Catcher In The Rye Quotes

Book Notes

Title: The Catcher in the Rye
Author: JD Salinger
Publish Date: 1951
Home Country of Author: United States, Manhattan

Characters

Protagonist: Holden Caulfield
Holden is a young 16 year old boy who admits to being everything he stands against. He admits he isn’t particularly good looking, or strong, and to having a lack of courage. He is lacking the strong characteristics that most protagonists possess, but what Holden does possess is a kind heart. Holden has a kinder heart than he may realize, and he shows for that in the ways that he expresses his love, for Jane, his sister Phoebe, his brother Allie. Even the way that he sees the nuns, or the way he sees Sunny, as a human rather than a prostitute. The only time Holden openly shows his kind hearted attribute is when he interacts with
Phoebe. He said he was going to run away, and she said she was going to go with him, but he couldn’t allow that to happen. Then Holden realized what he would be leaving behind if he ran away. In a sense Phoebe opened Holden’s eyes, and made him realize that just because he thinks everything is bad, doesn’t mean it actually is. The way that he sees into people, knows what kind of person they are, and thinking and seeing attributes that aren’t blatantly obvious to others, gives Holden a sense of mortality. I think that Holden does possess good attributes; he just doesn’t show them.

Antagonist: Himself (Holden Caulfield’s judgment)
Holden Caulfield is also the antagonist. Holden has convinced himself that everyone around him is a ‘phony’. No matter where Holden went, who he met, they were always ‘phonies.’ As if everyone deep down was the complete opposite as they portray themselves to be. Though his accusation of everyone being ‘phonies’ is true in some sense; Holden’s way of thinking causes him to isolate himself from the rest of the world. It would seem that the ‘phonies’ would be the antagonist since this is from Holden’s point of view; rather it is Holden’s poor character judgment, and poor choices that cause him to think this way. Holden chooses to judge everyone that he comes across; he chooses to isolate himself from society, and he chooses to be alone. Other important characters: Phoebe Caulfield, Allie Caulfield, Jane Gallagher

Relationships: * Holden and Phoebe – Holden’s relationship with his sister is very important. Phoebe acts as Holden’s guide in a sense. Toward the end of the novel Holden experiences a miniature hero’s journey when he says he’s going to run away. His sister helps him realize the reality of him leaving. (pgs.266-275, end of chapter 25) Throughout the majority of the book, Phoebe is mentioned as if she is the only one who can really understand Holden on a deeper level. The brother and sister relationship between Holden and Phoebe is phenomenal. * Holden and Jane - Chapter 11, for the majority of the chapter he reflects upon his relationship with Jane and it shows how jealous he truly was of Stradlater for going out with her. Throughout the novel she is mentioned. He talks about her a lot; he talks about their past together and what kind of things they would do together back when he lived in Maine. At the beginning of almost every chapter Holden says something like “I figured maybe I’d give old Jane a buzz and see if she was home for vacation yet.” (pg 151) The trouble is, every time Holden thinks this or says this, he always gives an excuse like “but I wasn’t in the mood, you always have to been in the mood for that kind of thing.” Jane is mentioned a lot throughout the book, but you don’t get to know her from outside of what Holden remembers of her. I think that their relationship is very important. Only because his constant talking about her and remembering her is driven by his jealously of Stradlater.

Setting:
The incredible thing about The Catcher in the Rye is it only happens within three days, from Saturday night to Monday afternoon, and its somewhere between 1948 or 1949, post WWII. The novel starts out with Holden just returning from a fencing tournament in New York. He returns to his school, Pencey Prep School the night of the big football game. After conflicts with his roommates, Holden decides he is fed up with the scenery and runs away to New York. He figures, since he has been expelled from the school, he can stay in a hotel until Wednesday when the other kids from Pencey get out of school, and come home. While he’s in New York, he goes to places like, Edmont Hotel, The Lavender Room, Ernie’s Bar, Penn Station, Radio City, Museum of Natural History, and Central Park while a majority of these locations are fictional, they represent similar places that would be found in New York. I believe the setting influence’s Holden, in the way that he decided to run away from Pencey because he hated it, but he runs away to New York, another place he hates; he ends up realizing he hates New York just as much, or maybe even more than Pencey, so he wants to run away from it completely. Though Holden is sixteen, and has lived in New York for quite some time; I think the hassle of New York really bothers him internally.

