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1  “ I mean that's all I told D.B. about, and he's  Foreshadowing,  If it's not too far from Hollywood, it 
  my brother and all. He's in Hollywood. That  introduces a brother  can’t be too bad a home, considering 
  isn't too far from this crumby place, and he  who is well off and  his brothers car and riches.  
  comes over and visits me practically every  caring, illustrative of   
  weekend. He's going to drive me home when  his family.  He mentions … “this madman stuff 
  I go home next month…” (1)    that happened to me around last 
      christmas...”(1), alluding to an 
      altercation he may have down the 
      line. 
       
       
       
       
    Comedy (for me),  Great way to set the tone for an all 
  “The reason I was standing way up on  shows that he isn’t a  boys prep school, shows him in a 
2  Thomsen Hill, instead of down at the game,  nobody and can  leadership position. Shows his 
  was because I'd just got back from New York  handle himself well  attitude as clear cut. 
  with the fencing team. I was the goddam  (except for the part   
  manager of the fencing team. Very big deal.”  where he loses the   
  (3)  equipment)   
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
  “ I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one  Uses a blunt cut away  He used to be a smoker?  
3  thing--that  to disrupt the  How old is he?? He attends a prep 
  is, I used to be. They made me cut it out.” (5)  audience's train of  school, so he must be in highschool. 
    thought. Creates a  This issue must come up later, 
    tone that puts us back  otherwise it wouldn’t be included, or 
    in the 50’s, when  maybe that was what they did back 
    smoking wasn’t seen  then. 
    as dangerous.   
       
       
       
       
       
       
   “Even when he was driving his car. That killed  Comedy, tone of  My favorite quote so far. 
4  me. I just see the big phony bastard shifting  sarcasm that is  Shows his true perspective on 
  into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a  already prevalent  important people, and emphasises 
  few more    his opinion on phony people. He 
  Stiffs” (17).    shows how people preach different 
      from how they practice. 
       
       
       
       
       
       
  “Yeah. She wouldn't move any of her kings.  Shows deep character  I like this quote because it highlights 
  What she'd do, when she'd get a king,  potential when he  his character while detracting from 
  she wouldn't move it. She'd just leave it in the  catches small things,  those around him. Perhaps this is 
  back row. She'd get them all lined up in the  develops the theme  why he keeps changing schools, and 
5  back row. Then she'd never use them. She  that he isn’t stupid or  those people who aren’t interested 
  just liked the way they looked when they  a bad student.  are a deep kind of phony. 
  were     
  all in the back row."     
  Stradlater didn't say anything. That kind of     
  stuff doesn't interest most people.” (32)     
       
       
       
       
  Ch 1-6     

1  “All morons hate it when you call them a  Honestly, just plain  This is the benefit of this book being 
  moron” (44).  funny. He uses a, well,  told in the second person, that we 
    childlike sentence to  can see these little insights in 
    convey Holden’s  Holden’s mind. Good quote, brings 
    reaction to Stradlers  out character. 
    actions, and to show   
    that Holden consider   
    Stradler a moron.   
       
       
2  “One thing about packing depressed me a  This passage shows  This line, contrary to the one above, 
  little. I had to pack these brand-new ice  his conscience  made me feel very sad. It seems like 
  skates my mother had practically just sent  starting to show, and  Holden has lost meaning in life, and 
  me a couple of days before. That depressed  makes it known that  has a negative outlook on his 
  me. I could see my mother going in  he cares about his  relationships with others. 
  Spaulding's and asking the salesman a  family and their   
  million dopy questions--and here I was  opinions on him. The   
  getting the ax again. It made me feel pretty  final line could be a   
  sad. She bought me  foreshadow.   
   the wrong kind of skates--I wanted racing     
  skates and she bought hockey--but it made     
  me sad anyway. Almost every time     
  somebody gives me a present, it ends up     
  making me sad” (53).     
       
