Catcher in the Rye Final Project

When Holden was younger he frequently went to the museum.  The museum was one of his favorite places to go.  He said, "I get very happy when I think about it" (p.119-120).  The museum is one of the few places he enjoys and feels comfortable.  He said, "The best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was.  Nobody'd be different.  The only thing that would be different would be you" (p.121). Being that Holden dislikes change, the museum is the perfect place for him.  Holden should buy a souvenir from the museum and keep it forever, so whenever he is depressed he could look at the souvenir and feel happy.  He likes the fact that in the museum nothing changes and he knows what to expect.  He likes knowing that nothing will become phony.  His life has changed dramatically since Allie's death, so he likes that in the museum time stops and everything is preserved.  

Holden's brother, D.B., is a writer living in Hollywood.  One book D.B. wrote is The Secret Goldfish.  That is one of Holden's favorite books. "He wrote this terrific book of short stories, The Secret Goldfish,…It killed me" (pgs.1-2) said Holden.  In Hollywood, D.B, is writing movies, which is ironic because Holden hates the movies.  Holden once said, "If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me" (p. 2).  Holden thinks that movies are phony and so are the people who go to see them.  Part of the reason why The Secret Goldfish is important to Holden is because it is one of the few things written by D.B. that he does not consider phony.  For Holden not to think something is phony is a big thing, because he considers mostly everything and everyone phony.  The Secret Goldfish is about a child who will not let anyone look at his goldfish because he bought it with his own money.  This is like Holden because he keeps things to himself and he is very secretive.  For example, when Holden got kicked out of school he did not want to tell his parents what happened, so instead he lived on his own for a few days.  Obviously this is a bit more extreme than the book, however Holden can relate to the boy in the book.  That is why Holden must like the book and find it so funny.

Mr. Antolini is Holden's old English teacher.  Holden is very close to him and kept in touch with him even after the school year was over.  Holden is so close to him that he called him up in the middle of the night asking him if it was okay if he came over to spend the night.  Once Holden got to Mr. Antolini's apartment, Mr. Antolini gave Holden a long lecture of what Holden should do to change his life around and that he must do it soon.  On a piece of paper Mr. Antolini wrote, "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one" (p. 188).  Holden told Mr. Antolini that he would read it carefully and he would keep it. Holden said, "'Yeah sure.' I did, too.  I still have the paper he gave me" (p.188).   Whether Holden realized it or not, this quote had great significance.  Mr. Antolini was trying to save Holden before he fell so deep that he could not recover.  This quote suggests to Holden the difference between mature and immature people and that Holden should choose to be the mature man.

The day Holden went to New York City with his fencing team, he past a sports store after he got off the subway, right after he realized he lost all the foils.  In the window he saw a red hunting hat with one of those very long peaks.  He bought it for only one dollar, and he was very proud of that deal.  Holden said, "The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back-very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way.  I looked good in it that way" (pgs. 17-18).  Several times when Holden was alone or needed protection he put on the hat.  It is ironic he bought it right after he lost the foils because it shows that he needed something to protect him from the others being mad at him.  This shows that he might not be emotionally stable enough to handle problems on his own.  The hunting hat protects him from shameful moments.  It gives him security.  After Holden's fight with Stradlater, Holden put the hunting hat on; "I couldn't find my goddamn hunting hat anywhere.  Finally I found it.  It was under the bed.  I put it on, and turned the old peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I went over and took a look at my stupid face in the mirror" (p.45).  When Holden has the hat on, he feels safe and protected from the world.  He said he wears it the way he likes it, even though it is corny.  This shows that he does not care what others think of him when he wears the hat.  Wearing the hat is one of the few times Holden feels protected.

Holden's younger sister, Phoebe, is one of the few people who Holden can communicate with.  Phoebe listens to Holden and is honest with him.  Holden cares very much about her. One night, he wanted to go visit Phoebe, even though he might get caught by his parents.  However he did not care and went home anyway.  He found Phoebe sleeping in their older brother D.B.'s room.  On the desk was Phoebe's journal.  He said, "I sat there on D.B.'s desk and read the whole notebook…Kid's notebooks kill me" (p.161).  He found her notebook funny, which shows that Phoebe is a funny person.  This might be one of the reasons why Holden enjoys being with her so much.  Holden is often sad and depressed.  However, since Phoebe is funny, she must make him feel better and more alive.  This is important because if Holden was never happy or laughing, what would keep him from doing something he'll regret?  He should keep the journal, so if he ever feels upset, he can read it to make him laugh. 

