The Catcher in the Rye
Pages 66-98
Geschke/English IV
The Catcher in the Rye 66-98
Phoebe
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Holden’s sister
“I certainly felt like talking to her on
the phone. Somebody with sense
and all.” (66)
“The only trouble is, she’s a little too
affectionate sometimes. She’s very
emotional, for a child.” (68)
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Aren’t children, by nature, emotional?
Geschke/English IV
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The Three Girls at the Bar
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Holden seems annoyed by them.
“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. Girls…They can
drive you crazy. They really can.” (73)
Geschke/English IV
The Catcher in the Rye 66-98
The Three Girls at the Bar
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“They didn’t invite me to sit down at
their table—mostly because they
were too ignorant—but I sat down
anyway.” (73)
Is it because the girls are ignorant or
because they did not want Holden
with them?
In other words, who has made the
social faux pas?
Geschke/English IV
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Holden’s Joke
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He tells the girl he sees a celebrity
“I was sorry as hell I’d kidded her.
Some people you shouldn’t kid, even
if they deserve it.” (74)
What is it about some people that
makes Holden not want to kid them?
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Jane Gallagher
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•
Holden feels completely comfortable
with her
“She was the only one, outside my
family, that I ever showed Allie’s
baseball mitt to, with all the poems
written on it.” (77)
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The Date
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Holden is still thinking about Jane
and Stradlater’s date
“I knew she wouldn’t let him get to
first base with her, but it drove me
crazy anyway. I don’t even like to
talk about it, if you want to know
the truth.” (80)
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The Date
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•
If he knows nothing would happen,
why is he still so concerned?
If he doesn’t like to talk about it, why
is he always talking about it?
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Phony
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Is Holden a phony?
“I almost was once in a movie short,
but I changed my mind at the last
minute. I figured that anybody that
hates the movies as much as I do, I’d
be a phony if I let them stick me in a
movie short.” (77)
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Phony
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Here, Holden will not participate in
an activity that makes him a phony
However, has he acted like a phony
before?
What does this say about Holden?
Lack of self-knowledge or selfidentity?
Geschke/English IV
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Ernie’s Night Club
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“He’s so good he’s almost corny, in
fact. I don’t exactly know what I
mean by that, but I mean it.” (80)
Diction
What does this quote say about
Holden?
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Ernie’s Night Club
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“I think it’s because sometimes when
he plays, he sounds like the kind of
guy that won’t talk to you unless
you’re a big shot.” (80)
Assumption
Holden makes this conclusion based
on the way Ernie plays the piano.
Geschke/English IV
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Ernie’s Night Club
•
“In a funny way, though, I felt sort of
sorry for him when he was finished. I
don’t even think he knows any more
when he’s playing right or not. It
isn’t all his fault. I partly blame all
those dopes that clap their heads offthey’d foul up anybody, if you gave
them a chance.” (84)
Geschke/English IV
The Catcher in the Rye 66-98
Ernie’s Night Club
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•
People are to blame
“People are always ruining things for
you.” (87)
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Setting and Tone
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“New York’s terrible when somebody
laughs on the street very late at night. You
can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so
lonesome and depressed.” (81)
“The whole lobby was empty. It smelled
like fifty million dead cigars. It really did. I
wasn’t sleepy or anything, but I was
feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I
almost wished I was dead.” (90)
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The Ducks
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•
Typical question by Holden, but a
new piece of information
“I mean does somebody come
around in a truck or something and
take them away, or do they fly away
by themselves—go south or
something?” (82)
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The Ducks
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What is it that Holden is saying?
Who is responsible for the well-being
and safety of the ducks?
Other people?
The ducks themselves?
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Horwitz
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•
The cab driver
Reaction
“The fish don’t go no place. They
stay right where they are, the fish.
Right in the … lake.” (82)
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Horwitz’s Reaction, cont.
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•
“It’s tougher for the fish, the winter
and all, than it is for the ducks…”
(82)
“If you was a fish, Mother Nature’d
take care of you, wouldn’t she?
Right? You don’t think them fish just
die when it gets to be winter, do ya?”
(83)
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Holden’s Reaction
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•
“They can’t just ignore the ice. They
can’t just ignore it.” (82)
Symbolism of ice?
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Red Hunting Hat
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•
“But it was freezing cold, and I took
my red hunting hat out of my pocket
and put it on—I didn’t give a damn
how I looked. I even put the earlaps
down.” (88)
Offers protection to Holden
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Maurice
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Elevator operator
Pimp
Offers Holden a prostitute
“It was against my principles and all,
but I was feeling so depressed I
didn’t even think. That’s the whole
trouble. When you’re feeling very
depressed, you can’t even think.”
(91)
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Sunny
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Prostitute
Young
“I think it was because she was young as
hell. She was around my age…She had a
tiny little wheeny-whiny voice. You could
hardly hear her. She never said thank
you, either, when you offered her
something. She just didn’t know any
better.” (94)
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Sunny
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“Like fun you are.” (94)
“It was a funny thing to say. It
sounded like a real kid.” (94)
“So long, crumb-bum” (98)
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Holden’s Reaction to Sunny
•
“I felt much more depressed than
sexy.” (95)
“‘Don’t you feel like talking for a
while?’ I asked her. It was a childish
thing to say, but I was feeling so
damn peculiar.” (95)
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“She looked at me like I was a
madman.” (95)
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Holden’s Reaction to Sunny
•
“The trouble was, I just didn’t want
to do it. I felt more depressed than
sexy, if you want to know the truth.
She was depressing. Her green dress
hanging in the closet and all.” (96)
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Holden’s Reaction to Sunny
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“She was a pretty spooky kid. Even
with that little bitty voice she had,
she could sort of scare you a little
bit. If she’d been a big old prostitute,
with a lot of makeup on her face and
all, she wouldn’t have been half as
spooky.” (98)
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Why Does Holden Have This
Reaction?
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Conflicting reality of Sunny’s age
with her profession
By definition, a prostitute is
experienced
Holden can not come to terms with a
kid (who, in his opinion, should be
innocent) who exists in a profession
of experience.
This reality depresses him.
Geschke/English IV
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