Brief Explination of Characters and Themes of Catcher in the Rye

4/28/03

Catcher in the rye

Vocabulary

1. Fencing - The art or sport of using a foil, epйe, or saber in attack and defense.

2. Grippe - an acute febrile highly contagious viral disease.

3. Phonies - Something not genuine; a fake.

4. Ashamed - Feeling shame or guilt.

5. Compulsory - Obligatory; required: a compulsory examination

6. Peculiar - Unusual or eccentric; odd.

7. Descriptive - Involving or characterized by description; serving to describe.

8. Conceited - Holding or characterized by an unduly high opinion of oneself; vain.

9. Psychoanalyzed - To analyze and treat by psychoanalysis.

10. Halitosis - The condition of having stale or foul-smelling breath.

11. Moron - A stupid person; a dolt.

12. Suave - Smoothly agreeable and courteous.

13. Ostracized - To banish from society; to put under the ban; to cast out from social, political, or private favor; as, he was ostracized by his former friends.

14. Bourgeois - A person whose attitudes and behavior are marked by conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class.

Questions

1. Why is Holden expelled from Pency?

He flunks all of his classes, except English.

2. Identify the following characters and tell about Holden’s attitude toward them:

Spencer: Holden's history teacher at Pencey Prep. Holden seems to dismiss his opinions because he is older and sick at the time.

Ackley: Holden's next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Holden feels that Ackley is a phony because he lies about his sexual experiences.

Stradlater: Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep. Holden calls him a “secret slob” because his one razor is very dirty. Holden also calls him a “sexy bastard” because he is well liked and experienced with girls.

Sally Hayes: A girl who Holden has dated and known for a long time. He thinks she is “stupid” even though he says she is well read. He also calls her a phony quite a bit.

Mr. Antonlini: Holden’s former English teacher at the Elkton Hills School. Holden seems to respect him and find him to be clever.

3. Which people in the novel does Holden like? Why does he like these characters and dislike others?

Holden’s main distinction for liking or not -liking someone is whether or not he thinks they are phonies. Some of the characters he likes are his sister and brothers, Mr. Antolini, Jane and Carl Luce.

4. Holden has trouble communicating with adults. Pick three adults in the novel and show how Holden “miss-communicates” with them.

Spencer: Holden doesn’t respond to his concern and lecture the way an average student would by listening, instead he starts thinking of how he’s in a robe and how he doesn’t’ like to see old men’s chests or having to be around someone with grippe.

Mr. Antolini: Holden really likes this guy because Mr. Antolini isn’t afraid to show him his private side like his older wife and his messy apartment. I think Holden miss-communicates with him when Holden leaps to the conclusion of Antolini being a flit because he touched his forehead and promptly evacuates Antolini’s apartment.

Carl Luce: maybe it’s not completely Holden’s fault he miss-communicated with Luce since he was intoxicated, but still he was asking somewhat inappropriate questions of him.

5.list five different things that Holden does while in mid-town New York.

Holden takes several taxi’s and asks the drivers where the ducks go in the winter, he checks into the Edmont hotel, he sees people in the opposite wing of the hotel cross dressing and a couple spitting their drinks into each others faces, he goes on a date with Sally Hayes to see a play, and he goes to Ernie’s jazz club to meet up with his friend Carl Luce.

6. Holden suffers a number of significant disappointments during the story. Describe five of these disappointments.

He is disappointed that Jane goes on a date with Stradlater, he gets kicked out of Pency Prep,