THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
By J D Salinger
CONTEXT: EXPLORING ISSUES OF IDENTITY AND
BELONGING
STUDENT STUDY GUIDE
Unit 4 English
Parade College
2010
Name: _______________________
Tutor Group: ________________
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
CONTENTS
PAGE NUMBER
J D Salinger: Biography
1
Context: Post-War America
1–2
Genre, Structure, Language and Style
3
Plot Summary
4–7
‘Comin’ Thro’ the Rye’ by Robert Burns
8
Prompts for Writing
9
Responding to Prompts
10–11
Tips on Structuring the Different Modes
12
Choosing the Right Form
13
Audiences and Purposes
14–15
The Ideas
15–17
Writing Samples
17–23
Falling by Phil Canon
17
Ramones Go Home by Judy Eastman
19
Chapter Work and Context Writing Activities
24
Writing Activities Using the Text
26–28
Characters
29–33
Symbols and Language Features
34–35
Important Quotes
36
Chapter Summaries
37–43
Focus Questions
44–48
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
J D SALINGER: BIOGRAPHY
JEROME DAVID SALINGER WAS BORN in New York City in 1919. The son of a wealthy
cheese importer, Salinger grew up in a fashionable neighbourhood in Manhattan
and spent his youth being shuttled between various prep schools before his
parents finally settled on the Valley Forge Military Academy in 1934. He graduated
from Valley Forge in 1936 and attended a number of colleges, including Columbia
University, but did not graduate from any of them. While at Columbia, Salinger
took a creative writing class in which he excelled, cementing the interest in writing
that he had maintained since his teenage years. Salinger had his first short story
published in 1940; he continued to write as he joined the army and fought in
Europe during World War II. Upon his return to the United States and civilian life
in 1946, Salinger wrote more stories, publishing them in many respected
magazines. In 1951, Salinger published his only full-length novel, The Catcher in
the Rye, which propelled him onto the national stage.
Many events from Salinger’s early life appear in The Catcher in the Rye. For
instance, Holden Caulfield moves from prep school to prep school, is threatened
with military school, and knows an older Columbia student
CONTEXT: POST-WAR AMERICA
The Catcher in the Rye was published at a time when the burgeoning American
industrial economy made the nation prosperous and entrenched social rules served
as a code of conformity for the younger generation. Because Salinger used slang
and profanity in his text and because he discussed adolescent sexuality in a
complex and open way, many readers were offended, and The Catcher in the Rye
provoked great controversy upon its release. Some critics argued that the book
was not serious literature, citing its casual and informal tone as evidence. The
book was—and continues to be—banned in some communities, and it
consequently has been thrown into the center of debates about First Amendment
rights, censorship, and obscenity in literature.
Though controversial, the novel appealed to a great number of people. It was a
hugely popular bestseller and general critical success. Salinger’s writing seemed to
tap into the emotions of readers in an unprecedented way. As countercultural
revolt began to grow during the 1950s and 1960s, The Catcher in the Rye was
frequently read as a tale of an individual’s alienation within a heartless world.
Holden seemed to stand for young people everywhere, who felt themselves beset
on all sides by pressures to grow up and live their lives according to the rules, to
disengage from meaningful human connection, and to restrict their own
personalities and conform to a bland cultural norm. Many readers saw Holden
Caulfield as a symbol of pure, unfettered individuality in the face of cultural
oppression.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
In the same year that The Catcher in the Rye appeared, Salinger published a short
story in The New Yorker magazine called ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’, which
proved to be the first in a series of stories about the fictional Glass family. Over
the next decade, other ‘Glass’ stories appeared in the same magazine: ‘Franny’,
‘Zooey’ and ‘Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters’. These and other stories are
available in the only other books Salinger published besides The Catcher in the
Rye: Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the RoofBeam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Though Nine Stories
received some critical acclaim, the critical reception of the later stories was hostile.
Critics generally found the Glass siblings to be ridiculously and insufferably
precocious and judgmental.
Beginning in the early 1960s, as his critical reputation waned, Salinger began to
publish less and to disengage from society. In 1965, after publishing another Glass
story (‘Hapworth 26, 1924’) that was widely reviled by critics, he withdrew almost
completely from public life, a stance he has maintained up to the present. This
reclusiveness, ironically, has made Salinger even more famous, transforming him
into a cult figure. To some degree, Salinger’s cult status has overshadowed, or at
least tinged, many readers’ perceptions of his work. As a recluse, Salinger, for
many, embodies much the same spirit as his precocious, wounded characters, and
many readers view author and characters as the same being. Such a reading of
Salinger’s work clearly oversimplifies the process of fiction writing and the
relationship between the author and his creations. But, given Salinger’s
iconoclastic behaviour, the general view that Salinger is himself a sort of Holden
Caulfield is understandable.
The few brief public statements that Salinger made suggest that he continued to
write stories up until his death, implying that the majority of his works may yet
appear. Meanwhile, there are signs that readers are becoming more favourably
disposed toward Salinger’s later writings, meaning that The Catcher in the Rye
may one day be seen as part of a much larger literary whole.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
GENRE
The Catcher in the Rye is a ‘coming of age’ or ‘rites of passage’ story, which takes
its readers on a journey with the narrator, Holden Caulfield, as he struggles to
come to terms with the adult world that awaits him.
STRUCTURE AND POINT OF VIEW
The novel is told through the first person narrator Holden Caulfield. As such, it is
his account of events and his perspective on the world that informs our reading.
Holden’s narration can be described as stream of consciousness, featuring as it
does random events jumbled together, and long accounts of events. This style
works to reflect Holden’s confusion about the world and his place within it. The
text is divided into a series of short chapters and largely told through an extended
flashback. It begins with seventeen-year-old Holden speaking to us from the clinic
that he has been sent to following a breakdown. He says that he wants to tell his
audience about all ‘this madman stuff’ that occurred in the year leading up to his
breakdown when he was sixteen years old and thrown out of his elite east-coast
prep school, Pencey, due to his poor academic performance.
LANGUAGE AND STYLE
The novel relies on the narrative voice of Holden, who has a distinctive language
style. This style is frequently exaggerated to emphasise Holden’s rejection of the
world, and in particular, the mainstream society that he is expected to become
part of. His language is intended to represent the rebelliousness of the 1950s and
the counter-culture that grew in the United States in the period following World
War Two. It thus shows Holden’s unwillingness to conform to accepted social
norms of speech and behaviour.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
PLOT SUMMARY
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is set in post-World War Two America and is narrated by a
young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is not specific about his location while
he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a
mental hospital or sanatorium. The events he recounts take place in the few days
between the end of the fall school term and Christmas, when Holden is sixteen
years old.
Holden’s story begins on the Saturday following the end of classes at Pencey Prep
School in Agerstown,
Pennsylvania. Pencey is
Holden’s fourth school. At
Pencey, he has failed four
out of five of his classes and
has received notice that he
is being expelled, but he is
not scheduled to return
home to Manhattan until
Wednesday. He visits his
elderly history teacher,
Spencer, to say goodbye,
but when Spencer tries to
reprimand him for his poor academic performance, Holden becomes annoyed.
