THE CATCHER IN THE RYE - ELTIP
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE
by
JEROME DAVID SALINGER
CHAPTERS I. – IV.
VOCABULARY:
David Copperfield = a novel by Charles Dickens, the story of D. Copperfield’s life
dough = money
it killed me = it impressed/ amused me
being a prostitute (Holden’s brother) = used ironically here to mean that he is prostituting his talent of writing for money
strictly for the birds = only fools would believe it
falsies = padded bra
grippe = flu (influenza)
Navajo = an American Indian tribe
Atlantic Monthly = a popular magazine of the time
shot the bull = pretended to be sincere
Central park = a large park in New York City
stiffs = corpses
foils = fencing swords
The Return of the Native = a novel by Thomas Hardy
a goner = someone who is doomed
gives me a bang = gives me enjoyment
hound’s tooth jacket = woolen, patterned jacket
Brown Betty = pudding like apple crumble
can = toilet/ bathroom
Ziegfried Follies = a popular musical show from the twenties
Vitalis = an old-fashioned type of hair gel
checkers = game of draughts
booze hound = alcoholic
halitosis = a condition which causes a bad smelling mouth
hemorrhage = massive bleeding
sadist = torturer
falsetto = high voice
qualms = misgivings
pacifist = peace lover
compulsory = necessary
gore = blood
innumerable = countless
exhibitionist = show-off
unscrupulous = unprincipled
crude = lacking taste or tact
rostrum = platform or podium
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
CHAPTER I:
1. What does Holden mean when he says that his brother D.B. is out in Hollywood “being a prostitute”? He wants to say his brother is wasting his talent writing what other people want him to write, and writing just to earn money.
2. Where is Holden at the beginning of the story? He is in an institute (asylum) for mentally ill people.
3. What is Pencey Prep and why does Holden dislike it? It is the school he went to the previous year and he was expelled from for Christmas. He dislikes it because they advertise things they never offer at school, like playing polo or horse-riding. It is full of crooks who steal things although they come from wealthy families.
4. How did Holden let the fencing team down? He left all the foils and equipment on the subway. The team ostracized (exclude from the group, from ancient Greece: banish from a city for five or ten years by popular vote) him the whole way back on the train.
5. Why was Holden kicked out of Pencey Prep? He was flunking 4 subjects and not working hard at all. (He got the ax. They give it frequently – have a good academic rating)
6. What kind of health does he appear to be in? He says he cannot breathe (had smoked too much), he has TB (tuberculosis) but he says he is pretty healthy.
CHAPTER II:
1. Who is Mr Spencer and why does Holden visit him? He is a history teacher. He invited Holden to visit him and say good-bye before he left Pencey Prep. He says life is a game and you have to play it according to the rules. (You have to be on the right side of the game.)
2. What does Mr Spencer do that particularly annoys Holden? He wears an old bathrobe (that he was born in?), he shows his “bumpy old chest”, and legs – so white and unhairy, he is picking his nose, he smells of Vicks Nose Drops, saying something twice: “You know nothing about history”, “absolutely nothing” 3 x, missing the bed when he throws his exam paper (and Atlantic Monthly - a magazine) on it, asks him about the future and Holden says he is not concerned about it a lot; nodding, saying “I don’t know”.
3. What can you infer about Holden’s character from his note to Mr Spencer? He knows himself, he does not want to play tricks to pass, he knows that he did not work enough to satisfy the demands of the school. He is sincere.
4. What does Holden give us as the reason for “leaving” Elkton Hills? He was surrounded by phonies (headmaster Haas only talking with smart people.) Stradlater went out with Jane Gallagher – they “did things”
5. What is he wondering about in terms of the ducks? Where do they go when the lakes freeze? (They could symbolize his own situation: where could he go when it seems nobody accepts him – he has just been expelled from school.)
CHAPTER III:
1. What does Holden mean when he says, “I’m quite illiterate but I read a lot”? It is possible that he is very self-conscious or he wants to say that he does not learn from books much, when talking about Sally (Ch 15) he says she learns a lot from books, and knows a lot about the theatre and plays and literature, but he does not.
2. What does he read? Out of Africa, The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, David Copperfield, Of Human Bondage by Maurice Maugham, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, war books, mysteries, his brothers’ books.
3. Who is Ackley? His fellow student, lives in the room adjacent to Holden’s, they share the bathroom which is where Ackley comes through to visit him.
4. What is Ackley like? He is very tall (six foot four), round shouldered with lousy teeth, they look mossy and awful (he never brushes them), has a lot of pimples all over his face, his ears are dirty as hell, and a terrible, nosy personality, he never goes out (Holden invites him to the cinema together with Brossnar).
5. What does Ackley do that annoys Holden? He acted as he was terribly tired or bored, he walked round the room, picked at Holden’s (and Stradlater’s) personal stuff on the desk, never replaced it, always made people say everything twice, never did what you asked him to do (like getting out of sb’s light), squeezed his pimples without a handkerchief, cleaned his nails with a match, cut them on the floor – lousy manners.
CHAPTER IV:
1. What is Stradlater like? The same height as Holden but with broad shoulders (weighs twice as much), friendly to Ackley (phony?), a good build (goes around in bare torso) a slob in personal habits: his razor is rusty as hell, full of lather, hairs and crap (a secret slob) but always shaves twice to look gorgeous, spends half of his life in front of the mirror, madly in love with himself (was pretty handsome - a Year Book kind of guy), wasn’t interested in other people
2. What does he want Holden to do and why? To write a descriptive composition for him for English class on Monday, he has a lot to read for History on Monday and has a date that night (Saturday)
3. What do we learn about Holden in this chapter? He is good in English – the only subject he didn’t flunk, good at writing, he has troubles breathing (a tap dance exhausts him), he is a weak guy
4. Why does Holden get excited? Stradlater tells him that his date is Jane Gallagher. (Holden spent a summer with her 2 years ago.) He feels he has to go down and say hello to her – but is not in the mood. He is nervous because Stradlater is such a sexy bastard.
CHAPTERS I. – IV.
1. Holden is critical of many things and often uses the word “phony” to express his criticism. What is he critical of? Give at least 4 examples/ quotes from the text in your answer. – Mr Thurmer, the headmaster, is a phony slob although his daughter Selma is quite OK; old Spencer, the History teacher, and his wife: they are old (what the heck he is still living for?); Ossenburger is phony because he wants to buy social status (he made money in undertaking business after he left Pencey Prep, donated them money and they named a wing (where Holden has a room) after him, Sally Hayes’s letter inviting him over for Christmas to decorate the tree, all the ministers at schools he ‘s been to are phony because of their “Holy Joe” voices, the Wicker Bar in a very luxurious Seton Hotel (where he meets with Luce) is full of phonies (snobs) so he stopped going there gradually.
