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.