Summary
Holden goes home to see Phoebe. She's sound asleep but he's still afraid his mother who has really good hearing, will hear him.Phoebe informs him that they are out, but will come home soon. He tells her he got kicked out of school again, so she gets upset with him and refuses to talk to him. He explained to her about all the phonies at the schools he went to and how they all sucked. He recalls James Castle who was locked up in his room by his own classmates and committed suicide by jumping out his window. Then he tells her that he doesn't want to be some hot shot lawyer or anything, except the catcher in the rye. The catcher in the rye was the kid who played outfield and he would have to catch all the kids running towards the edge. After his parents come home, he sneaks back out and decides to go to one of his teacher's house. Holden needs a few dollars to get on the train so Phoebe gives him her Christmas money causing him to cry.
He arrives at Mr. and Mrs. Antolini's house after they had a party. Holden engages in a conversation with Mr. Antolini and tells him about him being kicked out again. He tells him about an oral expression test at Pencey and how you would be graded based on how many people yelled out "digression" as you spoke.
This chapter is also very significant as Salinger shows the message of his novel through Mr.Antolini's lectures he's about to give Holden.
He encourages Holden to continue school and that he's on a "terrible fall". He shares his philosophical views with Holden, trying to comfort him. Holden didn't really hear a single word considering he was so tired, so he and Mr.Antolini fixed his bed and went to sleep. Not too long after, Holden wakes up, feeling a hand on his head and finding out it's Mr. Antolini's. Holden is paranoid that he tried to do something "flitty" and frantically leaves the apartment.
In the morning, Holden walks through downtown, feeling "Christmasy". He didn't know what to do. Then suddenly he gets this idea to just travel west and forget about his life here. He would live in a log cabin that doesn't allow phonies. But he thought he would leave Phoebe a good-bye note first. He left a note with the main desk of the school to give to Phoebe which read to meet at the museum. He tells Phoebe about his plan, and she gets upset and starts crying.
Holden tries to comfort her and asking her to be reasonable. He knew she would follow him regardless of what she said so he starts heading towards the zoo. After they went past the zoo, there was a carousel in the park that Holden knew she would like. They make up there, and he is convinced to stay. Honestly. It starts raining, and Holden doesn't tell us any more than that other than not to talk about somebody or else you'll just miss them even more.
Quote
"And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy 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'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all" (Salinger 173)
Reaction
Other than the quote explaining the reason behind the title, I thought it's significance in how much it showed about Holden's view. He says he was always the tallest so he would play in the outermost part of a rye field. He is still pondering about preserving his childhood and the innocence of it. He wants to protect it, which explains him wanting to just catch kids that were running to close to the edge.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The Catcher in the Rye (Pg. 122-157)
Summary
Holden arrives at the theater early, and as usual is surrounded by "phonies" he can't help but to comment about. There are all types of girls around him who he tried to picture with another phony guy. Sally also arrives a little later, and Holden tells her he got tickets to the Lunt's which she finds "marvelous". They head down to the show and in the cab, Holden tells he loves her and is serious, but Sally thinks he is just being friendly. After the show, Holden is displeased with it because the actors looked a little cocky and goes on to say that "If you do something to good, then after a while, if you don't watch it, you start showing off. And then you're not as good any more.".
Holden recalls that during an intermission, Sally sees somebody she knows and starts talking to him. He thought the whole conversation between the two was nauseating since they acted as if they knew each other their wholes lives after not seeing each other for so long. Holden thinks he's a phony because he's wearing a checked vest indicating he's from an Ivy League school. Sally introduced them, his name is George.
They then go ice-skating in Radio City. After a while, they go in to the bar and get something to drink. They have a conversation about what they think about school and graduating to marry a phony after. Then suddenly, Holden gets an idea. He asks Sally to accompany him to drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, spend all his money, get hitched, and then try to figure out his life from there. Sally doesn't go along with it and disagrees with Holden about the "marvelous places" they can go before they finish college. Holden tells her there won't be either, but it's because then they'll be working in big office buildings. He starts to get mad and calls Sally a "royal pain in the ass" which he regrets later and when she won't accept his apologies, he leaves.
