2. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 22-24The New York Times - 4/23/13
โUnraveling Boston Suspectsโ Online
Lives, Link by Link,โ by Michiko Kakutani
Given the layers of irony, sarcasm and joking often employed on
Twitter, it can be difficult to parse the messages of a stranger. Yet
some of them can seem menacing or portentous, given what we
now suspect: โa decade in america already, I want out,โ โNever
underestimate the rebel with a causeโ or โNo one is really violent
until theyโre with the homies.โ But others suggest a more Holden
Caulfield-like adolescent alienation: โsome people are just
misunderstood by the world thus the increase of suicide rates.โ
Sometimes, Dzhokhar sounds downright sentimental (unless, of
course, he is being ironic): โThere are enough worms for all the
birds stop killing each other for โem.โ
3. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 22-24The New York Times - 4/23/13
โThe Young Salinger, Mordant Yet Hopeful,โ
by Dave Itzkoff
4. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 22-24
Totally
ubiquitous, some 62
years later
5. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 22โYou donโt like anything
thatโs happening.โโPhoebe
Caulfield
James Castle
Jesus Christ
Courageous
and innocent
martyrs
6. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 22
What Holden actually likes:
Allie
Phoebe
Innocence
and the
innocent
7. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 22
The innocent Holden
misinterprets, Robert Burnsโ
poem, โCominโ Thro the Ryeโ
O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body,
Jenny's seldom dry:
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
Comin thro' the rye, poor body,
Comin thro' the rye,
She draigl't a' her petticoatie,
Comin thro' the rye!
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body,
Need the warl' ken?
Gin a body meet a body
Comin thro' the grain;
Gin a body kiss a body,
The thing's a body's ain.
8. Holdenโs Aspiration: to be
the โcatcher in the ryeโ
โYou know that song, โIf a body catch a body
cominโ through the ryeโ? Iโd likeโโ
โItโs โIf a body meet a body coming through the
rye!โ โ old Phoebe said. โItโs a poem. By Robert
Burns.โ
โI know itโs a poem by Robert Burns.โ
She was right, though. It is โIf a body meet a
body coming through the rye.โ I didnโt know it
then, though.
โI thought it was โIf a body catch a body,โ โ I
said. โAnyway, I keep picturing all these little kids
playing some game in this big field of rye and all.
Thousands of little kids, and nobodyโs aroundโ
nobody big, I meanโexcept me. And Iโm
standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I
have to do, I have to watch everybody if they start
to go over the cliffโI mean if theyโre running and
they donโt look where theyโre going I have to
come out from somewhere and catch them.
Thatโs all Iโd do all day. Iโd just be the catcher in
the rye and all. I know itโs crazy, but thatโs the only
thing Iโd really like to be. I know itโs crazy.โ
9. Holdenโs Aspiration: to be
the โcatcher in the ryeโ
Innocence
Adulthood:
Meanness and
Phoniness
Holden
10. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 23
Mr. Antolini
โHe was a pretty young
guy, not much older than
my brother D.B. โฆโ
โHe was the one that finally picked up that boy
that jumped out the window I told you
about, James Castle.
โThen I took my hunting hat out of my coat
pocket and gave it to her. She likes those kind of
crazy hatsโฆ Iโll bet she slept with it on.
11. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 24
Holden flunks Oral
Expression
Digression!
โBut what I mean is, lots of time you
donโt know what interests you most till
you start talking about something that
doesnโt interest you most.โ
โI mean heโd [Mr. Vinson] keep telling you to
unify and simplifyโฆ you canโt hardly ever
simplify and unify something just because
somebody wants you to.โ
12. The Catcher in the
Rye: ch. 24
โI have a feeling that youโre riding
for some kind of a terrible, terrible
fall.โ
โThe whole arrangementโs designed for men who, at some
time or other in their lives, were looking for something their
own environment couldnโt supply them withโฆ So they gave up
looking.โ
What it was, it was Mr. Antoliniโs hand. What he was doing
was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the
dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on
the goddam head.
That kind of stuffโs happened to me about twenty times since I
was a kid.