       
       
3  “ She didn't look like any dope to me. She  Alludes to himself with  This is pretty funny, but is also a 
  looked like she  this passage  deep self reflection on his part. The 
  might have a pretty damn good idea what a  discussing how only  “mothers are all slightly insane” bit is 
  bastard she was the mother of. But you can't  mothers could love  what stood out in the text for me. 
  always tell--with somebody's mother, I mean.  their children, even if  Possibly because of the humor, but 
  Mothers are all slightly insane” (54).  they know who they  more to the fact that it made me 
    are.  think about the text and this quote’s 
      deeper meaning. 
       
       
       
       
4  “I sat there for about a half hour after he left.  Highlights his loss of  Him just sitting there for hours really 
  I mean I just sat in my chair, not  direction in life,  makes the rest of the passage seem 
  doing anything. (62)”  somewhat of a  quite dismal, with the 65 year old 
    depressive state.   bellboy and the decrepit hotel. Sitting 
      and doing nothing for half an hour 
      isn’t a happy thing to do. 
       
       
5  “But I wouldn't visit that sonuvabitch Morrow  Highlights  He really hates the “phonies” doesn’t 
for all the dough in  independent nature,  he? He seems to be all talk and no 
the world, even if I was desperate. (58)”  continuation of  action, and would probably spend 
“phony” theme.  some time with him. 

1  “ Sex is something I really don't understand  Youth, conveys a  This is definitley Holden; if someone 
  too hot” (63).  theme that he is still  asked him if he had sex, he’d 
    young despite his  probably reply yes in a heartbeat. 
    actions   
       
2  “The only trouble is, she's a little too  Old times, emotional  Aren’t children supposed to be able 
  affectionate sometimes. She's very  repression  to express themselves? This seems 
  emotional, for a    like a common theme in this book, 
  child. She really is.” (68)    where young characters are much 
      more grown up or seem to be older 
      than they actually are. 
       
3  “ I didn't hold it against him,     
  though. They lose their jobs if they get  Character  This quote shows the development 
   caught selling to a minor. I'm a goddamn  development, the  of Holden’s character, or at least an 
  minor. “ (70)  appearance of a  acknowledgment of him having a 
    conscience  conscience. Nice to see him care for 
      others. 
       
       
4  “ I figured that anybody that hates the  Irony, theme  He acknowledges that he sometimes 
  movies as much    is a phony judging by his standards. 
  as I do, I'd be a phony if I let them stick me in     
  a movie short.” (77)      
       
       
       
       
5  “People are always ruining things for you.”  Outlook, how holden  Holden seems to be blaming 
(87)  sees his world. Blames  everyone instead of himself this time. 
everyone  He seems to have a very simple 
outlook on the world. 

1  “The more I thought about my gloves and my  Theme, coping  Wow. all he thinks about is drinking. 
  yellowness, the more depressed I got, and I  method, unhealthy  Any minor inconvenience, he tries to 
  decided, while I was walking and all, to stop    drown out with alcohol. 
  off and have a drink somewhere.” (90)     
       
       
2  “ Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy  Idiom, cynicism,  Everyone irks this guy. I like his 
  the hell out of me, if  allusion, simile  description of the disciples. 
  you want to know the truth. They were all     
  right after Jesus was dead and all, but while     
  He was alive, they were about as much use     
  to Him as a hole in the head.” (99)     
       
       
       
       
3  “The goddamn movies. They can ruin you. I’m  Theme of movies,  This is just too much mentioning of 
  not kidding.” (104)  breaking the 4th wall,  “the movies” and “hollywood” I mean 
    allusion, short  I know his brother works there and 
    sentences  all, but this is just too much. 
       
       
4  “The thing is, it's really hard to be roommates    This is definitely an interjection from 
  with people if your suitcases are much better  Comment on society,  the author, unHoldenlike in nature. 
  than theirs--if yours are really good ones and  not a holden type  Critique of society from the author. 
  theirs aren't. You think if they're intelligent  thought. Deep   
  and all, the other person, and have a good     
  sense of humor, that they don't give a damn     
  whose suitcases are better, but they do.”     
  (109)      
       
       
       
5  “ That's what I liked about those nuns. You    He swings between being angry with 
could tell, for one thing, that  More on his constant  the world, to being sad about 
they never went anywhere swanky for lunch.  sadness  everything. This seems to be a part 
It made me so damn sad when I thought  of his character, with the mood 
about it, their never going anywhere swanky  swings and all 
for lunch or anything. I knew it wasn't too 
important, but it made me sad anyway.” (114) 
Plus bonus depression stuff on 115 bottom. 

