The Catcher in the Rye

1. The Catcher in the Rye Chapters 21- 23

2. Cemetery • Finality of the grave • Didn’t attend funeral- not able to express his grief • Allie can’t leave • “It was awful. It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place. All the visitors that were visiting the cemetery started running like hell over to their cars. That’s what nearly drove me crazy. All the visitors could get into their cars and turn on their radios and all and then go someplace nice for dinner- everybody except Allie…I know it’s his body and all that’s in the cemetery, and his soul’s in Heaven and all that crap, but I couldn’t stand it anyway. I just wish he wasn’t there…It’s not too bad when the sun’s out, but the sun only comes out when it feels like coming out”(155-156). • Projects his grief on Allie’s corpse.

3. Phoebe • Represents innocence • “She had her mouth way open. It’s funny. You take adults, they look lousy when they’re asleep and they have their mouths way open, but kids don’t. Kids look all right. They can even have spit all over the pillow and they still look all right” (159) • He trusts her and can confide in her • She speaks rationally and intelligently • She doesn’t understand Holden’s darker side • His need to self-destruct and his failure

4. Phoebe • Her alienation affects Holden • “She was ostracizing the hell out of me. Just like the fencing team at Pencey when I left all the goddam foils on the subway” (166) • “’Oh, why did you do it?’ She meant why did I get the ax again. It made me sort of sad, the way she said it” (167) • She is compassionate and caring towards Holden

5. Phoebe • Phoebe is the one person who can confront Holden • “’You don’t like anything that’s happening.’ It made me even more depressed when she said that.” (169) • “’Allie’s dead- you always say that…” (171) • She can confront but doesn’t understand enough to help Holden

6. Loss of Innocence • James Castle • “He was a skinny little weak-looking guy, with wrists about as big as pencils. Finally what he did, instead of taking back what he said, he jumped out the window…and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all. He was dead, and his teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater I’d lent him” (170).

7. Loss of Innocence • Holden could not save James from his loss • Dies in Holden’s sweater • Will Holden end up like him?

8. Significance of the Title • “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all…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- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they are going I have to come out and from somewhere and catch them” (173)

9. Significance of the Title • Wants to save the children from the ugliness and phoniness of the adult world • Save their innocence • No one saved James Castle • No one saved Allie • No one is there to save him

10. Holden’s Breaking Point • “Then, all of a sudden, I statred to cry. I couldn’t help it. I did it so noody could hear me, but I did it. It scared the hell out of old Phoebe when I started doing it, and she came over and tried to make me stop, but once you get started, you can’t just stop on a goddamn dime” (179). • Reversal of roles • Emotional release with Phoebe • She confronts him and enables his emotions to come out but cannot give him the help he needs.