english

Phoebe

Phoebe is Holden's ten-year-old sister, whom he loves dearly. Although she is six years younger than Holden, she listens to what he says and understands him more than most other people do. Phoebe is intelligent, neat, and a wonderful dancer, and her childish innocence is one of Holden's only consistent sources of happiness throughout the novel. At times, she exhibits great maturity and even chastises Holden for his immaturity. Like Mr. Antolini, Phoebe seems to recognize that Holden is his own worst enemy.

Jane Gallagher

A girl with whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer, when their families stayed in neighboring summer houses in Maine. Jane never actually appears in The Catcher in the Rye, but she is extremely important to Holden, because she is one of the few girls whom he both respects and finds attractive.

Carl Luce

A student at Columbia who was Holden's student advisor at the Whooton School. Luce is three years older than Holden and has a great deal of sexual experience. At Whooton, he was a source of knowledge about sex for the younger boys, and Holden tries to get him to talk about sex at their meeting.

11

Back in the lobby, Holden starts thinking about Jane Gallagher sitting in Ed Banky's car with Stradlater. He never hooked up with Jane himself, but they did hang out a lot. The met when Holden's mother called up her family to complain that their dog kept peeing on their lawn. A few days later, when Holden tried to say hello to Jane, she was an ice princess about it. After he convinced her that he personally didn't care where the dog relieved itself, they ended up going golfing together. Then he gets into a nice long description about this girl. She's not exactly beautiful, he says, but she really knocks him out, especially the way her mouth moves when she talks. She's the only person to whom he's ever shown Allie's baseball mitt. Holden's mother doesn't like Jane, probably because she doesn't like her mom. OK, so there was this one afternoon where he and Jane almost hooked up. It was a rainy Saturday and they were playing checkers on her porch. Her drunk stepfather came out and asked Jane if there were any cigarettes. She refused to look up or answer, even when he asked repeatedly. After he went back into the house, Jane started crying. Holden moved over so sit right next to her and started kissing her everywhere—her nose, eyes, ears—everywhere except her mouth. They ended up going out for a movie, and Holden asked if the stepfather (Mr. Cudahy) had ever tried anything with her. (Good call; we were wondering that ourselves.) But she says no, and he's never really figured out what the deal was. They just held hands. Jane is an excellent hand-holder. Which reminds him of this time in the movie theater. Jane reached over and put her hand on the back of his neck. It's something you always see older people do, Holden remarks, like a mother to her husband or her kid or something, but when a girl Jane's age does it, "it's so pretty it just about kills you." Anyway, the lobby is getting depressing, so he decides to head to Greenwich Village, where D.B. used to take him once in a while to listen to this guy Ernie play the piano.

12

Holden gets into a "vomity" cab with a driver named Horwitz. He asks his question about the ducks and where they go in the winter, but Horwitz doesn't know. He does know that the fish stay right where they are. Their pores open up, he insists, and they take in nutrients from all the seaweed and stuff around them, even while they're frozen right there in place. Uh, okay. We're not fish expects, but that sounds (ahem) fishy to us. (And to these guys.) As Holden exits the cab (after Horwitz turns him down for a drink), Horwitz insists that the fish are taken care of, because Mother Nature wouldn't leave them to fend for themselves. He's quite worked up about the whole thing. At Ernie's, everyone is intently listening to the piano. The crowd is just a bunch of morons, the kind who laugh at movies that aren't funny. You know. Ernie even bows, which Holden finds disgusting. Question: is there anything that this kid doesn't find disgusting? Apparently, scotch and soda: no matter how old you are, Holden says, you can always drink at Ernie's. Holden listens in on some conversation. On one side, a guy is giving the girl a play-by-play of the last football game he was in. She has to listen, says Holden, because she's not attractive. (Apparently, pretty girls never have to listen to boring conversation.) On his other side is a very preppy, good-looking couple. To be exact, they are a "Joe Yale-looking-guy" and a "terrific looking girl with him." (By the way, Holden informs us, he wouldn't go to Yale or Princeton even if he were dying, which makes absolutely no sense, because how would going to an Ivy League school save you from dying?) He's feeling her up under the table while talking about this guy in his dorm that committed suicide, which ... shows poor taste. To say the least. Not to mention, she doesn't seem too into it. As a better alternative to watching this display, Holden sends a message via the waiter asking Ernie to join him for a drink. Just then a girl with a terrific body named Lillian Simmons greets Holden by name and comes over to this table. She used to date Holden's brother D.B., and now she's with a naval officer. Lillian asks about D.B. and introduces her date. Too bad about that terrific body, because nobody really likes this girl, even the guy who's dating her. Holden resents having to say, "Glad you have met you" to the naval guy who he isn't remotely glad to have met. Then he lies (of course) and says he has to leave to meet someone. Gee, it's too bad the Internet hasn't been invented yet. We get the feeling Holden would be a lot happier trolling Internet message boards than wandering around Manhattan hating everyone.