Conflicts: 1. Holden Vs. Himself – Throughout the novel, Holden is constantly struggling and fighting against himself, to the point of a mental breakdown. His constant internal conflict leads him to attempting to isolate himself from society. He became so mentally secluded that he could no longer cope with everyday life. Holden does exactly what the author did after the book became famous. JD Salinger turned into a recluse after the book got popular. In a sense, the novel is almost like a biography for JD Salinger, and there are points that the author reflects upon in the story that are very similar to his own life. (pg 181, the military lifestyle, the author went to a military school, and lived in Austria before it became part of Nazi Germany) 2. Holden Vs. Society – Another interesting conflict that is throughout the novel is how Holden is constantly fighting against society’s expectations. Holden believes that everyone he comes across is a ‘phony’ and he can never see the good in anyone. I believe that this is because of his hostility he feels towards a material lifestyle, which is something that most people dream of, and Holden cannot come to himself to agree with this. He finds it impossible to hold a conversation with anyone without hating them at the end. He feels like the only few people he can ever relate to is his sister Phoebe, his brother Allie (who is dead), or Jane Gallagher, but I highly doubt he could hold a conversation with her. Holden can’t function properly in society due to his hatred of the ‘phonies’, basically everyone around him. Holden’s lack of maturity reflects that; everyone has to grow up, but Holden cannot understand this concept. Everyone else around Holden sees that he is living in the past and needs to grow up. (pg 187-189) Holden lives in the past, and it’s probably because of deep emotional and psychological trauma he caused for himself as a child after his brother Allie died.

Point of View: First Person Narrative – The novel is written in first person narrative. The interesting thing about the way this book is laid out and written is how precise the author has captured the natural human thought process. The way Holden thinks, sees, and understands his surroundings is phenomenal, because it is so life like. Even though it can be extremely aggravating and annoying at times, to listen to him complain about how depressed he is, or how bad things are for him, the point of view gives Holden a great amount of mortality, it’s as if he was real. The point of view makes it easier to understand how Holden really feels, and at certain points in the novel, it is so life like that is as if you were actually in the book. Another interesting point that the novel points out is how, if everyone is a ‘phony’ except the people Holden trusts, and Holden himself is such a terrific liar. (pg. 22) Then how does the reader know whether or not to be able to trust Holden and what he is telling us. Not that he’s constantly trying to deceive himself/the reader, but it seems at times that he is such a good liar, that he has convinced himself/the reader that a lie is the truth. Due to the fact that the book is centered on Holden’s point of view it is impossible to know whether or not this idea is true, but it is an interesting idea.

Theme: * Impact of death on an individual – Holden, lost his younger brother Allie because of leukemia. Holden is haunted by his brother’s death; he even tells us that the night he died he broke all the windows in the garage. He talks a lot about Allie throughout the book. He mentions Allies baseball mitt that he had wrote poems on, and skating and riding bikes with Allie before he died. [pg 49-51 (allies baseball mitt) pg 256-257 (mental breakdown)] The author is trying to say that death has a negative impact on each individual. Death effects each individual differently; it can cause us to repress memories, act strangely in society, and even have mental breakdowns. * Preserving innocence and adolescence – Holden is very cautious when it comes to preserving children and their adolescence from what he sees in the adult world. Holden shows concern when he sees a young woman (that looks around his age) working a job of some sort. pg 123, when he first meets sunny, he says, “She was very nervous for a prostitute. She really was. I think it was because she was young as hell. She was around my age” This showed his concern for her age and wondering why she was a prostitute instead of preserving her innocence. Another time he tried to preserve innocence and adolescence was when he was in his sister Phoebe’s school and saw the two “Fuck you” signs in the stairways, and tried to scratch them off. This showed he was preserving adolescence because he said “I thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them – all cockeyed, naturally – what it meant, and how they’d all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days. I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it.” Holden feels he needs to appropriate children and himself from the grubbiness of the adult world, instead of being exposed to it and easing into it when you become an adult. This applies to real life in the sense on how adults like to preserve their children’s innocence and adolescence. Though there is nothing wrong with preserving your innocence, it is natural to grow up. The unfortunate part of it is the world is filled with such ugly things that it becomes a struggle when they learn something bad. There is nothing wrong with growing up, you just have to learn to moderate the good from the bad. * Isolation from society’s expectations – Holden isolates himself, socially and mentally. He tries to remove himself from the rest of the world, in hopes of avoiding growing up. Countless times throughout the book he comes up with unrealistic ideas to escape from society. (pg 171, the note at pg 260) He runs away from Pencey Prep to New York in hopes to avoid dealing with his ‘phony’ roommates and dealing with the frustration between him and Stradlater. He moved hotels to avoid having to see Mauirece again and getting beat up. He runs away from Mr. Antolini’s home after waking up and being petted, so he wouldn’t have to deal with any awkward situations. Everyone wants to isolate themselves from society at one point or another; this is a theme everyone can relate to. Society becomes very over whelming with expectations, and some people cannot handle the pressure of dealing with common every day expectations. Major Quotes:

