The Catcher in the Rye

Chapters 1-4

Reading Check

1. Holden's brother, D.B, is an actor in Hollywood. (Chapter 1)

2. Holden left all the equipment on the subway. (Chapter 1)

3. Mr. Spencer (Chapters 1-2)

4. Four times (Chapter 2)

5. Mr. Spencer shows Holden his history exam, specifically the paper he wrote about mummies. (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. Holden stands at a distance from others because he doesn't care for the people at the game, considering them to be "phony slobs." This reveals that Holden self-isolates from others because he is critical of them, and he sees others as inauthentic. (Chapter 1)

2. Although Holden self-isolates and claims to dislike Pencey and the people who attend the school, this desire to give Pencey a ceremonious and meaningful goodbye indicates that he does have a bit of emotional attachment toward the school. Holden may be more sentimental than he lets on. (Chapter 1)

3. Holden criticizes Mr. Spencer for his age, mocking his wrinkled skin. This does not seem fair, as no one can avoid the inevitable process of aging. This reveals that Holden finds aging troubling and depressing. (Chapter 2)

4. Holden knows Jane Gallagher from his childhood, and has fond, innocent memories of playing checkers with her. He is nostalgic for his childhood, and Jane represents part of the purity and innocence he hopes to hold on to. He does not want to imagine Jane and Stradlater having sex, as this would shatter his innocent memory of her. (Chapter 4)

Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. Stradlater asks Holden to write his descriptive English paper for him. (Chapter 5)

2. He cannot make a fist because he injured his hand on the night of his brother's death. (Chapter 5)

3. Holden asks to sleep in Ackley's roommate's bed. (Chapter 7)

4. Ernest Morrow's mother (Chapter 8)

Short Answer

1. Holden writes about his deceased brother's baseball mitt. This is significant because it reveals that Holden loved his brother dearly and has many fond memories of him that he cherishes. (Chapter 5)

2. Holden smashed the windows in the garage with his bare hands. This suggests that Allie's death deeply affected Holden, and he reacted in a self-destructive manner. Holden may not know how to deal with his emotions in a healthy way. (Chapter 5)

3. When Holden finds out that Stradlater slept with Jane, he attempts to punch him. Stradlater fights back. Holden punches Stradlater because he has tarnished his pure memories of Jane and threatened Holden's ideals of purity and innocence. (Chapter 6)

4. Holden believes the hunting cap to be unique, and he puts it on to separate himself from others. He wants to set himself apart from Stradlater. (Chapter 6)

5.     Holden chooses to go to New York as a reaction to his fight with Stradlater. He is very emotional and feels isolated from his peers. This decision does not seem well planned as he is acting on emotions rather than thinking about how difficult it will be to strike out on his own in New York. (Chapter 7)

Chapters 9-11; 12-14

Reading Check

1. Faith Cavendish (Chapter 9)

2. The Lavender Room, a nightclub in the hotel (Chapter 10)

3. Holden thinks about Jane Gallagher, and that she is the only person he showed Allie's baseball mitt. (Chapter 11)

4. Ernie plays piano at a local bar. (Chapter 12)

5. Allie (Chapter 14)

Short Answer

1. Holden is desperate for companionship and attention. He has walked down to the bar out of a desire to be around other people, and will dance with anyone, even women he feels superior to. (Chapter 10).

2. Holden remembers Jane as an innocent childhood friend. His memories of her are happy, whereas in Chapter 11, he sits in a rundown lobby after drinking and dancing with women he does not respect. (Chapter 11)

3. The ducks migrate and change their circumstances, whereas the fish stay where they are and freeze. Both the fish and the ducks respond to their circumstances and adapt accordingly. Holden is reluctant to adapt to his circumstances and instead fights against the world in which he lives. He will need to learn to adapt to survive. (Chapter 12)

4. Holden reveals that he is a virgin, and that he just wants to talk to Sunny. Holden is clearly very lonely and hired the sex worker to have company, but not to have sex. (Chapter 13)

5. Holden can't pray because he considers himself to be an atheist. He believes that ministers are phony. This means that his attempts to communicate with his brother and process his brother's death are unsuccessful, and he continues feeling alone and depressed. (Chapter 14)

Chapters 15-18

Reading Check

1. Sally Hayes (Chapter 15)

2. A record (Chapter 16)

3. The Great Gatsby (Chapter 18)

Short Answer

1. Holden sees the nuns as representations of purity and innocence—values he holds in high esteem over the seedy world of New York City. (Chapter 15)

2. He knows that the displays, frozen in time, depict an inaccurate representation of the way time works. He becomes frustrated by this and decides not to enter the museum. (Chapter 16)

3. Holden says he will never join the military because he would have to commit to it for a long time and be surrounded by inauthentic people. (Chapter 18)

Chapters 19-23

Reading Check

1. A psychoanalyst (Chapter 19)

2. The record he bought for Phoebe (Chapter 20)

3. He was kicked out of Pencey (Chapter 21)

4. The song about the catcher in the rye (Chapter 22)

5. Mr. Antolini was Holden's teacher, and he is one of the only people Holden respects. (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. Holden's parents once told him they were going to take him to a psychoanalyst, after his brother died. They did not take him to see one, however, which leads Holden to wonder what might have happened if he had seen one. Therapy would likely have helped Holden and it's a shame he did not receive any after his brother's death. (Chapter 19)

2. Holden wants to understand the duck's migration patterns because he has an internal desire to understand how to change and grow; however, he is terrified of change. As he sits by the pond, freezing cold, he is the embodiment of stasis: he has not been able to get past his brother's death and his own grief. (Chapter 20)

3. Holden is incredibly kind and gentle with Phoebe. He does not criticize Phoebe or view her in the same harsh light that he views everyone else around him. He sees Phoebe as innocent, pure, and untouched by the inauthenticity of the adult world. (Chapter 21)

4. Holden imagines himself in a field, catching children before they fall off a cliff. This is a metaphor for Holden's obsession with preserving innocence and childhood and wanting to stop the incoming horrors of adulthood. (Chapter 22)

5. Mr. Antolini was Holden's English teacher, and he has always been personable and respectful with Holden and the other students. When James Castle died by suicide at Elkton, Mr. Antolini picked James up off the ground. (Chapter 23)

Chapters 24-26

Reading Check

1. He writes down a quote about how Holden should not die for a cause, but live humbly for one. (Chapter 24)

2. Allie (Chapter 25)

3. An undisclosed psychiatric ward (Chapter 26)

Short Answer

1. Mr. Antolini fears that Holden is so obsessed with inauthenticity that he is willing to sacrifice his own life and make nothing of himself to expose "phonies." Mr. Antolini hopes that Holden will be able to get over his cynicism and find a way to move forward in life. (Chapter 24)

2. Holden's life has become increasingly uncertain. He fears that he will not be able to overcome the obstacles that adulthood presents him. Holden's inability to cross the street is a metaphor for his impression that he will not be able to survive the adult world. (Chapter 25)

3. The novel is open-ended, with Holden unsure of whether or not he will apply himself when he goes back to school. The novel ends without a moral, leaving us to consider Holden a complex individual whose problems are not easily solved. (Chapter 26)