2. Why do you think Holden is worried about the ducks during the winter? Is their situation similar to that of Holden’s? They do not have anywhere to go when the lakes freeze, their situation is similar: Holden does not have anywhere to go after being expelled from school (he does not want his parents to know about it before Christmas), he wanders around New York but everywhere he goes he encounters cold – he does not have any friend but his sister Phoebe.
CHAPTERS V. – VIII.
VOCABULARY:
Cary Grant = a popular film star of the 1940s and 50s
Buick = American make of large car
baseball mitt = a special glove used by fielders in baseball
hydrant = a water-point for firefighters
socks = here means punches
faculty guys = teachers’ assistants
give her the time = have sex with her
killed me = in ch. 6 means annoyed me, in ch. 7 amused me
Gladstones = a make of travelling bags
lousy with rocks = wearing a lot of jewellery
unanimous = all in agreement
snotty = snobbish, conceited
lavish = extravagant
putrid = rotten and disgusting
snub = behave coldly towards
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
CHAPTER V:
1. Who is Allie? His younger brother, by 2 years but “ fifty times as intelligent”, the most intelligent, and the nicest, (he had red hair but never got mad – red heads are supposed to get mad) member of the family, who died of leukemia on 18th July, 1946. Allie seems almost perfect, his death may have caused Holden’s break-down.
2. Why is the mitt so special to Holden? He had poems written on it in green ink so that he could read them while waiting.
3. Why did Holden’s parents want to have him psychoanalyzed? After his brother’s Allie death he broke the windows in the garage and injured his hands, his brother’s death enraged him as he was such a good person.
CHAPTER VI:
1. What does Stradlater criticize Holden for? Writing a description of a baseball mitt.
2. Why is Holden so concerned about Jane Gallagher? He spent a summer with her 2 years before, he could be jealous and afraid that Stradlater may corrupt her.
3. What does it possibly reveal about Holden? He may be in love with Jane or just concerned about her as she is an innocent figure from the past.
4. What do Holden and Stradlater fight over? They fight because Holden suspects that Stradlater had sex with Jane in the car.
5. What does Holden put on after the fight? Is this the first time he does that? He puts on the red hunting hat with the peak turned backwards. No, it is not. He has had it since he bought it in New York in the morning.
CHAPTER VII:
1. Holden decides to visit Ackley. How is he received? Not well. Holden wants to sleep in Ely’s bed but Ackley does not allow him to.
2. What is he thinking about while lying on the bed? He feels very lonely, is thinking about Jane being in the car with Stradlater.
3. Why doesn’t Holden want to stay at Pencey any more? He is too sad and lonesome. The image of Jane with Stradlater haunts him so he does not want to stay in the same building as Stradlater any more.
4. Where does he decide to go? To a hotel.
5. What is his final good-bye to Pencey Prep? He is standing on the stairs, looking down the corridor, and sort of crying, then puts on his hunting hat (the peak backwards) and shouts, “Sleep tight, ya morons!”
6. Why is he crying when leaving the school? He is saying good-bye to a part of his life where he has been secure, he realizes he has no friends there or anywhere.
CHAPTER VIII:
1. What does Holden think of Mrs Morrow? He likes her (she was a good looking woman – women kill me, had a nice “telephone” voice) but lies to her about his name and her son being the favourite in the school.
2. What are some of the lies he tells her? That his name is Rudolph Schmidt (the janitor), that her son is liked by everybody, that her son adapts well, that he got hit by a snowball in the nose, about the class elections – they wanted Ernie (her son) to be their president – a unanimous vote, but he wouldn’t allow the boys to nominate him, that he has to be operated on because of a brain tumor, that he was going to South America with his grandmother.
3. Why does he tell her these things? He hates Ernie because he always snaps his wet towel at people’s asses (really trying to hurt somebody: “Some people stay a rat their whole life.”)
4. “But I wouldn’t visit that … Morrow for all the dough in the world, even if I was desperate.” Desperate for what? Is Holden desperate? Yes, he is - for company, friends.
CHAPTERS IX – XIII:
VOCABULARY:
screwball = a weirdo
highballs = cocktails, e.g. whiskey and soda
Princeton = a very prestigious American college
grools = stupid, ugly people
no can = no bottom
jitterbug = popular dance in the 1840s and 50s
toleja = told you
ice-cold hot licks = poor trumpet solos
Radio City Music Hall = a popular venue for live performances
the check = the bill
gave me the big freeze = ignored me
glider = swinging couch suspended from a vertical frame
Greenwich Village = a “trendy” district of New York
tossed his cookies = was sick, vomited
Tattertall vests = smart-looking waistcoats
Ivy League = collective name for students of the five most prestigious American colleges based near New York, e.g. Princeton, Yale, Harvard
crocked = drunk
bourgeois = middle-class
nonchalant = indifferent, seeming to be coolly unconcerned
conscientious = taking great care, diligent
yellow = a coward
a little tail = sex with a woman
a throw = one act of sexual intercourse
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
CHAPTER IX:
1. What does Holden want to do when he arrives to New York? Does he? Call someone, e.g. his brother D.B., Phoebe, Jane Gallagher’s mother, Sally Hayes, Carl Luce. No.
2. Where does he go and how? To a hotel (Edmont) by a cab.
3. What does he ask the taxi driver? If he knows where the ducks go when the lagoon in Central Park South gets frozen all over.
4. How does he feel in the hotel room? Why? Depressed, he is surrounded by perverts (one who puts on women’s clothes, a man and a woman squirting water at each other from their mouths).”I was probably the only normal bastard in the whole place.”
5. Who does he finally call? He calls Faith Cavendish, a girl he has never met, just got her number from Eddie Birdsell whom he had only met once at a party.
CHAPTER X:
1. How does Holden feel about his sister Phoebe? He likes her a lot, thinks she is really smart (thinks himself the only dumb one in the family), also has red hair (she is 10), is skinny (roller-skate skinny), writes books about Hazle Weatherfield, a girl detective
2. Why doesn’t he call her? He is afraid his parents would answer the phone as it is late at night, they would find out he is in NY and has been kicked out of Pencey.