Holden starts thinking about Jane again and remembers one the guys she dated, Al Pike. He remember Jane dating him because he had an "inferiority complex" which still doesn't mean he's not a "bastard". No one picks up when he tries to call her so instead he calls Carl Luce, a senior at the Whooton School when Holden was there as a freshman. Carl Luce was the smartest person in Whooton according to Holden. Carl tells him he can't have dinner with him but he'll have a drink with him around 10.
So until then, Holden goes to the movie theaters. He walked in while the show was going on, and it had actors rollerskating. It was some kind of Christmas show Holden thought Jesus wouldn't like. Though, he'd probably like the guy playing the kettle drums. After that, the picture starts. It's about a a man who loses his memory, meets a girl who publishes his book and love each other. Then the man's original lover sees him and brings him back to his family, leaving the other woman by herself. Holden thought he would puke but found the woman sitting next to him even more distasteful since she cried over the movie but didn't let her grandson leave to go to the bathroom. The movie made Holden think about war. His brother went to war and Holden thought he must've felt bad since he had to stay in the Army for so long with all the phonies in there. If there was ever another war, Holden volunteered for it.
Holden is meeting Carl Luce at the Wicker Bar and there are usually 2 French women who perform there. The phonies there would get a really big kick out of it. The bartender was also a phony. He was like Ernie, he wouldn't talk to you unless you were also really famous.
Carl Luce finally arrives at the bar and Holden recalls how much of an expert Luce was of sex. He also knew every homosexual in the United States and scared his classmates by saying they could turn into one overnight. However he hates talking about his own personal sex life, which is what holden asks about next. Then he asks him whether or not he was going out with anybody at the moment. Luce tells him it's a Chinese woman from Shanghai, which confuses Holden. So he explains to him that eastern philosophy on sex was much more "satisfactory". Holden starts asking questions and picking at them. Luce suggests to him that he should see a psychoanalyst to straighten things out with his life. Whooten has to leave and Holden still thinks he's the smartest guy.
Holden stays at the bar and plans on getting drunk. He watches Valencia, another singer perform and tells the bartender to give her a message. He never did, so he decides to call Sally. He's drunk and tells her he promises to trim the tree with her. He staggers in the bathroom to wash his face and sits near the radiator in there. He leaves finally, and walks towards the park.
He finds out he's nearly broke, and while he's walking he drop the record he bought for Phoebe which he gets depressed about. It was really cold out and Holden thought he would get pneumonia and die which made him start thinking about Allie. He didn't like the thought of being buried and surrounded by other dead people. He also wouldn't like the fact there would hoards of people at the funeral. He remembers visiting the grave one day with his parents and it starts to rain. They drive away but Allie has to be underground and sitting which bothers Holden a lot. Holden has no where to stay for the night and nothing better to do so he decides to surprise Phoebe by going home.
Quote
"I said no, there wouldn't be any marvelous places to got after I went to college and all. Open your ears. It'd be entirely different. We'd have to go upstairs in elevator with suitcases and stuff. We'd have to phone up everybody and tell 'em good-by and send 'em postcards from hotels and all." (Salinger 133)
Reaction
This is Holden's response to Sally after she says that they can get married and go to marvelous places after they go to college. I thought Holden is losing it because before this he wanted to go to marvelous places. Right after this he also calls her a "royal pain in the ass" which is a not something you would say to someone you loved which he said he did. But this quote is another argument about the pleasures of not being an adult and how going to college would take that away. It is a childish view, I guess but then again his thought process is a little irrational considering he's also 17.
Holden arrives at the theater early, and as usual is surrounded by "phonies" he can't help but to comment about. There are all types of girls around him who he tried to picture with another phony guy. Sally also arrives a little later, and Holden tells her he got tickets to the Lunt's which she finds "marvelous". They head down to the show and in the cab, Holden tells he loves her and is serious, but Sally thinks he is just being friendly. After the show, Holden is displeased with it because the actors looked a little cocky and goes on to say that "If you do something to good, then after a while, if you don't watch it, you start showing off. And then you're not as good any more.".
Holden recalls that during an intermission, Sally sees somebody she knows and starts talking to him. He thought the whole conversation between the two was nauseating since they acted as if they knew each other their wholes lives after not seeing each other for so long. Holden thinks he's a phony because he's wearing a checked vest indicating he's from an Ivy League school. Sally introduced them, his name is George.
