Chapter 23

In this chapter, the reader is allowed to see what a strong bond Phoebe and Holden share. For the first part  of the chapter, Holden is obviously enjoying his time with Phoebe and becoming more and more relaxed. They are dancing and having fun, jitterbugging and swirling around the D.B's room. After they finish, Phoebe jokes around and starts telling Holden to feel her forehead so he can see how she can get her temperature to go "over the thermometer"(176). Holden, playing along, whisks his hand away and asks her why she didn't tell him, as if she would have burnt his hand if he hadn't pulled away.  Just as she was coming up with a reply, their parents come home. Instantly, Holden becomes very nervous, his heart pounding. While hiding in the closet while Phoebe talks to their mother and covers his back when their mother smells the smoke, Holden comments on how his mother obviously did not have a good time despite the fact that she had said she had a marvelous time. After waiting a few minutes, he sneaks out of the closet. He is very nervous by this time, and he knows he has to leave. He borrows money from Phoebe's Christmas "dough", although he thinks that she gave him too much. When he tries to give it back, she wouldn't let him. Then, Holden begins to cry, saying that he "couldn't help it"(179). Phoebe comforts him, although she was very scared at this sudden development. When he tries to get her to go back to bed, she wouldn't, and eventually he stopped crying. She told him that he could stay with her, but he replied that Mr. Antolini was waiting for him. He then proceeds to give her his hunting hat, and leaves, stating that he almost wished his parents had found him.

If you could put yourself into Phoebe's shoes during this chapter, what would you be feeling? Would you have done anything differently? Do you think that she understood what was happening, or was she just frightened and had not noticed her brother's mental state? Why do you think he gave her the red hunting hat?

Chapter 23: Holden and Phoebe

Chapter 23 in Catcher truly shows what kind of relationship Holden and Phoebe have. They are really close siblings and obviously care about each other. In these chapters, D.B.'s room is a safe haven from the harsh outside world, where they can dance and Holden can actually be happy for once in the book. Phoebe is the personification of innocence in Catcher, and her innocence makes Holden happy. When she thinks that she can raise her temperature and makes him touch her forehead, he laughs and plays along because he likes youth, and making up absurd things like being able to control your own body heat is associated with youth and innocence. When their mom comes in and he hides, the mother's phony response is that she had a "marvelous" time at her party, when she actually did not (fun fact: The character who appears throughout the Family Guy episode calling Peter a phony is credited as Holden Caulfield). It shows that Phoebe cares about her big brother when she lies by saying that she lit a cigarette and threw it out the window when asked about the smoke in the room. She also gives Holden the rest of her money that she was planning to spend on Christmas presents. This causes him to burst into tears, so she comforts him. As a parting gift, Holden gives Phoebe his famous red hunting hat and he goes on his way. Does Holden think his mom is a phony? Also, is the cigarette being thrown out the window a reference to the boy at Elkton Hills who committed suicide by jumping out of a window, James Castle?

Chapter 22

In this chapter, Phoebe is still talking to Holden about getting kicked out of Pency. She keeps reminding him that "daddy'll kill you"(Page 166) for getting kick out of Pency. Holden goes on and tells Phoebe how much he hates Pency because of all the phonies in that school. After Holden goes on this long rant, Phoebe finally asks him a question, "You don't like anything that is happening" (Page 169) Holden quickly disagrees with this statement and says that is a lie and of course he likes things. Phoebe follows with saying, "Okay name one thing". It takes Holden a while to figure out what is one thing that he likes. Holden says he likes Allie, but Holden also says he likes a poem called 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye' by Robert Burns. The poem is about little kids playing a game in a big field of rye. Holden puts himself in this poem and says there are thousands of kids, and nobody big is around except for him. Holden continues on saying that he is standing on the edge of some crazy cliff and his job is to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. Holden has to catch them because if they are running and they do not look where they are going, he can catch them before they hit the ground. That is the only thing that Holden wants to be, the catcher in the rye. What I wrote above is exactly the reason why Holden is the way he is. In Catcher in the Rye, we realize that Holden has trouble communicating and he has a mental problem. Holden feels like he has to hold the whole world on his shoulder, and he does not know how to ask for help. This is why Holden likes the poem by Robert Burns, because he feels like he has to pick everyone up when they fall all by himself. He can relate to the poem. What do you take away from this statement from Holden, about what he wants to do when he grows up? Do you agree with my conclusion? Why or why not? Do you feel that the reason why Holden likes this poem is because of his personality? Why or Why not?