3. What happens in the hotel night-club, the Lavender Room? He gets a lousy table in the back, he meets three girls from Seattle, Washington, asks the blonde one (Bernice) to a dance (she is a good dancer but lousy talker).
4. What is his opinion of the three girls he meets there? He thinks they are stupid, they are just waiting to see some celebrity and unable to lead an intelligent conversation.
CHAPTER XI:
1. What does Holden tell us about Jane Gallagher? He is thinking about her in the hotel lobby. He remembers the summer 2 years ago that they spent together. They played tennis and golf and checkers all summer, went to the cinema, held hand but got to necking only once when Jane was crying (he never learned why). His mother didn’t like her. She was reading all the time and she was the only person Holden showed his brother’s Allie’s baseball mitt to.
2. How does he feel about her? He likes her a lot, especially the way she looked, he finds her funny (her way of speaking), and does not want Stradlater to corrupt her.
3. What do these memories cause? He suddenly remembers the time Jane put her hand in the back of his neck – he thinks it very pretty but he cannot put Jane and Stradlater together in the car off his mind.
4. Where does he decide to go? To Old Ernie’s (a night club where he used to go with his brother D.B.)
CHAPTER XII:
1. What happens once again in the taxi? He starts a conversation with the cab driver (Horwitz) and asks him if he knows where the ducks go when the lagoon in Central Park South freezes all over. “Does anybody take care of them? They just can’t ignore the ice.” Holden just drives the cab driver crazy with his questions.
2. Where does he go and how does he feel there? To Ernie’s where he feels lonely and depressed. He is given a small table at the back where he can only drink and smoke. The music is lousy.
3. Who does he meet in the club? He meets an ex-girlfriend of his brother D.B., Lillian.
4. Does he accept the invitation? Why (not)? He does not because he is bored by her and her boyfriend.
5. What does it tell us about his character? He is desperate for some company but cannot find anybody who would answer his demands. Some people reject him (Faith Cavendish, Ch. 9, cab driver, Ch.12) and he rejects others (Lillian and her boyfriend in the club). It is very difficult for him to find a person he feels close to (all these people are far away, e.g. Jane, Phoebe, D.B. or even Allie.
CHAPTER XIII:
1. What happens when he returns to the hotel? On the way there he (he goes on foot – 41 gorgeous block) is thinking about himself being “yellow” (a coward) because he never stands up to himself and his rights (or property, such as stolen gloves). The elevator boy offers to bring him a prostitute for 5 bucks a throw, 15 till noon.
2. Why does he agree to see a prostitute? He is so depressed he can not think.
3. How does Holden feel about having sex with her? He is nervous (he is a virgin), he could get in some practice (if he ever gets married), he does not care too much – just wants to get it over with, falls over his suitcase when someone knocks on the door. He thinks she is nervous too as she is young as hell. He feels peculiar when she pulls her dress over her head – sexy is the last thing he is feeling, he suggests paying her although they do not do it.
4. What would he rather do? Is he successful? He would rather talk. Not really – he cannot think of anything to talk about, she insists and Holden tells her he has just had an operation and does not feel up to it. He pays her 5 bucks and she leaves, enraged.
CHAPTERS XIV – IXX
VOCABULARY:
BB guns = ball-bearing guns
chisel me = con me, (swindle or dupe)
plugged = shot
rubbernecks = people with an unhealthy interest in other people’s affairs
freshman = a first year university student
Grand Central Station = main railway station in New York
blue as hell = really miserable
Broadway = main street in New York, famous as the centre of music
Dixieland = traditional jazz style
Flys Up = a ball game
corny = unfashionable
rubbering = looking around at people
vests = jackets
homey = ordinary
on furlough = for a short leave, esp. from the Army
A Farewell to Arms = a famous book by Ernest Hemingway set in the WW1 (Italy)
The Great Gatsby = a well-known novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
snowing hell = flattering excessively
flits = homosexuals
Columbia = large NY university
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
CHAPTER XIV:
1. Does Holden feel any guilt about Allie? He does because once he did not allow him go with him when Holden went over to a lake with a friend to do some shooting.
2. Do you think it is normal or abnormal? Why? I think it is normal to feel some guilt after someone has died and you did not listen to his wishes when you still could, and it was no big deal.
3. What makes Holden cry? Maurice (the elevator boy) and Sunny (the prostitute) come back for 5 more bucks, they attack him and take the 5 bucks out of his wallet and he starts to cry. Maurice beats him up although Sunny tries to stop him.
4. What evidence shows us that Holden might be a good actor? On his way to the bathroom he started pretending he was shot in the gut but imagined he struggled down the stairs with an automatic and shot Maurice, then he would call Jane to come over, bandage him and light a cigarette for him. The whole incident made him want to commit suicide. In the morning he invites Sally for a date. (She says, “Grand” which annoys him – it is so phony).
CHAPTER XV:
1. What point does Holden try to make when talking about the suitcases (of the nuns and his roommate)? They were inexpensive, not genuine leather – he knows it is not important but he hates it when people have cheap suitcase (he can even hate a person for having such suitcases) probably because he has expensive ones and people are embarrassed to have their suitcases next to his. He says that he roomed with Stradlater because at least his suitcases were as good as his.
2. How does Holden treat the nuns? He is nice to them, gives a contribution of 10 bucks (although they are not collecting it), feels sorry for them as they never go anywhere swanky for lunch or anything..
3. Why does he think it spoils the conversation if someone asks what religion you are? He remembers a boy at Whooton School; they had a nice conversation about tennis but then the boy asked him if he knew where the Catholic church was in the city. It annoyed Holden because he thought that people just want to find out whether you are Catholic or not. Holden himself comes from a family where his father was a Catholic (of Irish origin), his mother a protestant (American origin) and all the children atheists. Asking about the religion is similar to the suitcases you have (could be embarrassing).
CHAPTER XVI:
1. Who does Holden make a date with? Sally Hayes, at 2o’clock for a matinee, a theatre performance with the Lunts in it (Sally would start drooling all over the place because she likes sophisticated and dry shows.)
2. Why does he call her if he thinks she is phony? He is desperate for company, she is a substitute for Jane.
3. How does Holden treat little kids? Give an example. He is very nice to them, e.g. he says that the kid walking in from of him is swell (the kid is singing a song, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye”, – it makes him feel better), the girl tightening her skates in the park – he helps her do it, he stops by two boys on a seesaw – he wants to help the skinny boy but they do not want him around.
