Catcher

=Disciussion Questions= =Connections= =Central Themes= =Important Quotes= =Important Vocabulary= =Major Characters=
 * 1) What is the significance of Jane Galligher?
 * 2) What role does Allie still play in Holden's life?
 * 3) Do you consider Holden a failure? Why or why not? Support your answer.
 * 4) How does Holden use "phoniness" to justify his failures?
 * 5) What does the carrousel represent? And how is it significant.
 * 6) Why does Salinger put Holden's "duck" questions in the book? Is it siginificant in any way?
 * 7) How does the Museum shape the big picture of the book?
 * 8) What is Holden's definition of a phony?
 * 9) How does the first chapter and the last chapter connect? And has Holden really changed in the course of this time?
 * 10) What is the signifacance of the duck's that Holden obsesses about? And how does it relate to other characters in the book as well as Holden himself?
 * 1) //Catcher in the Rye// is, in many ways, about a boy in crisis. Holden is "lost" metaphorically in that he does not know what to do with his life, how to be happy, how to be successful without conforming. A lot of the other works we've read deal with the same issues--being an individual, asserting individuality, achieving and defining success, struggling against society, coming to terms with the past, etc.
 * 2) Like many of the characters in //Lord of the Flies//, Holden is an outsider. In this book the boys blame many of their problems on the beast, just as in //Catcher//, Holden blames his problem's on other people's phoniness.
 * 3) CONTRADICTIONS. Major connection between //Macbeth, Catcher,// and "A Voice from the Wall." In //Macbeth//, there are linguistical contradictions and the contradiction between what you think and what you do. In //Catcher,// Holden is almost hypocritical in the sense that though he calls everyone else phonies when in reality he the biggest phony of them all. He is contradictory because he goes against what he believes.
 * 4) LIARS: Macbeth, Holden, and the woman in "....& Answer." Why do they lie? What are they trying to cover up?
 * 5) LOTF, Macbeth: focus on changing their future and taking control. Catcher: wants future to stay the same. Doesn't work to control it/improve things.
 * 6) Holden fears that Phoebe will turn into her. In "Voice from the Wall," the mother is terrified to have children because she doesn't want them to inherit the fear that she has.
 * 7) CITR, Macbeth and LOTF are stories about individuals finding their place in society and adapting to their worlds. In every story the plot mainly consists of the struggles of individual characters adapting and settling into the niche in society they are making or have been assigned.
 * 8) In both CITR and LOTF the main character/characters are away from their families for the majority of the book. While the characters are away they seem to take advantage of thier freedom or doing things they wouldn't normally do. In CITR Holden smokes and drinks more then he would at home, and in LOTF the children turn into crazy violent people.
 * 9) In "The Yellow Paper" the lady locked in the room is physically being isolated from others while in CITR Holden is emotionally locked in but not physically. Holden is free to do what he wants while the lady in the yellow wallpaper cant do anythng except stay in that room/house all day.
 * 10) CITR and LOTF are both about adolescence and adulthod. And the relationships that the characters have with adults or other children/teenagers.
 * 1) Nostalgia/Retrospect-->regret
 * 2) Internal expression vs. outward expression
 * 3) Adolescence and adulthood
 * 1) The kid was swell. He was walking in the street, instead of on the sidewalk, but right next to the curb. He was making out like he was walking a very straight line, the way kids do, and the whole time he kept singing and humming. I got up closer so i could hear what he was singing. He was singing that song, "If a body catch a body through the rye." He had a pretty little voice, too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and he kept on walking next to the curb and singing " If a body catch a body coming through the rye." It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any more. (115)
 * 2) The only thing that would be different would be //you.// Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, thats all. You'd have an overcoat on this time. Or the kid that was your partner in line last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner. Or you'd have a substitute taking the class, instead of Miss Aigletinger. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrible fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be //diff//erent in some way- I can't explain what i mean. And even if i could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it. . . . Certain things 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.(121-122)
 * 3) Boy, it began to rain like a bastard. In //buckets,// I swear to God.All the parents and mothers and everybody went over and stood right under the roof of the carrousel,so they woundn't get soaked to the skin or anything, but I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty soaking wet, easpecially my neck and my pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way,but i got soaked anyway. I did'nt care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the wa old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don't know why. It was just that she looked so damn //nice,// the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, i wish you could've been there. (212-213)
 * 1) bourgeois
 * 2) crumby
 * 1) Holden Caulfield: main character. wavers when it comes to expressing himself. attempts to be mature even though clearly he's really not. He has internal conflict between his desire to maintain childhood innocence and his desire to be an adult and have sexual relashions.
 * 2) Jane: Holden's close friend from his childhood. Once almost made out with her. Holden always really wants to call her, but he seems to find some sort of excuse each time. [wants to maintain that old memory of her, doesn't want to call her and then discover that she's changed] (NOSTALGIA)
 * 3) Stradlater- really full of himself, says he has some sort of sexual relations with Jane. Doesn't care about how she 'keeps her kings in the back row'. Holden's interaction with Stradlater shows his immaturity (bathroom scene, fight in bedroom and such)
 * 4) Ackley - gross, bad teeth and always picking his nose and biting his nails smells bad. Holden hates him, calls him Ackley kid just to get on his nerves also reveals his immaturity.
 * 5) Pheobe - Holden's younger sister, he thinks she's perfect and sweet and pretty and funny. kind of sees a little of himself in her (she hates/likes the same movies, can tell when someones phony)
 * 6) D.B.- Holden's brother, he used to be a regular writer and then he sold out and moved to Hollywood.
 * 7) Allie- Holden's dead brother. Died from leukemia when they were in Maine. He was two years younger then Holden, and terrifically intelligent. Holden still has a strong connection to him and he was very upset over Allie's death.
 * 8) Sally -The girl who he asked to run away with him. She is a phony but Holden thought she was attractive.