14

Holden is depressed. We're surprised. (Not.) He smokes some cigarettes, watches the dawn, and talks aloud to his brother Allie, which he sometimes does when he's feeling not-so-great. This leads us into another reminiscence, this time about an incident with one of Holden's childhood friends, Bobby Fallon. Allie wanted to go with the two boys (Holden and Bobby) to play, and Holden said no, since Allie was too little. He regrets this now, so he keeps saying out loud to Allie, "Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby's house." In bed, Holden wishes he could pray, but he's sort of an atheist. Apparently the disciples annoy him, because they were so useless to Jesus. He used to argue about it all the time with a Quaker named Arthur Childs in one of the prep schools he attended. Holden feels pretty sure that Jesus wouldn't have sent Judas to hell, even though the guy betrayed him. So the disciples never even got what they deserved. In fact, all the kids in his family are atheists, and that if there's one thing he can't stand, it's a minister, since they always give sermons in phony voices. Knock knock knock. Oh, hey! It's Maurice and Sunny at the door, and they want five more dollars. Holden refuses, as they told him it would only cost five. They argue a bit, and Sunny finally takes Holden's wallet off dresser and removes the money. Holden starts to cry. Maurice gives him a shove, and Sunny says to leave the kid alone. In a spectacular demonstration of how not to improve a situation, Holden calls Maurice a "goddam dirty moron." When asked to repeat it, Holden obliges. With more adjectives. Maurice punches him hard in the stomach. Holden staggers around and into the bathroom, pretending (in his own mind) that he's taken a bullet to the gut and is dying. He imagines coming back at Maurice with an automatic, calling Jane, and having her bandage up his guts. Disgusted with himself, Holden notes that the movies can really ruin you. Heard that! Getting back into bed, Holden says he'd jump out the window, if he wouldn't end up with a bunch of rubbernecks staring at his gory body.

holden Calfield

Holden is naive and at the same time resentful of the adult world.[4] One of Holden's most striking and quintessential qualities is his powerful revulsion for "phony" qualities, a catch-all term for all the perceived hypocrisy that irritates Holden. It is this cynicism that causes him to distance himself from other people. Despite Holden's strong disdain for phony qualities, he exhibits some of the qualities that he abhors, thereby making him a somewhat tragic character. Holden is very much a character of contradiction; At six feet, two-and-a-half inches, he is tall for his age and already has some gray hair - though he himself admits that he acts more like a 13-year-old than an adult. He continually fails classes and calls himself "dumb," yet he shows intelligence through his reasonably articulate narration.