Back in the dormitory, Holden is further irritated by his unhygienic neighbour,
Ackley, and by his own roommate, Stradlater. Stradlater spends the evening on a
date with Jane Gallagher, a girl whom Holden used to date and whom he still
admires. During the evening, Holden grows increasingly nervous about Stradlater’s
taking Jane out, and when he returns, Holden questions him about whether he
tried to have sex with her. Stradlater teases Holden, who flies into a rage and
attacks him. Stradlater pins Holden down and bloodies his nose. Holden decides
that he’s had enough of Pencey and will go to Manhattan three days early, stay in
a hotel, and not tell his parents.
On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his fellow students,
Ernest Morrow. Holden tells her his name is ‘Rudolf
Schmidt’ and although he thinks Morrow is a complete
‘bastard’, he tells the woman made-up stories about how
shy her son is and how well respected he is at school.
When he arrives at Penn Station, he goes into a phone
booth and considers calling several people, but for
various reasons decides against it. He gets in a cab and
asks the driver where the ducks in Central Park go when
the lagoon freezes, but his question annoys the driver.
Holden has the cab take him to the Edmont Hotel,
where he checks in.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
From his room at the Edmont, Holden can see into the rooms of some of the
guests in the opposite wing. He observes a man putting on silk stockings, high
heels, a bra, a corset, and an evening gown. He also sees a man and a woman in
another room taking turns spitting mouthfuls of their drinks into each other’s faces
and laughing hysterically. He interprets the couple’s behaviour as a form of sexual
play and is both upset and aroused by it. After smoking a couple of cigarettes, he
calls Faith Cavendish, a woman he has never met but whose number he got from
an acquaintance at Princeton. Holden thinks he remembers hearing that she used
to be a stripper, and he believes he can persuade her to have sex with him. He
calls her, and though she is at first annoyed to be called at such a late hour by a
complete stranger, she eventually suggests that they meet the next day. Holden
doesn’t want to wait that long and winds up hanging up without arranging a
meeting.
Holden goes downstairs to the Lavender Room and sits at a table, but the waiter
realises he’s a minor and refuses to serve him. He flirts with three women in their
thirties, who seem like they’re from out of town and are mostly interested in
catching a glimpse of a celebrity. Nevertheless, Holden dances with them and feels
that he is ‘half in love’ with the blonde one after seeing how well she dances. After
making some wisecracks about his age, they leave, letting him pay their entire tab.
As Holden goes out to the lobby, he
starts to think about Jane Gallagher
and, in a flashback, recounts how he
got to know her. They met while
spending a summer vacation in Maine,
played golf and checkers, and held
hands at the movies. One afternoon,
during a game of checkers, her
stepfather came onto the porch where
they were playing, and when he left
Jane began to cry. Holden had moved
to sit beside her and kissed her all
over her face, but she wouldn’t let him
kiss her on the mouth. That was the
closest they came to ‘necking’.
Holden leaves the Edmont and takes a cab to Ernie’s jazz club in Greenwich
Village. Again, he asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go in the
winter, and this cabbie is even more irritable than the first one. Holden sits alone
at a table in Ernie’s and observes the other patrons with distaste. He runs into
Lillian Simmons, one of his older brother’s former girlfriends, who invites him to sit
with her and her date. Holden says he has to meet someone, leaves, and walks
back to the Edmont.
Maurice, the elevator operator at the Edmont, offers to send a prostitute to
Holden’s room for five dollars, and Holden agrees. A young woman, identifying
herself as ‘Sunny’, arrives at his door. She pulls off her dress, but Holden starts to
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
feel ‘peculiar’ and tries to make conversation with her. He claims that he recently
underwent a spinal operation and isn’t sufficiently recovered to have sex with her,
but he offers to pay her anyway. She sits on his lap and talks dirty to him, but he
insists on paying her five dollars and showing her the door. Sunny returns with
Maurice, who demands another five dollars from Holden. When Holden refuses to
pay, Maurice punches him in the stomach and leaves him on the floor, while Sunny
takes five dollars from his wallet. Holden goes to bed.
He wakes up at ten o’clock on Sunday and calls
Sally Hayes, an attractive girl whom he has dated
in the past. They arrange to meet for a matinee
showing of a Broadway play. He eats breakfast at
a sandwich bar, where he converses with two
nuns about Romeo and Juliet. He gives the nuns
ten dollars. He tries to telephone Jane Gallagher,
but her mother answers the phone, and he hangs
up. He takes a cab to Central Park to look for his
younger sister, Phoebe, but she isn’t there. He
helps one of Phoebe’s schoolmates tighten her
skate, and the girl tells him that Phoebe might be in the Museum of Natural
History. Though he knows that Phoebe’s class wouldn’t be at the museum on a
Sunday, he goes there anyway, but when he gets there he decides not to go in
and instead takes a cab to the Biltmore Hotel to meet Sally.
Holden and Sally go to the play, and Holden is annoyed that Sally talks with a boy
she knows from Andover afterward. At Sally’s suggestion, they go to Radio City to
ice skate. They both skate poorly and decide to get a table instead. Holden tries to
explain to Sally why he is unhappy at school, and actually urges her to run away
with him to Massachusetts or Vermont and live in a cabin. When she refuses, he
calls her a “pain in the ass” and laughs at her when she reacts angrily. She refuses
to listen to his apologies and leaves.
Holden calls Jane again, but there is no answer. He calls Carl Luce, a young man
who had been Holden’s student advisor at the Whooton School and who is now a
student at Columbia University. Luce arranges to
meet him for a drink after dinner, and Holden goes
to a movie at Radio City to kill time. Holden and
Luce meet at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel. At
Whooton, Luce had spoken frankly with some of the
boys about sex, and Holden tries to draw him into a
conversation about it once more. Luce grows
irritated by Holden’s juvenile remarks about
homosexuals and about Luce’s Chinese girlfriend,
and he makes an excuse to leave early. Holden
continues to drink Scotch and listen to the pianist
and singer.
Quite drunk, Holden telephones Sally Hayes and
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
babbles about their Christmas Eve plans. Then he goes to the lagoon in Central
Park, where he used
to watch the ducks as a
child. It takes him a
long time to find it, and
by the time he does,
he is freezing cold. He
then decides to sneak
into his own apartment
building and wake his
sister, Phoebe. He is
forced to admit to
Phoebe that he was
kicked out of school,
which makes her mad at
him. When he tries to
explain why he hates
school, she accuses
him of not liking
anything. He tells her his fantasy of being ‘the catcher in the rye’, a person who
catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe tells him that
he has misremembered the poem that he took the image from: Robert Burns’
poem says ‘if a body meet a body, coming through the rye’, not ‘catch a body’.
Holden calls his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who tells Holden he can come
to his apartment. Mr. Antolini asks Holden about his expulsion and tries to counsel
him about his future. Holden can’t hide his sleepiness, and Mr. Antolini puts him to
bed on the couch. Holden awakens to find Mr. Antolini stroking his forehead.
Thinking that Mr. Antolini is making a homosexual overture, Holden hastily excuses
himself and leaves, sleeping for a few hours on a bench at Grand Central Station.
Holden goes to Phoebe’s school and sends her a note saying that he is leaving
home for good and that she should meet him at lunchtime at the museum. When
Phoebe arrives, she is carrying a suitcase full of clothes, and she asks Holden to
take her with him. He refuses angrily, and she cries and then refuses to speak to
him. Knowing she will follow him, he walks to the zoo, and then takes her across
the park to a carousel. He buys her a ticket and watches her ride it. It starts to
rain heavily, but Holden is so
happy watching his sister ride the
carousel that he is close to tears.
