Stream of consciousness is a type of narrative that traces the thoughts and feelings of a character. It is a collection of myriad impressions that influence the flow of thoughts. It is a representation of the continuous movement in the mind of an individual. It approximates the flow of thoughts and sensory impressions that pass the mind each instant. This kind of narrative is often fragmented. There may be a lack of proper organization of ideas as thoughts do not necessarily flow in a particular order. The interior mental and emotional state is emphasized on, rather than the outside world. A stream of consciousness novel may use a technique called ‘interior monologue.’ The character’s thoughts are presented directly and may be restricted to …show more content…
The novel begins at Pencey Preparatory, a private school where Holden studied and has just been expelled from. Holden skips an ongoing football game and instead, goes to the house of Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. Like in every subject other than English, Holden had failed in history. Mr. Spencer, though well-meaning, was not happy about this and read aloud Holden’s answers, which thoroughly annoyed him.
Holden then goes to his dormitory, where he is packing is disturbed by Ackley who stays in the neighboring dorm. He then gets into a fight with his roommate Stradlater who doesn’t appreciate a composition that Holden wrote for him, in addition to probably mistreating Jane, Holden’s old friend, while on a date. After a failed attempt at getting some sleep, Holden decides to spend the night at a hotel. His parents are not yet aware about his expulsion so he does not wish to go home before Wednesday, which is when the Christmas holidays
…show more content…
Next, he has a prostitute, Sunny, come to his room but is uncomfortable once she enters. Maurice, the bell boy, punches him and gets an extra 5 dollars from him. Post a quick sleep, he calls Sally, an old acquaintance, for a date. Before meeting her, he checks in his luggage at Grand Central Station, meets two nuns and buys a record for his little sister, Pheobe. He then watches a play with Sally after which they go skating. He impulsively makes a rude comment which makes her leave immediately. He then watches a show by himself and gets fully drunk. While trying to find ducks at a frozen pond at the Central Park, he trips and breaks the record he’d bought for Pheobe. Completely exhausted, Holden decides to head home and secretly meet Pheobe.
Fortunately, Holden’s parents aren’t at home and he manages to meet Phoebe. He describes to her his fantasy of being a guardian of children playing in a rye field, catching them in case they fall off. This justifies the title, The Catcher in the Rye. When he parents arrive, he sneaks out and goes to the home of Mr. Antolini, his English teacher, to spend the night. After receiving advice on life, Holden falls into a short sleep. He wakes up to find Mr. Antolini patting his head, which causes him great discomfort and he
His belief of being superior causes him to view other classmates as “crooks” (pg.6) and “phonies” (pg.17). When sharing stories about his dorm roommates, Holden highlights their negative aspects. During the football game, one of the only other people to stay in the dorm is Ackley, Holden’s neighbour. Although Holden knew “[Ackley] hardly went anywhere” (pg.22) since the other classmates did not like him, he remains annoyed by Ackley’s behaviour and primarily describes his poor hygiene habits such as “never … using [a] handkerchief” (pg.40) to showcase him in a dehumanizing manner. Furthermore, Holden’s jealousy of roommate Stradlater’s relationship with former love interest Jane Gallagher causes the boys to get into a physical brawl. After the fight, Holden receives little to no attention from Ackley and fed up with feeling “sad and lonesome” (pg.58) at school, decides to act upon his frustration. As an outsider, Holden’s is unable to gain acceptance from his peers and find comfort at school, therefore to escape his peer’s negative behaviour towards him, Holden decides to run away from
In the first chapter of this novel, we get introduced to the protagonist and narrator of the novel, Holden Caufield, from a rest home in which he has been sent for therapy. He refuses to talk about his early life, although he does explain that his older brother “D.B” sold out to writing for Hollywood. His story and breakdown begins in the school of Pencey Prep, a boarding school set in Pennsylvania. The setting for the early chapters in the narration is his "terrible" school, to which he describes the atmosphere to be “as cold as the December air on Thomsen Hill”. Holden’s student career at Pencey Prep has been destroyed by his refusal to apply himself. We know this after Holden explains he failed four of his five subjects, passing only English. Due to his lack of effort and determination, he was forbidden to return to the school after the term. The Saturday before Christmas vacation began, Holden overlooked the football field, where Pencey usually
Holden has numerous distinct attributes pertaining to both childhood and adulthood. His transition from growing and relational life, to an uncontrolled spiritual realm, this stresses him. He has instances of introspection that helps him encompass a realization for his own livelihood. When he shares with his sister Phoebe what he would sincerely like to do with his life he says “I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.” (Salinger 173) That quote reveals the reasoning for the title of the book because Holden wants nothing more than to protect the innocence of children.
