Chapter 26

In Chapter 26 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we find out that Holden is in a mental hospital after having a nervous breakdown. Holden has finally reached the adulthood he longed to avoid and it was too much of a shock for him. He has just become an adult and he already misses his childhood. His last message to us is: "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." (pg.277) Holden misses Stradlater, Ackley, and Maurice because as unpleasant as they were, they were still a part of his life before he became an adult. He says that no matter how much you dislike someone or something, you cannot help but miss them of they were from a time that you treasured dearly. Holden Caulfield's experience in New York taught him that it is impossible to hide from the inevitable.

Chapter 25

In Chapter 25 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield starts off by going to the waiting room at the subway station and reading a magazine that makes him believe he might have cancer. This is the first sign that he is heading toward a nervous breakdown. The second sign is when he is walking down the street and becoming scared that he will not make it to the other side. He prays to Allie to help him make it. Holden is beginning to realize that he only has two choices: adulthood or death, and he can't bring himself to face either. He comes up with a plan to runaway so that he will never have to interact with people again (therefore avoiding both options). He decides that he will visit Phoebe first to give her back her money and to say good bye. However, Phoebe wants to come with him and he won't let her. This marks the first time in the novel that Holden shows maturity. He puts Phoebe ahead of himself because he knows that he cannot take proper care of her. Phoebe gets mad at him and he goes to the zoo with her where he watches her and the other kids ride the carousel. When Phoebe asks him if he is going to stay, he tells her yes. Holden realizes that wherever he goes he will always find phoniness but facing adulthood won't be as bad if he is around the people he cares about.

Chapter 24

In Chapter 24 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden goes to visit his English teacher from Elkton Hills, Mr. Antolini and his wife. Holden tells Mr. Antolini about his experience at Pencey and how he failed a course called Oral Expression because he liked hearing people digress from the point that they started talking about. This is yet another subtle sign of Holden's immaturity. He is like a child because he cannot sit through the same thing for too long, he likes it when the subject of something slowly begins to go off track because that is more interesting to him than listening to the same topic for a while. "The trouble with me is, I like it when someone digresses. It's more interesting and all." (pg.238) Then later once Holden goes to bed, he wakes up to feel Mr. Antolini pat him on the head. This frightens Holden into leaving because he thinks that this was a "flitty" move. It is interesting to note that Holden criticized Luce earlier in the novel about his attitude towards homosexuals when Holden is not acting any more mature here.

Chapter 23

In Chapter 23 of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden and Phoebe's conversation is interrupted by the return of their parents which results in Holden hiding in the closet while Phoebe lies to their mother to cover up for Holden being there. After their mother leaves, Holden decides he has to go and Phoebe gives him her Christmas money which makes him cry. Holden cries because Phoebe is giving him all her money just to be nice and she's a child and there are adults who would not have given him even a little money no matter how much he needed it. Phoebe gets scared when she sees Holden start to cry because she already sees him as an adult and she does not like to think of people she looks up to crying. Before he leaves, Holden gives Phoebe the pieces of "Little Shirley Beans" because it is the only thing he has with him that would mean anything to her.

Chapter 22

In Chapter 22 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to be when he's older. Holden's response is: "I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. ... And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start going over the cliff." (pg.224) Holden wants to be the "catcher in the rye". He wants to prevent the children from entering the rye, or the adult world. Whenever children enter the adulthood, it is before they are ready. This is similar to the way that the children fall off the cliff. They are falling before they are ready to stop playing the game and Holden has to be there to save them before they are forced to leave childhood behind altogether.

Chapter 21

In Chapter 21 of The Catcher of the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield sneaks to his apartment while his parents are at a party to visit his little sister, Phoebe. While he is talking to Phoebe, he is surprised to hear that she poured ink on the coat of the boy in her class. He is worried that she might be growing up into the world where everybody is mean. Holden does not want to lose Phoebe to that world because she is the only person left that is not "phony". Once Phoebe hears that Holden got expelled, she immediately gets upset because she feels that Holden will not have a future. She thinks that he is not living up to their parents' expectations and that he will hurt the family if he goes on the way he is. Phoebe shows that she is starting to get older not just from pouring ink on Curtis Weintraub's jacket (a bad thing) but she is now concerned about her family and not just herself (a good thing). Unlike Holden, Phoebe shows that there are some good things about becoming older.

Chapter 20

In Chapter 20 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden leaves the Wicker Bar and goes to Central Park. There he reflects more on Allie and we learn something significant about Allie's funeral: Holden wasn't even present. Holden also says "I know it's only his body and all that's in the cemetery and his soul's in heaven and all that crap." (pg.202) This directly contradicts his earlier claims to be an atheist. It's possible that Holden believes in God but does not want to. Maybe he thinks if he puts too much trust in God then God will betray him just like he betrayed Allie. Holden feels that if God were as good as people say he is, then he wouldn't make people leave their comfort zones. Allie was comfortable being alive and Holden was comfortable being a child.