1  “He could take something very jazzy, like "Tin  Idiom, continuous  Ah, yes. Holden and his disrespect for 
  Roof Blues," and whistle it so nice and  sentence, character  talent. Also the long sentence here is 
  easy--right while he was hanging stuff up in    pretty cool, also a good use of idiom. 
  the closet--that it could kill you. Naturally, I    Not much else. 
  never told him I thought he was a terrific     
  whistler (124).”     
       
       
2  “At the end of the first act we went out with  Sarcasm, continuous  “All the other jerks for a cigarette” is 
  all the other jerks for a cigarette. What  sentence, figure of  everyone bad Holden? Like god 
  a deal that was. You never saw so many  speech  damn. His cynicism in overwhelming 
  phonies in all your life, everybody smoking     
  their ears off and talking about the play so     
  that everybody could hear and know how     
  sharp they were (126).”     
       
       
       
3  “ "No kidding," I said. "I have about a  Sequence of events,  Ah yes. Holden, the ultimate critic of 
  hundred and eighty bucks in the bank. I can  short emphasis  movies and the phonies they concoct 
  take it out when it opens in the morning, and  sentences, irony.  has himself fallen into a movie like 
  then I could go down and get this guy's car.    train of thought. He is becoming a 
  No kidding. We'll stay in these cabin camps    “phony” in this very moment, going 
  and stuff like that till the dough runs out.    on about some stupid idea. 
  Then, when the dough runs out, I could get a     
  job somewhere and we could live somewhere     
  with a brook and all and, later on, we could     
  get married or something. I could chop all     
  our own wood in the wintertime and all.     
  Honest to God, we could have a terrific time!     
  (132)”     
       
       
 4  “The part that got me was, there was a lady  Short sentences,  So much to unpack in this section. 
  sitting next to me that cried all through  explanation, POV  The use of “im not kidding” was 
  the goddam picture. The phonier it got, the  explanation.  good, and this is the one time his 
  more she cried. You'd have thought she did it    statement was accurate and 
  because she was kindhearted as hell, but I    applicable to today. Good 
  was sitting right next to her, and she wasn't.    comparison, great phony line. 
  She had this little kid with her that was bored     
  as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but     
  she wouldn't take him. She kept telling him to     
  sit still and behave himself. She was about     
  as kindhearted as a goddam wolf. You take     
  somebody that cries their goddam eyes out     
  over phony stuff in the movies, and nine     
  times out of ten they're mean bastards at     
  heart. I'm not kidding” (140).     
       
       
       
5  “ That worried me. I thought probably I'd get  Regretful, short  The one thing he thinks about when 
pneumonia and die. I started picturing  sentence structure, his  he dies is phonies. It is clear that his 
millions of jerks coming to my funeral and all.  worries and thoughts  hate of the world began somewhere 
My grandfather from Detroit, that keeps  around the time Allie died, as judging 
calling out the numbers of the streets when  from how short the sentences get 
you ride on a goddam bus with him, and my  when he discusses his funeral. 
aunts--I have about fifty aunts--and all my 
lousy cousins. What a mob'd be there. They 
all came when Allie died, the whole goddam 
stupid bunch of them. I have this one stupid 
aunt with halitosis that kept saying how 
peaceful he looked lying there, D.B. told me. I 
wasn't there” (155). 

1  “ She can be very snotty sometimes. She can  Repetition,  He repeats the same sentence twice 
  be quite snotty. "I suppose you failed in every  comparison,  here, but his reaction shows the 
  single subject again," she said--very snotty. It  character  reader that he has respect and love 
  was sort of funny, too, in a way. She sounds    for her as he considers her attitude 
  like a goddam schoolteacher sometimes, and    funny. 
  she's only a little child” (167).     
       
