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| Edition: | Bantam (Mass Market Paperback) |
| Author: | J.D. Salinger |
| Published: | |
| Pages: | 214 |
| ISBN 10: | 0553104071 |
| New: | $5.22 (3) |
| Used: | $0.37 (25) |
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Protagonist
Holden Caulfield is the protagonist and narrator of the story. Holden is seventeen when he tells the story, but was sixteen years old when the events took place. His narration begins with his expulsion (for academic failure) from a school called Pencey Prep. He is intelligent and sensitive, but Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded voice. He finds the hypocrisy, phoniness and ugliness of the world around him almost unbearable, and through his cynicism he tries to protect himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. However, the criticisms that Holden aims at people around him are also aimed at himself. He is uncomfortable with his own weaknesses, and at times is unsure if he displays the exact phoniness, meanness, and superficiality of the people he says he despises. Throughout the book, Holden tries to hold on to the qualities of childhood and the innocence it provides.
Book Summary
The novel covers a few important days in the life of the protagonist Holden Morrissey Caulfield, a tall, lanky, highly critical and depressed sixteen-year-old who academically flunked out of Pencey Prep boarding school. Because he is so critical of others, and points out their faults only to exhibit them himself later, Holden is widely considered to be an unreliable narrator, and the details and events of his story are apt to be distorted by his point of view. His penchant for wild exageration only serves to exacerbate this. Nonetheless, it is his story to tell. Many flashbacks throughout the entire book create a feeling of knowing Holden.
His story starts on Holden's last day at Pencey Prep. He is standing on the crest of a hill that overlooks the football field. It is the final game of the season, but Holden has never cared much for established tradition. He instead runs across the street to the residence of Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. It is revealed here that Holden has been expelled, and that he doesn't particularly care. Mr. Spencer is disappointed in Holden, and lectures to him about the importance of hard work and education. Holden becomes annoyed and lies about having to remove some equipment from the gym to get out of the discussion.
Back at the dorm, Holden talks to his roommate, Stradlater, a tall, good-looking ladies' man. Holden sees him very differently, describing him as a "secret slob" because he would shave and groom himself for women, but doesn't bother to clean the dirty, rusty razor he uses to do so. Stradlater returns home late from a date with Jane Gallagher, one of Holden's childhood friends with whom he has had a long-standing infatuation. During Stradlater's date, Holden had been told by Stradlater to write an essay for him on "a room or something", as the exact topic was never explicitly stated, but as long as it was descriptive Stradlater says. Holden finds inspiration in writing about his late brother Allie's baseball mitt. Allie was Holden's younger brother who died of leukemia and had written poetry in green ink on his mitt so that in the outfield he could have something to read. When Stradlater returns and finds what Holden has written about, he gets annoyed. Holden tears up the essay out of anger. A short while later, Holden inquires Stradlater what he did on his date. Stradlater refuses to answer his questions, but more specifically whether or not he had sex with Jane Gallagher. Holden becomes infuriated and tries to hit his unsuspecting roommate. Stradlater easily wins the fight, as Holden himself is not particularly strong, but also in part claims to be a pacifist. Holden repeatedly comes back to the question of whether or not Stradlater did anything sexual with Jane. The date between Stradlater and Jane took place in the back seat of the gym teacher, Ed Banky's, car.
His socially inept neighbor, Robert Ackley (called Ackley for short), is also introduced. Ackley's relationship with Holden is fairly complex: On one hand, Holden expresses disgust at his hygiene, acne, and personality, yet spends time with him of his own free will; he is drawn to Ackley because there is nobody else, going to movies and having snowball fights with him even though he comments on how abrasive Ackley is.
That night, considering everything, especially the fact that he will be leaving Pencey very soon anyway, Holden packs a suitcase and leaves Pencey before the actual last day of school, and decides to stay in New York for the remainder of the period. En route, Holden meets the mother of one of his schoolmates, Ernest Morrow. This schoolmate is an antisocial bully, but Holden decides to lie to the mother because she was seemingly very attractive despite her age. He tells her that her son is a terrific young man and very friendly, and that when other students wanted to nominate him for class president, he humbly refused the honor. Holden tells Mrs. Morrow that his name is Rudolf Schmidt, who in reality is the dorm janitor. She is also the first person Holden asks out for a drink since his exodus from Pencey. However, like most of his encounters, she declines the offer.
Arriving at New York, Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel where he becomes increasingly disappointed by his surroundings, "screwballs all over the place." Having nothing much to do, he calls up a girl, Faith Cavendish, whom he was totally unacquainted with (a friend of a friend), to meet her for a drink, despite it being very late. She also says no. Unable to get comfortable, Holden goes down to the lobby downstairs in the Lavender Room to relax, trying his best to fit in with most of the older people. He makes a move on the young women sitting in the table nearest him, but they only laugh at him. Eventually they give in and Holden dances with each one of them. He enjoys the night but notes many times to himself they have almost nothing in common, thus plugging any opportunity to further a relationship.
