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.
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