Chapter 15

In Chapter 15 , Holden dwindles his time with incredibly nonsensical reminiscing about suitcases and conversation with two nuns while he waits for his date with Sally. But looking at it again, perhaps his conversation with the nuns isn't as pointless as it seems, and I believe that the dialogue between Holden and the nun,who is an English teacher, about Romeo and Juliet really draws out the true wishes of Holden and his lasting depression of Allie's death. Holden's obsession of Mercutio is definitely with purpose, and Holden's choice of character is something that a reader of Catcher in the Rye should not miss. Mercutio is tragic character in Romeo and Juliet, killed, as stated in Catcher, by Tybalt. Holden blames it on Romeo because in the story, Mercutio expects Romeo to engage in duel with Tybalt after being sent a death threat by him. However Romeo refuses, as Tybalt is the kinsman of Juliet, the object of this love and downfall. Mercutio then proceeds to challenge Tybalt by himself, protective of his friend, Romeo, but is killed in the resulting conflict. Thus, Holden blames his death on Romeo. What strikes me here, however, is the resemblance of Holden to Mercutio, as both are outspoken and given to sudden bursts of anger. Mercutio's sense of speaking can sometimes be quite offensive, and hurt his/her friends, just like how Holden insulted Sally on his date with her and made her cry. Therefore, it is not surprising for Holden to be attracted to Mercutio, whose character is much like his own. Looking deeper, it is possible to also cast Allie on Mercutio in terms of personality, but primarily in terms of development of the story and the effect of his death on the rest of the characters in the play. As previously stated, Mercutio can be seen as sort of free-willed character, and his jokes and lightheartedness  brighten the mood of the play. This is similar to Allie, who Holden describes as a very bright child, who everyone loved and praised. However once he is killed, Romeo takes a turn for the worse and becomes like many other characters in the play, depressed, and misfortune strikes him more than ever, just like Holden after the death of Allie. His thoughts on page 145, "...it drives me crazy if somebody gets killed - especially somebody very smart and entertaining and all - and it's somebody else's fault", really show this comparison between Mercutio's role in Romeo and Juliet and Allie's role in Catcher. I put "crazy" in bold because a reoccurring motif in Catcher is Holden's several thoughts of himself as a madman. Likewise, "and it's somebody else's fault" is important because it implies that Holden attributes blame to someone or himself for Allie's death. Who do you think that Holden blames for Allie's death? Also, at the end of Holden's releasing of his inner feelings, the nun changes the subject, and attempts to get away from the topic of Romeo and Juliet, which Holden notices, another example of a seeking of help from Holden and its failure. Do you think that the nun realizes that Holden gives the death of Mercutio unnecessary large thought, and that Holden is trying to say something about himself to her? If so, why does she change the subject instead of helping him?