       
2  “"Allie's dead--You always say that! If  Reveal, short  This text segment reveals the source 
  somebody's dead and everything, and in  sentence, rhetorical  of his dissatisfaction and depression. 
  Heaven, then it isn't really--"  question  He tells of his sister who he admires 
  "I know he's dead! Don't you think I know    so much after she brought up the 
  that? I can still like him, though, can't    fact that Allie died. Allie’s name is 
  I? Just because somebody's dead, you don't    one of two(including his sister) that 
  just stop liking them, for God's sake--    he can come up with for things he 
   especially if they were about a thousand    likes, which is pretty sad. 
  times nicer than the people you know that're     
  alive and all” (171).     
       
       
3  “Even if you did go around saving guys' lives  Contradiction, long  Holden finds a way to escape liking 
  and all, how would you know if you  sentence, phony  lawyers with the phony remark, then 
  did it because you really wanted to save  theme  says that his sister wouldn’t 
  guys' lives, or because you did it because    understand when just pages ago he 
  what you really wanted to do was be a    was calling her the smartest person 
  terrific lawyer, with everybody slapping you    he ever knew. He seems to be 
  on the back and congratulating you in court    extremely egotistical and only holds 
  when the goddam trial was over, the    opinions when they benefit him. 
  reporters and everybody, the way it is in the     
  dirty movies? How would you know you     
  weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you     
  wouldn't." I'm not too sure old Phoebe knew     
  what the hell I was talking about. I mean she's     
  only a little child and all” (172).     
       
       
4  “What I have to do, I have to catch  Allusion, short  Literally says the name of the book 
  everybody if they start to go over  repetitive sentence  in the book. Sad aspirations, but that 
  the cliff--I mean if they're running and they  structure.  does seem like something that he 
  don't look where they're going I have to    would like to do. The repetitive and 
  come    short reaffirmations at the end tell 
  out from somewhere and catch them. That's    us that he is 100% telling the truth. 
  all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the     
  rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the     
  only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's     
  Crazy" (173)      
       
5    Idiom, slurred wo1rds  He breaks down somewhat when his 
“Then, all of a sudden, I started to cry. I  sister gives him all her cash, which 
couldn't help it. I did it so nobody could  shows how tired he is of living alone. 
hear me, but I did it. It scared hell out of old  His sentence structure becomes less 
Phoebe when I started doing it, and she  complicated, suggesting he is reeling 
came over and tried to make me stop, but  from this kindness. 
once you get started, you can't just stop on a 
goddam dime” (179). 

       
1  Oh, I don't know. That digression business got  Combative, short  Including himself. This seems to be a 
  on my nerves. I don't know. The trouble with  sentence  pattern of thought for him, where he 
  me is, I like it when somebody digresses. It's    loves disagreement and argument. 
  more interesting and all." 183     
       
   But what I mean is,     
  lots of time you don't know what interests  Scattered, train of  This is Holden, described by Holden, 
  you most till you start talking about  thought  in a quote from Holden. Whatever he 
  something    talks about is usually uninteresting to 
2  that doesn't interest you most. I mean you    him, at least around others; also I 
  can't help it sometimes. What I think is, you're    don't really get that last section. 
  supposed to leave somebody alone if he's at     
  least being interesting and he's getting all     
  excited about something.” 185     
       
  “I had part of a cup of coffee and about half     
  of some cake that was as hard as a    Holden himself is an alcoholic, so I 
  rock. All old Mr. Antolini had was another  Reference, allusion,  can’t tell if he is joking around or if 
  highball, though. He makes them strong, too,  hidden language  he seriously means it. It seems like 
  you could tell. He may get to be an alcoholic    Antilinni is an old Holden in a way. 
3  if he doesn't watch his step” 186     
       
       
  "It may be the kind where, at the age of     
  thirty, you sit in some bar hating     
  everybody who comes in looking as if he    Antolinni speaks like he has 
  might have played football in college. Then  Allusion, past  experienced this, as it is exactly what 
  again, you may pick up just enough  experiences, reveal  Holden thinks and does. This quote 
  education to hate people who say, 'It's a    outlines what Holden’s future looks 
4  secret    like if he continues with his life of 
  between he and I.' Or you may end up in    hate and constant phony worrying. 
  some business office, throwing paper clips at     
  the     
  nearest stenographer     
  186     
       