Holden continues to wander New York City encountering more people in the midst, each escapade leaving him somewhat more depressed than before. Many times in between chapters, he remembers nostalgically of him and Jane doing various things to keep himself calm. As he becomes increasingly lonely and depressed, he takes another cab to a different bar, Ernie's, to get drunk. Typically he derides this one too saying there were too many phonies in there. He is forced to leave when he accidentally runs into his brother's annoying ex-girlfriend.
Back at the hotel, Holden encounters the elevator boy, Maurice, who offers to send up a prostitute to his room for five bucks. In a rather rash decision, he accepts the offer hoping the experience will cheer him up. But when the the young girl, Sunny, comes to his room, Holden cannot bring himself to have sex with her, feeling much too depressed. He tells Sunny he is recuperating from a surgical operation on his clavichord, an obvious play on clavicle and spinal cord, and pays her, instead, to sit down and keep him company for a while. Later, she leaves, only to return with Maurice shortly after, who intimidates Holden and uses brute force to hustle an extra five bucks from him.
The next day, he makes a date with one of his previous girlfriends, Sally Hayes. They attend a matinee performance of The Lunts and later go ice skating at Rockefeller Center, but retire indoors to talk once their ankles tire. Their conversation soon turns into a fight and the experience leaves him more depressed, as he realizes that they do not have much in common. Holden in a final attempt to make peace with Sally gets a sudden idea to leave and go Northeast, live off of the land and build a cabin, offering Sally a chance to go with him — get "married or something". Sally rejects him and his idea, especially after Holden plaintively blurts out that she's "a royal pain in the ass." At that point, Sally becomes offended and walks out on the date.
After he gets drunk at a bar and almost drowns looking for ducks in a pond in Central Park, Holden then decides to surreptitiously visit home to see his younger sister Phoebe. He had bought a record of an artist she liked, intending to give it to her as a gift, but it fell out of its sleeve, upsetting Holden. During a short conversation with Phoebe, Holden reveals the meaning of the novel's title. The idea is based on a misreading of a line in the song "Comin' Thro' the Rye, by Robert Burns, which Holden heard a young boy singing. The young boy mistakenly substituted "When a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye" for "When a body meet a body, comin' thro' the rye." Holden interpreted the line literally, imagining a field of rye at the edge of a cliff, in which children constantly wandered, and that someone had the job of catching any who might fall. Thus, he says that he wants to be the catcher, because it serves a real purpose in a world that is otherwise so often phony/trivial. Holden quickly leaves the apartment as his parents come home from a party.
Holden goes to a former teacher's house, Mr Antolini, where his teacher gives him a speech about life and how, in order to live happily, Holden has to be prepared. Holden views Mr. Antolini as a father-figure and holds much respect for him. Mr. Antolini speaks as if he has been in Holden's situation before, hopelessly hating every person he ever sees. After preparing the pull out couch with Mr. Antolini, Holden awakes to find him stroking his head. Holden, taken aback by this, interprets this as a sexual advance, and runs out of the apartment to sleep in Grand Central Station, against the wishes of Mr. Antolini who says he was just admiring him.
In the morning, he decides to hitchhike west and build a cabin for himself away from the people he knows. However, he can't leave without saying goodbye to Phoebe first. Holden gives someone at her school a message to give to Phoebe explaining the situation. He tells her to meet him outside the nearby museum at lunchtime so he can give her back her money she had lent to him. At the same time, Holden witnesses several "Fuck You" messages graffitied on the walls, and worries what effect it would have if the children were to see it.
When Phoebe finally arrives at lunchtime, she is carrying one of Holden's old suitcases full of clothes. Phoebe tells Holden that she is going with him. He angrily refuses, feeling that he has influenced her to want to go with him instead of staying in school. She cries and refuses to speak to him. Knowing that she will follow him, Holden walks to the zoo, letting her anger lift. After walking through the zoo, with a short distance between them, they visit a park across the street. Phoebe starts talking to Holden again, and Holden promises to forget about his plan to run away and return home on Wednesday. He buys her a ticket for the carousel in the park and watches her ride an old horse on it. As Holden watches her ride the carousel, his own mood lifts. Soon he is nearly moved to tears with remorse, longing, and bittersweet happiness.
At this point in the book, the reader is given more clues that Holden is narrating the book from a mental hospital. He explains that he will be going to another school in the fall again but doesn't know for sure if he will start applying himself. He finishes talking with the words, "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody".
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1
Holden Caufield, the narrator, is currently living in California, and begins to tell the story of life following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a private school in Pennsylvania. He flunked four subjects and was asked to leave. He is asked to visit his teacher, Mr. Spencer, before he leaves.