* “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It’s awful. If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera. It’s terrible” pg. 22 – Holden – Holden is explaining to the reader on how good of a lair he is. This quote is important because it enlightens to an interesting idea; if Holden is such a fantastic liar, then how do we know what he tells us is the truth? Could it be that Holden is such a good liar he has convinced himself that these lies are true? The unfortunate part about it is that we can never be certain if this is true due to the fact that we don’t read the book from anyone else’s perspective, except Holden’s. * “I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don’t blame them. I really don’t. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it.” pg. 50 – Holden – This quote is important because it shows a glimpse of Holden’s messed up traumatic experience after his brother died. * “But I certainly wouldn’t have minded shooting the crap with old Phoebe for a while. You should see her. You never saw a little kid so pretty and smarty in your whole entire life. She’s really smart.” pg. 87 – Holden – This quote shows the importance of Holden’s relationship with Phoebe. * “She was the only one, outside my family, that I ever showed Allie’s baseball mitt to, with all the poems written on it. She’d never met Allie or anything, because that was her first summer in Maine – before that she went to Cape Cod – but I told her quite a lot about him. She was interested in that kind of stuff” pg. 101 – Holden – This quote is important because it shows the importance of his relationship with Jane. * “When I got out in front of Ernie’s and paid the fare, old Horwitz brought up the fish again.
He certainly had it on his mind. “Listen” he said “If you was a fish, Mother Nature’d take care of you, wouldn’t she? Right? You don’t think them fish just die when it gets to be winter, do ya?” “No, but—“ “You’re goddam right they don’t,” Horwitz said, and then drove off like a bat out of hell. pg. 109 – The conversation between Holden and the Taxi driver – This quote is important because it is one of the first persons to tell Holden what he is doing wrong and point out his immaturity in a sense. * “I took their check off them, but they wouldn’t let me pay it. The one with the glassed made me give it back to her. “You’ve been more than generous,” she said. “You’re a very sweet boy.” She certainly was nice. She remind me a little bit of old Ernest Morrow’s mother, the one that I met on the train. When she smiled mostly. “We’ve enjoyed talking to you so much,” she said” pg. 145 – Holden and the Nuns – Shows Holden’s generous, sweet, and compassionate side, though he thinks poorly of everyone he still shows that he isn’t all bad, and can be very
sympathetic. * “He was making out like he was walking in a very straight line, the way kids got up closer so I could hear what he was singing. He was singing that song, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” He had a pretty little voice, too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to the curb singing “if a body catch a body coming through the rye.” It made me feel better. It make me feel not so depressed any more.” pg. 150 – The song makes Holden feel lest depressed and helps him reflect on his life a little bit. * “’Did you ever get fed up?” I said. ‘I mean did you ever get scared that everything was going to go lousy unless you did something? I mean do you like school and all that stuff?’ ‘It’s a terrific bore’ ‘I mean do you hate it? I know it’s a terrific bore, but do you hate it is what I mean.’ ‘Well, I don’t exactly hate it. You always have to—‘ ‘Well, I hate it. Boy do I hate it,’ I said. ‘But it isn’t just that. Its everything. I hate living in New York and all. Taxicabs, and Madison Avenue buses, with drivers and always yelling at you to get out at the rear door, and being introduced to phony guys that call the Lunts angels, and going up and down in elevators when you just want to go outside, and guys fitting your pants all the time at Brooks, and people always—‘“ pg 169 – Holden – He is showing how much he truly is depressed and fed up with the world and its mediocrity. * “Stop screaming at me, please,” she said. Which was crap, because I wasn’t even screaming at her. “Why can’tcha? Why not” “Because you can’t, that’s all. In the first place we’re both practically children. And did you ever stop to think what you’d do if you didn’t get a job when your money ran out? We’d starve to death. The whole things so fantastic, it isn’t even—“ pg. 172 Sally – She points out that Holden is having unrealistic dreams due to his depression. * “Listen. Let’s get one thing straight. I refuse to answer any typical Caulfield questions tonight. When in the hell are you going to grow up?” pg. 189 – Luce – Shows that Holden hasn’t changed much in maturity since he went to Whooton School. * “You know what I’d like to be? I mean if I had my goddam choice?” “What? Stop swearing” “You know that song ‘If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye’? I’d like—“ “Its ‘If a body meet a body coming through the rye’!” old Phoebe said “It’s a poem. Bye Robert Burns.” pg. 224 – Phoebe and Holden – Holden expresses what he wants to be, a catcher in the rye, which is important because it is the explanation about the title of the book. * “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field or rye ands all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing there on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know its crazy.” pg 225 - Holden – Holden expresses what he wants to be, a catcher in the rye, which is important because it is the explanation about the title of the book. * “Then I took my hunting hat out of my coat pocket and gave it to her. She likes those kinds of crazy hats. She didn’t want to take it, but I made her. I’ll bet she slept with it on. She really likes those kind of hats” pg. 233 – Holden – Importance of relationship between him and his sister. * “This fall I think you’re riding for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit the bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangements designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, we looking for something their own environment couldn’t supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn’t supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started. You follow me?” pg. 244 – Mr. Antolini – He warns Holden that he is beginning to walk down a dark path and is soon going to be utterly consumed by his own depression and end up wandering for what he ‘wants’ but he can never find because he isn’t looking hard enough. * I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could have been there. pg. 275 Holden – Shows the importance of his relationship with Phoebe, and how she is similar to his guide or mentor. * Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody. pg. 277 Holden