Preview

Catcher In The Rye Chapter Summaries

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
601 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Catcher In The Rye Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1 begins with the main character, Holden, talking about his family. His busy parents and his Hollywood writer brother D.B.. Holden then discusses his school Pencey Prep which he believes to be overrated. Holden is the fencing teams manager and is ostracized by the team for forgetting the fencing gear. Every year Pencey Prep has a big football game, but Holden does not attend it because he planned to meet with his history teacher Old Spencer. The reason for this meeting is that Holden had been kicked at of school because of his low grades. Holden runs to Spencer’s house in the cold December weather and is greeted by Mrs. Spencer. Holden enters Spencer’s study and describes his life as depressing with all the medicine and pills along …show more content…
Holden then attempts to read, but is rudely interrupted by Robert Ackley. Ackley is described as this socially awkward 18 year old with bad hygiene and a terrible personality. Ackley goes around Holden’s room and picks up all his personal things and cuts his nails in Holden’s room. Ackley also has a lot of disdain towards Holden’s roommate Stradlater. Stradlater then comes back to the dorm in order to get ready to go out with a girl and asks to borrow Holden’s jacket and asks Holden to write his English paper. He is described as a secret slob who is madly in love with himself. As Stradlater shaves, Holden dances and acts and then tries to wrestle Stradlater. Eventually the conversations turns to Stradlater’s date, Jane Gallagher. Jane Gallagher was Holden’s old neighbor and Holden seems to have a crush on her. He describes her life in great detail such as that they played checkers together, she was a dancer, and that she had a lousy childhood. Holden seems too scared to go and see Jane so he instead asks Stradlater to say hello for him even though he knows he won’t. Eventually Stradlater leaves and Holden is left in his room thinking about
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Summary
    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Summary

    In his room he interrogates his roommate, Stradlater, about one of Holden's old friends, Jane. Stradlater just got back from a date with Jane and Holden was worried sick. "I'm thinking now of when Stradlater got back from his date with Jane. I mean I cant remember exactly what I was doing... I probably still looking out the window, but I swear I cant remember. I was so damn…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Dialectical Journal For The Catcher In The Rye '
    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Examples Of Dialectical Journal For The Catcher In The Rye '

    Holden has liked Jane for a while even before she and Stradlater were together. She and Stradlater started dating and it made Holden go crazy. The thought of them being together drove him nuts. One day when Jane and Stradlater came back from a date Holden started asking a lot of questions as to what they did. They basically got into a heated argument which eventually…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Catcher in the Rye Quiz
    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Catcher in the Rye Quiz

    9. What was the “big mess” Holden got into when he got back to the hotel after being at Ernie’s?…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Essay Questions And Answers
    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Essay Questions And Answers

    Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Salinger was drafted into the army, serving from 1942-'44. His short military career saw him land at Utah Beach in France during the Normandy Invasion and be a part of the action at the Battle of the Bulge. Salinger continued to write, assembling chapters for a new novel whose main character was a deeply unsatisfied young man named Holden Caulfield. Salinger did not escape the war without some trauma, and when it ended he was hospitalized after suffering a nervous breakdown…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher in Rye Questions
    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Catcher in Rye Questions

    2. Why is Holden so upset about Stradlater's date with Jane? (p. 52-53) Because he likes her, and doesn’t like Stradleter -> he knows what kind of guy he is…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Holden's Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye
    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Holden's Loss Of Innocence In Catcher In The Rye

    He remembers Jane as a good girl who really wants true love. Stradlater braggs about his date with Jane and implies having such an encouter with her so that Holden developes emense frustration. Holden shares his thoughts with the reader away from Stradlater, "I kept thinking about Jane, and about Stradlater having a date with her and all. It made me so nervous I nearly went crazy"(34). When Holden stays the night at a hotel he agrees for Maurice, the elevator operator, to send a prostitute, Sunny, up to his room. Instead, he only wishes to talk with her and she reacts bitterly about the awkward incident and leaves. He reveals his sympathy for Sunny thinking to himself, "The trouble is i just didn't want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy if you want to know the truth. She was depressing"(96). Holden makes it evident he longs to establish a personal connection…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Holden's Coming Of Age Analysis
    • 2510 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Holden's Coming Of Age Analysis

    Although she declines his offer it shows that Holden still has some growing to do to become an adult. After Holden hangs up on Faith, Holden goes down to Lavender Room in the hotel. He sits at the bar, but the bartender realizes that Holden is a minor and refuses to serve him. Although this seems small it has a greater meaning as the story purpose later on. After the bartender refuses to serve Holden he begins to flirt and dance with three older women. He begins to feel a sense of “Fake Love” with one of the women after he sees how well she dances. After Holden reveals to the women how old he is the three women leave making Holden responsible for the bill. Afterwards, Holden goes out to the lobby, he starts to think about Jane Gallagher and, in a flashback, recounts how he got to know her. This shows how Holden is reflecting upon things that he has done when he was a child. This shows how Holden is starting to understand that he is growing up. He begins to reminisce about his childhood and he begins to remember how he had meet Jane. He remembers how they played golf, checkers, and held hands at the movies. He remembers how one day when they were playing checkers and her father came on the ponch and when he left she began to start crying. Holden had moved to sit beside her and comfort her. This is a great example of how Holden really care about things even though he tries to hide it. He kissed her all over her face but, she wouldn’t let him…

    • 2510 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Catcher In The Rye Analysis
    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Catcher In The Rye Analysis

