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.