ch 15

Holden wakes up around 10, smokes some cigarettes, and thinks about Jane. Basically, nothing has changed in the past 8-10 hours. He does end up giving Sally Hayes a call. He says she's not too smart, but he got tricked into thinking so for a while since she knew a lot about theater and literature and all that stuff. Also, he spent a lot of time making out with her, which can obscure the facts. Once has her on the phone, they set a date to see a matinee. Then she tells him all about these boys who are just crazy over her, which is a less than tactful thing to do. After he hangs up, Holden looks out his window at the "perverts" across the way, but they all have their shades pulled down. It's only Sunday and he knows he can't go home for a few more days. So, he gets in a cab and heads for Grand Central Station. He counts his money and realizes he's spent a ton since he left school, which is nothing new, but still makes him feel bad. We also get some insight here into Holden's family—it seems his father does in fact make a lot of money, as a corporation (corporate) lawyer. After dropping his bags off, Holden has a light breakfast at a counter. Turns out, the reason he's so skinny is that he never eats enough. Good to know? We guess? Holden lends a hand to two nuns nearby who don't seem to know what to do with their cheap suitcases. Which leads Holden into a digression about ... inexpensive suitcases. At Elkton Hills (one of his many previous boarding schools), Holden roomed with a guy named Dick Slagle who had very inexpensive suitcases. Shameful, right? Well, Dick thought so. He was so embarrassed about it that he used to keep them under the bed instead of on the luggage rack. Of course, this was depressing to Holden, who himself had very expensive suitcases. So he put his under the bed, too. The funny thing is, Dick kept taking Holden's suitcases out and putting them back on the rack so that people would think they were his. But—he also kept insulting them, calling them "bourgeois." Sheesh. You really can't please some people. Obviously, both of them ended up getting new roommates. Wise words from Holden: it's hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs. Back to the nuns: one of them is carrying one of those Salvation Army-type baskets for other people to donate money. He asks if they're taking up a collection, as he would make a contribution. He's mostly depressed that they're eating toast and coffee while he's eating bacon and eggs. He finally gives them ten dollars, though they keep asking if he's sure he can afford to do that. The nuns, in addition to being nuns, are schoolteachers from Chicago who have just come to New York. One of the nuns teaches English, and Holden wonders how she feels about the sexy bits of books she has to teach. You know, since she's a nun. So they start talking about English (Holden's best subject), and we get a nice list of the books he's read: Beowulf, Lord Randal My Son, Return of the Native, Romeo and Juliet, etc. Some of Shmoop's favorites! The nun gets all excited about Romeo and Juliet, which Holden thinks isn't exactly nun-appropriate. But he indulges in a discussion of it anyway. What bothered him most in the play wasn't when Romeo and Juliet died; it was when Mercutio died. (Us too!) Holden tries to pay the nuns' bill, but the women won't let him. In retrospect, the conversation was actually a little stressful, since he was afraid they were going to ask him if he was Catholic. His father was Catholic at one point, he tells us. He remembers a kid named Louis Shaney who was cool to talk to until Louis tried to subtly find out if he was Catholic. Just like the suitcases. After accidentally blowing smoke in the nuns' face as they say goodbye, Holden apologizes, is embarrassed, and generally feels depressed by the whole thing, especially the money part.

13

Holden walks 41 blocks back to his hotel, on the grounds that sometimes, you just feel like walking. True that. It's cold, so he puts his hunting hat back on, noting that he doesn't care how he looks. Too bad he doesn't have his gloves, which someone at Pencey stole. It's also too bad that he's kind of a coward. Even if he did know who stole his gloves, he wouldn't have had the guts to beat the guy up like he deserved. Anyway, he'd much rather push someone out a window than sock them in the jaw. Wow. Talk about escalating violence. Heading into yet another bar for yet another drink (#4, if you're keeping count), Holden assures us he has a great tolerance for alcohol. He puked once, but only because he wanted to. Not because he had to. Uh-huh. Pretty sure we've heard that one. He changes his mind, though, when he sees some smelly, drunk men coming out of the bar. Holden ends up back at the (depressing) hotel. As soon as he gets into the elevator, the elevator man asks him if he's up for a good time. Actually, the elevator man wants to set him up with a woman. And by "set up," we mean he wants to pimp out a prostitute for five bucks. Holden, who by the way has told the elevator man he is 22, says sure. When he gets back to his room, he changes his shirt and brushes his teeth. Classy! Actually, now that the time has come, Holden informs us he's a virgin. Not that he hasn't had a few opportunities, it's just that he never got around to it. The problem is, most girls always tell you to stop. Most guys just keep going, but Holden actually stops. Um, we find this extremely disturbing. Anyway, he figures that now is the chance to get in some practice. Right on time, the girl shows up at his door. She's not bad-looking, and asks Holden if he's the guy that Maurice (the elevator man) is sending her to. When Holden confirms, she takes off her coat and sits down on his bed in her green dress. She looks nervous, probably because she's about Holden's age. Holden introduces himself as Jim Steele, and the prostitute, obviously not one for the chit-chat, takes her dress off. This, of course, only makes Holden even more nervous. He asks her for her name (Sunny—we're guessing not her real name) and then wants to know if they can just chat for a while. She's all "whatever" and asks him to hang up her dress in the closet. This depresses Holden, since he can imagine her buying it in a store where no one knew that she was really a prostitute, like maybe he'd feel better if he'd stop imagining these depressing scenarios. Sunny is a bad conversationalist and just wants to get the sex over with already. Holden's not up for it, so he makes up a story about having had a recent operation on his clavichord, which isn't so much a part of the body as it is a musical instrument. Sunny doesn't know this, of course. She does, however, think Holden is cute, much like a guy in the movies. So she sits in his lap. When he doesn't immediately throw her down and go at it, she gets irritated. She demands the money, so Holden gives her the five dollars that Maurice said it would cost. Sunny ups the price to ten, and then basically storms out the door when he refuses.