Chapter 22

Holden has what I like to call “I’m emotional, but I can’t tell anyone, or it will seem more real syndrome”, and for him it is awful. In chapter 22, Holden is still trying to convince Phoebe that their father is not going to kill him, and he might go live on a ranch in Colorado. At a certain point, Phoebe says, “Why don’t you like anything that’s happening?” Holden tries to persuade her that he does like things, such as talking to her and Allie. He denies his own self-professed depression and loneliness to tell her he likes plenty of things.Phoebe quickly points out that Allie is dead, so it “doesn’t count” as something Holden can like. I think that is the root of the problem. It’s healthy for Holden to miss Allie, and to wish he were still alive, but to associate Allie as a thing that is either real or imaginary is something else. Holden still thinks of Allie as something that affects his everyday life. As if he were to see a hat Allie would have liked and bought it for him, without realizing Allie could never wear the hat. That is the same way I think Holden sees Allie. Do you agree with me, or do you think he’s just an over emotional teenager or has some other problem? Do you think it was a mistake for him to go see Phoebe, or did it actually make him feel better? Why?

Chapter 20: Holden's Maturity

In chapter 20, we see that Holden gets drunk after Luce leaves the bar. While in the bar, Holden tries to make a date with the singer, named Valencia. In seminar today, someone mentioned that since teenagers feel they are so close to freedom, they sometimes start doing things adults do, such as drinking and smoking. This was, and still is, very common. It is just a universal condition: teenagers are trying to get to full freedom, but they are not quite there yet. However, due to what we have learned about Holden, it seems like he does not want to grow up and become "unpure" Do you think that Holden is being somewhat contradictory? How does this side of Holden change your views of Holden? Is it possible that Holden does actually wants to grow up?
In this chapter, even though Holden gets drunk, he still acts like a child. What are some of the examples in this chapter where Holden still acts like a child?Do you find Holden's feelings in this chapter relatable? Why or why not?
Also, while Holden was at the duckpond in Central Park nearing the end of this chapter, he decided to go home. Do you think Holden has fully thought this through? How do you feel his decision reflects his maturity? Do you think this shows any change in maturity since the beginning of the book?

We see in chapter 19 that Holden meets up with his old Student Advisor, Luce, at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel. Even though Luce can't stay at the bar for too long, Holden has a conversation with Luce asking him about what he's been doing since they both went to the Whooton School together. Luce is very limiting on the information he gives to Holden. He refuses to talk about his sex life and answer any questions that Holden has about sex. Holden reflects on the talks that Old Luce would give Holden and his peers in the dorm room and talks with them about sex. Knowing that Holden has a pet-peeve with purity, he felt that the talks were so awkward and weird. Holden also describes how Old Luce can name any "Joe Blow" that is a flit.

We also see Holden come close to another chance t finally open up with somebody. Holden asks Luce to "Please have one more drink, I'm lonely as hell.."(pg.149). We see Holden admit that he has nobody to talk to, and can infer that he is all by himself in New York. What do you think caused Holden to finally at least admit to Luce that he was lonely? Why? Would you predict that Holden will ever open up to anybody later in the book?

Movie at Radio City

          In chapter 18, after Holden leaves the skating rink, he gets hungry so he decides to call up an old friend of his to have dinner, Carl Luce.  He wasn't able to have dinner but he said he would meet up with him at 10:00 pm at the Wicker Bar to get a drink. Holden had a while to wait until then, so he decided to go watch a movie at Radio City.  He walked in on the Rockettes and while he was waiting for the movie to start, he kept on getting annoyed at little things during the show. He kept on going on about how the movies was phony.
          The movie started after a while, and it was about this boy, Alec, who lost his memory in war and started a new life. When he came out of the hospital, he met this girl on a train and they fell in love with each other,  and he started a new life with her. But one day his fiancee, from before he lost his momory, saw him at a store autographing his books, and told him that he is really a Duke and he need to visit his mother. He doesnt want to listen to her, but the love of his life tells him to listen to her and go with her. Finally one day he was watching some kids playing cricket, and he gets hit in the head with the ball. This made him regain his memory and forget all about the girl he fell in love with one the train.
        This movie was phony, in Holden's opinion of course, but there was a lady sitting next to  him which thought it was very touching. She was cring throught the whole show. She had a little boy sitting next to her that needed to go to the restroom  and was bored as hell, but she wouldn't take him. This makes Holden think she is not kindhearted. To me,  her crying would make me feel bad for her because either she just gets sentimental about things like war, or she lost a loved one in war. Do you think that Holden had the wrong impression that she was kindhearted? Why? Or do you agree with me that she could have lost someone in war, so she was very sentimental.

