Discussion of Catcher in the Rye ch. 1-6

Read The Catcher in the Rye, chapters 1-6

Check current homework: ch4-verbs-and-mood, 4.1-4.2

Topics

"People always think something's all true" - ironic

"I'm quite illiterate but I read a lot" - negative self-image for sure, or maybe he's just being sarcastic? Reference to the way people see him instead of the way he is?

What's the deal with Ackley and Stradlater? Why is this in the book? I think it's just establishing how ordinary and scatterbrained the characters are.

Holden is a very sharp observer of people. He notices things, like the way Jane Gallagher liked to line up her kings in checkers because they looked nice.

This is a guy who's looking back on life and feeling the loss and missing the way things were, but he's trying to get through it by acting like it's all worthless and who cares anyway? sour grapes, but in a self-defense kind of way. He is sad about the way things turned out and he misses Pencey.

He cared about Jean, and was mad that Stradlater took advantage of her.

These first chapters are laying out the tone of the story. Holden is a screwup who is getting kicked out of Pencey, which is a high school in the northeast united states somewhere. He regrets how things went, but when he looks back on it he can't help but make everything look as bad as possible in order to make the loss of it sting less. We met a few characters, all of whom were described in great detail by someone who clearly has an understanding of people. Ackley, a slovenly older boy who has bad manners, Stradlater, a jock who is full of himself, and Mr Spencer, the old history teacher who Holden goes to visit right at the start. His writing is loaded with references to "people who do that kind of thing," but then he criticizes "people [who] always think somethings all true." There is a lot of irony in his setup of the world and the situation.

Vocab

Media resources

Review Questions , Chapter 1-6