       
  Anyway, I kept walking and walking up Fifth     
  Avenue, without any tie on or    Well, this certainly is a long one. 
  anything. Then all of a sudden, something    Holden seems to be saddling the gap 
  very spooky started happening. Every time I    between our world and the next 
  came to the end of a block and stepped off  Short sentence  while walking down NY streets (very 
  the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd  structure, tension  dangerous). Of course he calls for 
5  never get to the other side of the street. I  building, Allie returns,  Allie, who seems to help him 
  thought I'd just go down, down, down, and  repetition   mentally. The reason for this 
  nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare  Phony theme, list  hallucination is unclear, but it could 
  me. You can't imagine. I started sweating    be his sickness or just plain tiredness. 
  like a bastard--my whole shirt and    Falling down like in his catcher thing, 
  underwear and everything. Then I started    Antillini’s great fall. This is his coping 
  doing    technique he uses, talking to the 
  something else. Every time I'd get to the end    dead kid. At the end, Holden starts 
  of a block I'd make believe I was talking to    processingHolden was sexualy 
   my brother Allie. I'd say to him, "Allie, don't let    abused, which is why he tries to 
  me disappear. Allie, don't let me    protect other children, why he erases 
  disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear.    the “fuck you” grafitti. Mr. Antilinni= 
  Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the    grown up holden, loves english, 
  other    protects children (patting head) 
  side of the street without disappearing, I'd     
  thank him     
  (198)     
       
      True, he is double minded on issues 
    Long sentence  and seems to almost have mood 
Ne “He is double-minded. He is inexorably    swings. This passage highlights 
w  self-critical; at various times, he refers to    Holden’s depressive mood that stays 
Yor himself as yellow, as a terrible liar, a    consistent throughout the book. 
ker  madman, a moron. He is driven crazy by     
  “phoniness,” a heading under which he     
  loosely lumps not only insincerity but     
snobbery, injustice, callousness to the tears in     
things, and a lot more.”     
     
    I never thought of it this way. When it 
The hero and heroine of this novel, Holden’s  Long sentence  is thought of in this context, one can 
dead brother Allie and Jane Gallagher, never    agree that Holden isn’t perhaps the 
appear in it, but as they are always in    hero of the story. 
Holden’s consciousness, together with his     
sister Phoebe—these three constitute his     
emotional frame of reference     
    This passage highlights Holden’s 
“ These perpetual insistences of Holden’s—“I    contradiction and his repetitive 
really am,” “I really do,” “It really does”—after    sentence structure, where his “I really 
he has explicitly said something, reveal his  This is true, not  am”s show his age and insecurities. 
age, even when he is thinking much older, as  looking for these   
when he says, “People always think  anymore as it ain’t the   
something’s all true.” Although Holden thinks  book   
lots of things are funny, he hasn’t much sense     
of humor; he has the deadpan literalness and     
the all-or-nothing combativeness of the     
passionate adolescent.”     
     
    He uses objects for stability, but can’t 
“Holden’s difficulties affect his nervous    seem to understand that his 
system but never his vision. It is the vision of  Long sentence  achievements in life also create 
an innocent. To the lifeline of this vision he    stability, such as him succeeding in 
clings invincibly, as he does to a phonograph    school. 
record he buys for Phoebe (till it breaks) and   
a red hunting cap that is dear to him and that   
he finally gives to Phoebe, and to Allie’s   
baseball glove. He has a hunger for stability.   
He loves the Museum of Natural History   
because the figures in the glass cases don’t   
change;”   
  This book is about a 16 year old, and 
“Holden will be all right. One day, he will  the reader is liable to forget the 
probably find himself in the mood to call up  hormones and difficulties that come 
Jane.”  from being a teen. We all eventually 
  grow up, and the reader must 
  remember that Holden will too.