The Catcher in the Rye

1. The Catcher in the Rye Pages 66-98 Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

2. Phoebe • Holden’s sister • “I certainly felt like talking to her on the phone. Somebody with sense and all.” (66) • “The only trouble is, she’s a little too affectionate sometimes. She’s very emotional, for a child.” (68) • Aren’t children, by nature, emotional? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

3. The Three Girls at the Bar • Holden seems annoyed by them. • “I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls…They can drive you crazy. They really can.” (73) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

4. The Three Girls at the Bar • “They didn’t invite me to sit down at their table—mostly because they were too ignorant—but I sat down anyway.” (73) • Is it because the girls are ignorant or because they did not want Holden with them? • In other words, who has made the social faux pas? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

5. Holden’s Joke • He tells the girl he sees a celebrity • “I was sorry as hell I’d kidded her. Some people you shouldn’t kid, even if they deserve it.” (74) • What is it about some people that makes Holden not want to kid them? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

6. Jane Gallagher • Holden feels completely comfortable with her • “She was the only one, outside my family, that I ever showed Allie’s baseball mitt to, with all the poems written on it.” (77) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

7. The Date • Holden is still thinking about Jane and Stradlater’s date • “I knew she wouldn’t let him get to first base with her, but it drove me crazy anyway. I don’t even like to talk about it, if you want to know the truth.” (80) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

8. The Date • If he knows nothing would happen, why is he still so concerned? • If he doesn’t like to talk about it, why is he always talking about it? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

9. Phony • Is Holden a phony? • “I almost was once in a movie short, but I changed my mind at the last minute. I figured that anybody that hates the movies as much as I do, I’d be a phony if I let them stick me in a movie short.” (77) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

10. Phony • Here, Holden will not participate in an activity that makes him a phony • However, has he acted like a phony before? • What does this say about Holden? • Lack of self-knowledge or self-identity? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

11. Ernie’s Night Club • “He’s so good he’s almost corny, in fact. I don’t exactly know what I mean by that, but I mean it.” (80) • Diction • What does this quote say about Holden? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

12. Ernie’s Night Club • “I think it’s because sometimes when he plays, he sounds like the kind of guy that won’t talk to you unless you’re a big shot.” (80) • Assumption • Holden makes this conclusion based on the way Ernie plays the piano. Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

13. Ernie’s Night Club • “In a funny way, though, I felt sort of sorry for him when he was finished. I don’t even think he knows any more when he’s playing right or not. It isn’t all his fault. I partly blame all those dopes that clap their heads off-they’d foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance.” (84) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

14. Ernie’s Night Club • People are to blame • “People are always ruining things for you.” (87) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

15. Setting and Tone • “New York’s terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.” (81) • “The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did. I wasn’t sleepy or anything, but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead.” (90) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

16. The Ducks • Typical question by Holden, but a new piece of information • “I mean does somebody come around in a truck or something and take them away, or do they fly away by themselves—go south or something?” (82) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

17. The Ducks • What is it that Holden is saying? • Who is responsible for the well-being and safety of the ducks? • Other people? • The ducks themselves? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

18. Horwitz • The cab driver • Reaction • “The fish don’t go no place. They stay right where they are, the fish. Right in the … lake.” (82) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

19. Horwitz’s Reaction, cont. • “It’s tougher for the fish, the winter and all, than it is for the ducks…” (82) • “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?” (83) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

20. Holden’s Reaction • “They can’t just ignore the ice. They can’t just ignore it.” (82) • Symbolism of ice? Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

21. Red Hunting Hat • “But it was freezing cold, and I took my red hunting hat out of my pocket and put it on—I didn’t give a damn how I looked. I even put the earlaps down.” (88) • Offers protection to Holden Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

22. Maurice • Elevator operator • Pimp • Offers Holden a prostitute • “It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn’t even think. That’s the whole trouble. When you’re feeling very depressed, you can’t even think.” (91) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

23. Sunny • Prostitute • Young • “I think it was because she was young as hell. She was around my age…She had a tiny little wheeny-whiny voice. You could hardly hear her. She never said thank you, either, when you offered her something. She just didn’t know any better.” (94) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

24. Sunny • “Like fun you are.” (94) • “It was a funny thing to say. It sounded like a real kid.” (94) • “So long, crumb-bum” (98) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

25. Holden’s Reaction to Sunny • “I felt much more depressed than sexy.” (95) • “‘Don’t you feel like talking for a while?’ I asked her. It was a childish thing to say, but I was feeling so damn peculiar.” (95) • “She looked at me like I was a madman.” (95) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

26. Holden’s Reaction to Sunny • “The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than sexy, if you want to know the truth. She was depressing. Her green dress hanging in the closet and all.” (96) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

27. Holden’s Reaction to Sunny • “She was a pretty spooky kid. Even with that little bitty voice she had, she could sort of scare you a little bit. If she’d been a big old prostitute, with a lot of makeup on her face and all, she wouldn’t have been half as spooky.” (98) Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98

28. Why Does Holden Have This Reaction? • Conflicting reality of Sunny’s age with her profession • By definition, a prostitute is experienced • Holden can not come to terms with a kid (who, in his opinion, should be innocent) who exists in a profession of experience. • This reality depresses him. Geschke/English IV The Catcher in the Rye 66-98