likely based on Valley
Forge Military Academy in Wayne, PA, where
Salinger attended
Chapter One
5. What strange feeling does Holden
experience while crossing Route 204?

Holden feels like he is disappearing
while running across the road.
Symptom of his nervous breakdown?
Crossing the road = taking the next
step in life
 Does Holden fear moving on in life?
Chapter One
6. Who does Holden decide to visit at
the end of the chapter and why?

 Who does he visit?
 Holden visits his (former) History teacher,
Mr. Spencer
 Why does he visit?
 He has been expelled from Pencey and wants
to “feel some kind of good-by… when I’m
leaving a place I like to know I’m leaving it.”
(4)
 Holden is looking for closure; permission
Chapter Two

Chapter Two
7. List some of Mr. Spencer’s nuances which
both annoy and fascinate Holden.

He always seems to be yelling
He is wearing a ratty, old bathrobe that he “was born in”
He is sickly with the grippe and smells like Vicks
His old, white and hairy legs
His bed is hard “like a rock”
He overtly picks his nose
He can’t toss items onto the bed that is mere inches away
from him
 He repeats and re-emphasizes things
 He reads Holden’s lousy essay out loud to him
(reinforced humiliation)







Chapter Two
8. What advice/life lesson does Spencer try
to teach Holden?

Old Spencer says:
“Life is a game one plays according
to the rules.”
Spencer’s advice demands that
Holden conform to others’
expectations of him
According to Spencer, Holden lives
outside of the rules and, therefore,
fails
Chapter Two
9. What does Holden’s note to Spencer tell
us about Holden’s character?

From the note Holden writes to
Spencer, attached to his awful essay,
we can infer that Holden is much more
concerned with his teacher being let
down by him than he is concerned with
flunking his course.
He is willing to admit defeat and is
honest/forthright about his failures
Chapter Three
10. Which subject is the only subject Holden
did not fail at Pencey?
English

Holden is expressive in
writing and well-read when
he has the choice
“I’m quite illiterate but I read a
lot.”
Paradox = self-defeating truth
Chapter Two
Discussion!

While talking to Mr. Spencer, Holden becomes
preoccupied with the ducks of Central Park, NYC:
“I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park… I was
wondering if it would be frozen over when I got
home, and if it was, where did the ducks go… I
wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them
away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew
away.”
Q Why might Holden be thinking such thoughts?
What does this tell us about his character?
Chapter Three

Chapter Three
11. Describe the hat that Holden recently
purchased in NYC.

Holden purchases a red hunting hat for
$1
“The way I wore it, I swung the old
peak way around to the back– very
corny, I’ll admit, but I liked it that
way.”
Holden’s hunting hat is a motif in this
story- a recurring symbol
Discuss hat’s possible symbolism?
Chapter Three
12. Describe Holden’s take on literature.
How does Holden evaluate whether or not a
book he has read is succesful?

 Holden is “quite illiterate” but “reads a
lot”
Paradox: Self-defeating truth
Holden reads upon choice and not upon
force; a book is successful only if the
author seems genuine
 “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re
all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was
a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the
phone whenever you feel like it.” (18)
Chapter Three
13. Describe Holden’s suitemate, Robert
Ackley. How does he feel about Ackley?

 Robert Ackley = Holden’s neighbor in the dorms.
 He can be described as pimply, annoying, intrusive and
messy.
 Ackley annoys Holden but he secretly respecting him for
being at least honest about who he is and how he acts:
 He rarely brushes his “mossy” teeth
 He interrupts Holden often, especially when Holden wants
to be left alone
 He is very touchy with Holden’s items, namely his picture
frame of Sally Hayes (Holden’s ex-girlfriend)
 He cuts his fingernails “all over the room”
 Quote: Page 20
Chapter Three
14. How does Holden, manager of the
Pencey Prep. Fencing Team, ironically
mismanage the team?

Holden accidentally leaves the team’s
equipment on the subway while on the
way to a match in NYC
He is ostracized by the team but
brushes it off or seems unaffected by
his irresponsibility
 “It was pretty funny, in a way.” – Holden to us (3)
 “Nobody won.” – Holden to Ackley (20)
Chapter Four

Chapter Four
15. How does Holden describe his roomate,
Ward Stradlater

Ward Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, is
“yearbook handsome” and appears to be selfobsessed and conceited
 Quote: Page 27
Holden calls Stradlater a “secret slob” because
he appears to be very neat and orderly by
appearance, and yet behind closed doors he is as
messy as anyone
 Stradlater’s razor used as a symbol to exemplify this
point
Chapter Four
16. Who does Holden find out Stradlater is
dating?

Stradlater happens to be going on a date
with Jane Gallagher (he mistakenly calls
her Jean)
Holden seems startled by the
coincidence of it all, because he knows
Jane from being her neighbor in the
town where his family has summer
home
Chapter Four
17. What peculiar memory does Holden
have about the way Jane plays checkers?

Holden finds Jane’s strategy (or lack
thereof) in checkers as amusing.
She arranges all her kings in the back row and
refuses to move them (in checkers, kings
should purposely be used to go on the attack)
Holden is intrigued by Jane’s non-conformist
and pacifist attitude
Quote: Pages 31-32
Chapter Four
18. Why do you think Holden is seemingly
preoccupied with Stradlater’s date?