All Holden wants to do is to be able to communicate with someone.  One of the only people Holden could talk to was his younger brother, Allie, who died of Leukemia.  After Allie's death, Holden became very lonely and somewhat violent. "I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the Goddamn windows with my left fist, just for the hell of it" (p.39) said Holden.  Allie played baseball and his position was outfielder.  Allie wrote poems all over his glove that he would read whenever he played and did not get any balls.  After Allie died, Holden kept the glove and it is very important to him.  "She was the only one, outside the family that I ever showed Allie's mitt to,…" (p. 77).  This shows how special and important the glove is to Holden.  It is the only object he has that connects him with Allie.

Although Holden often says how much he hates someone or how some people annoy him, deep down inside he really likes them and is happy he met that person.  Holden said to Mr. Antolini, "What I may do, I may hate them for a little while, like this guy Stradlater I knew at Pency, and this other boy, Robert Ackley. I hated them once in a while- I admit it- but it doesn't last too long, is what I mean.  After a while, if I didn't see them in the dining room for a couple of meals, I sort of missed them" (p. 187).  This displays how Holden did have feelings for everyone he met even though he claimed sometimes he hated that person.  Everyone Holden met was important to his life and each person had great significance.  Holden said, "About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about.  Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance.  I think I even miss that goddam Maurice.  It's funny.  Don't ever tell anybody anything.  If you do, you start missing everybody" (p. 214).  All Holden wanted to do with everyone he met or everyone he already knew was to be able to communicate with them.  Even when he met Sunny all he wanted to do was talk.  It is important for Holden to have a picture of several of the people he knew, so he would not miss them.  Pictures of people would also remind him of the relationships he had with them and how they had an impact on his life.

Jane Gallagher is one of Holden's old friends.  They were neighbors at Holden's summer house in Maine.  Holden and Jane were very close friends.  Jane is also one of the few people that Holden was able to communicate with.  They use to play checkers together all the time.  Holden told Stradlater, "She wouldn't move any of her kings. What she'd do, when she's get a king, she wouldn't move it…" (pgs. 31-32).  It is very important to see that Holden was happy when he was with Jane and that he still thought about her.  It is very ironic because Stradlater went on a date with Jane one night.  When Holden was in the bathroom with Stradlater, Jane was outside.  Holden could not believe it and kept saying how he should go say hi, but he never did.  He wanted to keep the image of Jane the way he remembered.  He did not want to lose the image of him and Jane hanging out and playing checkers.  Holden disliked change and wished everything would stay the same.  It is essential that Holden remembers Jane the way she was because she was one of the few people he could talk to.  If Holden saw that Jane changed, he might realize that all people change, and he would not like that.

One morning when Holden went out for breakfast, he met two nuns in the restaurant.  He began to talk to them about various topics, one being Romeo and Juliet.  On the floor, Holden saw a basket, "The one right next to me had one of those straw baskets that you see nuns and Salvation Army babes collecting dough with around Christmas time (p. 109). He said to the nuns, "I thought if you were taking up a collection, I could make a small contribution" (p. 109).  This shows that Holden wanted to help other people.  The nuns were not collecting money at the time, however Holden still offered to give them money for when they were collecting.  He said, "After they left, I started getting sorry that I'd only given them ten bucks for their collection…I was sorry anyway, though.  Goddam money.  It always ends up making you blue as hell" (p. 113).  Even after Holden did a good deed by giving money to the nuns, he still felt upset because he wished he would have given them more.  Even though this makes him "blue," giving money is a symbol of Holden's generosity and thoughtfulness for others.  He should keep a basket to remind him of how he helped people because maybe that would make him feel better about himself when he was feeling down.

Many times throughout the novel, Holden wonders about the ducks in the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. He wonders where they go in the winter.  He thinks about this several times and even asks different cab drivers where they go.  Holden thought to himself while talking to Mr. Spencer, "I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over.  I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something.  Or if they just flew away" (p.13). He also mentions the ducks again by asking a cab driver, "By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?" (p.60)  The fact that he asked a random person where the ducks go shows how much Holden wanted to know the answer. He even went so far to ask another cab driver, "Well you know the ducks that swim around in it? In the springtime and all? Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by and chance?" (p. 81) Holden will not stop asking different people where they go.  He even goes to the lake himself, "I figured I go by that little lake and see what the hell the ducks were doing, see if they were around or not.  I still didn't know if they were around or not" (p. 153).  The ducks represent Holden.  He wants to know where they go, so maybe he can leave with them.  He wants to get away like the ducks get away.  It is important for Holden to have a picture of the ducks to remind him that unlike the ducks, he cannot run away from his problems.