The Catcher In The Rye

1. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein The Catcher In The Rye By Jerome David Salinger

2. Plot Summary The story begins when Holden Caulfield is expelled from Pencey Prep and the following days. After a short visit to a teacher and a conflict with a roommate he decides to head home early. He takes the train to New York but does not want to return to his family and instead checks in an dilapidated hotel. Here he dances with three girls and has an encounter with a prostitute, Sunny, but as soon as she enters the room Holden becomes uncomfortable with the situation and all he does is talk. Despite the fact that Holden paid Sunny, she later returns with her pimp, demanding more money that was originally agreed upon.

3. Holden then invites his old girlfriend, Sally, to go see a musical. After the play they go skating, and Holden asks Sally to move with him to the Midwest but she quickly refuses and walks away from him. He sneaks into his parents apartment to speak with her little sister, Phoebe. After the visit he decides to stop by to a former English teacher which offers him a place to sleep and some advice on life. After being woken up by Mr. Antolini, he leaves and spends the afternoon in the city, making the decision to head out west. After sharing this with her little sister, she decides she wants to leave with him. This will make Holden to change his plans and go home. The book ends with Holden in a hospital, and his future plan of joining a new school in September.

4. Characterization of Holden Caulfield Holden Caulfield is the seventeen-year-old protagonist of The Catcher In The Rye novel. Physically, Holden is tall, thin and has red hair with some gray showing. Due to his physical look, Holden considers himself as being mature yet through his behavior he proves the contrary. He continually fails classes, gets expelled and calls himself “dumb”, yet he shows intelligence by narrating and interest in books.

5. He has a well contoured opinion about every man he meets, often criticizing and considering them inferior, arrogant, hollow and fake. A habit that will make integration in society hard for Holden. He is polite, and he does not say rude things to girls, although he finds them weird. He likes having audience, characterizing himself as being a flasher. He can`t stand fighting, saying he is a pacifist and a coward. Holden is sentimentally unstable, nervous, his state of mind rapidly changing. He is immature minded, acting like a senile person only to escape from the state of boredom. He hates the word “wonderful”, considering it as being fake. Just like other teenagers, Holden breaks the rules, even those imposed by him.

6. He thinks everything is made only for show off and that he is surrounded by hypocrites, the only normal persons being his siblings. He has a lot of melancholic moments, time when he is feeling along and sad. In his view, he is the greatest liar. Not so different from teenagers in our days, Holden thinks that no one can understand him, that his accumulated knowledge makes him stand on top of the world everyone else being inferior to him, the only option for him is fleeing somewhere alone with his thoughts. Presentation made by Andreea Vass Emanuel Pop