Chapter 19

In Chapter 19 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield goes to have a drink with Carl Luce, his student advisor at Whooton. Luce had the highest I.Q. 0f any boy at Whooton however he never talks about anything but sex. According to Holden, Luce could tell you whether any guy was homosexual or not. Holden says that what annoys him about Luce is he will always ask you personal questions but if you ask him anything personal, he will get upset. Luce tells Holden, "Your mind is immature." (pg.191) Holden responds "It is. I know it." (pg.191) This allows us to give Holden some credit because at least he admits that he is immature.

Chapter 18

In Chapter 18 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden goes to the movies at Radio City. "It was probably the worst thing I could've done" (pg.177). He is very critical of the stage show but does hold great respect for the kettle drummer. He detests the movie but cannot bring himself to leave. He feels that the woman sitting near him is a phony because she cried through the whole movie but won't take her child to the bathroom. Holden ends the chapter by saying that he likes books. Holden like books better than movies because he feels that book writers aren't doing anything phony because they are stateing their original thoughts and no one else is pretending that they know how that author feels. Wheras movie writers are having their work brought to life by other people who know nothing about what they are acting in.

Chapter 17

In Chapter 17 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden goes on a date with Sally Hayes, a girl who "gives [him] a royal pain in the ass." (pg.173) however, he is so desperate for company from someone familiar that he goes to see a play with her. This is where we learn the reason Holden hates actors: "they don't act like real people" (pg. 164). Holden hates anything fictitous because it angers hin to see something that is not real but people still act like it is real. After the play, he and Sally go ice skating. There he asks Sally to run away with him and live with him in the mountains. She says that if they do that at all, they should wait until after college but Holden says that it will not be the same. The reason he says this is because he feels that this is their last chance to escape the inevitable. If they wait until after college, then, it will be too late and they will not have any innocence anymore. Sally walks out on him and Holden admits that he probably wouldn't have done it with her anyway but "I meant it when I asked her" (pg.174).

Chapter 16

In Chapter 16 of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden buys a record for Phoebe and goes to the park to find her. He finds a girl about Phoebe's age and talks to her. He finds he is more comfortable talking to her than an adult because of her innocence. He decides to go to the Museum of Natural History but changes his mind once he gets there. "All of a sudden I wouldn't have gone inside for a million bucks" (pg. 159). The reason Holden does not want to go inside the museum is because he is scared it won't be the same as it was when he was a child. He is afraid that if he does go in something will have changed and the reason he liked going so much as a child was because nothing ever changed. Even though he is changing, he does not want everything else to change.

Chapter 15

In Chapter 15 of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield meets two nuns at the train station. He has a nice conversation with them but is glad when they leave because he was worried that if the conversation went on much longer, then, they would try to find out if he was Catholic. Holden feels that Catholics always try to find out if other people are Catholics because they feel it will make the conversation more enjoyable. It is almost as if they think you are not worth their company if you do not have the same beliefs as them. Holden wishes that everybody were like young children who could not care less what religion other people are. Children also don't care what your personal belongings are like (hence Holden's speech about his roomate's suitcases (pg.141)).

Chapter 14

In this chapter of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden gets a visit from Maurice and Sunny who try to get the five dollars that Holden did not pay even when Maurice told Holden that he only had to pay five dollars and not ten. When Sunny takes five dollars out of Holden's wallet, he starts crying. "I'd give anything if hadn't but I had." (pg. 134) After Maurice beats him up, Holden has a childlike revenge fantasy of having a bullet in his guts and hunting down Maurice and shooting him with a machine gun. Holden demonstrates his immaturity in this chapter twice. First, by crying over five dollars and then, by taking out his anger at Maurice by just imagining that he was a war hero who was going to kill him.

Holden is a Phony

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield constantly criticizes phoniness, however at several points in the story, he himself acts like a phony. He claims at one part of the story to be a sex fiend but later refuses to have sex with Sunny (126-127). He also cannot bring himself to go any further whenever a girl tells him to stop which he himself admits that he should (120). Another example is when he describes what would happen if he met the glove thief, then, he once again would be going against something he believes in
(116-117). Holden Caulfield is a phony because he often lies to people an usually goes against what he feels like he should do.

The Ducks in Central Park

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the ducks in Central Park are a symbol for how Holden Caulfield sees himself. Holden feels like he is being pushed out of childhood much like the ducks are pushed out of the pond when winter comes around. He wants to know if someone comes to take them to the zoo (where someone else will take care of them) or if they will fly south (where they will have to take care of themselves). At first, it is just a little thing in the back of his mind but then he talks to Horwitz, the cab driver about it who snaps at him (107). This shows that as he gets closer to leaving his childhood behind, the matter of the ducks (and himself) becomes more of a puzzle to him. Salinger probably included this symbol because it shows that Holden's biggest worry is leaving his childhood behind. The duck's in Central Park are a symbol for the childhood of Holden Caulfield.