They then go ice-skating in Radio City. After a while, they go in to the bar and get something to drink. They have a conversation about what they think about school and graduating to marry a phony after. Then suddenly, Holden gets an idea. He asks Sally to accompany him to drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, spend all his money, get hitched, and then try to figure out his life from there. Sally doesn't go along with it and disagrees with Holden about the "marvelous places" they can go before they finish college. Holden tells her there won't be either, but it's because then they'll be working in big office buildings. He starts to get mad and calls Sally a "royal pain in the ass" which he regrets later and when she won't accept his apologies, he leaves.
Holden starts thinking about Jane again and remembers one the guys she dated, Al Pike. He remember Jane dating him because he had an "inferiority complex" which still doesn't mean he's not a "bastard". No one picks up when he tries to call her so instead he calls Carl Luce, a senior at the Whooton School when Holden was there as a freshman. Carl Luce was the smartest person in Whooton according to Holden. Carl tells him he can't have dinner with him but he'll have a drink with him around 10.
So until then, Holden goes to the movie theaters. He walked in while the show was going on, and it had actors rollerskating. It was some kind of Christmas show Holden thought Jesus wouldn't like. Though, he'd probably like the guy playing the kettle drums. After that, the picture starts. It's about a a man who loses his memory, meets a girl who publishes his book and love each other. Then the man's original lover sees him and brings him back to his family, leaving the other woman by herself. Holden thought he would puke but found the woman sitting next to him even more distasteful since she cried over the movie but didn't let her grandson leave to go to the bathroom. The movie made Holden think about war. His brother went to war and Holden thought he must've felt bad since he had to stay in the Army for so long with all the phonies in there. If there was ever another war, Holden volunteered for it.
Holden is meeting Carl Luce at the Wicker Bar and there are usually 2 French women who perform there. The phonies there would get a really big kick out of it. The bartender was also a phony. He was like Ernie, he wouldn't talk to you unless you were also really famous.
Carl Luce finally arrives at the bar and Holden recalls how much of an expert Luce was of sex. He also knew every homosexual in the United States and scared his classmates by saying they could turn into one overnight. However he hates talking about his own personal sex life, which is what holden asks about next. Then he asks him whether or not he was going out with anybody at the moment. Luce tells him it's a Chinese woman from Shanghai, which confuses Holden. So he explains to him that eastern philosophy on sex was much more "satisfactory". Holden starts asking questions and picking at them. Luce suggests to him that he should see a psychoanalyst to straighten things out with his life. Whooten has to leave and Holden still thinks he's the smartest guy.
Holden stays at the bar and plans on getting drunk. He watches Valencia, another singer perform and tells the bartender to give her a message. He never did, so he decides to call Sally. He's drunk and tells her he promises to trim the tree with her. He staggers in the bathroom to wash his face and sits near the radiator in there. He leaves finally, and walks towards the park.
He finds out he's nearly broke, and while he's walking he drop the record he bought for Phoebe which he gets depressed about. It was really cold out and Holden thought he would get pneumonia and die which made him start thinking about Allie. He didn't like the thought of being buried and surrounded by other dead people. He also wouldn't like the fact there would hoards of people at the funeral. He remembers visiting the grave one day with his parents and it starts to rain. They drive away but Allie has to be underground and sitting which bothers Holden a lot. Holden has no where to stay for the night and nothing better to do so he decides to surprise Phoebe by going home.
Quote
"I said no, there wouldn't be any marvelous places to got after I went to college and all. Open your ears. It'd be entirely different. We'd have to go upstairs in elevator with suitcases and stuff. We'd have to phone up everybody and tell 'em good-by and send 'em postcards from hotels and all." (Salinger 133)
Reaction
This is Holden's response to Sally after she says that they can get married and go to marvelous places after they go to college. I thought Holden is losing it because before this he wanted to go to marvelous places. Right after this he also calls her a "royal pain in the ass" which is a not something you would say to someone you loved which he said he did. But this quote is another argument about the pleasures of not being an adult and how going to college would take that away. It is a childish view, I guess but then again his thought process is a little irrational considering he's also 17.