Holden ends his narrative here,
telling the reader that he is not
going to tell the story of how he
went home and got ‘sick’. He plans
to go to a new school in the fall
and is cautiously optimistic about
his future.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
COMIN’ THRO’ THE RYE: ROBERT BURNS
Parallel Text
Original
Chorus.
O Jenny's a' weet, poor
body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her
petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
1.
Comin thro' the rye, poor
body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her
petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
2.
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?
3.
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warld ken?
4.
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain,
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.
Translation
Chorus.
O Jenny is all wet, poor
body,
Jenny is seldom dry:
She draggled all her
petticoats,
Coming through the rye!
Coming through the rye,
poor body,
Coming through the rye,
She draggled all her
petticoats,
Coming through the rye!
Should a body meet a body
Coming through the rye,
Should a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?
Should a body meet a body
Coming through the glen,
Should a body kiss a body,
Need the world know?
Should a body meet a body
Coming through the grain,
Should a body kiss a body,
The thing is a body's own.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
EXPLORING ISSUES OF IDENTITY &
BELONGING
Area of Study Two: Creating and Presenting will require you to develop a
piece of writing in response to a prompt that includes reference to the chosen text
for Unit 4, The Catcher in the Rye. Some prompts related to the Context are given
below to help you prepare for this part of the course.
PROMPTS FOR WRITING
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Wearing a mask can sometimes protect a fragile sense of self.
Our siblings know us better than anyone else.
The values we reject show us who we are.
Age barriers can prevent people from really understanding each other.
People without groups to belong to can be vulnerable in many ways.
Without community we are nothing.
We belong when we can love others.
We discover who we are and where we belong by taking risks.
Our experiences make us who we are.
To belong is to be happy.
What we say we are is not always who we are.
There is a lot to be gained from being lost and alone.
It is only when we feel a part of something that we can know who we are.
To belong involves personal sacrifice.
A loss of identity can lead to alienation.
Challenges in life can undermine our place in the world.
The point of life is to discover who you are and where you belong.
We must fight tooth and nail for a sense of self and a place in the world.
There is no greater pain that that of psychological suffering.
We cannot belong if we do not believe in something.
We are a part of place and place is a part of us.
Your writing will be in response to one of these PROMPTS.
One way to think about how to respond to the Prompt is to think of it in three
different areas of your life:-
How does
it apply to
me ?
How does it
apply to my
family ?
9
How does it
apply to the
world
around me ?
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
RESPONDING TO PROMPTS
PROMPT / STIMULUS
provides
A FOCUS FOR YOUR WRITING
You draw on
CONTEXT IDEAS
You include
RELEVANT IDEAS FROM THE SELCTED TEXTS
You develop your
WRITTEN RESPONSE
This is assessed on
QUALITY
OF
IDEAS
closely inter-related
QUALITY
OF
WRITING
You will need to explain how the piece of writing that you create arose from the
Prompt you chose, what you understood the Prompt to be referring to, and what
this Prompt reminds you of in The Catcher in the Rye, in the Commentary, which is
explained below.
Once you have chosen your Prompt, you then need to think about how you will
shape your writing. The writing that you will do in response to the Prompt will be
drawn from three main MODES :1. IMAGINATIVE –where you create a story, purely from imagination, or by using
real life situations or fragments of them;
2. EXPOSITORY – where you explore the context without developing a point of
view about it. In other words, you could be informing or
instructing your audiences, explaining something to them, or
reflecting on an actual experience or historical event;
3. PERSUASIVE – where you are writing to convince or persuade another to
your point of view.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
The Mode you choose to write in will influence your choice of FORM
You also need to think about who you are writing for – AUDIENCE
The LANGUAGE choices you want to make
What you are trying to achieve through your exploration of the Prompt - PURPOSE
When you have made these choices, you will write a COMMENTARY for your piece,
which explains your choices and use of:PURPOSE / PROMPT
FORM
LANGUAGE
AUDIENCE
MODE
SOME ADVICE ON RESPONDING TO PROMPTS

Good ideas and quality writing are the keys to success.

You do not have to agree with the ideas contained in the prompt to write
about it – sometimes the best responses to a prompt can be those where
you disagree with and challenge the prompt!

Your writing should clearly use the prompt, and use it as a starting point for
a wider discussion of the Context; don’t tack the prompt on at the end!

You can choose to respond to the prompt in either the Imaginative Mode,
the Expository Mode or the Persuasive Mode. While your piece may
incorporate some aspects of a number of modes, it should be identifiable as
focusing on one mode more than the others.

You need to incorporate ideas on identity and belonging from The Catcher
in the Rye into your response to the prompt.

You should use a range of ideas about Exploring Issues of Identity and
Belonging, as well as ideas from other texts, current affairs, history, politics,
general knowledge, etc.

You do not have to refer to The Catcher in the Rye explicitly, so long as the
ideas you use are recognisably drawn from the text.
YOU ARE NOT WRITING A TEXT RESPONSE.
YOUR WRITING MUST USE THE IDEAS IN THE TEXT TO INFORM
YOUR WRITING ON THE PROMPT
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
TIPS ON STRUCTURING THE DIFFERENT MODES
Imaginative/Personal Mode
Orientation: introduces the reader to where and when the story is set, who the
characters are and what is happening.
Complication 1:
Complication 2:
Complication 3:
Complications are events that cause problems for the
characters. They keep the plot moving and
interesting, making the reader want to continue.
Climax: the high point in the story, where all the complications of the plot reach a
natural or twisted conclusion. It needs to be believable!
Resolution: what is going to happen immediately after the climax to the story.
Persuasive Mode
Contention: what is your view on the idea contained in the prompt? Remember, you
don’t have to agree with it!
Supporting Arguments: what ideas can you draw on to support your view? Use the
T.E.E.L. structure for each idea.
Acknowledge the opposite view: how would someone who has the opposite view to
you respond to your arguments?
Rebut this view: what do you say in return?
Conclusion: return to your contention
Expository Mode
Research is the key to a good informative piece!
Be clear about your Audience and its level of understanding
Language - make sure you use clear, concise language and include a glossary of
technical terms if required.
Headings – you may want to organise your information under a series of headings, so
that it is presented in a logical sequence. Dot points can also be useful!
Illustrations, diagrams, tables, graphs, photos and symbols can also be used to help
explain some information you wish to impart to your audience.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
CHOOSING THE RIGHT FORM
Form is the way you actually put the words on paper, how your piece of writing is set out
eg: in a letter, script, journal entry, opinion piece etc. The Form influences the overall
impact of your writing eg: a solution for a long-standing, local litter problem (purpose) can
be very effective in the persuasive mode, presented as a formal speech (form) at a local
council meeting (audience).
If your piece is not working, maybe using a different form will make it more effective.
Once you have chosen the most appropriate form for your piece, make sure that you use
the appropriate writing conventions for that form. For example, if you have chosen a
letter, you must ask yourself, “How are letters set out on a page?”.