Holden “nearly drops dead” because
Jane is his idyllic female; he is secretly
in love with her and, so, immediately
worries about what Stradlater is going
to do with her while on this date
Chapter Five

Chapter Five
1. Why doesn’t Holden throw the
snowball he creates?

He is reluctant to disturb the
sanctity and serenity of the winter
landscape
He starts to attack but stops
himself from taking action
This mirrors what he finds intriguing
about Jane playing checkers (aligning
her kings but not moving her kings)
Chapter Five
2. About what did Holden write
Stradlater’s composition?

Holden writes a descriptive
account of Allie Caulfield’s
baseball mitt
Holden adores this mitt because it
is inscribed with Allie’s favorite
poetry
Holding on to this mitt allows
Holden to keep a piece of his
brother with him at all times
Chapter Five
3. Describe Allie Caulfield.

Holden’s late younger brother
Died in 1946 of leukemia (11 years
old; two years younger than Holden)
Physical red hair
Personality intelligent; kind
Quote=38-39
Chapter Five
4. How did Holden react to Allie’s death?

Holden isolated himself from
others and violently broke the
windows in the garage
Subsequently Holden broke his
hand (still has trouble making a
fist)
He has trouble remembering the
incident
Quote=39
Chapter Five
5. How may Allie’s mitt be
considered symbolic?

Homage to Allie’s life
Reminder to Holden of the
unique attributes of Allie’s
personality
Loss of innocence/childhood
Coping with death/depression
Chapter Six

Chapter Six
6. How does Stradlater react to
Holden’s composition?

Stradlater reacts angrily
He ackowledges Holden’s
inability to follow directions and
does not thank him for his effort
Holden rips up the composition
and throws it in the garbage
Quote=41
Chapter Six
7. Describe the physical altercation
between Holden and Stradlater.

Holden is preoccupied with the events
Stradlater’s date with Jane
Stradlater refuses to tell him what
happened on the date
Holden is irked by Stradlater’s ungrateful
nature
Holden tries to punch Stradlater;
Stradlater ultimately pins him to the
ground and reluctantly punches him,
knocking him out
 Quote=44
Chapter Six
8. Does Holden consider himself
much of a fighter? Why or why not?

Holden is fascinated with violence,
especially its aftermath, but considers
himself a “pacifist”
Pacifist = someone who refuses to
result to violence
Holden appears to be a contradictory
character
Quote=46
Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven
9. What can one infer about Holden’s character
from his request to sleep in Ely’s bed?

Holden is seeking comfort,
companionship and hospitality
Holden is avoiding the consequences
by distancing himself from Stradlater
Holden might want to pretend to be
someone else
Holden is as intrusive as Ackley
Contradictory nature of Holden
Chapter Seven
10. Describe Holden’s impulsive decision to leave
Pencey Prep. How does he feel at this time?

He decides to leave PP and arrive in
NYC several days earlier than his
parents expect him
He will lay low and kill some time
before his parents receive the
expulsion letter from Thurmer
He feels extremely lonely and
depressed
Quote=51
Chapter Seven
11. Why do Holden’s ice skates
make him sad?

The ice skates were a gift from his
mother; she bought him the wrong
kind of skates
Gratitude v. Ingratitude
They remind him of failing school/
failing to live up to his mother’s
expectations
Quote=52
Chapter Seven
12. Describe Holden’s state of mind upon leaving
Pencey Prep. What does he yell as he leaves?

Holden is crying, unsure of how to feel as
he leaves, and yet is excited about the
uncertainty/mysteries ahead
He sells his typewriter in order to make a
little extra cash; he’s “loaded,” however,
due to a generous and senile
grandmother.
Holden puts on his red hunting hat and
hollers, “Sleep tight, ya morons!”
An attempt to find closure?
Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight
13. Describe Holden’s perceptions of the woman
who gets on the train in Trenton.

Holden meets Mrs. Morrow, mother or
Ernest Morrow, who also attends Pencey
Prep
Holden seems attracted to/interested in her:
She has a nice “telephone” voice
She is 40-45 years old, mature, attactive
and well dressed
Holden admires the way she smokes
cigarettes; offers her a drink
 Quote=54
Chapter Eight
14. Whose name does Holden provide for Mrs. Morrow?
Why might Holden not want his true identity revealed?

Holden doesn’t have the heart to tell Mrs.
Morrow how much he son is hated at PP
 He calls himself “Rudolph Schmidt” (janitor
at Holden’s dorm, PP)
 Reasons to lie?
 Holden wishes to avoid the cruelty in a
mother knowing the truth about their son
 Holden would not want someone else telling
his mother the truths about him
 Holden wants to feel as if he is important or
belongs
Chapter Eight
15. Identify at least (3) lies Holden
tells Mrs. Morrow.

Name/identity Rudolph Schmidt
Ernest Morrow is “popular” and well-liked at
PP
Ernest wouldn’t let students at PP nominate
him for president of his class because he was
too “modest.”
Holden left school early to have a brain
tumor surgically removed in NYC
He can’t visit the Morrows’ summer home
because he will be in South America with his
grandmother
Chapter Eight
16. Why do you believe Holden tells
such outrageous lies to Mrs. Morrow?

To see how far he can go/how
gullible an audience can be
To avoid his depressive state of
mind, woes and failures
Deteriorating mental state/lies are
as credible as truths to Holden
To confuse Ernest Morrow later on