Catcher In The Rye Summary
Pency Prep:
"The Catcher in the Rye" opens with Holden Caulfield at Pency Prep, his high school, where he has just been kicked out for failing almost all of his classes. Holden, as a lost and frustrated teen, goes to his room for his last night before planning to run away from Pency Prep for some "alone time" before telling his parent he was kicked out of another school.
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 …show more content…
worried, that's why." (pg 40) Stradlater has a reputation for taking the "innocence" form teenage girls, and Holden wants to know if Stradlater struck again.
This is the opening of the book, and the reader does not really know Holden yet so the his concern for Stradlater's sex life is a bit bizarre, but this is also the first time that the reader sees how concerned Holden is with innocence and mainly the idea of virginity and sexual innocence.
The story will evolve as Holden grows learning more about innocence and the lack of innocence in the world around him.
The Lavender Room:
Holden left Pency Prep and took a train back home to New York City. He takes some time off from everyone telling him what to do and decided to stay at a hotel and try to find a woman to loose his own innocence to. He goes to a bar in the restaurant where he continuously tries to pick up women. The room is filled with "old, show-offy-looking guys and their dates" (69) except for three women who, in Holden’s opinion, were pretty ugly except for the blond one. He flirts and dances with them in the hopes of getting lucky.
This is when the reader really gets a sense that he wants to fit into the typical teenage boy stereotype. He does not want to be an innocent virgin, but be a man. The women shoot him down after he pays for their drinks. That really ticks him off. This also determines him to loose his innocence that
night.
Holden’s Hotel Room:
After a night of traveling around, Holden gives up on loosing his innocence and heads back to his hotel room. The elevator boy, Maurice, offers to send a prostitute up to his room. Holden gladly accepts thinking that this is the only way he can become a man and loose in innocence. While waiting for the woman to come up, Holden reflects on his past experiences with woman and when he almost lost his virginity.
When the woman comes up to the room, Holden realizes how rare innocence is and wants to hold on to his. He instead he just wants to have a conversation with someone. " 'What the heck do you want to talk about?' She said. 'I don’t know. Nothing Special. I just thought perhaps you might care to chat for a while.' " (pg 95) Something changed in Holden's mindset to where he realized the importance of preserving innocence and felt alone. He seemed to think that he was the only one left with innocence. He wanted to fill this feeling of being alone and innocent by having an intellectual conversation about anything, but the prostitute was not interested. This is the tipping point for Holden and he starts to feel worse and starts to realize that even though he so desperately wants to preserve innocence, it seems to be impossible.
Phoebe’s Room:
After Holden's down right depressing realization about seeming to be the sole sexually innocent person his age, he sets out looking for his younger sister Phoebe. Phoebe seems to be the only person out of the whole book who makes Holden the slightest bit happy, and when he thinks of her he can only think of good times. To him, she is the icon for the idea of innocence that he wants to preserve. While traveling back home to sneak into her room and visit her, Holden sings his favorite song, "If a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye." (115) He comes to the realization while going to see Phoebe that he wants to spend his life preserving innocence in kids and just wants everyone to live in a simple, happy, and pure world.
When Holden gets to Phoebe he starts explaining his realization that there is no good or truth left in this world. He tells Phoebe, "Anyways, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some games in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And I'm standing 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," (pg 173) which is in regards to the song. Phoebe told Holden that the song by Robert Burns is not about children playing and being innocent, but instead about to people finding each other and have sex. It is not "If a body catch a body" but rather "if a body finds a body." Between realizing that Phoebe has changed and has become less innocent than he thought and that the poem he is planning his future around are both corrupt.
Carousel:
After meeting with Phoebe, Holden feels completely helpless and that there is nowhere for him to go so he decides to run away. He wants to see his sister one last time before his departure, because even though she is not as pure as he once thought, she is still the closest idea to innocence that he has. When he goes to meet her and see Phoebe one last time, she also has her bags packed and tells him that if he is going to leave she is coming with him or she will never speak to him again. Through a back and fourth debate of whither she is going to run away with him, they both end up at the carousel in the zoo. He imagines a time when he was a kids and Holden would ride with his two older brothers and Phoebe. She loved the carousel, and Holden and his brothers could never get her off of it. He convinces her to ride while he watches her in the rain. This image is the idea that he has always had of innocence. He finally sees innocence in its true form and realizes that it really does exist, but it is so rare. "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..." (213). This is the first time in the whole book where he admits that he is truly happy.
The book continues with him saying that he got sick and does not want to speak of it anymore. The reader can only assume that the lack of safety and overbearing corruption that Holden saw in the world compared to a single image of incense around him lead to his self-destruction. He never ran away, but instead got help and support from the people around him that he desperately needed.