Holden's Character

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we get to discover some things about Holden Caulfield's character through his reactions to and thoughts about Jane Gallagher. We learn that he does not like the idea of sex because he and Jane never did any more than hold hands for the most part (103). However, there was "that afternoon Jane and [Holden] came close to necking" when Holden comforts her after the "booze hound" her mother was dating came outside and asked her where the cigarettes were (101-102). Holden is scared about what she and Stradlater did on their date because Holden does not want his fiew of her as an innocent virgin to be tarnished. We discover that, like a child, Holden finds mild sexual acts amusing. An example of this is when he thought it was hysterical that Jane put her hand on the back of his neck (103). Through Holden's thoughts about Jane Gallagher we can learn more about his character.

Holden's Maturity

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is very immature. He tells us that he looks much older than he really is, yet when he tries to buy a Scotch and Soda at the Lavender Room, the waiter does not let him and he only gets a Coke (91). When he is dancing with Marty, he plays a childish joke on her by saying that he just saw Gary Cooper (although at least he shows a little maturity when he says he felt bad about doing it) (96). Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye is an immature person but at least he does admit his immaturity at some points in the story.

Being a Pushover and Being Kind

Being a pushover means that you are too nice to someone to the point that you let them walk all over you and get whatever they want from you. Being kind means that you are nice to other people but that if they go too far, you can still say no to them. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden can be a bit of a pushover because he says that if he had ever found the guy who stole his gloves, he wouldn't actually do anything about it. He does not want to make a big deal over something that could be minor so he doesn't do anything which is why he doesn't care whenever something that belongs to him has been stolen. It is better to be a kind person than to be a pushover because then you can be a nice person while still retaining your dignity.

Growing Up Without Being Phony

It is impossible to grow up without being phony because phoniness is like a disease that spreads through the air that we will all eventually get at some point in our life. Even Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, who constantly criticizes phoniness, is a phony at several times in the novel. He says he can't stand movies because they are phony yet he goes to to the movies frequently. He tells Mrs. Morrow lies about her son just to amuse himself. He says that he can't stand being around Ackley but invites him to go to the movies with him (he's doing two phony things at once). No one will ever be able to go through life without being phony because being phony is a human instinct that we can never get rid of.

Accepting the Rules

If you do not accept the rules of the dominant culture and do not play by them, then you will find yourself becoming increasingly more miserable until you eventually can not bear to live anymore. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield does not have sex with the prostitute because he is determined not to live by the rules of the dominant culture, or the adult world. He feels that one of the key steps to crossing from childhood to adulthood is having sex and he does not want to do that because he feels that becoming an adult is the most important rule set by the dominant society. However, try as he might he can not stop himself from being miserable from living in a world where he doesn't live by the code. You must accept the rules of the dominant culture if you want to survive happily amongst your fellow humans.

Adjusting to a World

If you wish to adjust to a world that you did not create, you must learn how to play by someone else's rules. Like Mr. Thurmer told Holden in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, life is a game that you have to play by the rules. Everybody is thrust into a world that they did not ask to be put into and they have to cope witht their situation. If you wish to adjust to a world that you did not create, you need to learn to work with the other people around you because you will never survive if you alienate yourself.

Conforming to the world

It is inevitable that we conform to the world and society around us. It is impossible to live in a world and not eventually become like everyone else around us. Phoniness is a disease that spreads through the air like the flu. In "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, even Holden who constantly criticizes phoniness, makes arrangements to go to the movies in Chapter 5, something he says he can't stand to do because he says it is so phony. We all will eventually succumb to the phoniness that surrounds us.

Holden and the Ducks

I feel that Holden is concerned about the ducks during the winter because he feels like he is in a similar situation. He feels that he is being forced into a new world before he has finished his time in the current one. He wants to spend more time in the world he is in right now (the world of childhood) before it ends and he has to enter the world of adulthood. This is like how the ducks want to spend more time at the pond before it freezes over in the winter and they are forced to go somewhere else. Holden feels that he is not ready to enter a new world so he is worried about the ducks in the park because they are facing the same dilema that he is facing.

Holden Criticizing Everything

Holden is critical of many things and often expresses his feelings with the word, "phony". One of the things he is critical of is Hollywood and the movies because he says his brother, D.B. is "out in Hollywood, being a prostitute." Some other examples are his schools, partciularly his headmasters, people like Ackley, who never stop asking annoying questions, and people like Stradlater, who are completley obsessed with themselves. Holden criticizes many things in life and has a hard time seeing the positive side of things and people.

Being a Good Person

Being a good person means that you do not anything to hurt other people. You would not insult someone else or try to make them feel bad. When someone else is in a bad situation, you try to help them out instead of making them feel worse (like Spencer did by reading Holden's essay out loud). In order to be a good person, you make sure that you are, to the best of your ability, making the lives of other people better.

Being True to Yourself

To be true to yourself means to not to do anything that goes against what you believe. For example, if you are a quiet, thoughtful person, you should not be loud and obnoxious just to get the attention of other people. If you want to be true to yourself, then you should not say or do anything that does not match up with who you truly are.