4. Does Holden know his way around the city? He does because it is his home town (His family has an apartment on 71st Street.). after talking to the girl he remembers his school days, going to the Museum of Natural History and the Auditorium – he has happy memories about his childhood. He liked the museum because everything stayed right where it was.
5. What does it tell us about him? He was happy as a child, a good pupil, and he would like things to stay that way. (“Certain thing should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that’s impossible, but it’s too bad anyway.”)
CHAPTER XVII:
1. How do Holden’s feeling for women compare to his feeling for men? He feels depressed when he is watching all kind of pretty and not so pretty girls and imagines them getting married to some dopey guys who can only talk about their cars, guys that get sore when they lose at golf, guys that are boring – but he says he doesn’t understand boring boys as they can be very intelligent but he would never praise another boy for their good sides, like being a good whistler. He is also very polite to Sally (at the beginning of their date: “If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she’s late?)
2. How does he feel about the actors? He can not get interested in them. Although he says the Lunts are good he does not like them. He says they do not act like people and they do not act like actors but as celebrities. (“They were good but they were too good.” – if you are too good you start to show off and then you are not good any more.)
3. What is Holden’s point about the difference between a man owning a car and owning a horse? People owning cars always worry their cars (being scratched, how much fuel they use, buying new ones all the time) and cars are only things. People owning horses at least worry about living beings (“a horse is at least human”).
4. How does he describe a boys’ school to Sally? It is full of phonies and you just study to be able a Cadillac some day, you have to pretend you like football and keep talking about girls, liquor and sex, stick together in different groups but not learning anything important about life
5. Why doesn’t she want to run away with him? They are practically still children, have to finish school, he is fantasizing about impossible things like getting a job and taking care of themselves. (He thinks that being adult will change everything – they will have to conform to the rules of the society which will not be fun anymore. They quarrel and Holden leaves.)
CHAPTER XVIII:
1. What is Holden’s opinion of the Christmas show at radio City? He says it is the worst thing he has done to go see it. Old Jesus would puke if He could see it. He would probably only like the guy that plays the drums in the orchestra – he does not play a lot but never gets bored.
2. Why does he think the woman who cried through the movie is a phony? The movie is “putrid” (rotten), sad story with a happy ending. The woman looks kindhearted but she is not: she has a little kid with her that wants to go to bathroom but she would not take him. (“She was about as kindhearted as a goddam wolf. )
CHAPTER XIX:
1. Why does he get mad at Luce for calling his (Luce’s) girlfriend a “whore from Hampshire”? Because the girl let Luce get sexy with her all the time as if boys had a right to do it but girls who do it are whores.
2. What is the relation between the two of them? Luce was supposed to be his Studen to Advisor at Whooton School but he only talked about sex to a bunch of students in his room. He always made them talk about their personal life but never allowed them to ask about his personal life. (flits = gays). Holden suspects Luce to be flitty as well.
CHAPTERS XX – XXVI
VOCABULARY:
boisterous = loud and noisy
pedagogical = relating to teaching
foyer = entrance hall
provocative = causing an angry reaction intentionally
cockeyed = foolish, ridiculous, absurd
harrowing = extremely distressing
swanky = fancy, high class
reciprocal = mutual, experienced, performed, or felt by both sides
digress = start talking about something not related to the topic
plastered = drunk
ostracizing = ignoring
closet = wardrobe
garbage pails = dustbins
Veterans’ Day = a school reunion
carrousel = a merry-go-round (fairground ride)
ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:
CHAPTER XX:
1. What does Holden pretend to have happened to him in the Wicker Bar? To have been shot in the guts, he keeps putting his hand on his stomach to prevent blood dripping all over the place.
2. Where does he go after he leaves the bar? Why? He goes to a phone booth to give Jane a buzz but phone Sally instead who is asleep and grandma answers but then Sally comes and asks him just to go home as she notices he is as drunk as could be. Then he goes to a men’s room and tries to get sober by dunking his head in cold water. After leaving the Wicker Bar he goes to the park to see what the ducks there were doing.
3. What happens to Phoebe’s record? How does he feel at that point? On the way to the park he drops the record and it shatters into fifty pieces. He feels terrible. He puts the pieces in his pocket because he does not want to throw them away.
4. What do we learn about Allie’s funeral? All the relatives came (”I have about fifty aunts, and lousy cousins”) but Holden was in the hospital during the funeral as he had hurt his hand. He hates it when people stick you in a cemetery and put flowers on your stomach (“Who wants flowers when you are dead?”). He stopped going to his grave because he could not bear watching him surrounded with dead guys, especially when it was raining.
5. What does Holden tell us about Allie that contradicts his statement about being an atheist? He says he knows it is only his body in the cemetery but his soul is in Heaven
6. Where does he go after leaving the park? He decides to go home in case he catches pneumonia and dies so that old Phoebe would see him before his death.
CHAPTER XXI:
1. How does Holden get into his parents’ apartment? The elevator boy is a new guy who does not know Holden so he lies where he is going (to the Dicksteins on the same floor), that he is their nephew, that he has a bad leg – all you have to do is say something others do not understand and the will do anything you want them to.
2. What does he find interesting about Phoebe’s notebooks? She has about five thousand of them (no kid so many), she signs herself with a different middle name all the time (Weatherfield this time instead of Josephine).
3. Why does Phoebe become upset? She asks him why he has already come home (not on Wednesday) and realizes he has been kicked out of school again and fears dad will kill him. Holden says he may go to a ranch in Colorado but she does not listen to him.
CHAPTER XXII:
1. Which Phoebe’s question upsets Holden most? Why did he get the ax again? – Millions of reasons: full of phonies, mean guys who did not accept pimply and boring boys like Ackley.
2. What are the two things Holden can remember in connection with her question? He remembers Mr. Spencer and Mr. Thurmer who used to come into class and interrupt the lesson; the second thing is the Veterans’ Day when all the jerks that graduated from Pencey around 1776 (Independence) walk around with their wives and children. He remembers one of the veterans who wanted to see if his initials were still in the can. He depressed Holden although he was not a bad guy (“You don’t have to be a bad guy to depress somebody. … Just give them a lot of phony advice.”). He also remembers James Castle who would not take back things that he had said and when some boys came to his room to bully him but he rather jumped out the window than take his words back. Nobody went near him except for Mr. Antolini, the English teacher, which Holden respects.
3. What would Holden really like to do in life? Why? A catcher in the rye. He keeps thinking about little kids in a rye field and himself on the edge of some crazy cliff. The kids are running and do not look where they are going – he would be there to catch them before someone falls off the cliff. He likes children and wants to protect them.