Mr. Antolini

Holden's former English teacher at the Elkton Hills School. Mr. Antolini now teaches at New York University. He is young, clever, sympathetic, and likable, and Holden respects him. Holden sometimes finds him a bit too clever, but he looks to him for guidance. Like many characters in the novel, he drinks heavily.

Mr. Spencer

Holden's history teacher at Pencey Prep, who unsuccessfully tries to shake Holden out of his academic apathy.

Ackley

Holden's next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Ackley is a pimply, insecure boy with terrible dental hygiene. He often barges into Holden's room and acts completely oblivious to Holden's hints that he should leave. Holden believes that Ackley makes up elaborate lies about his sexual experience.

D.B

Holden's older brother. D. B. wrote a volume of short stories that Holden admires very much, but Holden feels that D. B. prostitutes his talents by writing for Hollywood movies.

stradlater

Holden's roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is handsome, self-satisfied, and popular, but Holden calls him a "secret slob," because he appears well groomed, but his toiletries, such as his razor, are disgustingly unclean. Stradlater is sexually active and quite experienced for a prep school student, which is why Holden also calls him a "sexy bastard."

allie

Holden's younger brother. Allie dies of leukemia three years before the start of the novel. Allie was a brilliant, friendly, red-headed boy—according to Holden, he was the smartest of the Caulfields. Holden is tormented by Allie's death and carries around a baseball glove on which Allie used to write poems in green ink.

jealosy

Jane Gallagher sitting in Ed Banky's car with Stradlater. He never hooked up with Jane himself, but they did hang out a lot.

bernice

The blond girl that Holden dances with at the Lavender Room -- she talks about how much she likes movies/movie stars. She hates swearing and profanity

Maurice

The elevator operator at the Edmont Hotel, who procures a prostitute for Holden.

sunny

The prostitute whom Holden hires through Maurice. She is one of a number of women in the book with whom Holden clumsily attempts to connect.

holden

The protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden is a sixteen-year-old junior who has just been expelled for academic failure from a school called Pencey Prep. Although he is intelligent and sensitive, Holden narrates in a cynical and jaded voice. He finds the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him almost unbearable, and through his cynicism he tries to protect himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. However, the criticisms that Holden aims at people around him are also aimed at himself. He is uncomfortable with his own weaknesses, and at times displays as much phoniness, meanness, and superficiality as anyone else in the book. As the novel opens, Holden stands poised on the cliff separating childhood from adulthood. His inability to successfully negotiate the chasm leaves him on the verge of emotional collapse.

holden

This idea in the book may be Holden's criticism of a society that is unable to acknowledge his hidden intelligence.

Phony

adults, Holden does not like adults and he refers to them as phonies. People that act fake

The ducks

where did the ducks go in the winter? Where did they go