Possible Forms
Note of Caution
Whilst the table below suggests some of the Forms that could be used when writing in
each of the Modes, some forms can be used across the Modes – eg. a letter. You can
write a letter as one character to another in the Imaginative Mode, but you can also write
a letter to the editor of a newspaper, trying to convince readers to your point of view on
an issue in the Persuasive Mode.
IMAGINATIVE
PERSUASIVE
EXPOSITORY
letter
analytical essay
biography
scene from a play
scripted debate
obituary
journal entries
reflection
series of vignettes
personal column/opinion
piece
submission
interview
speech
eulogy
poetry
editorial
a guide to . . .
radio script
letter to the editor
feature article
discursive essay
Questions to ask yourself about your chosen Mode and Form
 Do they communicate my Purpose clearly?
 Do they suit my intended Audience?
 Am I comfortable writing in this Mode and Form?
 Do I know how to write in this Form ie: I have chosen to write a narrative – do I
know how to construct a narrative?
 Do I have control over the language needed for this Mode and Form?
 Do I know how to use the conventions associated with the Form I have chosen in
the right way?
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
AUDIENCES AND PURPOSES
Audiences
Knowing who you are going to be writing for – your audience – before you start to
write: helps you focus your content better;
 gives you more control;
 dictates the language you should use; and
 makes your piece more convincing to read.
The more specific your Audience can be,
the more successful your writing is likely to be.
Once you have decided upon your audience, you need to consider whether your
language choices will suit your intended audience: what would the audience think of what you have written?
 would they be interested?
 would they understand the language you have used?
Possible audiences
Teachers
adults
readers of a specific
newsletter eg:
Neighbourhood Watch
Voters
potential buyers eg:
auction/garage sale
specific socio-economic
group eg: homeless,
street kids, wealthy
people 100 years into
the future
Classmates
elderly citizens
specific magazine
readers eg: Wheels
Friends
males/females from a
certain age group
specific lobby group
eg: animal
liberationists,
Amnesty, ACF
people 100 years ago
Purposes
Teenagers
family
readers of specific
sections of newspapers
eg; editorial
ex-friends
specific educational
group eg:VCE students
a government
organisation/person eg:
local council, PM
??
Knowing your Purpose – why you are writing the piece – helps you: control your content and not ramble;
 focus better; and
 identify the mode that will suit your piece.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Possible Purposes
Communicate clearly
that …
Express the ideas of …
Express the mood of …
Describe an event
On the issue of …
Describe a person
Comment on another
person’s idea
Examine the need for
…
Ridicule another
person’s view
Persuade the reader
that …
Illustrate the need for
…
Imagine …
Expose a problem
Provoke a response to
…
Increase awareness of
…
Argue that …
Create …
Remember a time
forgotten
Position the reader
such that …
Assume the role of …
Develop the theme of
…
Explain why …
Inform the reader
about …
Explore the style of …
Reflect on a
relationship with …
Record the life of …
Describe the feelings
felt when …
Raise public
consciousness on the
issue of …
Describe a place
Reply to someone else’s
letter
Analyse …
Shock the reader into
action about …
Dissuade the reader
about …
Illustrate the problem
of …
Reflect on emotions
associated with …
Amuse …
Recount an incident
Demonstrate that …
???
THE IDEAS
The following exploration of some ideas in the novel is aimed at stimulating your
thinking so that you might come up with ways of exploring these and other ideas
in your own writing. It is not an exhaustive list of ideas. Each idea can be linked to
the context we are studying this year (Issues of Identity and Belonging), however,
it is up to you to begin making these links and to explore these ideas in your own
writing.
Identity in Crisis – who am I? where do I belong?
These are questions we may ask ourselves on a daily basis. The answers may
differ from day to day. How does a sensitive adolescent reconcile the
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contradictions of his own personality and behaviour? It can be painful to leave
behind the safety and innocence of childhood and face the morally complex society
that an adult must inhabit. For some young people this sense of being a misfit in
the world around them can be very destructive. Holden’s quest to know who he is
and where he belongs leads him to wander all around New York City. It also leads
him to a nervous breakdown.
Searching for a Connection
Belonging can be paradoxical. Belonging to a group can have both positive and
negative outcomes. While he sets himself apart from the ‘phonies’ all around him,
Holden still tries desperately to connect with others. He is beset with questions but
he doesn’t know who he can trust. He wonders if adults can help when they all
seem to compromise with the truth. He also wonders if the innocence of children
carries the answers to his questions. Holden shows a mask to the world and feels
lonely in his disconnection from others.
Non-Conformity
Holden refuses to play the game of life in postwar America by the rules his elite
society sets out. As an adolescent he is in a unique position to assess society: old
enough to make shrewd observations about the world and young enough not to
have joined the rat-race. Salinger reveals what happens when an observant,
idealistic young person, scathingly critical of the adult world around him, refuses to
join that world. Is it possible to resist the forces, both internal and external, that
push him towards becoming a part of the adult world?
Developing identity – growth and change
By definition, ‘adolescent’ means ‘becoming adult’. It is a transitional phase that
cannot last forever. Just as the body grows up, so does the mind. Teenagers are
often on the receiving end of advice to help them move forward and they often
experience insights of their own that lead to understanding and mature thinking. It
is difficult for many young people to find a way to be true to themselves while
forging authentic connections with others. For many people this does not become
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any easier as adulthood sets in. Holden idealises childhood and literally runs away
from impending adulthood.
Sample pieces of writing in response to the ideas in the novel
Mode: Imaginative
Form: Fictional Narrative
Prompt: A loss of identity can lead to alienation
Falling
I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I
wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. I thought
I may as well go down there and have a look. There was this old guy sitting opposite the
lagoon on a park bench.
‘Hey,’ I said to him but he had his head stuck in a bottle. If it’s one thing I can’t
stand, it’s someone who’s got a drinking problem. He may have been an old drunk, but the
least he could do was acknowledge my greeting.
‘Hey,’ I said again, ‘what happens to the ducks. In winter I mean. Where do they go
in winter?’
He looked up at me and smiled. No teeth. He held his bottle out. I’m not one for
sharing a drink with a vagrant. It’s not that I’m not sociable. I’m very sociable, really.
‘No thanks,’ I said. I pointed at the lagoon. The water was starting to ice over.
There would be skaters carving circles on it inside a week. ‘No ducks,’ I said. ‘Where do
you think they went? You hang around here a bit? Did you see a guy come here in a truck?’
I could just imagine the truck too. It was painted yellow. I swear my head is crazy. I’ve got
a crazy head. In my head I could see the truck backing up and out gets this guy wearing a
top hat – all gentleman-like – coat tails and all. He gets out and lowers the tailgate and the
ducks walk in twos into the back. This is how crazy my head is: I actually started to believe
that I’d seen the truck driving down Phoebe Street. It was yellow and had two webbed feet
stencilled on its side. I hoped like hell that I had seen it.
Later, I went and sat near the carousel. I sat and looked at the sky which was
pregnant with snow. I was hoping for snow. The thing is that snow comes down so softly
and makes a clean carpet over everything. Even bits of rubbish turn white when they’re
covered by the snow. Later it all turns to crap. Really. But when it first comes down it’s
like a kiss. The kiss of some pretty girl, her long hair trailing on the ground. I waited for the
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snow but my attention was taken by two little kids with a frog. I swear it was a frog. That’s
something you don’t see too much of these two days. Two kids just playing with a frog.
