Mr. Dominick
10th Grade American Lit
Answers to Questions for Chapters 20-26 of Catcher in the Rye and Last Quotes
Chapter 20
1. In Chapter 20, Holden gets very drunk and acts outs the scenario where he gets shot in
the gut and has to hold his stomach to keep the “blood” from getting on the floor.
2. Holden makes a call to Sally Hayes when he is at the Wicker Bar and tells her he will
come to her house to help trim the family’s Christmas tree. Since it is very late and he is
very drunk, he ends up upsetting Sally’s grandmother and Sally herself. Later, he goes
into the bathroom and douses his head in cold water in an attempt to sober up.
3. Phoebe’s record breaks while Holden is walking towards Central Park. He picks up the
pieces and places them in his coat pocket.
4. Holden goes to the duck pond in Central Park right after he leaves the Wicker Bar.
5. Holden reveals to us that he was not at Allie’s funeral. He was still in the hospital
recovering from the injury he suffered when he punched the garage windows after
finding out Allie had died.
6. Holden talks about how it depresses him to think about Allie being under the ground
when it rains in the cemetery where he is buried. He says specifically, “I know it’s only
his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his soul’s in Heaven and all that crap, but I
couldn’t stand it anyway” (156). This statement is a direct contradiction of his previous
assertion that he is an atheist.
7. Holden decides to go to his family’s apartment and visit Phoebe.
Chapter 21
1. Holden finds it amusing that Phoebe signs her name in her notebooks as “Phoebe
Weatherfield Caulfield.” Previously, he had said that his sister writes stories featuring a
character named Hazle Weatherfield, so this is where she gets the false middle name.
Chapter 22
1. On Veterans’ Day at Pencey, a day where all of the Pencey alumni return to the school,
a man once came into Holden and Stradlater’s room and asked to use the bathroom at the
end of the corridor to see if his initials were still carved into the wall of the bathroom.
Holden was depressed by this man’s age and his appearance: he could barely catch a
breath after he walked up the stairs, and the whole time he was talking to Holden, he kept
telling him to treasure his days at Pencey.
2. Phoebe’s statement that Holden does not like anything that is happening is in fact very
true. Much of the novel up until this point has been Holden venting about things he sees
in the adult world and with which he is upset. Thus, Phoebe’s simple words bring to light
Holden’s general dissatisfaction with everything in the world, dissatisfaction that he has
been trying to ignore ever since he arrived in New York by looking for interaction
anywhere he can find it.
3. Holden’s thinking about James Castle is a typical reaction for him whenever he is
confronted with a situation with which he does not want to deal. He thinks about people
and events from his past whenever someone tries to put the spotlight on him and evaluate
why he does the things he does. Holden denies really knowing James, saying that he had
math class with him but did not really know him because James never answered a
question or went up to the blackboard to write. However, James Castle’s death had
enough of an impact on him to come to mind at this particular moment in his life.
Holden’s declaration about still liking Allie even though he is dead serves as one more
indication that he is mentally unstable and looking for anything to help straighten himself
out.
4. Holden tells Phoebe he would like to be “a catcher in the rye” and catch children
playing in a field of rye next to a cliff before they fall off. Phoebe corrects Holden by
saying that he has misquoted the line “If a body meet a body coming through the rye,” a
line from a Robert Burns poem.
Chapter 23
1. Mr. Antolini was Holden’s English teacher at Elkton Hills. He was the first person to
approach James Castle’s body after he jumped out of his window. He now works at
N.Y.U. as an English professor, and Holden calls him to see if he might be able to stay at
his house for the night.
2. Phoebe covers for Holden by explaining to her mother that her room smells like
cigarettes because she lit one up earlier and took a single puff because she could not
sleep.
3. Holden sounds like Holden when talking to her mother because she emphasizes certain
words and appears to speak negatively about things such as her dinner.
4. Phoebe gives Holden the Christmas money she was saving; this simple act of kindness,
done by a person who has not been corrupted by the adult world, causes Holden to burst
into tears.
5. Holden gives Phoebe his red hunting hat. This action represents Holden’s need to
protect Phoebe; the hat previously was a way for Holden to shield himself from the
outside world, and now he passes it on to Phoebe because he does not want her to become
corrupted by the adult world that has left him jaded and lonely.
Chapter 24
1. Holden failed his speech class because he could not stay on topic when giving a
speech; he found that digressing from his topic of choice was more interesting, but doing
so did not help his grade at all.
2. Holden tells the reader he has a headache and feels lousy in general when talking to
Mr. Antolini.
