The Catcher in the Rye Ch.1-6 By Rosa Carreon
About the author J.D. Salinger Born January 1, 1919 in New York Flunked out of school and was sent to Valley Forge Military Academy, a boarding school in Wayne Pennsylvania. After graduating, he eventually went to Colombia University where he met Professor Whit Burnett who encouraged him to write more frequently. When he was drafted into the military he began to write chapters about Holden Caulfield, the main character of The Catcher in the Rye. In 1951, The Catcher in the Rye was officially published In 2010, Salinger dies at the age of 91
Summary Ch.1-6 The main character and narrator of the book, Holden Caulfield is recounting the story of his life starting with getting kicked out of Pencey Prep. Throughout the first 6 chapters, we get an idea of what kind of person Holden is and what makes him tick. (rambles a lot, critical of everyone around him, being agitated by fake people). We also learn that Holden is obsessed with a girl named Jane, his roommate’s date. He mentions that she would always keep her kings in the back row when playing checkers
My Thoughts Holden wants to know if Jane still keeps her kings in the back row because he wants to know if she’s changed since he’s seen her. The first scene when Holden is on top of a hill looking down at the football game represents him in real life. He is an observer and criticizes everyone else from afar. He “others” himself. The idea of him hating people who are fake/phony is ironic because when his roommate, who he hates, asks him to write a paper for him, he does it any way