Chapter 2
Holden tells Mr. Spencer that his parents do not know that he has been expelled yet. This is Holden’s fourth school, and he confesses his parents will be angry.
Mr. Spencer tells Holden he learned absolutely nothing in his class. He reads Holden’s essay, which is short and filled with errors. Holden is very angry with him, but remains respectful.
Spencer asks Holden how he feels about flunking out again. Holden lies and tells Spencer he has to go pick up his fencing equipment.
Chapter 3
Holden goes to his room and starts reading. Ackley comes into Holden’s room and distracts him. Holden is annoyed because Ackley has a habit of touching his personal belongings and moving them. Holden tries to get Ackley to leave, but he doesn’t pick up on the clues. Ackley finally leaves when Holden’s roommate comes back.
Chapter 4
Holden watches Stradlater, his roommate, shave. He asks Holden to write an English composition for him, but he tells Holden to not write the composition too well because the teacher would recognize Holden’s work.
Stradlater tells him that he is dating Jane Gallagher tonight, who was once Holden’s neighbor. Holden drives Stradlater crazy talking about Jane, but Holden won’t go down to talk to Jane himself.
Ackley comes back as soon as Stradlater leaves for his date with Jane.
Chapter 5
Holden goes to town with Ackley and another friend. They return to Pencey early, and Ackley returns to Holden’s room. Holden gets Ackley to leave when he tells him he has to write a composition for Stradlater.
Instead of writing about a room, Holden writes a description of Allie’s baseball mitt. Allie died of leukemia when Holden was thirteen. After he died, Holden punched out all the windows in the garage. Holden is still clearly very affected by Allie’s death.
Chapter 6
Stradlater returns from his date with Jane. He becomes angry when he reads the composition Holden wrote about the baseball mitt. Holden tears the composition up and smokes in the room to make Stradlater mad.
Holden asks about Stradlater’s date with Jane and then starts physically fighting with Stradlater. Stradlater gives Holden a bloody nose while trying to subdue him.
Chapter 7
Holden goes to Ackley’s room after the fight. Ackley’s roommate is gone for the weekend, and Holden asks to sleep there for the night.
Holden keeps thinking about what Stradlater probably did with Jane. He knows Stradlater tends to be rather smooth with the ladies. Holden gets angrier.
Holden leaves Ackley’s room and decides to leave Pencey for good. He decides to stay in a hotel room in New York City until he goes home to face his parents on Wednesday. Holden packs and leaves.
Chapter 8
Holden walks through the snow to the train station.
He meets a woman on the train whose son goes to Pencey. He lies and tells her his name is Rudolf Schmidt. This is the name of the dorm janitor. He makes up stories about her son who he really thinks is a jerk because he thinks she is a nice lady who deserves better. When she asks why he is leaving for Christmas break early, tells her he is leaving Pencey because he has a brain tumor.
Chapter 9
Holden gets off the train at Penn Station and goes to the phone booth, but realizes he has no one to call. He takes a cab to the Edmont Hotel.
Holden calls a woman named Faith Cavendish, a reported prostitute. She says she would like to meet him, but it is too late tonight. He tells her that he can only meet her tonight and ends the conversation.
Chapter 10
Holden thinks about calling his sister, Phoebe, again. He does not call because he is afraid his parents will answer.
He goes down to The Lavender Room, the hotel’s nightclub. He dances with a blonde woman. Holden tries to have a conversation with the woman, but she is not very bright.
Holden sits down with her and her friends. He finds it difficult to talk with them because all they care about are movie stars. Holden hates the movies because they are phony.
Chapter 11
Holden leaves The Lavender Room and starts thinking about Jane again. He remembers first meeting her at the country club pool. He also remembers playing chess with her and holding hands while watching movies. At this point, Holden reveals that he never actually dated Jane, but he did "neck" with her once after she was upset by her step-father. However, she never let him kiss her on the lips.
Holden gets in a cab and tells the driver to go to Ernie’s, a nightclub in Greenwich Village.
Chapter 12
Holden starts a conversation with Horwitz, a cab driver. He asks Horwitz where the ducks from Central Park go in the winter. Horwitz doesn’t care about the ducks, but says the fish have it harder. Holden asks what the fish do when the lagoon freezes, but Horwitz gets more agitated.
Ernie’s is packed. Holden gets a table and orders a Scotch. Holden sees a girl D.B. used to date. She wants Holden to sit with her and her date, but Holden lies and tells her he has to leave.
Chapter 13
Holden walks back to the hotel. Maurice, the elevator operator, asks Holden if he is interested in some action. He makes arrangements to have a woman sent to his room.
Sunny, the prostitute, comes to Holden’s room. Holden tells her he is not interested in sex, and all he wants is to talk. He tells her he just had an operation and is recuperating. She gets mad and leaves.