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Catcher in the Rye (Pg 80-122)
Summary
While in the cab, Holden starts a conversation with the driver about the migration of ducks and fish in the pond. The driver starts getting irritated and Holden stops talking about it fearing he would drive the taxi into pole. When Holden gets to Ernie's, he has to wait to be seated and sees Ernie playing the piano and people trying to get a glimpse of Ernie of playing. Holden thought the entire place was phony from Ernie's playing to the people going crazy over it. He knew Ernie is a good piano player but thought adding the extra ripples was phony. When he is finally seated, he is given this small table behind a pole, next to a couple he thought were having a boring conversation. Then Lillian Simmons, whom Holden knows since she is friends with his brother, sees Holden and starts talking with him. She invites him to go with her and her date, a Navy guy, to go with them somewhere. Holden lies and tells them he has other things to do, and leaves.
Instead of taking another taxi, Holden walks 41 blocks to his hotel, and starts fantasizing the situation he would have with he guy who stole his gloves and says he does not really care when he loses stuff as much as other people. The more he thought about it, the more depressed he got and considered getting a drink. He is supposed to be a really good drinker and can hide it like this one situation where he and Raymond Goldfarb drank a pint of Scotch and he gets wasted while Holden had to force himself to puke. He goes back to his hotel and in the elevator, some guy is offering him sex from a prostitute. He agrees to a "throw" for 5 dollars and waits in his room for the prostitute. Then he tells us, he has never had sex before even though he had multiple opportunities too because he never knew when a girl wanted him to stop. He gets dressed up waiting for her, and when she finally comes, he does not know what to do. Her name is Sunny and makes herself comfortable and starts asking Holden how old he was. Holden wants to talk instead and tells her about his fake operation. Sunny thinks Holden won't pay her so Holden gives her 5 dollars and she tells him it was 10 and leaves to get Maurice, the guy who offered Holden sex.
After she leaves, Holden starts thinking about Allie again and how never got sore over Holden not letting him go with him to play. Then he starts telling us about how he's an Atheist and how he never liked the Disciples.
A few moments later, Maurice confronts Holden about the 5 dollars he owed him. Holden refuses to give Maurice the $5 and Maurice continues to pressure him. Then Holden insults him and Maurice finally hits him and Sunny takes the $5 from his wallet and they leave. After they left, Holden had another fantasy of him finding Maurice in the elevator again and he shoots him 6 times in the stomach.
Next morning he arranges a date with Sally Hayes who he got a letter from couple years ago. She is interested in theater and knew a lot about it, and Holden still thought she was stupid. He checked out of his hotel and went to Grand Central Station where he checked his bag into a safe box. He meets these nuns while he's eating his breakfast. They are carrying these cheap suitcases because it reminded him of Dick Slagle who had cheap suitcases compared to Holden's sophisticated ones, and did not want to get a "goddamn inferiority complex" about it. He found out they were English and history teachers who were nice but kept on reminding him of some kind of superiority, like how he ate bacon and eggs while they had toast and coffee. They started talking about Holden's English curriculum. Holden contributes $10 to them and they all go their own ways.
After breakfast Holden still had a few hours to burn. So he decided to go the park for a little bit. He stops by a record store and buys "Little Shirley Beans" for Phoebe. Then he sees this family coming from church and a little boy who Holden thought was very innocent humming the song "If a body catch a body through the rye". He buys the tickets for the shows that Sally would like because they seemed to be sophisticated and dry. He thought actors were phonies and never really liked the shows either. After that, he goes to the park and hopefully find Phoebe there. He finds one of Phoebe's schoolmates and tells him she would probably be at the museum. Holden starts reminiscing about his childhood and how he used to the museum with the school. As soon he passes by it, feels like going in, but remembers his date with Sally.
Quote
"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everybody always stayed right where it was. No body'd move. ...Nobody's be different. the only thing different would be you. Not that'd you'd be older or anything. ... You'd have an overcoat on this time" (Salinger 121)
Reaction
I thought this quote was another reflection of his views on retaining childish elements and being who you are. He thought the sculptures represented his views on change, which he didn't like. Also, not mentioned in my quote, but in the summary, was how he felt about the boy who was humming "If a body catch a body through the rye". Salinger has an innocent child just being himself sing this song to also show Holden trying to preserve child-like behaviors. It's also a cool reference to the title.