Chapter 19 Holden in the Bar.

In chapter 19 In The Catcher in the Rye Holden visits a bar he used to go to, so he can meet up with a old high school friend.  He does his usual deep background story, about the location and a short summary about Luce, the guy he is going to meet.  Before Luce arrives he drinks his scotch and soda alone at the bar staring at other people for quite a while.  When Luce finally arrives at the bar Holden tries to talk to him about things like his sex life and his past girlfriends and current girlfriend, which Luce does not want to talk about.  Then Holden tries to ask for advice and he gets cut off.  Luce then recommends that he talks to his father because he is a psychoanalyst.  Luce thinks that he is going to go off on a crazy rant about something and he tells him to calm down.  Holden is very obsessed with Luce’s girlfriend and wants to know her age, her religion, her nationality and her job.  I can tell that Luce is very annoyed with this.  Why do you think that Luce shuts down Holden, when he is asking for help?  Do you think that they had gone through this before at one of Holden’s older schools?

Ch.21 Phoebe Caulfield

In this chapter, Holden decides to sneak into his apartment to see Phoebe, his little sister. He sneaks in, and once he gets to D.B's room, he wakes her up so they could talk. As we all know, Holden has been thinking about talking to Phoebe for a very long time now. This proves that he actually missed her, even more than he misses his own parents. Before he wakes her up, we learn a lot more about Phoebe. We learn that she sleeps in D.B's room because she likes the space, we learn that she's a very organized person, she's really smart, she's in a school play called The Christmas Pageant, and we also learn that she constantly changes her middle names when she writes them down. When Holden wakes her up, she's very happy to see him, and she immediately tells him about many things that happened while he was gone. But later, she figures out that Holden was kicked out of school, even though he never really said it. How do you think she knew this? And why do you think she got so upset when she learned this, saying "Daddy's gonna kill you."(pg. 165) over and over again? Try to think from Phoebe's point of view. Do you think she feels sorry for Holden? How would you describe her relationship with her siblings, especially Holden?

Ch. 21 Blog Post

Ch. 21 is the first time we get to meet Holden’s sister Phoebe, and we also learn some more about his family. Holden describes his mother as a very nervous person who stays up all night smoking cigarettes. She has the ears “like a goddamn bloodhound. His mother also won’t let them play the radio while the car is in traffic, suggesting she might have a problem with small, still spaces. His brother D.B is writing another movie set in Annapolis, Maryland.  Phoebe is energetic and affectionate, but she also displays some Holden like qualities. For instance, while watching a movie with her friend, she says the mother would “lean all over me and everything and ask Alice if she felt grippy. It got on my nerves. “ She also gets angry at Holden very quickly and starts shouting when she comes to the conclusion that he got kicked out of school. Holden calls her “a true madman.”  This shouting frustrates him and eventually he gets up to leave, but before he goes, Holden grabs another pack of cigarettes. “I was all out, “ he says.  Is J.D Salinger only talking about the cigarettes here, or something more about Holden emotional vertigo? Do you think the cigarettes symbolize anything in this chapter? As for Holden’s family, how are they similar and different to him, and how do you think this has contributed to his current emotional state? 

CH. 14- Why Should I even be alive?

            Chapter 14 starts and Holden is still very confused about mindboggling questions that he cannot comprehend by him self. Even after he tried to vent to a prostitute who was “a lousy conversationalist” (p.96) according to Holden in chapter 13. But back to chapter 14, there was one paragraph that stuck out the most to me. That paragraph would be the very last one in chapter 14.