"The Catcher in the Rye" opens with Holden Caulfield at Pency Prep, his high school, where he has just been kicked out for failing almost all of his classes. Holden, as a lost and frustrated teen, goes to his room for his last night before planning to run away from Pency Prep for some "alone time" before telling his parent he was kicked out of another school.
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 …show more content…
worried, that's why." (pg 40) Stradlater has a reputation for taking the "innocence" form teenage girls, and Holden wants to know if Stradlater struck again.
This is the opening of the book, and the reader does not really know Holden yet so the his concern for Stradlater's sex life is a bit bizarre, but this is also the first time that the reader sees how concerned Holden is with innocence and mainly the idea of virginity and sexual innocence.
The story will evolve as Holden grows learning more about innocence and the lack of innocence in the world around him.
The Lavender Room:
Holden left Pency Prep and took a train back home to New York City. He takes some time off from everyone telling him what to do and decided to stay at a hotel and try to find a woman to loose his own innocence to. He goes to a bar in the restaurant where he continuously tries to pick up women. The room is filled with "old, show-offy-looking guys and their dates" (69) except for three women who, in Holden’s opinion, were pretty ugly except for the blond one. He flirts and dances with them in the hopes of getting lucky.
This is when the reader really gets a sense that he wants to fit into the typical teenage boy stereotype. He does not want to be an innocent virgin, but be a man. The women shoot him down after he pays for their drinks. That really ticks him off. This also determines him to loose his innocence that
night.
Holden’s Hotel Room:
After a night of traveling around, Holden gives up on loosing his innocence and heads back to his hotel room. The elevator boy, Maurice, offers to send a prostitute up to his room. Holden gladly accepts thinking that this is the only way he can become a man and loose in innocence. While waiting for the woman to come up, Holden reflects on his past experiences with woman and when he almost lost his virginity.
When the woman comes up to the room, Holden realizes how rare innocence is and wants to hold on to his. He instead he just wants to have a conversation with someone. " 'What the heck do you want to talk about?' She said. 'I don’t know. Nothing Special. I just thought perhaps you might care to chat for a while.' " (pg 95) Something changed in Holden's mindset to where he realized the importance of preserving innocence and felt alone. He seemed to think that he was the only one left with innocence. He wanted to fill this feeling of being alone and innocent by having an intellectual conversation about anything, but the prostitute was not interested. This is the tipping point for Holden and he starts to feel worse and starts to realize that even though he so desperately wants to preserve innocence, it seems to be impossible.
Phoebe’s Room:
After Holden's down right depressing realization about seeming to be the sole sexually innocent person his age, he sets out looking for his younger sister Phoebe. Phoebe seems to be the only person out of the whole book who makes Holden the slightest bit happy, and when he thinks of her he can only think of good times. To him, she is the icon for the idea of innocence that he wants to preserve. While traveling back home to sneak into her room and visit her, Holden sings his favorite song, "If a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye." (115) He comes to the realization while going to see Phoebe that he wants to spend his life preserving innocence in kids and just wants everyone to live in a simple, happy, and pure world.
When Holden gets to Phoebe he starts explaining his realization that there is no good or truth left in this world. He tells Phoebe, "Anyways, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some games in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around- nobody big, I mean- except me. And I'm standing 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," (pg 173) which is in regards to the song. Phoebe told Holden that the song by Robert Burns is not about children playing and being innocent, but instead about to people finding each other and have sex. It is not "If a body catch a body" but rather "if a body finds a body." Between realizing that Phoebe has changed and has become less innocent than he thought and that the poem he is planning his future around are both corrupt.
Carousel:
After meeting with Phoebe, Holden feels completely helpless and that there is nowhere for him to go so he decides to run away. He wants to see his sister one last time before his departure, because even though she is not as pure as he once thought, she is still the closest idea to innocence that he has. When he goes to meet her and see Phoebe one last time, she also has her bags packed and tells him that if he is going to leave she is coming with him or she will never speak to him again. Through a back and fourth debate of whither she is going to run away with him, they both end up at the carousel in the zoo. He imagines a time when he was a kids and Holden would ride with his two older brothers and Phoebe. She loved the carousel, and Holden and his brothers could never get her off of it. He convinces her to ride while he watches her in the rain. This image is the idea that he has always had of innocence. He finally sees innocence in its true form and realizes that it really does exist, but it is so rare. "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..." (213). This is the first time in the whole book where he admits that he is truly happy.
The book continues with him saying that he got sick and does not want to speak of it anymore. The reader can only assume that the lack of safety and overbearing corruption that Holden saw in the world compared to a single image of incense around him lead to his self-destruction. He never ran away, but instead got help and support from the people around him that he desperately needed.