4. What does it tell us about Holden when he says, “Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t stop liking them, for God’s sake – especially if they were a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all”? He cares a lot about Allie but at the same time he can not accept that adults are not perfect. He can only accept people who are innocent (like children).
CHAPTER XXIII:
1. Who does Holden call from the apartment? Why? Mr. Antolini. He liked him when he was his English teacher and wants to talk to him about flunking from Pencey.
2. What do Holden and Phoebe do next? They start dancing. Holden thinks she is a good dancer (he taught her), she can even tango.
3. What does Holden do when his parents return home? Puts out his cigarette and hides in the closet and listen Phoebe talk to Mother. Phoebe then gives him her pocket money and tells her he will probably stay with Mr. Antolini till Tuesday. He starts crying because he feels so depressed, gives his hunting hat to Phoebe and leaves.
CHAPTER XXIV:
1. What happens in this chapter? He comes to Mr. Antolini’s swanky apartment by cab. Mr. Antolini and his wife have just had a party and there are glasses everywhere. He talks to Mr. Antolini about why he flunked from Pencey. They talk about the subject called Oral Expression where you had to make a spontaneous speech but stick to the point all the time. Holden thinks it is more interesting if a person digresses (which you should not do or you flunk) but Mr Antolini thinks you should start with the most interesting point and stick to it. The problem is that you do not know what is really interesting until you get to that point. The problem is that you do not know what is really interesting until you get to that point. You should at least leave people alone when they are interesting. Mrs. Antolini serves them coffee with curlers in her hair, looking very old. They carry on their conversation about Holden’s attitude to school and people in general. Mr. Antolini is concerned that this fall Holden is experiencing will last too long and Holden will lose hope. He writes a meaningful note for him,”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.” He tells him he is not the first person to be frightened and confused by human behaviour and encourages him to go on with his education process. Then they make the bed and Holden falls asleep. He wakes up when Mr. Antolini is patting his head. he gets scared and runs away.
2. What was Holden’s opinion of Mr Antolini before this meeting? He liked him a lot because Mr. Antolini showed concern about how he was doing after leaving Elkton Hills and came to their house a lot. He appreciated his opinion because he is intelligent and witty.
3. How did the opinion change and why? After the experience during the night he thinks Mr. Antolini is a pervert and does not trust him any more. he says that kind of stuff (pervertly) has happened to him about twenty times since he was a kid and he can not stand it.
.
CHAPTER XXV:
1. Where does Holden go after that incident? He goes to the Grand Central and sleeps in the waiting room till 9 o’clock.
2. What happens to him? He finds an article about hormones, starts reading it and finds out he looks like the guy with lousy hormones in the article. he reads about cancer and starts worrying he has it too. He has coffee and walks down the Fifth Avenue. The atmosphere is very Christmasy. He gets a feeling that he will not be able to cross the street but instead the street will swallow him up. He starts talking to Allie, “Allie, don’t let me disappear, please, Allie.” Then he thanks him for keeping him alive, and it went on till the Sixties, past the zoo and all. He is worn out, sits down and decides he will go West, where it is very pretty, very sunny and nobody knows him. He is fed up with having conversations. He starts fantasizing again about living a peaceful life and meeting a beautiful girl (also deaf-mute like himself), they would write to each other notes and if they had children they would educate them themselves.
3. Who does he arrange to meet and where? He goes to Phoebe’s school and writes a note for her to meet him at the Museum of art. He is upset in school because of “fuck you” words on the wall. He is worried what harm the words could do to little children in the school and is prepared to kill whoever did it. Only he knows he does not have the guts to do it which depresses him.
4. What upsets Holden in the museum? He helps two boys find the mummies in the Egyptian section and when they go down a dark corridor, the two boys run away but Holden again notices “fuck you” words on the wall, written with a red crayon. he realizes you cannot escape it and is even sure the words will appear on his tombstone.
5. Where does he take Phoebe? How does he feel there? First he checks her suitcase that she has brought to run away with him in the Museum checkroom and tells her he is not going anywhere to calm her down. She is angry and throws his red hunting hat at his face. She does not want to go back to school and tells him to shut up. They come to the zoo, walk round it and head to the carrousel (one nice thing about them – they always play the same music), he offers to pay for a ride for her (with her money). He feels terrible when she says, “Please, take the money I gave you.” Phoebe goes for a few rides and Holden watches her, promises her he will return home and when rain starts falling he does not seek shelter because he feels so happy watching Phoebe going round and round.
CHAPTER XXVI:
1. Where is Holden? How do you know? (c.f. Ch.1 as well) Again in the asylum (a psychoanalyst guy they have here).
2. What does he say about remembering people? “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
3. Why, in your opinion, does the writer end the story at the same place he has started it?
To round off the story; he does not want to include more than these three days when Holden wanders round NY and remembers things that are important for his state of mind. Any continuation of the story outside the frame of the asylum where he is telling the story to someone (us, the readers, or a psychoanalyst) would make the story less intense and “real-life”.
MAIN THEMES:
• relationships
• the individual and society
• the effects of the environment
• innocence and childhood
RELATIONSHIPS
HOLDEN AS AN OUTSIDER:
One of the main themes is the problem of forming relationships. Holden often tells us how lonely he feels and desperately wants to befriend people. From the beginning of his story he has problems with getting on with others.
SCHOOL:
We first meet him when he is “ostracized” (ignored) by the school fencing team. He is on his own when everyone else is enjoying themselves at a football match. His relationships are insecure: he talks to Ackley but tells us he doesn’t like him; he admires Stradlater in some ways but ends up fighting with him and leaving Pencey.
ADULTS AND PARENTS:
The first adult we meet, Mr Spencer, cannot understand Holden even though he seems to like him. The other important adult figure, Mr Antolini, also cannot understand him. He wants to give him some advice about life but Holden just feels tired and cannot understand what is being said to him. His relationship with his parents seems distant, as if he thinks they do not really care about him. His problems are mainly caused by their mutual inability to form a family relationship of trust and understanding.
MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS:
All through the novel Holden attempts to talk to people of all sorts, but his only meaningful ones are with the two nuns and his younger sister Phoebe. Here he shows his true self. In all other conversations he lies or pretends to be someone else. He lies to Mrs Morrow on the train and tries to be sophisticated with the three girls in the Edmont hotel.
RELATIONSHIPS IN THE PAST:
He remembers his conversations with people in the past more favourably. He tells us how he and his brothers were happy together as children. When he talks about Allie, we sense a closeness which is not there in present time.