Teenagers often struggles with school due to the difficulty to get good grades and interact with teachers and other students. Holden is at Mr. Spencer’s house because Mr. Spencer wants to
Holden's disconnection from his family and friends causes an isolation that then leads to the deep depression expressed in the novel as “his great fall”. Sending him to boarding school portrays the physical and emotional distance that Holden faces with his parents. After the death of his younger brother it is implied that Holden displayed the tendencies of a distraught teneager. By “flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all.(6))” Yet instead of dealing with the issues of their problematic son they instead choose to send him away to boarding school as a means of not having to have that problem. Holden is so far disconnected from his parents emotionally and physically that it becomes a sure fire way for him to lead the life of a
He left 3 days before they were supposed to go home for winter break. He goes to a hotel for at least a week and walks around the city. He does not want to go home and face his parents mostly his father because Holden has got kicked 3 other private schools and his dad would “kill him.” Holden’s sister Phoebe says to him “I suppose you failed in every single subject again.” His little sister was not surprised at all that he failed out of his school again. Phoebe is 10 years old giving her bigger brother a talk about why he’s not good in school. Phoebe should not be able to give his older brother advise because she is the younger one. Holden should be mature enough to lead his sister to do good overall in life by facing his
means to him. Suddenly, they hear their parents open the door the apartment. His mother checks on Phoebe. Phoebe loans Holden her Christmas money, which makes Holden cry. He gives her his red hunting cap and leaves the building.
Lack of communication is present throughout the entire book, along with the repercussions that ensue. Holden’s recluse social skills and personality result in his loneliness. Examples from the novel displaying Holden’s lack of friends includes when Holden stated, “Anyway, it was the Saturday
In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger writes about Holden’s life and how he is remembering his past when he went to Pencey Prep, the last of four boarding schools that he has attended. Holden is seventeen when he tells the story but the part of the story he is telling, he is sixteen, the novel also follows Holden after he has left Pencey Prep. Throughout the novel Holden slowly reveals how he feels towards his roommates, Stradlater and Ackley, and how he feels towards his siblings, D.B., who is a writer in Hollywood and Allie, who passed away from leukemia. Holden shows his lonely, short tempered, and insecure characteristics through name calling and descriptive diction.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is the story of a young man making his way through New York city, enduring hardship, and figuring out life along the way. Although the story focuses on Holden at this point in his life, the story also details events that have happened previously, throughout his childhood and adolescence. These events have been a part of the development of Holden as a character, and make up the reasons Holden behaves and does things a little differently than others. Holden Caulfield is a lonely person who becomes increasingly depressed throughout the story. He is also judgmental towards others and continuously lies as a form of entertainment.
When Holden arrives New York, he tried to call several people but for various reasons he decided against it. Holden doesn’t seem to know what to do in New York since he is three days earlier as expected by his parents. So he rode a cab and he asked the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go when the lagoon freezes, but his question annoys the driver.
Holden hates those magazines that the steward sells on the train. Holden cites, "I can usually even read one of those dumb stories in a magazine without puking. You know. One of those stories with a lot of phony, lean-jawed guys named David in it, and a lot of phony girls named Linda or Marcia that are always lighting all the goddam Davids' pipes for them" (53). Holden cannot stand that all the stupid same old stories. The ones where there is always a hero and saves someone that is in trouble. After that Holden felt a little down so he decided to pass the time. Holden knows this girl named Sally Hayes. They used to send a lot of time together when they were younger. Holden is bored and decides to give her a call. He calls her and her father answers and then gives the phone to Sally. Sally Hayes picked up the phone and asks, "yes--who is this?" Holden goes on to state, "she was quite a little phony. I'd already told her father who it was" (106). Holden cannot believe that she knows who is calling but asks for no reason. Sally is just trying to play a stupid game that Holden would rather not want to play at any time.
He wakes her and is at first happy to see him, talking continuously but upon finding out of his expulsion, she gets sulky. Chapter 22: Holden gives her space to calm down, then tries to explain why he hates the school and was expelled. Not accepting this, she asks for one thing he likes, and he names his dead brother. Sally asks what he plans to do, and he imagines catching children falling off the cliff in a giant field of rye. Chapter 23: Holden leaves and calls his English teacher at a past school that had picked up James Castle’s corpse in a show of kindness.
The story centers on the weekend Holden spends in New York City after he is expelled from his fourth school, Pencey Prep. Instead of returning home to his disappointed parents, he sets out on a journey. At the beginning of this pilgrimage,
The Catcher in the Rye is a book about a guy named Holden Caulfield. He narrates the whole story to the readers. He starts off by telling the story about being at Pencey Prep school, which is a private school located in Pennsylvania. It is the day of the game and he misses it saying everyone is a bunch of “phonies.” He ends up getting expelled because he is failing four out of five classes and goes to say goodbye to his teacher Mr. Spencer. Before he leaves he goes back to his dorm to find his roommate, Stradlater, getting ready for a date with Jane Gallagher. Holden used to date Jane and he is very angry at Stradlater. When Stradlater returns from the date with Jane, Holden questions Stradlater immensely and Holden attacks Stradlater because he is in such a rage. Holden then realizes he has had enough of the prep school and leaves a couple days earlier to go back to Manhattan.