The Catcher in the Rye

1
The Catcher in the Rye

• Pages 1-26

2
DICTION

• What do Holdens words imply?

3
Holdens Schools

• Pencey Prep
• Boarding school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania
• Holden is kicked out of Pencey for bad grades

4
Holdens Schools

• Elkton Hills
• Boarding school Holden used to attend
• One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills
  was because I was surrounded by phonies. (13)
• Mr. Haas, Headmaster

5
D.B.

• Holdens brother
• Lives in Hollywood
• That isnt too far from this crumby place, and
  he comes over and visits me practically every
  week end. (1)
• Has a Jaguar

6
D.B.

• Rich
• He didnt use to. He used to be just a regular
  writer, when he was home. (1)
• Author of The Secret Goldfish
• Title story about a little kid who wouldnt let
  anyone see his goldfish because he bought it with
  his own money.

7
D.B.

• Now hes out in Hollywood, D.B., being a
  prostitute. If theres one thing I hate, its the
  movies. Dont even mention them to me. (2)
• Diction
• Prostitute
• What does this word imply?

8
Selma Thurmer

• She had a big nose and her nails were all bitten
  down and bleedy-lookingbut you felt sort of
  sorry for her. What I liked about her, she didnt
  give you a lot of horse manure about what a great
  guy her father was. She probably knew what a
  phony slob he was. (3)

9
Mr. Spencer

• Holden says goodbye to Mr. Spencer before he
  leaves
• What does this imply?
• You take somebody old as hell, like old Spencer,
  and they can get a big bang out of buying a
  blanket. (7)
• It was pretty depressing. Im not too crazy about
  sick people, anyway. (7)

10
Mr. Spencer

• Their bumpy old chests are always showing. (7)
• I was beginning to sort of hate him. (11)
• I felt sorry as hell for him, all of a sudden.
  (15)

11
Ossenburger

• Funny
• Pages 16-17

12
Ackley

• I felt sort of sorry for him, in a way. (24)
• He mustve picked up that picture and looked at
  it at least five thousand times since I got it.
  He always put it back in the wrong place, too,
  when he was finished. He did it on purpose. You
  could tell. (20)
• How can you tell something like this?

13
Ackley

• Mossy teeth
• Acne all over his face
• Rude
• Cuts his fingernails over Holdens carpet and
  refuses to do it over a table.
• Does not like Stradlater

14
Stradlater

• Holden seems to like him
• Stadlaters all right. Hes not too badHes
  conceited, but hes very generous in some
  things. (25)
• He always walked around in his bare torso
  because he thought he had a damn good build. He
  did, too. I have to admit it. (26)

15
Characteristics of Holden
16
Crossing the Road

• After I got across the road, I felt like I was
  sort of disappearing. It was that kind of crazy
  afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or
  anything, and you felt like you were disappearing
  every time you crossed a road. (5)
• Symbolism?

17
General Information

• I have no wind, if you want to know the truth.
  Im quite a heavy smoker, for one thingthat is,
  I used to be. They made me cut it out. Another
  thing, I grew six and a half inches last year.
  Thats also how I practically got t.b. and came
  out here for all these checkups and stuff. Im
  pretty healthy, though. (5)
• Diction
• Where is here?

18
Physical Appearance Maturity

• I act quite young for my age sometimes. I was
  sixteen then, and Im seventeen now, and
  sometimes I act like Im about thirteen. Its
  really ironical, because Im six foot two and a
  half and I have gray hair. I really do. The one
  side of my head-the right side-is full of
  millions of gray hairs. Ive had them ever since
  I was a kid. And yet I still act sometimes like I
  was only about twelve

19
Physical Appearance Maturity

• Everybody says that, especially my father. Its
  partly true, too, but it isnt all true. People
  always think somethings all true. I dont give a
  damn, except that I get bored sometimes when
  people tell me to act my age. Sometimes I act a
  lot older than I am-I really do-but people never
  notice it. People never notice anything. (9)

20
Pet Peeves

• Grand. Theres a word I really hate. Its a
  phony. I could puke every time I hear it. (9)

21
Honest Holden?

• Im the most terrific liar you ever saw in your
  life. (16)

22
Holden and Teachers

• You cant stop a teacher when they want to do
  something. They just do it. (11)
• You dont have to think too hard when you talk
  to a teacher. (13)

23
Holden and the Ducks

• I live in New York, and I was thinking about the
  lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park
  South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over
  when I got home, and if it was, where did the
  ducks go. I was wondering where the ducks went
  when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I
  wondered if some guy came in a truck and took
  them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just
  flew away. (13)
• Symbolism?

24
Speech Structure

• Oh, I have a few qualms, all right. Surebut not
  too many. Not yet, anyway. (14)
• Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all
  right. Sure. Sure, I do. I thought about it for
  a minute. But not too much, I guess. Not too
  much, I guess. (14)

25
Reading Habits

• Im quite illiterate, but I read a lot. (18)

26
Holdens Room

• It was pretty nice to get back to my room, after
  I left old Spencer, because everybody was down at
  the game, and the heat was on in our room, for a
  change. It felt sort of cosy. (17)
• I was yawning all over the place. For one thing,
  the room was too damn hot. It made you sleepy. At
  Pencey, you either froze to death or died of the
  heat. (23)

27
Life is a Game

• Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side
  where all the hot-shots are, then its a game,
  all right-Ill admit that. But if you get on the
  other side, where there arent any hot-shots,
  then whats a game about it? Nothing. No game.
  (8)

28
Red Hunting Hat

• and then I put on this hat that Id bought in
  New York that morning. It was this red hunting
  hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I
  saw it in the window of this sports store when we
  got out of the subway, just after I noticed Id
  lost all the foils. It only cost me a buck. The
  way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to
  the backvery corny, Ill admit, but I liked it
  that way. I looked good in it that way. (17-18)
• Symbolism?

29
Summary of Holden

• Hypocritical, or at least contradictory
• Immature
• Physically appears old
• Judgmental
• Philosophical
• Not motivated
• Sensitive