His other really significant relationship was with Jane Gallagher when they spent a summer together. In a way this is the closest Holden has come to being in love. His failure to contact Jane while he is in New York shows his inability to relate to anyone. He is frightened of spoiling the memory of a good relationship and substitutes her to Sally, and their brief day out ends in another failed relationship for Holden. He often talks about sex and mistakenly believes this aspect of a relationship is the most important or “adult”. This is a typical response for a boy of his age. Holden’s inability to understand sexuality shows his immaturity.
THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY
SOCIETY AND MATERIALISM:
Much of Holden’s story concerns his reactions to the values of the society in which he lives. He is disillusioned with his world and rebels against it. The society he lives in seems to him to be shallow (phony) and only concerned about material things; money is the most important thing and Holden feels that this is wrong. This can be seen by the fact that the only two adults Holden feels empathy with are the nuns. Nuns have to give up material things and money; they take vows of poverty. Holden thinks they are the only people who really care about other people.
THE VALUES OF SCHOOL:
At the beginning we find ourselves in the enclosed little world of a boarding school with its rules. Holden’s dislike of the society values can be clearly seen at Pencey, where he is very sarcastic about the school and its claims to “mould” (oblikovati) students into valuable members of society. He mocks Mr Ossenburger, who became rich after leaving Pencey, and says that he is only regarded important because he is rich. All of the schools Holden has attended are for the rich and privileged. Many students would consider themselves lucky to have these opportunities, but Holden seems to feel guilt and anger at his situation and rebels against it.
NEW YORK PEOPLE:
Holden escapes to the world of NY which he often finds frightening. He immediately starts talking about perverts in the hotel where he stays. He has an encounter with a prostitute and gets beaten up. All the worst moment take place in the city.
The social and moral values of the people he meets in NY are portrayed as either corrupt or petty and snobbish. The places where he goes in search of company are full of people who are only interested in themselves and in how others see them. As Holden sees it, they all let him down when he needs them:
• Sally Hayes won’t run away with him
• Carl Luce is not interested in Holden’s problems
• Mr Antolini makes advances on him (in Holden’s perception)
The prostitute and the elevator-boy exemplify how corrupt the society is. In one of his “weak” moments Holden thinks he can buy company but when he behaves as he thinks an adult would, the result is embarrassment and humiliation (the incident with the prostitute).
PRESSURE TO CONFORM:
Throughout the novel, Holden is critical of the society in which he lives. The pressure on people to conform and be like others, puts enormous strain on him. He is portrayed as an outsider who tries to fit in but cannot. This is the dilemma that leads to his breakdown.
THE EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
THE IDEA OF THE ENVIRONMENT:
Holden moves through three main environments: SCHOOL (Pencey Prep and others before that), NEW YORK (clubs, bars and streets) and CENTRAL PARK. They all have an impact on him and he tries to escape from all these places.
PENCEY PREP:
At Pencey Prep he is a part of the community but is on the verge of leaving. He deals with the people he comes in contact with on an equal basis. He is secure and confident at the school even though he tells us that he does not like it, and the environment there seems to stifle him. Holden views the school as boring, trivial and phony. Although it is his fight with Stradlater which finally makes him leave, we often feel Holden wants to escape from the confines of school. Holden cannot obey the rules and regulations which govern the boarding school environment.
NEW YORK:
J. D. Salinger often makes the streets of NY a frightening place. One example of this is his description at the beginning of Ch. 12, another, in Ch. 25 is when Holden feels he is disappearing and that the city is going to “swallow” him up. He will become one of the casualties of his environment, like many other city dwellers.
CENTRAL PARK:
The only place where Holden finds some moments of happiness is when he is in the Central Park or the museums nearby. The park is a green space, a small piece of nature in a vast, man-made environment. The museums represent the past, a time when things were easier and not subject to the stresses and strains of a city life. In these places Holden remembers his childhood before his brother’s death and his own problems; he wishes things could stay the same as they were then. It is in the central park that he finally has a moment of true happiness, when he sees his sister riding the carrousel. It seems these places are innocent and untainted by man. In a way the park is a metaphor for the wide open spaces to which Holden dreams of running away. It is also the place where the ducks live and Holden wonders where they go in winter when the lakes freeze. It could be a metaphor of his own situation: where can you go when everything freezes around you?
EFFECTS ON EMOTIONS:
The different environments all have effects on his inner emotions:
• the museums and the park make him nostalgic and he wishes that time could stand still or even go backward
• the clubs and bars bring out Holden’s cynicism but also his insecurities and naivety
• the city as a whole leads him into depression
• the pace and confusion of the city reflects his own confusion and fear
INNOCENCE AND CHILDHOOD
TRANSITION:
In the novel, Holden is at the age between childhood and adulthood. The difficulties which he has making this transition are the principal part of the story. It is a type of story that shows a person developing from childhood to maturity, but not a conventional one. His development is twisted and he doesn’t reach maturity at the end of the story.
In some ways Holden is afraid of growing up. He seems unable to face the responsibilities which come as he gets older. This is shown by his continual “flunking” of his exams, even though he is obviously intelligent. His answer to his problems is a typically childlike dream, to run away and have an adventure: he runs away from Pencey Prep (+ 2 other schools before that) and he talks to Sally Hayes and his sister about escaping somewhere to the west.
ALLIE AND JANE:
Holden’s happiest memory concern his own childhood before the death of his brother Allie. The only other time he has seemed genuinely happy since then is the time spent with Jane Gallagher. These relationships were innocent ones, they happened before Holden saw how cruel the world could be. When his brother died, Holden’s own childhood was lost and he had to confront something he did not understand; his reaction is extreme (parents want to have him psychoanalyzed) and this is the beginning of his problems.
His relationship with Jane was innocent. Although they kissed, Holden stresses it wasn’t a kiss on the mouth! They played games together (draughts, golf). Holden does not want to let this happy memories go and he idealizes his time with Jane. His reluctance to phone her reinforces the sense that he does not want to see her grown-up because it would shatter his childhood memories. This is also clear from the fight with Stradlater: he becomes obsessed with the idea of what Stradlater may have done with Jane. He is afraid that, because of Stradlater, Jane may have lost a part of her innocence and moved into the adult world.