They had a stick and they kept prodding it – not meanly, just enough to make it jump. They
were trying to get it to jump into a puddle. That broke me up. The frog just sat there for a
while until suddenly it leapt. It made a break for a bush nearby and the kids started bawling
when it disappeared. I laughed but then I kinda felt sorry for them. I mean who doesn’t
want a frog to jump into a puddle? There’s not much worse when you’re a kid than your
frog not jumping into a puddle. I looked for the frog but I swear it had disappeared.
Vanished. That bush wasn’t very big. I went back and sat down on the bench. It wasn’t
snowing. God how I wished it would. On the bench there was this carving – I won’t tell
you what it was. It made me mad as hell. Someone had done it with a pen knife. I put my
hand on it so that the kids wouldn’t see it. That’s when I felt myself falling. I swear to God.
I really felt I was falling and yet I hadn’t moved off the seat. It scared the hell out of me.
Then after a while it wasn’t so bad. I let myself fall. I imagined I was a snowflake; the first
Goddam snow flake of the winter – special as hell. I was falling real slow letting myself
down by degrees. I was aimed at that carving. I reckoned I could cover it. Rest there with
all the other snowflakes eddying down after me. A whole Goddam tribe of us falling out of
the sky. The kids left when their mother called. They ran like rabbits in crazy lines. The
trees had lost their leaves. The sky was steel grey. I just sat there falling. Like I said, it
wasn’t so bad except I was getting thinner. I’m sure anyone could see through me. If
anyone looked they would just see through me.
Writing: 776 words
Commentary
I was interested in attempting to create a similar voice to that of Holden Caulfield in the
novel which is why I used terms such as ‘Goddam’ and ‘I swear’ and tried to write in a
repetitive way to give the sense of Holden’s fractured state of mind. The character isn’t
meant to be Holden necessarily, nor is the writing an ‘excerpt’ from The Catcher in the
Rye, but both are meant to be clearly identifiable within the writing because of its style and
content. I see this piece as suitable for young adult audience – I certainly wrote it with that
sort of audience in mind (similar to The Catcher in the Rye.)
I addressed the prompt by trying to highlight the character’s inability to connect
with the world around him. He is essentially an observer – even the vagrant won’t talk to
him and the little kids don’t interact with him even when he attempts to find their frog. In
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this way he is alienated. His loss of identity is supposed to come through in the way he is
‘disappearing’ and ‘falling’. These are direct references to parts of the text where Holden
feels as if he is disappearing and where Mr. Antolini warns Holden that he is due for a big
fall. Other references include the ‘carving’ which corresponds to the graffiti Holden sees
with Phoebe and I feel my character’s desire to be a snowflake and cover the ugliness of
the world is consistent with Holden’s state of mind – he lives in a world that continually
disappoints him because it won’t conform to his unrealistic expectations.
Commentary: 268 words
Phil Canon is English Learning Area Leader at Parade College, Bundoora
Mode: Imaginative
Form: Fictional Narrative
Prompt: Belonging is a basic need and we all need to belong in some way
Ramones Go Home
‘Hey little girl,
I wanna be your boyfriend…’
You know how some days you just can’t get a song out of your head? How it follows you
everywhere and just when you think you’ve moved on it re-enters your brain like a guest
who’s overstayed their welcome? I like Joey Ramone, I really do, but it’s like I’ve been
channelling his goddamn band for days and I wish they’d give it a rest. Not the eternal
rest, I don’t mean I want them to go away forever, just take a little trip, maybe somewhere
tropical so they can work on their tans. Boy they need it, they really do.
Here’s the thing. Even the music in my head is all wrong sometimes, at odds with the real
me. In keeping with how others see me, but not the whole me, the rest of me they don’t
care to see. You’re probably thinking ‘Here we go, a misunderstood teen, how original!’
But I swear it’s true. No one seems interested in the essence of people, it’s all superficial
impressions and labels. How can you win? As soon as you put on a pair of black skinny
legs you’re a punk/sk8r/emo.
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Some things are universal though – chucks and piercings. Everyone I know has ’em in
multiples – piercings, I mean. Me? I’ve got the stud in the left ear, of course, and another in
the cartilage joining cheek and left ear. Then of course there’s the eyebrow stud – okay, so
that’s a bit closer to emo territory, but every self-respecting male my age has one of those
or wants one. Still pretty understated; definitely not hard core. But oh, I forgot! The nipple
rings. My last girlfriend’s idea. Jasmine had a thing for ’em, talked me into them by telling
me how much they turned her on. I’m not sure she was that satisfied in the end though. We
broke up about a month afterwards, just when they no longer hurt. Gorgeous isn’t it? I had
to stop her touching them because they were so painful, infected. There was one time
though, just after the agony had subsided and we got to fooling around. I let her touch,
twist, tug at them. It turned me on too if you really wanna know the truth but we ended up
having this big fight about whether Gordon Ramsey or Kyle Sandilands was the biggest
tosser on television and the next day she said it was over.
I think I’ll keep the nipple hardware though. I like looking down and seeing them there and
they look cool through t-shirts. Chicks dig ’em too. I’ve seen how they look at my chest
and realise what’s under the shirt, how they start undressing me with their eyes, wondering
what else I’m hiding.
So when I say Jasmine was my last girlfriend, I should have said she was also the first. Not
too experienced in that department. I mean we did a lot of stuff together, I’m not a
complete innocent or anything, like that guy Hugh who tries to hang out with me and my
friend Lachlan. But she’s the only chick I’ve been with properly and all. I guess that seems
kind of odd to you, huh? A healthy seventeen year old male, only one girlfriend? I like ’em
and all, I really do, but I can be a shy bastard. You won’t find me at the centre of a party
whooping it up like a madman. I’ll be in a quiet corner watching.
That’s how I met Jasmine. She was in the same corner, only I didn’t see her at first because
of the dark. She saw me though, asked who I was trying to hide from. ‘Myself’ I replied
without really meaning it. I can be a real smart arse sometimes but now I realise it was
probably true. When she said ‘Me too’, I was intrigued and soon enough we were trading
secrets like old friends. We stayed in that old corner for what must have been a century or
something, shooting the crap, at least I thought that’s what it was until someone turned the
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lights on and I realised from Jasmine’s expression that she was a sincere person and all. I
was shocked – most of the people I know are phoneys and full of the old horse manure.
We went out for a few months after that. I was pretty happy but a bit lost too, not having
had any real relationship experience before. I just floated along as best I could, being
careful not to upset her, trying to please her and putting across some of my needs when I
thought I could get away with it. It was hard work now I think about it – I was almost
constantly on edge and scared she was going to accuse me of not caring about her, of only
wanting one thing. This wasn’t true – at least not completely; I did like her but I was also a
young guy with wants and needs.
And that’s why I put up with Maria. We’re not ‘together’ or anything but sometimes we do
it. We’re buddies in a sense. There’s a term for it; I’m sure you get the picture. She’s—you
know—the friend you have when you’re not attached. I wouldn’t mind being attached to
Maria though. She’s one hot little chilli, really terrific and cute as a button. But she doesn’t
see me in that way. I can tell by the way she always looks around even while we’re talking
and I’ve got my arm around her. I bet when we hug she’s scanning the room over my
shoulder, looking for a better prospect. I can’t say I blame her really. I’m what they call
morose sometimes; I can be a real pain in the ass.