Chapter 14
Sunny and Maurice come to Holden’s room. He tells Holden he owes them five more dollars. Holden refuses to give them the money because he was clearly told before the price was five dollars. Maurice threatens to hurt Holden. They take five dollars from Holden’s wallet, and Maurice punches Holden in the stomach.
Holden thinks about committing suicide.
Chapter 15
Holden wakes up and decides to call Sally Hayes, a girl he once dated. He says he doesn’t really like her though, but asks her to the theatre anyway. Holden also says he doesn’t like the theatre.
Holden checks his suitcases in a strong box at Grand Central Station and eats breakfast. He starts talking with two nuns about "Romeo and Juliet" to pass the time. He gives them a $10 donation before they leave.
Chapter 16
Holden looks for a record for Phoebe while waiting to meet Sally. He also calls Jane, but her mother answers, and Holden hangs up. He buys tickets for himself and Sally.
Holden takes a cab to Central Park. He hopes to see his sister, but she isn’t there. He asks some children if they know where she is, but it is clear that they have no idea.
Chapter 17
Holden meets Sally, and they go to the theatre. Sally is late, loud, and annoying. Sally meets a boy at the play and talks to him, which annoys Holden.
After the play, they go ice skating. Holden tells Sally he hates school and living in New York City. He starts talking loudly about how fake most people are, and Sally becomes uncomfortable.
He asks Sally to leave New York with him. She tells him there will be plenty of time to travel after he finished college. Holden tells Sally they will have too many responsibilities then, and they only have now to live.
Sally and Holden get into a fight. Holden laughs at Sally when she cries. They leave separately.
Chapter 18
Holden thinks about calling Jane again to ask her to go dancing. He calls Jane, but no one is home.
He calls Carl Luce, an older friend from another school. They make plans to meet for drinks.
Holden goes to Radio City Music Hall to kill time, and Holden hates the show.
Chapter 19
Holden walks to The Wicker Bar to meet Carl. Carl quickly becomes annoyed with Holden, who insists on asking questions about Carl’s sex life. Holden’s voice keeps getting louder and louder, which embarrasses Carl.
Carl tells Holden he is immature and should see a psychoanalyst.
Chapter 20
Holden continues to drink at the bar. He is drunk and tries to call Jane, but calls Sally by mistake. She tells him to call tomorrow.
He leaves the bar and goes to Central Park. Holden thinks about what his funeral would be like. He remembers hearing about Allie’s funeral from D.B. Holden did not go because he was put in the hospital after punching out the garage windows.
Holden decides to walk home to see Phoebe.
Chapter 21
Holden sneaks into his family’s apartment. It takes him an hour to creep to Phoebe’s room, but she is sleeping in D.B.’s room.
Phoebe is thrilled to see Holden. She asks him if he got kicked out of school again. She hides her head under a pillow and won’t come out, so Holden leaves the room.
Chapter 22
He comes back and Phoebe is still upset. She asks him why he failed out again. She is also afraid that their parents will be very angry with Holden again. Holden realizes he no longer really cares.
Phoebe tells Holden he never likes anything. Holden says he likes Allie, even though he is dead. She asks him to name one thing he’d like to be when he grows up. He says he’d like to stand at the edge of a field of rye where children are playing. He would catch the children before they ran through the field and fell off the edge.
Chapter 23
Holden calls his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini. He invites Holden to stay at his house.
Holden goes back to Phoebe, and they dance until their parents come home. Holden hides in the closet while Phoebe talks to their mother.
Phoebe gives him her Christmas money before he leaves.
Chapter 24
Holden takes a cab to Mr. Antolini’s apartment. He tells Holden he recently had lunch with Mr. Caufield, who is very concerned about Holden.
Mr. Antolini tells Holden he sees Holden falling and worries that Holden will never recover. He tells Holden that he is not alone and could find the answers he is looking for in education.
Holden sleeps on the couch until he wakes up because Mr. Antolini is touching his head. Holden leaves quickly.
Chapter 25
Holden sleeps on a bench at Grand Central Station. He leaves the station and starts walking up Fifth Avenue. Holden starts fearing that he will disappear at the end of each block.
He decides he will never return home. He will hitchhike west. Holden writes a note to Phoebe, asking her to meet him at lunch. He wants to say goodbye and give her the money. He gives the note to the school secretary to give Phoebe.
Holden waits for Phoebe, who comes to meet Holden with a suitcase. Phoebe tells Holden she is going with him. Holden tells her she cannot go.
Phoebe refuses to go back to school or take a walk with Holden. He starts walking towards Central Park, knowing she will follow him.
Holden buys Phoebe a ticket for the carousel and watched her ride. He promises he won’t leave her.
Chapter 26
Holden says that he doesn’t want to tell anymore of his story. He reveals he is telling his story from a hospital in California where he is seeing a psychoanalyst. He says that telling his story causes him to miss everyone more than before.