3. Holden says that he only hated people at Pencey like Ackley and Stradlater once in a
while. He tells Mr. Antolini that if he did not see them for a while, he actually started to
miss them. This is a contradiction in terms and shows Holden’s frenzied mental state.
4. In this quote, Mr. Antolini touches on Holden’s immaturity, saying that he sees Holden
dying for a cause that is not worth dying for, rather than one that is actually worth his
time. Mr. Antolini sees no point in Holden becoming a martyr for trying to eliminate one
of the many sources of his hate; he wants Holden to instead find something he can devote
himself to that will take his mind off what he finds wrong with the world.
5. Holden wakes up in the middle of the night and finds Mr. Antolini stroking his hair. He
makes an awkward exit from the apartment and tells Mr. Antolini he has to pick up his
bags from Grand Central Station, and no one can fault him for this action. After all, he is
still somewhat drunk, he has a headache, and, most importantly, his sexual frustration is
at its highest level. After his conversation with Carl Luce at the Wicker Bar, Holden
actually finds an example of “flitty” behavior from someone who he would not have
expected it, and this brings him to his breaking point.
Chapter 25
1. After he has time to think about Mr. Antolini’s actions in the apartment, Holden thinks
about how nice Mr. Antolini was to allow him to stay at his house after being called very
late at night, even though Holden thinks he made a “flitty pass” (194) at him. He starts
thinking about going to Grand Central Station, getting his bags, and returning to Mr.
Antolini’s house like he said he would, but this only makes him more depressed, and he
ends up not doing it.
2. Holden is upset by the article on hormones because he looks exactly like the person in
the article with lousy hormones.
3. Everytime Holden gets to the end of a block and steps off the curb, he gets a feeling
that he will disappear before he gets to the other end of the street.
4. Holden keeps repeating the words “Allie, don’t let me disappear” because in a way,
Allie is Holden’s guardian angel. Holden feels that Allie will stop him from disappearing
if he just repeats this mantra. These words in fact serve as a sort of prayer; it is only
appropriate that in his lowest moment during the entire novel, Holden Caulfield, a selfprofessed atheist, finds himself praying as he walks up and down Fifth Avenue.
5. Holden decides that he will go out West. However, he wants to say goodbye to Phoebe
first, so he goes into a stationary store, picks up a pad of paper, and writes a note telling
Phoebe to meet him at the Museum of Art after school. He then goes to Phoebe’s school
to deliver the message.
6. Holden is upset that curse words are written on the walls because he is afraid Phoebe
or one of the younger students will see it and wonder what it means, and that an older
student will tell them, and that they will then think about the words all the time.
7. Once again, the incident with the two boys at the museum shows how Holden knows
how to talk to children. He jokes around with the two boys at first, asking them what
mummies are after they ask where the mummies are kept in the museum. He then gives a
little lecture, telling them how the Egyptians mummified their dead.
8. Allie died at such a young age that Holden feels that he needs to be the perfect brother
for Phoebe. He feels that being a great brother to Phoebe will make up for the one time
that he did not take Allie with him when he and Bobby Fallon went riding on their
bicycles. In his mind, Holden has never made up for this mistake, and it is only through
his relationship with Phoebe that he feels he can do so.
9. Holden’s quote means that you need to let children reach for greatness, and even if
they fall, you should not say anything, because they need to make their own mistakes and
learn from them. The “golden ring” on a carousel is a ring that people can grab for while
riding the carousel in order to win a prize. Holden realizes that he needs to stop being so
protective of Phoebe; rather, he needs to let her find her own way in life, and provide
guidance to her only when she asks for it.
10. The carousel is symbolic of Holden’s journey and his roundabout search for
interaction. In addition, it can also be seen as a symbol for childhood innocence as
Phoebe rides on it in the second to last chapter.
Chapter 26
1. Holden is at a “rest home” at the end of the novel, recovering from his mental and
physical breakdown.
Quotes
9. Holden’s quote about the Museum of Natural History shows that he believes the
Museum to be an abnormal place, mainly because every time he goes there, the exhibits
remain the same while he himself has changed. This is a comforting thought at first;
however, when he arrives at the Museum of Natural History, he does not go in because he
is used to going with Phoebe, and he feels it is important not to break with tradition.
10. This quote shows Holden’s inability to cope with Allie’s death. He does not often go
to the cemetery when his parents go to visit Allie’s grave, and when he does go, he finds
it to be a sad and depressing experience. He is particularly depressed when he thinks
about the rain hitting the dirt above Allie’s stomach, and he finds it unfair that when it
rains in the cemetery, everyone but Allie can get out of the rain and go get a meal if they
so please.