    Three seconds remain in the tied basketball game. The point guard shoots and scores right before the buzzer sounds off. I bet for a long time, that player worked hard in the gym to practice and perfect his shooting for game time situations like that. It just goes to show that nothing great can ever be achieved without hard work. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye, however, does not quite understand this saying. In the story, Holden does not apply himself to his education at Pencey Prep, which results in his expulsion from school. Throughout the story, Holden, as well as a few other characters, represent the terms expressed in Freud’s Theory of Personality known as the id, superego, and ego.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Grief Analysis
    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Grief Analysis

    Holden and Stradlater began fighting because Stradlater "[gave Jane] the time in Ed Banky's goddam car,"(43) which upset Holden because he didn't like the idea of another guy sleeping with the girl he liked. After being hit to the floor by Stradlater, "[Holden] didn't even bother to get up. [He] just lay there on the floor for a while, and kept calling [Stradlater] a moron sonuvabitch. [He] was so mad, [he] was practically bawling."(45) It is very common for teenagers to have an emotional reaction to anger. Holden continues to hide his emotions behind anger, but eventually will become overwhelmed and have mental breakdown at any point. Holden is supposed to mirror the idea of an average teenager. Like most teenagers, Holden is going through the stages of grief due to a big loss. One day "[Holden] started talking, sort of loud, to Allie. [He] do that sometimes when [he] get very depressed...."(98) Holden continues to deny the fact that Allie is dead and expresses that denial by talking so calmly and casually about…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Literary Analysis Of Catcher In The Rye
    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Literary Analysis Of Catcher In The Rye

    The genuine joy Holden gets from watching Phoebe is a striking image of his fantasies of innocence and his collapsing psyche. For a moment Holden sees the joy that he envisions all the children of his rye field are like. Within Phoebe’s happiness Holden is transfixed and distraught, because the sudden realization that he is transitioning to a world he does not feel equipped for triggers the end of his ambivalence. As the carousel spins so does Holden’s reality, he loses sense of even further sense of himself. The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, but it is unique in how Holden not only resists growing up, but also he ends the novel more unstable and lost than he started off as. A quest or journey is supposed to lead to a literal or metaphorical…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Literary Analysis
    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Literary Analysis

    Holden feels that he has to protect children from losing their innocence like he had. When in his little sister’s school, he finds vulgar writing on the wall, “I hardly even had the guts to rub it off the wall with my hand...But I rubbed it out anyway, finally” (201). When he sees it, he becomes angry thinking about the children seeing it and wondering what it meant. However, he overcame his…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Holden's Maturity In The Catcher In The Rye
    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Holden's Maturity In The Catcher In The Rye

    He passes up the easiest time in the world for him to have sex. This is with Sunny the prostitute. He lies and says he had surgery and therefore did not have enough energy. He does this so he does not have to have sex with her. Holden makes fun of Sally Hayes, a girl he used to date. This is the only serious girlfriend he has had and yet he makes fun of her. Holden does this because he is no longer with her and is jealous that Stradler wants to have sex with her. Many times in the book he is aroused, at the hotel watching the different people or when he first arrives in New York and wants to call Jane. Holden treats women very negatively but still wants to have sex. This is an immature behavior. Most men can tell a girl honestly how they feel about her. Holden, on the other hand, is incapable of this simple…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Mental Isolation In Catcher In The Rye
    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of Mental Isolation In Catcher In The Rye

    Holden is constantly trying to surround himself with other people, but isn’t able to form real connections with anyone. Holden socializes with girls multiple times throughout the book. He makes an effort to engage in conversation with them, but they never seem to want to reach past small talk. This leaves Holden frustrated with the lack of connection made. Holden goes into a club with the hopes of drinking, but is not allowed due to lack of identification. He searches for girls, only to find a group of three who he does not like very much, but dances and flirts with them anyway. He tries to create conversation, only to deem them stupid as a result of their lack of interest in him. When Holden meets up with an old friend, Sally, he rants about New York and the phonies at his school, eventually digressing into a proposal to run away to different states. Sally rejects his proposal and tells him she does not see what he means with his ranting, and he begins hating her, even going on to tell her she gives him a pain in his ass. Holden thinks of the girls in the club as very stupid because he has to force the…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Analysis
    • 1463 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Analysis

    1. Holden Caulfield, the main character in the novel The Catcher in the Rye, despises phonies, people depicted as corrupt and hypocritical characters, and though Holden appear to not be a phony, there are instances when he definitely does seem to be one. Holden loathes phonies for their hypocritical and superficial personalities, which he thinks is evident in almost all adults. He explains his hatred for these people when he elaborates on his reasoning for leaving Elkton Hills: “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. . .Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life. . .He’d be charming as hell and…

    • 1463 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Catcher In The Rye Theme Analysis
    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Catcher In The Rye Theme Analysis

    J.D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is about a young Holden Caulfield’s growth into maturity. Caulfield begins the novel as an inexperienced boarding school student attending Pencey Prep, a private boarding school located in Pennsylvania, who is struggling academically and socially. After getting kicked out of yet another boarding school, Caulfield travels to New York City before going home. After staying in New York for the time period between when he got kicked out and when he can return home Caulfield learns the struggles of living in the adult world. As he experiences New York, it opens his eyes to the painfulness of growing up and he wants to escape it. A major theme in this story is keeping innocence, which is portrayed through Caulfield’s theory about the catcher in the rye, his need to protect his sister, and the red hunting hat.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics