Students:
Summary:
In chapter 25 Holden leaves Mr.Antolini's. He goes to Grand Central Station where Holden spends the night on a bench in the waiting room. The next day Holden walks up and down fifth avenue. Everytime that he crosses the street he is scared of falling and suddenly dissapearing. Everytime that Holden reaches a curb he shouts out to Allie, hoping that he will make it to the other side of the road. Holden thinks of leaving New York or possibly go hitchiking and never go back to school. He imagines living as a 'Hermit', marrying a deaf-mute girl and never talking to anybody.
He then chooses to go to Phoebe's school and write her a note telling her to meet him at the Museum of Art so he can return the money that she has lent him. Holden gets really depressed when he sees the words 'Fuck you' everywhere. While Holden waits at the museum, he shows two young kids where the mummies are, but unfortunately they get scared and run away. Holden stands all alone in the dark. He likes it at the beginning until he sees another 'Fuck you' written on the wall. Holden gets scared and imagines that when he dies someone will write 'Fuck you' on his tomb. He quickly leaves to meet up with Phoebe, and on his way to the bathroom he passes out. He wakes up and meets up with Phoebe who has a suitcase with her. She begs him to take her with him. Holden tells her that she cannot come with him, and she gets upset and mad. Holden then offers to take her to the Zoo to make her feel better. At the Zoo there is a carousel, and Holden begs Phoebe to take a ride. She goes on the carousel, and Holden feels so happy and thinks he might cry.
In chapter 26 Holden finishes his story, and he does not want to discuss what happened the day after Phoebe and him had gone to the Zoo. The only thing he tells us is that he went home and got ill and was sent to a rest home to recover. He says that he is supposed to go to a new school which starts in the fall. He thinks that he may apply, but he does not want to discuss it. Holden wishes that he hadn't talked about all of his exeperiences, event to D.B. When he talks about what has happened throughout the story it makes him miss all the people included in the story.
The End.
Class Discussion:
Holden’s breakdown – what signs do you see
He starts crying (gets his hunterhat back, and when he leaves the apartment)
He thinks he has cancer, and possibly may die
Nauseous and sweating
He has diarrhoea throughout the story – it gets worse
He wants to be close to Phoebe, she makes him feel safe
He’s frightened of crossing the street ‘hallucinating’ – scared of falling of the cliff
Depression – little things make him depressed like the word ‘Please’
Obsession with the ‘Fuck you’ he thinks when he dies it will be written on his tomb. “You’s on the wall”
Text examples of the breakdown:
He reads about cancer in a magazine and thinks he has some signs of the disease: “I figured I’d be dead in a couple of months because I had cancer. I really did”, page 176
He feels sick: “It was about the worst thing I could’ve done, because the minute I started to laugh I thought I was going to vomit. I really did”, page 177
He fears death: “ Every time I came to the end of the block and stepped off the goddam curb; I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street. I thought I’d just go down, down, down and nobody’d ever see me again”, page 178
He hallucinates his brother Allie and thanks him for saving him from death every time he reaches the curb: “Allie, don’t let me disappear”, page 178
The genre: picaresque or Bildungsroman?
A Picaresque:
For:
Corrupt world
Holden thinks that everybody is phonies and he feels like children are the only good people in the world because they have not been influenced by adulthood yet
Satirical adventure – drifting around in New York
Against:
Holden is not from the lower class
A Bildungerroman:
For:
Holden's development: he changes his view on other people, for example D.B.
The story is about Holden’s development in the teen years where he has to find a balance between being a child and an adult
The journey from Pencey to New York
Against:
Does he even develop?
He does not want the story to be some "David Copperfield kind of crap" --> he would refuse that it was a Bildungerroman
Holden’s future (chapter 26) – has he developed?
He hasn’t developed yet. Holden still needs to recover from his ‘illness’. He tells us that he sees a brighter future and that he wants to apply for school in the fall. He is beginning to have a more positive point of view on the world.
To what extent do you think that The Catcher in the Rye is still relevant today, 60 years later?
The Catcher in the Rye is still relevant to young people today. There are young people who are going through the same things as Holden, such as being hopelessly in love or having lost a family member. There are also young people who have difficulties in school like Holden, and those who just give up.
Important concepts / keywords:
Fear of death --> breakdown
Afraid of falling off the cliff and into adulthood (afraid to become a phony)