Michael loathes her like poison. He thinks she’s using me, eating away at my self-respect.
But if it wasn’t for Maria I’d be lonely as hell. It’s better than always going home alone
isn’t it? He reckons no one else stands a chance because I’m always waiting for Maria’s
signal. You see we have this thing going. If she hasn’t hooked up with anyone by midnight
when we’re at a party, she’ll wink at me and point outside and I’ll know it’s on (at least for
the rest of that night) if I want it, and I’ll admit that I usually do.
She couldn’t come to my party last week though; her best friend’s birthday or something.
Just as well. Michael would have given her a harsh talking to – he and Matt were pretty
trashed and he can be a real pain in the ass when he’s had a few bevvies. Oh, and horny as
usual, if you really wanna know the truth. Jess and Emma, their girls, must be perpetually
worn out. I’ve never known two guys so incapable of keeping their hands off the
merchandise. Take last Saturday for instance. When Michael and Emma arrived they made
straight for Matt and Jess. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s all that ‘couples unite’ crap! Then
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after only about ten minutes, Michael and Emma came inside looking for a room. Do I look
like I run a hotel or something?
Sometimes it’s as if I’m invisible because I’m not with someone. It feels like I’m sort of
disappearing. And that’s why I’m hanging on to Maria – even if our coupling is casual, and
when she says so. I can’t contemplate life without even that little bit of occasional
intimacy. I was lonely as hell after Jasmine. I tried moping for a while then I tried to get
over her, I really did. While it kinda worked it didn’t really cheer me up. Who else was
there to take her place anyway? All the chicks I know are already hooked up, except for
Maria and these two girls in the year below us, Chantelle and Melissa, and I heard they’re
into each other, no guy necessary, thank you very much! It’s one helluva feeling, I can tell
you, when the only available women either want you only when there’s no one else around
or don’t want you at all. How’s a guy meant to deal with that?
So Maria is my haven from loneliness, even if only for a little while. I don’t care if it’s a
relationship of convenience, not really. I mean I’d be happy if it was more. I’m a madman
sometimes, I swear. But like I said, it can get lonely – at least it’s better than being alone.
Besides, when I’m with Maria and we’ve got our arms wrapped around each other, the
world kinda disappears instead of me. Plus, I can pretend there’s more to it, let others think
it’s more than it is, enjoy pretending that I’m part of something. Shame she couldn’t come
to the party – I’m pretty sure there weren’t any guys there to catch her eye so we would
have ended up together. I hope she calls me soon.
Writing: 1, 504 words
Commentary:
I chose to explore the prompt ‘belonging is a basic need and we all need to belong in some
way’ through the eyes of a young male who is having some trouble making meaningful
connections in his life and who thus accepts what he can get rather than be alone. I was
thinking about Holden Caulfield’s own quest to connect to others in The Catcher in the Rye
through characters such as Jane and Sunny, the prostitute, but how his efforts are clumsy
and somewhat out of his control. I wanted to consider the degree to which someone
submits to the demands and needs of others and the effects – both positive and negative –
this has on that person’s own sense of self. The protagonist of this piece, Jack, readily
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admits that Maria, the girl who fills a gap in his life, ‘doesn’t see me in that way’ and yet
he allows her to call the shots because she is his ‘haven from loneliness’.
I wanted to write the piece in a confessional style that resembled Holden in the text and so
it was important to emphasise this in the overall tone. I therefore deliberately included
rhetorical questions such as ‘How’s a guy meant to deal with that?’ to show that Jack is
troubled by the fact that there is no one lasting in his life; no one who sees the real him.
I was also trying to capture the spirit of Holden in the character of Jack, a seventeen year
old male who feels misunderstood and is struggling to develop a meaningful relationship
with the opposite sex. Although he has both experience and friends (‘I’m not a complete
innocent or anything’), he is set apart from friends like Michael, who he obviously envies
for having a meaningful relationship with Emma. Jack, on the other hand, accepts the
opportunities for intimacy and connection that are thrown his way by Maria, a girl who
clearly sees him as second best. Despite the fact that she is obviously using him, Jack’s
loneliness and desire to connect is stated in his confession that if it wasn’t for Maria ‘[he’d]
be lonely as hell’.
I deliberately used some of Holden’s idiosyncratic turns of phrase (‘…as hell’, ‘goddamn’,
‘if you really wanna know the truth’) but did not want to overuse these. I also made a
number of references to current fashion and style, such as piercings, ‘chucks’ (Converse
sneakers) and ‘punk/emo/sk8r’ to connect the piece to its target audience of adolescents
and to place the piece firmly in a contemporary setting to show that although we have
moved on some sixty years since Salinger’s text was written, the issues of an adolescent
connecting to the world and finding a secure identity are still very relevant.
Commentary: 460 words
Judy Eastman teaches senior English and Literature at Parade College, Bundoora
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The Catcher in the Rye
All this work must be completed and handed in with your
coursework for The Catcher in the Rye. Make sure you refer to
the text to support your answers to the questions. When writing
try to use the language and style used by Salinger in the novel.
1. Comprehension questions chapters 1 & 2
Chapter 1
1. Describe Holden’s relationship to his parents based on the
early references p1.
2. How does Holden feel about DB? Support your answer p1.
3. Why is Holden angry at Pencey Prepp2?
4. What is the symbolism of Holden being up on Thomsen Hill instead of with the rest
of the school watching the game p2?
5. Why does Holden feel sorry for Selma Thurmer p2?
6. What does the story about the fencing foils reveal about Holden p3?
7. Why was Holden kicked out of Pencey p3?
8. Why do you think Pencey has a ‘very good academic rating’ p3?
9. What does Holden mean when he says, ‘I was trying to feel some kind of a goodby’ p4?
10. What form does his ‘good-by’ take p4? Why do you think he remembers this scene
fondly?
Chapter 2
11. What does Holden think of Mr Spencer p6?
12. Why does Holden regret coming to visit Spencer p6-7?
13. Why does Holden go to visit Mr, Spencer p7?
14. What does ‘Life is a game that one plays according to the rules’ mean p7?
15. What is Holden’s reaction to the idea that life is a game p7? How does Holden sum
up the unfairness of life here?
16. What is ‘ironical’ about Holden’s physical appearance p8?
17. What does Holden mean when he says that things are never ‘all true’ p8?
18. In what ways does Holden try to protect Spencer’s feelings p9?
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19. Is Holden’s anger at Spencer for reading the exam justified p10?
20. What ‘old bull’ does Holden give Spencer p11? Why does he do it?
21. Why is Holden worried about the ducks in Central Park p11? How is his innocence
revealed here?
22. Why did Holden hate the headmaster of Elkton Hills, Mr Haas p12?
23. ‘Do you feel absolutely no concern for your future, boy?’ p12 What are the
differences between Spencer and Holden alluded to here?
24. Why does Holden feel sorry for Spencer p13?
25. Why does ‘Good luck!’ sound so terrible p13?
2. Vocabulary
Make a list of Holden Caulfield’s terms and expressions from the first two chapters. E.g.
