HeuermanAdvanced Comp/Novel

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

SIGNIFICANT FACTORS

Frame narrative; 1st person POV with Holden as the narrator and protagonist/participant.

NARRATIVE GENRE

1st person POV; informal, honest,

confessional, picaresque, a quest narrative, Bildungsroman (a German term for a novel that focuses on the character moving from childhood to maturity)

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE & STYLE

idiomatic; repetitive and adolescent; conveys humor at times; indicates at times confusion/ mental deterioration

HOLDEN’S LANGUAGE/SLANG

Protagonist/narrator; had a mental breakdown; coming of age (16/17); the everyman/all of us

HOLDEN

Holden’s older brother; a writer; a “prostitute” (a sell-out/phony); drives a jaguar

D.B.

An all-male elite school in Pennsylvania; most recent school (4th) that Holden has been kicked out of

PENCEY PREP

Holden worries about/fixates

on their safety and well-being when the lagoon freezes; indication of compassion but also immaturity

CENTRAL PARK DUCKS

Stradlater’s date; a friend from Holden’s childhood; had a lousy childhood; Holden feels protective of her

JANE GALLAGHER

(Save room for more later…)

Holden wears it backward to indicate rebellion against society

RED HUNTING HAT

Holden says he hates them;

believes they are phony, but he acts and imitates them; reveals Holden is an exhibitionist/has overactive imagination

MOVIES

Holden’s younger brother; died

of leukemia, leaving Holden emotionally troubled; had red hair and was wise/intelligent beyond his years; represents the innocence/height of childhood

ALLIE

Symbolic of Allie and a powerful

reminder of his brother’s untimely/unfortunate death; poems indicate sensitivity; the subject of the composition Holden writes for Stradlater

ALLIE’S BASEBALL GLOVE

red (like Allie’s hair); indicates a connection with Allie; a symbol of Holden’s quest/hunt for meaning, truth, love…

RED HUNTING HAT (CONT…)

Holden’s younger sister; one of the few people Holden connects with; values her imagination and innocence

PHOEBE

conveys Holden’s desire to and failure to communicate

UNMADE PHONE CALLS…

reminds him of his childhood;

nostalgia for permanence and stability; doesn’t change but everyone else does; he cannot enter

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

A gift Holden buys for Phoebe; he breaks it accidentally; symbolic of Holden as a “broken” record

“LITTLE SHIRLEY BEANS” RECORD

fascinated yet annoyed; likes

to flirt with but leaves feeling depressed by; has trouble connecting with; feels connected only to Phoebe and Jane

HOLDEN’S RELATIONSHIPS TO FEMALES

Holden’s home; the setting

of the inner frame; symbolic of potential corruption (hotel)

NEW YORK CITY

location of the ducks and their lagoon; where Holden goes after his day in NYC, but he gets lost and cannot find the ducks; where he breaks the record; cold and lonely

CENTRAL PARK

Holden’s desire to save/preserve the innocents; ironically, this fantasy is borne out of a misunderstanding of the poem’s meaning, which celebrates the corruption of innocence

“CATCHER IN THE RYE”

Symbolic of Holden who identifies

with him; was wearing Holden’s sweater; stubborn and fragile; jumped out of a window and fell (no one to “catch” him); falls to preserve his integrity; refuses to compromise

JAMES CASTLE

Mostly negative emotions that vary based on character: he is irritated with Ackley, he is jealous and angry with Stradlater, he is emotionally detached from his father, and he feels betrayed by Mr. Antolini

HOLDEN’S RELATIONSHIP TO MALES

Detached emotionally, except

with Phoebe; avoids/fears parental contact; doesn’t want to cause further issues for his mother who is also depressed

HOLDEN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS FAMILY

signifies the approaching end of Holden’s journey and the inevitable return to reality; site of the fractured nature of the Caulfield family (even Phoebe is sleeping in D.B.’s room)

HOLDEN’S HOME

Holden talks to the kids in the museum, but lectures them as an adult would; Holden’s fixation on the mummies reflects his desire to freeze time as mummies are preserved and their decay is arrested

MUMMIES

A symbol of childhood; it is during Phoebe’s ride on the carrousel that Holden realizes that risks in life are necessary and you cannot protect the innocent from life’s risks/experiences - you have to let them fall

CARROUSEL