Catcher in the Rye chapters 1-6 By:Brianna Misuraca

About the author Authors name: J. D. Salinger or Jerome David Salinger Born: January 1,1919 in Manhattan, New York Died: January 27, 2010 American writer mostly known for Catcher in the Rye He had a very private life. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980 One of his famous quotes was “I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.”

Summary of chapter 1 Chapter One starts out by introducing us to the character Holden Caulfield. Holden is writing his story from a resting home to which he has been sent to for therapy. He then explains to us about how he got kicked out of Pencey Prep, which was a famous school he attended in Pennsylvania. Readers then find out that the reason Holden is getting kicked out of the school is because of his refusal to apply himself to his subjects. He has failed four of his five subjects and he has been for forbidden to return to the school after the Fall term. The chapter ends with Holden going to say goodbye to his former history teacher Mr. Spencer.

Mr. Spencer starts to lecture Holden about his academic failure. Summary of chapter 2 Holden greets Mr. Spencer and his wife and it made clear to the reader that these two characters are very close. Mr. Spencer starts to lecture Holden about his academic failure. His teacher tells him “ life’s a game” and that he must learn to “play by the rules”. Even though Mr. Spencer cares about Holden he reminds him that he is the one that failed him and even goes as far as reading his essay back to him in order to show him how bad of a job he did with writing it. Holden gets annoyed by Mr. Spencer’s lecture and interrupts him in the middle of his talk and returns back to his dorm.

In his room, Holden attempts to read a book. However, Summary of chapter 3 In his room, Holden attempts to read a book. However, he soon interrupted by a character named Ackley, who described as a pesky student that lives next door. Holden describes Ackley as an annoyance that won’t leave home alone. Ackley continues to irritate Holden this time by cutting off his fingernails and leaving them on the floor. Ackley continues to stay and aggravate Holden until another character enters the room named Stradlater, who is described as being Holden’s more popular and handsome roommate. Once Stradlater enters the room Ackley finally leaves. Stradlater then mentions that he has a date, but he wants to shave first.

Summary of chapter 4 Holden talks to Stradlater while he shaves. Holden then compares Stradlater to Ackley explaining how Stradlater may be more handsome than Ackley, but when it comes to hygiene the two are pretty much the same. Stradlater then asks Holden if he can write his English composition for him since he won’t have time to do it because he has to go on a date. Holden then purposely asks Stradlater is he even knows what the name of his date is and he carelessly responds by saying her name is Jean, when in reality it is actually Jane. Unlike Stradlater, Holden actually cares for Jane and is displeased that his roommate is going out with her because of his reputation with girls. Holden wants to say hello to Jane while she waits for Stradlater, but decides he’s not in the mood. After Jane and Stradlater leave, Ackley comes back and continues to annoy Holden with his gross antics.

However, Holden cannot think of anything to write about a room Summary of chapter 5 Holden and his friend Mal Brossard decide to take a bus into Argstown to see a movie, but Holden hates movies so he convinces Ackley to go too. However, it turns out that both Mal and Ackley have already seen the film so they just head back to school after a few games of pinball. Once they get home Mal leaves to run an errand and Holden finally gets Ackley to leave by saying that he needs to work on an English assignment for Stradlater. Stradlater had said that the essay was supposed be about a simple description about a room or something that was easily going to be described. However, Holden cannot think of anything to write about a room so he decides to write about his brother Allie’s baseball glove that he used to copy poems onto in green ink. Holden explains that his brother died of leukemia. He gives us a description of how his brother looked and explains how he was one of the most intelligent and nicest people he’d had ever known. It is made clear that Holden still has strong feelings about his brother’s death as he remembers back to the day he died. The chapter ends with Holden finishing the essay and listening to his neighbor Ackley snore.

Summary of chapter 6 Home from his date Stradlater abruptly enters the room and becomes annoyed of Holden’s essay claiming it has nothing to do with the assignment and exclaims it’s no wonder Holden got expelled from school . Holden then angrily rips the paper in half then later smokes a cigarette in the room just to annoy Stradlater. The tension between these two characters rises when Holden asks Stradlater how his day went with Jane and Stradlater refuses to answer. Holden tries to attack Stradlater, but Stradlater pins him to the ground trying to get him to calm down. However, Holden relentlessly starts to insult Stradlater until he gets so mad that he punches Holden in the face giving him a bloody nose. Stradlater then leaves the room and Holden goes into Ackley‘s room to wash his face from all the blood.

Critical analysis of chapters 1-6 After reading chapters 1-6 I noticed many different things about the character Holden. I can tell that Holden does not like confrontation, hence the reason he leave Mr. Spencer’s house. Also, I noticed that Holden is very cynical with the way he describes things and the people around him. It seems like he is very bored with his life. However, I feel that beneath the surface Holden is a very emotional guy because of the way he talks about his brother. I think that he hates things that are fake or pretend because he seems to get very mad a Stradlater for being fake with Jane. Holden also seems to have some psychological problems judging by the way that he attacked Stradlater. I believe these problems are coming from the result of his brother’s death as it was a very dramatic event for Holden. After reading these six chapters I see Holden a guy frantically searching for a way to connect with the world around him that will not cause him pain.