While in the cab, Holden starts a conversation with the driver about the migration of ducks and fish in the pond. The driver starts getting irritated and Holden stops talking about it fearing he would drive the taxi into pole. When Holden gets to Ernie's, he has to wait to be seated and sees Ernie playing the piano and people trying to get a glimpse of Ernie of playing. Holden thought the entire place was phony from Ernie's playing to the people going crazy over it. He knew Ernie is a good piano player but thought adding the extra ripples was phony. When he is finally seated, he is given this small table behind a pole, next to a couple he thought were having a boring conversation. Then Lillian Simmons, whom Holden knows since she is friends with his brother, sees Holden and starts talking with him. She invites him to go with her and her date, a Navy guy, to go with them somewhere. Holden lies and tells them he has other things to do, and leaves.
Instead of taking another taxi, Holden walks 41 blocks to his hotel, and starts fantasizing the situation he would have with he guy who stole his gloves and says he does not really care when he loses stuff as much as other people. The more he thought about it, the more depressed he got and considered getting a drink. He is supposed to be a really good drinker and can hide it like this one situation where he and Raymond Goldfarb drank a pint of Scotch and he gets wasted while Holden had to force himself to puke. He goes back to his hotel and in the elevator, some guy is offering him sex from a prostitute. He agrees to a "throw" for 5 dollars and waits in his room for the prostitute. Then he tells us, he has never had sex before even though he had multiple opportunities too because he never knew when a girl wanted him to stop. He gets dressed up waiting for her, and when she finally comes, he does not know what to do. Her name is Sunny and makes herself comfortable and starts asking Holden how old he was. Holden wants to talk instead and tells her about his fake operation. Sunny thinks Holden won't pay her so Holden gives her 5 dollars and she tells him it was 10 and leaves to get Maurice, the guy who offered Holden sex.
After she leaves, Holden starts thinking about Allie again and how never got sore over Holden not letting him go with him to play. Then he starts telling us about how he's an Atheist and how he never liked the Disciples.
A few moments later, Maurice confronts Holden about the 5 dollars he owed him. Holden refuses to give Maurice the $5 and Maurice continues to pressure him. Then Holden insults him and Maurice finally hits him and Sunny takes the $5 from his wallet and they leave. After they left, Holden had another fantasy of him finding Maurice in the elevator again and he shoots him 6 times in the stomach.
Next morning he arranges a date with Sally Hayes who he got a letter from couple years ago. She is interested in theater and knew a lot about it, and Holden still thought she was stupid. He checked out of his hotel and went to Grand Central Station where he checked his bag into a safe box. He meets these nuns while he's eating his breakfast. They are carrying these cheap suitcases because it reminded him of Dick Slagle who had cheap suitcases compared to Holden's sophisticated ones, and did not want to get a "goddamn inferiority complex" about it. He found out they were English and history teachers who were nice but kept on reminding him of some kind of superiority, like how he ate bacon and eggs while they had toast and coffee. They started talking about Holden's English curriculum. Holden contributes $10 to them and they all go their own ways.
After breakfast Holden still had a few hours to burn. So he decided to go the park for a little bit. He stops by a record store and buys "Little Shirley Beans" for Phoebe. Then he sees this family coming from church and a little boy who Holden thought was very innocent humming the song "If a body catch a body through the rye". He buys the tickets for the shows that Sally would like because they seemed to be sophisticated and dry. He thought actors were phonies and never really liked the shows either. After that, he goes to the park and hopefully find Phoebe there. He finds one of Phoebe's schoolmates and tells him she would probably be at the museum. Holden starts reminiscing about his childhood and how he used to the museum with the school. As soon he passes by it, feels like going in, but remembers his date with Sally.
Quote
"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everybody always stayed right where it was. No body'd move. ...Nobody's be different. the only thing different would be you. Not that'd you'd be older or anything. ... You'd have an overcoat on this time" (Salinger 121)
Reaction
I thought this quote was another reflection of his views on retaining childish elements and being who you are. He thought the sculptures represented his views on change, which he didn't like. Also, not mentioned in my quote, but in the summary, was how he felt about the boy who was humming "If a body catch a body through the rye". Salinger has an innocent child just being himself sing this song to also show Holden trying to preserve child-like behaviors. It's also a cool reference to the title.
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