HOLDEN’S CHILDLIKE QUALITIES:
Holden’s innocence and childlike qualities are exposed when he tries to act out his perceptions of adult behaviour. They all end up in disaster or depression. His initial attempts to get alcohol are prevented and when he does get served, he gets drunk and breaks his sister’s record. His experience with the prostitute shows his innocence regarding sex, while she provides a contrast to his innocence. She is roughly the same age as Holden and her life is already corrupted by the world in which she lives. His rounds of the clubs and bars all leave him depressed.
FANTASY AND REALITY:
Holden’s tendency to fantasize also stresses his childlike behaviour. He often retreats to the world of the imagination when things in the real world become too much for him. Examples of these are when he pretends to be shot and his great love for books and stories. His fantasies of life in the Far West, or in the mountains with Sally Hayes, show he is unable to face reality and that he still has the unrealistic dreams of a young adolescent. His admission that he doesn’t understand women and adults in general contribute to our view that he is immature.
HOLDEN’S QUEST COMPLETED:
Holden cares about the innocent aspects of the world which have not changed since his childhood: the park with the ducks, the children’s zoo and the museums he visited. His sister Phoebe, who is still uncorrupted by the adult world, is the only person to whom he can really relate. It is the innocent image of his sister riding a carrousel that finally makes him happy for a moment. Holden’s quest is complete; he seeks refuge in the innocent pleasure of a fairground ride (a carrousel), rather in the adult world he has lived in the previous two days.
GENERAL QUESTIONS:
1. What kind of a game is life? (consider Mr Spencer, Holden and give your own opinion)
2. What does it mean to be true to yourself?
3. What does it mean to be a good person?
4. Is it inevitable that we conform to the world and society we live in?
5. How should a person adjust to the world s/he did not create?
6. What happens when a person does not accept the rules of the dominant culture?
7. Is it possible to grow up and not become phony?
8. Is it possible to protect everything that is precious to you?
9. What does it mean to be mature/ immature?
10. Why are people cruel to each other?
11. How do people respond to cruelty around them?
CHARACTERS
THE CAULFIELD FAMILY
HOLDEN:
Holden is the main character in the novel and we see the world through his eyes (1st person narrative). He is a young man (16) at the time when the events he describes happen. He is on the verge of adulthood. His language is meant to be typical of a teenager of that time and this defines his character. (cf. Language and Style). He appears to be a witty individual who can also be irritating to those around him. He comes from a stable background and his parents are quite wealthy (father is a lawyer, mother a housewife). They live in an expensive part of NY. He has a younger sister, Phoebe, and two brothers, D. B. who lives in Hollywood, and Allie, 2 years younger, who died when Holden was 13.
During the course of the novel we discover more and more about Holden’s past and realize that he is a troubled young man. He is confused about much of the world around him and is disillusioned with life. His sense of unhappiness and depression increases as the novel progresses, until he has a nervous breakdown. It is left to the reader to decide whether it is because he has a “weak” character or because he has experienced intolerable pressures and no-one has helped him to deal with them.
We are shown that Holden has a strong sense of moral values which often clashes with those of people around him. When he does things that he knows are wrong he feels guilty; all through the novel there is a sense of Holden’s guilt about his behaviour and this is one of the reasons he is afraid to go home.
Holden has a vivid imagination and a love of books and stories in general. Although he claims he hates movies, he spends quite a lot of time pretending to be in them! This frequent contradiction of himself is another trait of his character. He tries to behave like an adult by smoking and drinking, going out with girls and hanging in bars, but he is highly critical of others who are doing the same, and still yearns for his innocent childhood.
PHOEBE:
Holden’s 10-year-old sister is described by Holden as pretty, skinny and having red hair. Phoebe likes going to the movies and can tell a good film from a bad one. She is an intelligent girl with an inquisitive nature and has a love fro writing stories. She seems to enjoy school and has lots of notebooks. Holden says she is a neat and tidy person and she seems very organized and grown-up for her age.
She becomes a very important character towards the end of the novel. For Holden she represents innocence and is a reminder of when life was happy at home. She is the main reason for Holden to eventually go home. Phoebe becomes very upset when she finds that Holden has been expelled from school again. This shows that she deeply cares about him. When he decides to run away, Phoebe insists on going with him. This also demonstrates the stubborn side of her nature. She is portrayed as a wise child, but one who still behaves in the manner which we would expect of a 10-year-old.
ALLIE:
Allie was Holden’s younger brother by 2 years who died when Holden was 13. Holden describes him as a popular and sensitive boy. Although he is not often mentioned, he is an important character as his death may have caused Holden’s mental problems.
D. B.
Holden’s older brother is a writer. He moved to Hollywood to write for film industry, which Holden thinks is a waste of his talent (similar to prostitution). He visits Holden in hospital in California where Holden is recovering from his nervous breakdown and from where he is telling his story.
MOTHER AND FATHER:
Holden’s mother is mentioned only briefly and is described as being very nervous since the death of Allie. His father is also mentioned in passing; he is a corporate lawyer who earns a high salary but alienated from the family. They are important because it is Holden’s guilt and fear of their reaction (he has been expelled from school for 3rd time) that prevents Holden from going home.
SCHOOLFRIENDS
ROBERT ACKLEY:
“Ackley boy” as Holden calls him, is an important character at the beginning of the novel. He has the room next to Holden at Pencey Prep. He is not popular at school. He is a senior pupil but no-one seems close to him. He has acne and bad teeth and is a “slob” (a lazy and dirty person). Holden tells us he is not liked by anyone, including himself, and he has been prevented from joining different societies set up by the other boys. He is an outsider in many ways, just like Holden, but for different reasons.
Although Holden spend a great deal of time telling us about Ackley’s bad qualities, he is the last person Holden goes to before leaving Pencey Prep. Holden seems to realize that Ackley, like himself, has no-one to identify with. Ackley often tries to start a conversation or make friends with people but is ignored, just like Holden in NY.
WARD STRADLATER:
Stradlater is another character who is important at the beginning of the novel. He is Holden’s roommate and his senior. He is described as handsome and popular with girls, someone who knows about the world and is sexually active. He has seduced girls in the past and Holden thinks he is one of the few students who has actually had sex. He is portrayed as the “model” for society’s idea of what a young man of his age should be. He has his faults but his behaviour is that of a “normal”, well-balanced American male of that era. He is represented as a contrast to Holden, who is an outsider, unable to behave in the way society dictates.
Stradlater is important because he is the person who causes Holden to leave Pencey Prep early. He seems to be able to do things that Holden wants to do but cannot. There is a feeling throughout the novel that Stradlater makes Holden jealous, particularly because of his relationship with Jane Gallagher.
