The Catcher in the Rye Significant factors Heuerman Advanced Comp/Novel

Narrative genre Frame narrative; 1st person POV with Holden as the narrator and protagonist/participant.

Narrative technique & style 1st person POV; informal, honest, confessional, picaresque, a quest narrative, Bildungsroman (a German term for a novel that focuses on the character moving from childhood to maturity)

Holden’s language/slang idiomatic; repetitive and adolescent; conveys humor at times; indicates at times confusion/ mental deterioration

HOLDEN Protagonist/narrator; had a mental breakdown; coming of age (16/17); the everyman/all of us

D.B. Holden’s older brother; a writer; a “prostitute” (a sell-out/phony); drives a jaguar

Pencey Prep An all-male elite school in Pennsylvania; most recent school (4th) that Holden has been kicked out of

Central park ducks Holden worries about/fixates on their safety and well-being when the lagoon freezes; indication of compassion but also immaturity

Stradlater’s date; a friend from Holden’s childhood; Jane Gallagher Stradlater’s date; a friend from Holden’s childhood; had a lousy childhood; Holden feels protective of her

(Save room for more later…) Holden wears it backward Red Hunting hat (Save room for more later…) Holden wears it backward to indicate rebellion against society

Movies Holden says he hates them; believes they are phony, but he acts and imitates them; reveals Holden is an exhibitionist/has overactive imagination

Allie of leukemia, leaving Holden emotionally troubled; had red Holden’s younger brother; died of leukemia, leaving Holden emotionally troubled; had red hair and was wise/intelligent beyond his years; represents the innocence/height of childhood

Allie’s Baseball Glove Symbolic of Allie and a powerful reminder of his brother’s untimely/unfortunate death; poems indicate sensitivity; the subject of the composition Holden writes for Stradlater

Red Hunting hat (cont…) red (like Allie’s hair); indicates a connection with Allie; a symbol of Holden’s quest/hunt for meaning, truth, love…

Phoebe Holden’s younger sister; one of the few people Holden connects with; values her imagination and innocence

desire to and failure to communicate Unmade phone calls… conveys Holden’s desire to and failure to communicate

Natural History Museum reminds him of his childhood; nostalgia for permanence and stability; doesn’t change but everyone else does; he cannot enter

“Little Shirley Beans” record A gift Holden buys for Phoebe; he breaks it accidentally; symbolic of Holden as a “broken” record

Holden’s relationships to females fascinated yet annoyed; likes to flirt with but leaves feeling depressed by; has trouble connecting with; feels connected only to Phoebe and Jane

New York City Holden’s home; the setting of the inner frame; symbolic of potential corruption (hotel)

Central park lagoon; where Holden goes after location of the ducks and their lagoon; where Holden goes after his day in NYC, but he gets lost and cannot find the ducks; where he breaks the record; cold and lonely

“catcher in the rye” Holden’s desire to save/preserve the innocents; ironically, this fantasy is borne out of a misunderstanding of the poem’s meaning, which celebrates the corruption of innocence

James Castle with him; was wearing Holden’s Symbolic of Holden who identifies with him; was wearing Holden’s sweater; stubborn and fragile; jumped out of a window and fell (no one to “catch” him); falls to preserve his integrity; refuses to compromise

Holden’s relationship to males Mostly negative emotions that vary based on character: he is irritated with Ackley, he is jealous and angry with Stradlater, he is emotionally detached from his father, and he feels betrayed by Mr. Antolini

Holden’s relationship with his Family Detached emotionally, except with Phoebe; avoids/fears parental contact; doesn’t want to cause further issues for his mother who is also depressed

Holden’s Home signifies the approaching end of Holden’s journey and the inevitable return to reality; site of the fractured nature of the Caulfield family (even Phoebe is sleeping in D.B.’s room)

Mummies Holden talks to the kids in the museum, but lectures them as an adult would; Holden’s fixation on the mummies reflects his desire to freeze time as mummies are preserved and their decay is arrested

Carrousel A symbol of childhood; it is during Phoebe’s ride on the carrousel that Holden realizes that risks in life are necessary and you cannot protect the innocent from life’s risks/experiences - you have to let them fall