            In this paragraph Holden contemplates suicide in kind of a sarcastic tone. He starts of talking about how he wants to jump out the window but the way I inferred him as saying it was in a nonchalant voice. He follows that up by saying he probably would of done it, but he would have had to be sure that someone would cover up his body when he landed. And to me that is just bizarre of anyone to say because normally from what I have heard is people commit suicide and leave things behind like notes so that people will remember them. And Holden just wants to disappear after he commits suicide and have no trace of left of his existence. Lastly he says “I didn’t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory.”(104) And I feel as though if you were even contemplating suicide in the first place, you would not even be thinking about little things like that, and you would be thinking about why your even about to do such a horrific and selfish thing to yourself and others. What would you think about suicide, if you were Holden?

Ch. 21 Returning Home

Chapter 21 begins with Holden Caulfield returning home to the sight of no parents and his sister Phoebe sound asleep. He begins to go through  her belongings such as school work. Holden enjoys seeing her work. After his curiosity dies down, Holden wakes Phoebe. She awakes in great joy to the sight of Holden's face. Home two days early, Phoebe becomes suspicious. "You didn't get kicked out or anything, did you?" Holden responds saying they let us out early but she doesn't not believe him. "Daddy'll kill you" she says. If his little sister is acting in this way, how do u feel his father will respond when he finds out Holden was kicked out of school? Holden talks of going to Colorado to work on a ranch as a job, but promises to keep in touch with her. Why do ya'll think Holden decided to come home early?

Chapter 18- War

Holden starts off in chapter 18 calling up an old 'friend' and then he goes to the movies. He sees movie about a British man who comes home from war and lost his memory. The point is it is a sappy movie in Holden's opinion and he thinks it is very phony. But after the movie Holden starts thinking about war. We learn that his older brother D.B. went to war. We also learn that Holden does not like the fact that if you are drafted for the Army you have to be in it for a long period of time. Holden also mentions he hates the thought of being in the Army with phony guys and being forced to stare at the back of their necks when they are in line. This is another of Holden's weird ticks, it is a bit strange that having to stare at someones neck would bother Holden. his older brother D.B. told him he hated the war, but it obviously made a big impact on his life. Holden also says he likes the book called, The Great Gatsby. This is surprising because The Great Gatsby is known for having phony characters. What do you think Holden's views are on the war? Why do you think staring at the back of peoples necks bothers Holden? Why do you think he likes The Great Gatsby but not the war movie?

Ch.20 The drunk jouney

In chapter 20 Holden is at Santon hotel bar and has finished meeting and talking with Luce. Holden is very drunk in the beginning of the chapter and simply has no idea what to do. Suddenly he gets the idea to call up sally. He then proceeds to have one of the worst conversations in the book making a total fool of himself. Holden just keeps yelling at Sally that he wants to go over and help her trim her Christmas tree Christmas eve. Sally knows Holden is drunk and tells him to go home and go to bed. Finlay she ends up hanging up on Holden. Holden goes to the bathroom to wash up when he talks to the piano player who also tells Holden to go home and get some rest. Holden gets his coat and hat and decides to head to the park to see the if the ducks are there. On the way he breaks the record he bought for phoebe. Holden gets to the park and looks around for the ducks at the pond. Soon however, he gets extremely cold and starts to think what would happen if he got pneumonia and died. Then he talks about all his relatives having to go to his funeral and how much he would hate it if they came. The one sentence that seems odd to me was "I felt sorry as hell for my mother and father". This setence stood out to me because it is one of the only times he has said a nice thing about his parents. The Holden goes on to tell us about how he hates cemeteries and about allies grave. Holden tells us how his parents put flowers on Allie's grave and that he hates when it rains when they visit Allie's grave. Holden says "It was awful. It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place". Finnaly Holden gets the idea to go and see Phoebe and leaves the park going to his house.

Why do you think Holden would call up sally that night for such a wierd reason? Why wouldn't he call Jane? Why do you think Holden would fell sorry for his parents if he died? Also what do think is so bad about the rain on Allie's grave