JANE GALLAGHER:
Although we never meet her, she is one of the major characters in the novel, as she occupies so much of Holden’s thoughts. She is a sensitive girl with whom Holden spent a summer holiday 2 years before the action of the novel starts. She is portrayed by Holden as his perfect companion and one of the few people he has ever felt comfortable with.
Jane is, indirectly, another reason Holden leaves Pencey. He fights with Stradlater because he believes he has behaved badly with Jane. Throughout the novel, Holden thinks of phoning her but never gets to speak to her. It seems she represents a beautiful memory for Holden which he is afraid of spoiling, so he is unable to talk to her.
CHARACTERS OF AUTHORITY
MR SPENCER
Holden’s History teacher at Pencey Prep is an old man who is friendly to his students, often inviting them into his home for hot drinks. When we meet him he is suffering from flu and Holden wishes he hasn’t come to visit him. He shows concern for Holden and cannot understand why Holden is failing so badly at school.
The main scene involving Mr Spencer is when he reads Holden’s History exam paper to him, showing up its inadequacies. Holden feels that Spencer is being sarcastic, but tells us that Mr Spencer felt badly about failing him in the exam.
Mr Spencer is important to the novel as he is the first “adult” we meet. He typifies the “generation gap” and is one of the many grown-ups in the novel whom Holden wishes he hadn’t started talking to. Although he is warm and kind, he cannot relate to Holden’s feelings.
MR ANTOLINI:
He is Holden’s ex-English teacher from Elkton Hills school, described as the best teacher he has ever had. A youngish man (not much older than Holden’s brother D. B.), he is married to an older woman. They live in an expensive apartment in NY and are friendly with Holden’s parents. Mr Antolini makes an impression by being the person who goes pick up the body of the boy, James Castle, who killed himself in Elkton Hills.
He is the last person Holden goes to in his quest to find someone to understand and help him, and who can relate to him. They have a long conversation during which Mr Antolini is described as drinking heavily. Mr Antolini tries to get through to Holden that he may fail in life if he does not pull himself together and decide what he wants. He shows genuine concern for Holden and we feel he really cares.
When Holden falls asleep in his apartment, he is woken up by Mr Antolini stroking his hair. Holden interprets it as a sexual advance and runs out. The last character that Holden looks up comes under suspicion for having false motives.
MINOR CHARACTERS
EDGAR MARSALLA:
A boy who causes disturbances at Pencey Prep by farting during a speech.
CARL LUCE:
Holden’s old student adviser at Whooton school. He meets Holden for drinks and we realize Luce has become an adult who does not want to respond to Holden’s immature questions.
JAMES CASTLE:
The boy who died at Elkton Hills school. He jumped out of a window rather than take back something he believed to be true. He is an important link between Holden and Mr Antolini.
SALLY HAYES:
One of Holden’s old girlfriends whom he takes out one afternoon in NY. She is described as very attractive but shallow. She comes from a wealthy background and is happy with her life. Holden upsets her by calling her “a pain in the ass” when she refuses to run away with him.
SAMMY:
The prostitute who comes to Holden’s room at the Edmont Hotel. She is about the same age as Holden.
THE NUNS:
He meets them in the cafeteria. They are also teachers, one of them an English teacher. Holden has one of his successful conversations with them and thinks about them often after their meeting.
MISS AIGLETINGER:
One of Holden’s old junior school teachers who used to take them to the museums around Central Park.
MR THURMER:
The headmaster of Pencey Prep.
MRS MURROW:
The mother of one of the boys Holden knew at Pencey Prep. Holden has a conversation with her on the train to NY, telling her outrageous lies about what his school-friends think about her son Ernest.
MAURICE:
The elevator-man with whom Holden makes the arrangement to see a prostitute. He beats up Holden after a row about the money owed to the prostitute.
LANGUAGE & STYLE
NARRATIVE STYLE:
The novel is written entirely from Holden’s point of view. We are asked to believe his story to a doctor or a counselor of some kind and therefore it is important that the language sounds like spoken English. J. D. Salinger uses language to bring Holden’s character alive. Holden has many “stock phrases”, which are repeated throughout the novel to give an impression of a particular individual’s speech style. He frequently digresses from the subject, as a person would when telling an oral narrative. This sometimes creates the impression that the novel has not been carefully structured, but this is probably intentional and adds to the sense of realism. The narrative style consciously avoids many of the devices we associate with literature: little use of metaphor, not much elegant writing or detailed description of places and emotions or feelings. This style persuades us we are really seeing the world through the eyes of a 16-year-old.
HOLDEN’S USE OF LANGUAGE:
One of the first things we notice about his use of language is his use of swearwords; although today they seem mild, at the time they would have been quite shocking (the novel was censured in the States when first published in 1951!). He uses the word “crap” quite frequently and expressions like “my ass”. He has a limited set of insults such as “you sonowabitch” and “you moron”. Holden does not like certain swearwords and spends time at the end of the story rubbing off graffiti, saying “fuck you”, from the walls of his sister’s school.
Holden has many other habitual phrases. He often uses the expression “it really was” or “I really was”, as if he wants us to believe him but is afraid that we will not. His other ma in phrase is “that kills me”, usually used to indicate that something amuses him. These and other expressions like “phony” make Holden an individual with his own way of speaking, but they also echo the slang of the time.
Another characteristic feature of Holden’s language is his tendency to exaggerate. There are many instances of this in the novel and this is the main way in which J. D. Salinger portrays the humorous side of Holden’s character.
The way in which Holden expresses his feelings and emotions is made deliberately vague by the author. Holden often says he doesn’t know why he likes things or that he doesn’t know why he said a particular thing to someone. He frequently tells us what he is thinking, but he does not seem able to draw any conclusions from his thoughts. On a number of occasions, his description of what is happening to him emotionally are summed up in one word, “stuff”, and he tells us that things make him sad or “blue as hell” but he cannot say why. His inability to express his emotions clearly is very noticeable at the climax of his story when he is watching Phoebe on the carrousel. Holden tells us he so happy but cannot explain why.
AUTHORIAL INTENTION:
The way in which J. D. Salinger reveals the world through Holden’s individual voice is very clever. By giving Holden a limited ability to describe his world in a sophisticated way, he has made Holden seem even more like a real person. Holden is fixed in our minds as a mixed-up teenager who lacks the sophistication of an adult to describe what is happening to him. If we feel sympathy for Holden – and it would be cruel not to – it is the way in which he has told his story which makes us do so.
(source: York Notes)
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