Phony; I really do; goddam …
3. Context Writing
Rewrite the scene between Holden and Spencer so that Holden actually speaks his mind
instead of caretaking Spencer’s feelings.
Write a letter from Holden to his parents (using Holden’s language) in which he informs
them of his expulsion from Pency Prep.
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WRITING ACTIVITIES USING THE TEXT
Holden Caulfieldisms
 Write using Holden’s favourite words and expressions – Phony, Goddam, It killed me, If
there’s one thing I hate…, Crap, Madman stuff, Horse manure, Freezing my ass off, I was sort of
disappearing, Get a big bang (out of something), It was pretty depressing, Half-assed, It just
about kills you, It almost drove me crazy, I’m a madman, I swear. Old (person’s name), big shot,
hot shot, shooting the bull, chewed the fat, moron, pain in the ass, it knocked me out, who
gives a damn, sort of …
 Practice doing this by rewriting scenes from other fiction in Holden’s voice.
Connecting to Holden
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Why I am like Holden Caulfield.
Why I am not like Holden Caulfield.
What I like about Holden
What I dislike about Holden
What I think Holden should have done
Where Holden went wrong
Quotes as starters
 “I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I
wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something.”
 “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 – 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 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.”
 “I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm
leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.”
 “About halfway to the bathroom, I sort of started pretending I had a bullet in my guts.”
 “I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it.”
 “It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt
like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.”
 “People always think something's all true.”
 “People never notice anything.”
 “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful.”
 “When I really worry about something, I don't just fool around. I even have to go to the
bathroom when I worry about something. Only, I don't go. I'm too worried to go. I don't want
to interrupt my worrying to go.”
 “All morons hate it when you call them a moron.”
 “In my mind, I'm probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw.”
 “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 if they're sort of stupid,
you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.”
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 “Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.”
 “If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late?”
 “ I don't even like old cars. I mean they don't even interest me. I'd rather have a goddam
horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.”
 “Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war,
I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.”
 “Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has
sense enough to just dump me in the river or something.”
 “It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically
anything you want them to.”
 "I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don't honestly
know what kind.... It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating
everybody who comes in looking as if he might have played football in college.”
 "Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and
frightened and even sickened by human behaviour.”
 “Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
Rewriting, Adding, Altering Scenes
- same characters, different outcomes – added characters – altered settings (time and place) added events – different conflicts - plot complications
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Holden and Spencer
Holden and Taxi Drivers
Holden and Phoebe
Holden and Stradlater
Holden and Ackley
Holden and James Castle
Holden and Bernice
Holden and Mr Antolini
Holden and Carl Luce
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Holden and Jane Gallagher
Holden and Sally Hayes
Holden and Allie
Holden and his parents
Holden and DB
Holden and Sunny and Maurice
Holden and Faith Cavendish
Holden and the Nuns
Holden and Ernie
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Writing About the Text’s Themes/Issues/Ideas
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Teen sexuality
Teen angst
Social conformity
Death
The search for love
The search for self
Change
The social importance of movies
Attitudes to women
Private schooling
Family
Honesty
Social idealism
Emotional intelligence
Disillusionment
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Social etiquette
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Swearing
Existential angst
Madness
Loss
Isolation
Growing up
The struggle to belong
Teens and alcohol
Male/female relationships
Social conservatism
Money
Superficiality
Selling out
Generation gap
Depression
Narcissism
The importance of place and belonging
Ideas for Writing in the Imaginative Mode
 A letter from Holden to any of the characters in the novel but I like the idea of Holden writing to
Allie
 Letters from characters like Allie, DB, Phoebe to Holden
 The psychoanalyst’s report on Holden
 The Principal’s letter to Holden’s parents
 Holden’s descriptive piece on Allie’s baseball mitt (written for Stradlater)
 An alternate history paper by Holden (say on the Romans or the Ancient Greeks)
 Holden’s obituary for Allie Caulfield
 ‘My Story’ by Sunny
 Letter to the Editor from Mr Antolini about alienated youth and Holden
 Phoebe’s personal diary
 Short story about alienated youth and their decline/breakdown/suicide
Ideas for Writing in the Persuasive Mode
 Essay or speech about why adolescents need strong role models – ie. tackling Holden’s concern
that adults are almost all ‘phonies’
 Letter to the editor arguing why The Catcher in the Rye remains relevant in 2009
Ideas for Writing in the Expository Mode
 Personal reflection on your own adolescence and/or the experience of adolescence in twentyfirst century Australia
 Essay exploring adolescence as a stage of development in a variety of cultures/throughout
history
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
CHARACTERS
Use the following list of adjectives to assign as many as possible to each of the text’s
characters on the following pages. Include evidence to support each choice.
selfish
loyal
loving
traditional
charismatic
compassionate
honest
proud
domineering
evil
gullible
complex
noble
honourable
caring
cowardly
trustworthy
victim
lonely
dedicated
attractive
moral
troubled
resigned
understanding
jealous
mentor
reticent
negative
quiet
introverted
reserved
taciturn
loud
boisterous
extroverted
belligerent
bombastic
submissive
cautious
immoral
melancholy
courageous
prudent
fearless
intrepid
avaricious
self-seeking
acquisitive
careless
corrupt
malevolent
vindictive
nasty
malicious
diffident
discriminatory
irresolute
resilient
magnanimous
timorous
dependable
benevolent
thoughtful
selfless
passive
heinous
true
genuine
helpful
heroic
fearful
self-indulgent
kind
nasty
guarded
greedy
good
subservient
depressed
despondent
unyielding
brave
circumspect
sad
bad
sympathetic
devoted
solemn
admirable
patient
cruel
determined
generous
powerful
aloof
insecure
wise
silent
damaged
intelligent
weak
strong
virtuous
altruistic
contemplative
impulsive
deceptive
perceptive
meditative
spontaneous
conniving
canny
practical
positive
false
manipulative
duplicitous
committed
steadfast
pragmatic
silly
unwise
impetuous
careful
joyous
expedient
buoyant
naïve
hard-headed
prejudiced
happy
bigoted
oblivious
unintelligent
treasonous
ill-advised
seditious
nervous
faithless
introspective
ingenious
disloyal
traitorous
reflective
smart
realistic
racist
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ecstatic
xenophobic
rash
reckless
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
HOLDEN CAULFIELD
Personal Quality
Evidence
PHOEBE CAULFIELD
Personal Quality
Evidence
ALLIE CAULFIELD
Personal Quality
Evidence
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
JANE GALLAGHER
Personal Quality
Evidence
WARD STRADLATER
Personal Quality
Evidence
MR SPENCER
Personal Quality
Evidence
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
ACKLEY
Personal Quality
Evidence
D B CAULFIELD
Personal Quality
Evidence
MR ANTOLINI
Personal Quality
Evidence
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
SALLY HAYES
Personal Quality
Evidence
CARL LUCE
Personal Quality
Evidence
SUNNY
Personal Quality
Evidence
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
SYMBOLS & LANGUAGE FEATURES
Symbol/Feature Text Reference / Explanation
The “Catcher in the Rye”
As the source of the book’s title, this symbol first appears in
Chapter 16, when a kid Holden admires for walking in the
street rather than on the sidewalk is singing the Robert
Burns song ‘Comin’ Thro’ the Rye’. In Chapter 22, when
Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life, he
replies with his image, from the song, of a ‘catcher in the
rye’. Holden imagines a field of rye perched high on a cliff,
full of children romping and playing. He says he would like
to protect the children from falling off the edge of the cliff
by ‘catching’ them if they were on the verge of tumbling
over. As Phoebe points out, Holden has misheard the lyric.
