‘The Catcher in the Rye’
Key Incidents
All of the key incidents highlight aspects of Holden Caulfield’s character. As the events
unfold over the short period of 3 days Holden does not change dramatically over that
brief time. However the reader is helped to understand the character of Holden and to
respond to his character as a consequences of these incidents.
5 key incidents: their PURPOSES
 Fight at Pencey – which highlights Holden’s confused character and propels
Holden into his New York adventure. Use as introduction to novel.
 The prostitute – emphasises important aspects of Holden’s character . Also an
amusing incident.
 Central Park, chapter 20 – Holden reaches a low point which is the crisis of the
plot.
 Going home to visit Phoebe – Holden seeks refuge with his family; we see
Holden is depressed and in need of help
 Mr. Antolini – again aspects of Holden’s character are highlighted; Mr. Antolini
identifies Holden’s problem. Significant incident in diagnosing Holden’s problem.
 Second meeting with Phoebe – Holden begins to make some sense of his world
and concedes that facing life’s difficulties, cruelties, inequalities and unfairness is
part of growing up. However this is only tentative on Holden’s part. He does NOT
make a life- changing discovery as some main characters do in novels. The
novel’s conclusion.
Chapter 20 – crisis point for Holden
* has been unable to find anyone to communicate his ‘angst’ to and is feeling frustrated
and lonely
Holden has tried unsuccessfully to communicate his frustrations about life at school and
society’s values with Sally Hayes and Carl Luce and has resorted to begging Carl to keep
him company:
‘I’m lonesome as hell. No kidding’.
He spends the rest of Sunday night drinking in the bar till around 1am. trying to act
adult, ogling the singer and asking the waiter to pass on a message to her. Again Holden
acts as he thinks sophisticated adults behave but soon he reverts to childish play-acting;
‘I started that stupid business with the bullet in my guts again.’
Holden’s transition between child and adult is reinforced as he swings from adult
behaviour to childish fantasy. This is typical of the teenage stage however.
By this time he is drunk, ‘I could hardly see straight’, and he decides once more to phone
Jane Gallagher. As in other parts of the novel he finds an excuse not to, to avoid
disillusionment of his innocent memory of Jane, so phones Sally Hayes instead. The
reader is treated to an amusing transcription of Holden’s drunken conversation with
Sally where he tries to make amends for his lapse in manners when they met earlier on
Sunday. However Holden is desperately seeking human contact as he is lonely, as well as
drunk. When he is attempting to sober up in the toilets he tries to strike up a
conversation with the piano player, this time asking the man to give the singer a
message from Holden. From this conversation we see how needling Holden’s questions
are, ‘you need a manager?’, yet he thinks he is being sarcastically witty. The man refuses
to rise to Holden’s bait and tells him to go home. Drunkenness has made Holden
maudlin and he was ‘crying and all’. The hat -check girl mothers Holden and tells him to
put on his red hunting hat to keep off the winter chill. Despite chatting her up she treats
Holden as a boy. Here we have seen the conflict in Holden in that when he tries to
behave like an adult, he falls short of the mark and is seen for the boy he actually is by
the adults: the transition theme again.
The cold sobers Holden up and he has nowhere to go:
‘I didn’t even know where I was supposed to go.’
He feels as ‘blue as hell’ and heads off to Central Park to see ‘what the hell the ducks
were doing’. On the way he drops the ‘Shirley Beans’ record. This is symbolic as the
record symbolises childhood and Holden has shattered it – Holden’s childhood period is
over but he cannot come to terms with this. He scoops up the pieces to give to Phoebe,
the remains of his childhood, instead of walking away from it. This incident juxtaposes
the earlier incidents in the bar when Holden was unsuccessfully trying to act out adult
behaviour. This chapter shows Holden in the transition between childhood and
adulthood, a confusing time for him and all teenagers.
Although Holden believes he knows Central Park well, as it was his childhood
playground, he finds the park at night a confusing and threatening place. The park is a
metaphor at this point for Holden’s life: childhood was easy to negotiate but adulthood
is trickier and fraught with dangers. Holden can’t find the ducks he has been concerned
about from chapter 8, although he almost falls in the pond in his quest. Where the ducks
go in winter remains a mystery for Holden, just as what he is to do with his future
remains elusive too.
Holden realises he is in danger of freezing, as he has ‘hunks of ice in his hair’ and thinks
morbid thoughts about his death from pneumonia and his funeral. This leads to
thoughts of Allie’s death and guilt about causing his mother more grief. Typically he is
comforted by the thought that Phoebe, a child, would be protected somewhat from his
death by not being allowed to attend his funeral. We then see Holden’s irrational
thoughts about Allie’s death and that he still cannot come to terms with it. He worries
about Allie being left alone, cold and wet in the graveyard:
‘I know it’s only his body and all that’s in the cemetery --- but I couldn’t stand it anyway.’
Holden is obviously deeply troubled by Allie’s death in a way that is not normal for
someone of Holden’s age. Allie’s death typifies the injustice and cruelty in the world
which Holden hates but can’t face up to. We see Holden is psychologically scarred by
this episode – Allie’s death - in his life. We now realise Holden is not well.
To add to his troubles Holden has little money left and recklessly skims the last of it in
the lake. Again this is typically rash behaviour which he almost immediately regrets. He
feels if he is going to die he had better pay Phoebe a last visit – again thoughts of deathand decides to ‘sneak home.’ Having discovered that New York City can be a hostile
place he longs for the security of his home. Having decided to strike out independently
on his own on Saturday night as a young adult, he now feels more depressed and
vulnerable after his adventures and longs for the safety of his family. This again shows
the transition between childhood and adulthood is not a straight line. Holden is now
neither in good shape emotionally or physically and he feels very vulnerable. This is the
nadir for Holden, the most miserable time in the novel.