Catcher in the Rye CH Whole Class Notes

Late Sunday Night (~1:00AM) ChapterSettingEvent 21The Caulfield Apartment Holden goes home to see Phoebe He lies to the night elevator boy (he was new) and goes up to his family’s apartment. It takes him an hour to sneak to Phoebe’s room and then he remembers that she likes to sleep in D.B’s room. He looks at her notebooks – notices her fake middle name (very Holden-like) Holden tells Phoebe about the broken record – she keeps the pieces. Phoebe is very perceptive and realizes that Holden has been kicked out of school – again. Phoebe is very upset about this…

Still Late Sunday Night ChapterSettingEvent 22The Caulfield Apartment Phoebe ostracizes Holden when he comes back in the room. He asks her about her fictional character Hazel Weatherfield (she’s a budding writer) Phoebe is worried about what Holden’s parents are going to do to him when they find out he’s been kicked out of another school. He makes a lot of excuses about why he gets kicked out – phonies, mean guys, it was the worst school he’s ever gone to. Phoebe calls him out: “You don’t like anything that’s happening” (Salinger 187) Holden says that he likes the nuns, James Castle, and Allie. James Castle is Holden’s former classmate from Elkton Hills that was sexually assaulted by his classmates and commits suicide instead of giving in to the bullies. SECOND TITLE SIGHTING!! Robert Burns poem Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye and save all the kids from falling off the cliff.

Late Sunday Night ChapterSettingEvent 23The Caulfield Apartment Holden calls Mr. Antolini – his former teacher at Elkton Hills and friend of the Caulfield family. “the best teacher [he] ever had” (Salinger 192) A little older than D.B He is the one that picked up James Castle, covered him, and brought him to the infirmary Holden’s parents come home…Holden hides in the closet Phoebe covers for Holden (says that she was the one smoking) Phoebe has a lot of Holden’s mannerisms She emphasizes certain words Uses the word lousy Holden gets ready to leave and Phoebe gives him all of her Christmas money ($8.65) and Holden starts to cry. He reciprocates her gesture by giving Phoebe his hunting hat He leaves without any regard of being caught

Pretty much the same time Sunday Night CHSettingEvent 24The Antolini’s Home After Holden left Elkton Hills, the Antolinis and the Caulfields became friends. Holden’s feeling dizzy and lightheaded He tells Antolini about his Oral Expression class and how he an F because he digressed too much (much like this whole book) – he says digressions make things interesting. Antolini realizes that Holden is “riding for some terrible, terrible fall” (Salinger 206) Holden admits that he “sort of missed” (206) the Pencey guys that he once hated. Antoloni tells Holden that “the mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of mature one is that he wants to live humbly for one” (208). Holden goes to sleep and wakes up to Mr. Antolini “admiring” (212) him and patting his hair. He runs out of the Antolini’s claiming that he needed to go get his suitcases from the train station. He says that “that kind of stuff’s happened to [him] about twenty times since [he] was a kid” (213)

Monday Morning CHSettingEvent 25Grand Central Station Holden sleeps for a little while in the waiting area of Grand Central Station Holden start regretting the way he reacted to Mr. Antolini and considers going back to his house. Holden continues to spiral into depression and begins to think about things that could be wrong with him (magazine article) 255 th Avenue Holden goes to get something to eat (but just has coffee) and walked up 5 th Avenue. As he’s walking, he feels like he’s disappearing when he steps off the curb (similar to when he was crossing Rt. 206). He talks to Allie for comfort and safety. Holden expresses that he wants to be a deaf-mute and move away and marry another deaf-mute. (escape) He decides to go West. He writes a good-bye note and is going to drop it off at Phoebe’s school. 25Phoebe’s School Holden sees 2 “Fuck You” (221) graffitied/scratched on the wall of her school – it “drove him damn near crazy”(221) (loss of innocence). He tries to erase them so no kids see them. He realizes “it’s hopeless…if you had a million years…you couldn’t rub out even half the ‘Fuck You’ signs in the world” (222)

Monday Afternoon CHSettingEvent 25Museum of Natural History Holden meets two young brothers who were looking for the mummies. He’s able to help them find their way Holden sees another “Fuck you”(224) and decides that there are no “nice and peaceful” (224) places left in the world. There is corruption everywhere. Holden’s heath continues to deteriorate – he passes out in the bathroom. Phoebe meets Holden at the museum with a suitcase – she intends to go West with him Holden says no and tells her to shut up when she starts to plead. He tries to get her to go back to school, but she refuses. He then offers to walk to the zoo; she ignores him, but follows him (across the street) Phoebe rides the carrousel; Holden finally feels happy. 26Mental Institution (present day) Holden brings the reader back to present day. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (234)

Dig Deeper New Symbols Carrousel (gold ring) kids reaching for their goals/trying and possibly failing/learning from their mistakes The fields of rye Childhood innocence The Cliff Corruption/adulthood