He thinks the line is ‘If a body catch a body comin’ through
the rye’, but the actual lyric is ‘If a body meet a body,
coming through the rye’.
The song ‘Comin’ Thro’ the Rye’ asks if it is wrong for two
people to have a romantic encounter out in the fields, away
from the public eye, even if they don’t plan to have a
commitment to one another. It is highly ironic that the word
‘meet’ refers to an encounter that leads to recreational sex,
because the word that Holden substitutes—“catch”—takes
on the exact opposite meaning in his mind. Holden wants to
catch children before they fall out of innocence into
knowledge of the adult world, including knowledge of sex.
Holden’s red hunting
cap

‘I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak
around to the back, the way I liked it’, p. 46
The red hunting hat is inseparable from our image of
Holden, with good reason: it is a symbol of his uniqueness
and individuality. The hat is outlandish and it shows that
Holden desires to be different from everyone around him. At
the same time, he is very self-conscious about the hat—he
always mentions when he is wearing it, and he often doesn’t
wear it if he is going to be around people he knows. The
presence of the hat, therefore, mirrors the central conflict in
the book: Holden’s need for isolation versus his need for
companionship.
It is worth noting that the hat’s color, red, is the same as
that of Allie’s and Phoebe’s hair. Perhaps Holden associates
it with the innocence and purity he believes these characters
represent and wears it as a way to connect to them. He
never explicitly comments on the hat’s significance other
than to mention its unusual appearance.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
The Museum of Natural
History
The museum’s displays appeal to Holden because they are
frozen and unchanging. He also mentions that he is troubled
by the fact that he has changed every time he returns to
them. The museum represents the world Holden wishes he
could live in: it’s the world of his “catcher in the rye”
fantasy, a world where nothing ever changes, where
everything is simple, understandable, and infinite. Holden is
terrified by the unpredictable challenges of the world—he
hates conflict, he is confused by Allie’s senseless death, and
he fears interaction with other people.
The Ducks in Central
Park Lagoon
Holden’s curiosity about where the ducks go during the
winter reveals a genuine, more youthful side to his
character. For most of the book, he sounds like a grumpy
old man who is angry at the world, but his search for the
ducks represents the curiosity of youth and a joyful
willingness to encounter the mysteries of the world. It is a
memorable moment, because Holden clearly lacks such
willingness in other aspects of his life.
The ducks and their pond are symbolic in several ways.
Their mysterious perseverance in the face of an inhospitable
environment resonates with Holden’s understanding of his
own situation. In addition, the ducks prove that some
vanishings are only temporary. Traumatised and made
acutely aware of the fragility of life by his brother Allie’s
death, Holden is terrified by the idea of change and
disappearance. The ducks vanish every winter, but they
return every spring, thus symbolising change that isn’t
permanent, but cyclical. Finally, the pond itself becomes a
minor metaphor for the world as Holden sees it, because it
is ‘partly frozen and partly not frozen’. The pond is in
transition between two states, just as Holden is in transition
between childhood and adulthood.
 ‘it was still coming down like a madman’, p. 31
 ‘It looked pretty as hell’, p. 31
 ‘They both laughed like hyenas’, p. 32
 “It’s like a goddam morgue around here”, p. 35
 ‘I went right on smoking like a madman’, p. 37



 ‘I wasn’t going to break my neck telling him’, p. 35
 ‘that killed me’, p. 42
 “You’re a prince, Ackley kid”, p. 42
 “You’re aces, Ackley kid”, p. 45
 ‘My nerves were shot’, p. 45
 ‘Women kill me’, p. 48



Similes
Metaphors
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
IMPORTANT QUOTES
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‘If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I
was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and
all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap’. Holden, p.1
‘What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of good-by’. Holden,
p. 4
‘I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.’ Holden, p. 14
‘You take a guy like Stradlater, they never give your regards to people.’ Holden, p. 28
‘Ackley was a very nosy bastard.’ Holden, p. 29
‘I pulled the peak of my hunting cap around to the front all of a sudden, for a change.’
Holden, p. 29
“she probably just didn’t know what a handsome, charming bastard you are. If she’d
known, she probably would’ve signed out for nine-thirty in the morning.” Holden, p. 29
‘People never believe you’, Holden, p. 32
‘I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist,
just for the hell of it.’ p. 34
‘In every school I’ve gone to, all the athletic bastards stick together’, p. 37
‘All morons hate it when you call them a moron’, p. 38
‘All that blood and all sort of made me look tough’, Holden, p.40
‘I’m not too tough. I’m a pacifist, if you want to know the truth.’ p. 40
‘It made me too sad and lonesome.’ Holden, p. 45
‘I was sort of crying. I don’t know why.’ Holden, p. 46
‘I don’t mean I’m oversexed or anything like that – although I am quite sexy’, Holden, p.
48
‘Mothers are all slightly insane.’ p. 49
‘I wouldn’t visit that sonuvabitch Morrow for all the dough in the world, even if I was
desperate.’ Holden, p. 52
‘I felt like giving somebody a buzz.’ Holden, p. 53
‘Sex is something I just don’t understand. I swear I don’t.’ p. 56
‘I’m a goddam minor.’ p. 63
‘New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street at night. You can hear it for
miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.’ p. 74
‘I took my old hunting hat out of my pocket while I walked, and put it on.’ p. 110
‘If there’s ever another war, I’m going to sit right the hell on top of it. I’ll volunteer for it, I
swear to God I will.’ p. 127
“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” – Wilhelm Stekel, quoted by
Mr Antolini, p. 169
‘I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around.’
p. 191
‘That’s all I’m going to tell about.’ p. 192
‘Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.’ Holden, p. 192
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND ANALYSIS
Make a note of plot points and how each chapter contributes to Holden’s journey
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
39
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
40
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
41
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
43
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Use evidence to support your answers.
1. What examples of Holden’s kindness can you find in the novel?
2. How does Holden’s behaviour with Phoebe at the end of the novel (pp.
185–91) show that he can act maturely and responsibly?
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
3. What do you understand to be the meaning or wider resonance of the
text’s title, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’? Is there anyone waiting to ‘catch’
Holden as he falls?
4. How connected to his family is Holden? Locate instances in the novel
when Holden refers to each member of his family (living and dead).
What kind of picture emerges of each of them, including his parents?
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
5. Why do you think that Holden is unable to ring Jane Gallagher
throughout the novel?
6. Mr Antolini quotes the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel: ‘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’ (p. 169). Does
Holden have a cause? Do you think he goes about fighting for it in the
most appropriate way?
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
7. Using Holden’s journey from Pencey Prep to the hospital out west as a
reference point, consider the ways in which isolation and alienation
might damage an individual.
8. Holden can be quick to judge others. Find examples of times when
Holden is guilty of the very phoniness he dislikes in other people.
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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
9. Do you think that Holden has changed significantly by the end of the
novel?
10.
What future do you predict for Holden when he leaves the hospital?
48