the Catcher in the Rye

1. the Catcher in the Rye By, Zach Hodgin

2. J. D. Salinger • Jerome David Salinger was born on New Years Day in New York City in 1919. • Born to a Jewish father, Sol, and Catholic mother Marie • Marie changed her name to Miriam to pass as Jewish • His family called him Sonny • Salinger attended a private school. McBurney School. • Managed the fencing team, appeared in plays, and wrote for the school newspaper. • Had trouble fitting in • Started attending New York University but dropped out • Sol, sent him to Austria to learn the family trade • Left Austria a month before it was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938

3. J. D. Salinger • Started attending Ursinus College in Pennsylvania but dropped out. • Columbia Univeristy • Started dating socialite Oona O’Neill but left him for Charlie Chalpin. • Drafted in the US Army and served from 1942 to 1944. • Fought in Combat on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge • Entered Dachau labor camp • Hospitalized for combat stress reaction • "You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live.“ • Started writing The Catcher in the Rye after meeting with Ernest Hemingway.

4. J. D. Salinger • Published in 1951. Was a huge success • Secluded himself in Cornish, New Hampshire • There are about five more of his works that are said to be published in the next few years

5. Foundation • Setting - Late forties or early fifties. Beginning at Holden Caulfields private school in Pennsylvania and recounting memories from his time in New York • Point of View – First Person

6. Main Characters • Holden Caulfield – protagonist, narrator, 16, junior in high school. No commitment, socially awkward teenager, rebellious. • Phoebe Caulfield – Holden’s sister, clever, sensitive, the only person that seems to love Holden and accepts him.

7. Secondary characters • Mr. and Mrs. Caulfield – lawyer and a homemaker, well-to-do, superficial. Mr. Caulfield was Catholic. “They’re grand people” and “phony” • Allie – Holden’s younger brother, died of leukemia • D.B. – Holden’s older brother, genius writer, moved to Hollywood to write scripts “phony” • Jane Gallagher – cares about her. Holden’s childhood friend • Sally Hayes – occasional girlfriend, Holden wants to move out west with her. “phony” • Stradlater – Holden’s dorm roomate and Pencey Prep, athletic, popular, prideful. Get into a fistfight “phony”

8. Secondary Characters • Carl Luce – old friend of Holden’s. Holden admires him • Sunny – prostitute that Holden pays for • Maurice – elevator operator, Sunny’s clientele agent • Ackley – stays in the room next to Holden at Pencey Preparatory. Occasional best friend. Describes him as a “terrific bore” and says he has bad hygiene and is rude.

9. Synopsis • Holden gets kicked out of Pencey Prep for failing all of his classes. • Stradlatergets back from a date with Jane Gallagher and Holden thinks they had sex. • Stradlater and Holden get into a fist fight after Holden repeatedly calls him a moron. “All moron’s hate it when you call them a moron” • Holden leaves Pencey for Christmas break and will not return • Leaves for New York to stay with D.B. • At the hotel he meets some women at a bar but they aren’t interested. • Maurice talks him into hiring a prostitute

10. Synopsis • Holden anxiously waits for the girl • Sunny is very young and Holden wants to talk. After Sunny gets upset, Holden pays her to leave • Sunny returns with Maurice and he punches him in the stomach and steal his money • The next morning, Holden calls his girlfriend Sally Hayes to go see a movie • After the movie they go ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza • Holden vents about his hatred of the city and asks Sally if she wants to move out west with him and get married. • Sally declines and Holden calls her a “royal pain in the ass” leaving her to cry.

11. Synopsis • Holden visits a bar where he is a repeating customer. He knows some people in the bar including Carl Luce who Holden admires. • Holden becomes belligerently drunk and makes a phone call to Sally • After gaining soberness, Holden visits his sister Phoebe at his families apartment. • His parents are at a party in Connecticut • When he gets up to the apartment, he wakes Phoebe and they talk. Holden describes to her that he imagines himself running in a rye field catching children from falling off a cliff. • Holden’s parents return home so he leaves to stay with an old teacher of his.

12. Synopsis • Mr. Anolini cares about Holden, giving him advice. •  “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” • After falling asleep, Holden is wakened by Mr. Anolini petting him on the head. Feeling violated, Holden leaves and spends the night on a bench in Grand Central Station. • The next day, Holden decides to move out west to become a deaf-mute and marry a deaf-mute woman and live in a log cabin. • Holden tells Phoebe his idea and she wants to go with him but he declines and she becomes upset • To cheer her up he takes her to the zoo • She rides a carousel and seeing how much fun she has, he becomes happy for the first time. • He decides not to leave

13. Synopsis • The story ends at the zoo • The reader is told that Holden has been retelling this story from a sanatorium and is going through psychotherapy. • He regrets telling this story to the reader as he now misses all of the people he came across including Ackley, Stradlater, and Maurice. • “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”

14. Quotes • “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’re going I have to come out of somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.” • “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.” • "Anyway, I'm sort of glad they've got the atomic bomb invented. If there's ever another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will.“ • “He probably was scared he’d fractured my skull or something when I hit the floor. “It’s too bad I didn’t.”

15. Themes and Motifs • Alienation as a form of rebellion and self-protection against society • The cross between childhood and maturity • Superficiality • Lying, deception • Sexuality, intimacy

16. Symbols • The image of the rye field – Holden wants to protect children playing in a rye field from falling off. Holden wants to protect the innocence of children from the corruption of the adult world. • Red hunting hat – Holden’s unique style. He never wears it around people he knows. Symbolizes his introverted personality but need for companionship.

17. Controversy • Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States • Several shootings have been associated with the novel • Mark David Chapman identified with Holden • On the night of Lennon’s shooting, Chapman was found with a copy of the book in which he had written "This is my statement, Holden Caulfield.” • After Ronald Reagen’sassasination attempt police found a copy of the book on John Hinkley Jr.’s nightstand.

18. Video • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbZjaQsTfEY