CITR - Chapters 15-17

Why does Holden love the idea of glass cases?

"Boy, that museum was full of glass casesThe best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was...Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you" (Salinger 122). "Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway" (Salinger 122).

What's Holden's first thought when he sees Sally?

"Finally, old Sally started coming up the stairs, and I started down to meet her. She looked terrific. She really did. She had on this black coat and sort of a black beret. She hardly ever wore a hat, but that beret looked nice. The funny part is, I felt like marrying her the minute I saw her. I'm crazy. I didn't even like her much, and yet all of a sudden I felt like I was in love with her and wanted to marry her. I swear to God I'm crazy. I admit it" (Saliunger 124).

Towards the end of Ch. 17, What does Holden propose that he and Sally do?

"Here's my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of here? Here's my idea. I know this guy down in Greenwich Village that we can borrow his car for a couple weeks. He used to go to the same school I did and he still owes me ten bucks. What we could do is, tomorrow morning we could drive up to Massachusetts and Vermont, and all around there, see. It's beautiful as hell up there. It really is." I was getting excited as hell, the more I thought about it, and I sort of reached over and took old Sally's goddam hand. What a goddam fool I was. "No kidding," I said. "I have about a hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can take it out when it opens in the morning, and then I could go down and get this guy's car. No kidding. We'll stay in these cabin camps and stuff like that till the dough runs out. Then, when the dough runs out, I could get a job somewhere and we could live somewhere with a brook and all and, later on, we could get married or something. I could chop all our own wood in the wintertime and all. Honest to God, we could have a terrific time! Wuddaya say? C'mon! Wuddaya say? Will you do it with me? Please" (Salinger 132).

Describe Holden's encounter in the park.

"I saw one kid about her age, though, sitting on a bench all by herself, tightening her skate" (Salinger 118) Asks if she knows Phoebe Caulfield; gets response that she's probably in the museum; Very good at interacting w/ her. "I know, but the one where the pictures are, or the one where the Indians are" (Salinger 119)

According to Holden, how are suitcases and religion similar?

"The thing is, it's really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs-if yours are really good ones and theirs aren't" (Salinger 109) "Catholics are always trying to find out if you're Catholic" (Salinger 112). "It's just like those suitcases I was telling you about, in a way" (Salinger 113).

What does Holden decide to do when he gets to the Museum of Natural History?

"Then a funny thing happened. When I got to the museum, all of a sudden I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks. It just didn't appeal to me-and here I'd walked through the whole goddam park and looked forward to it and all..." (Salinger 122).

What record does Holden want to buy for Phoebe?

"There was this record I wanted to get for Phoebe, called "Little Shirley Beans" (Salinger 114).

Who does Holden call at the start of Chapter 15 to meet him for a date?

"What I did do, I gave old Sally Hayes a buzz. She went to Mary A. Woodruff, and I knew she was home because I'd had this letter from her a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't too crazy about her, but I'd known her for years. I used to think she was quite intelligent, in my stupidity" (Salinger 105).

While eating his eggs, who does Holden encounter? How is his behavior in this interaction strange or different?

"While I was eating my eggs, these two nuns with suitcases and all-I guessed they were moving to another convent or something and were waiting for a train-came in and sat down next to me at the counter" (Salinger 108). He is polite to them and admires the nuns quite a bit.