Holden Leaves example essay topic

"The catcher in the rye" written by J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield tells his story from a rest home where he has been staying ever since he had his nervous breakdown. The reader immediately senses his rebellious nature when he says that he will not tell about his "lousy" childhood and "all that David Copperfield kind of crap". Instead he describes his parents as -- they are nice, but "touchy as hell". He also mentions his brother, D.B., who is working in Hollywood as a writer. He doesn't respect him because he feels that his brother sold himself short for the sake of earning more money. He feels that he is too talented for the type of work that he is doing.

Holden begins talking about himself from the time that he was expelled from Pencey Prep, a school he attended in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. It was the last Saturday at school, the time of the football game with Saxon Hall. Holden, is not attending the game because he had just returned from New York from a fencing match and realized that he had accidentally left the foils on the subway. The fencing team was angry at Holden because he had been in charge and had been careless. Before he leaves school, Holden goes to say good-bye to Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. He knows that Holden has been expelled and tries to give him some advice.

At Mr. Spencer's house, he finds that his teacher is in a sickly condition but still willing to see him and speak with him. The teacher tries to explain to Holden why he failed the course and points out the flaws in his final essay. Holden looses interest in the conversation, excuses himself by making up a story about needing to get his gym equipment, and leaves. On the way out his teacher yells "Good luck!" which offends him.

"I'd never yell [that] at anybody. It sounds terrible. ". In the third chapter, Holden is in his room in Ossenburger Hall, reading a book while wearing his new hunting hat. He is interrupted by Akley, a boy who rooms next door.

Ackley does not have many friends and makes a nuisance of himself until Holden's roommate, Stradlater comes. Ackley hates him and quickly leaves. Stradlater tells Holden that he has a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl Holden knows and likes. This upsets him as he was concerned that Stradlater would take advantage of her. He asks Stradlater to give her his regards and not to tell him that he was kicked out of school. He lets Stradlater wear his hound's-tooth jacket and half promises him to write an essay for him.

Since it was Saturday, the meal that was always served was steak. It wasn't very appetizing and everyone was glad when it was over. Afterwards Holden decided to go with Ackley and Mal Brossard to Agerstown to see a movie. When they get there, they change their mind and just hang around a bit.

When they get back to Pencey, Mal goes to play bridge and Ackley stays with Holden in his room. He finally leaves when Holden begins to work on the assignment for Stradlater. Holden decides to write a descriptive essay about a baseball glove that his brother Allie used to copy poems onto. Allie who was two years younger had died of leukemia several years before and this incident had a profound effect on Holden. Stradlater returns from his date, reads the composition that Holden wrote for him and becomes annoyed saying that it wasn't good. In anger Holden tears it up and one thing leads to another until they both end up in a fist fight.

Holden is particularly angry when Stradlater refuses to tell him any details about his date with Jane. Holden ends up with a bloody nose and goes into Ackley's room. After the fight, Holden goes into Ackley's room to find some solace. Instead, he becomes even more frustrated and decides to leave school earlier that he had intended. He packs his belongings, puts on his hunting cap, and begins to cry. In the hallway he yelled "Sleep tight, ya morons!" and walked out of Pencey.

Holden finds that it is too late to call a cab and walks to the train station. After a short wait, he catches a train to New York. On the train he meets a woman who turns out to be the mother of one his classmates at Pencey. He lies to her as to who he is and why he is on the train. He tells her that his name is Rudolf Schmidt, the name of the Pencey janitor and that he is going to New York because he needs to have an operation. He also tells her that her son Ernie is very popular and well liked.

Before she gets off the train she invites him to visit Ernie during the summer at Gloucester, Massachusetts and wishes him a lot of luck with the operation. He thanks her but tells her that he will be going to South America with his grandmother during the summer. After reaching New York, Holden is at a loss as to what to do. He takes a cab to the Edmont Hotel which is a rather "sleazy" place. Being bored, he calls Faith Cavendish, a girl who was recommended to him as being free and easy and always available. She refuses to meet him and he is annoyed at himself for not having been able to make any arrangements with her.

He wants to call Jane Gallagher, a girl that he likes and respects, but hesitates and apparently is too nervous to do so. Not being tired, Holden decides to go to the Lavender Room, the nightclub in the hotel. He is very tempted to call his sister "old Phoebe", but doesn't want to take a chance because it is late and she is probably asleep. He describes her as being pretty and smart and it sounds very similar to the one he gave of Allie. Arrived in the Lavender Room he order a drink but the waiter refuses to serve him liquor unless he verifies his age. He starts flirting with three women but they laugh at his advances and after a while leave him holding the bill.

As Holden leaves the Lavender Room he again starts to think about Jane Gallagher. He recalls how he met her and that she was the only person to whom he ever showed Allie's baseball mitt. He also remembers how good he felt when he was with her. Still note wanting to go to sleep, Holden takes a cab to a Greenwich Village nightclub called Ernie's.

On the way he again starts a conversation with the cabdriver about where the ducks go from the Central Park lagoon in the winter. The guy got angry and the conversation didn't continue. At Ernie's, Holden listens to the piano player and drinks some Scotch and soda. He meets a girl named Lillian Simmons whom his brother D.B. used to date.

In order not to have to stay with her, he leaves. Even though it is quite cold, Holden decides to walk back to the hotel rather than take another cab. He regrets that he doesn't have a pair of gloves and wonders who stole them from him at Pencey. He admits to being a coward because he knows that even if he knew who took them, he wouldn't do anything about it. When he reaches the hotel, the elevator operator suggests sending him a prostitute for five dollars, and Holden accepts.

While waiting in his room, he again calls himself a coward because he is still a virgin. The girl is young, not very attractive, and has a squeaky voice. When she takes off her dress, Holden loses his nerve and makes up a story as to why he can't have sex with her. She tries to seduce him, questions his age, and then gives up. Holden pays her anyway but she is not satisfied with the amount and leaves in anger. After Sunny leaves, Holden finally gets undressed and goes to bed.

He is suddenly awakened by a knock. He opens the door and is confronted by Maurice and Sunny who came back to collect the extra five dollars that Sunny had demanded. Holden tries to refuse but is knocked to the ground when Maurice slugs him. Sunny takes the money and she and Maurice leave the room. In the morning, Holden calls Sally Hayes and makes a date with her to go to a matinee.

After signing out of the hotel, he checks his belongings in a locker at Grand Central Station and goes to eat breakfast. In the luncheonette he meets some nuns with whom he strikes up a conversation. They start to talk about Romeo and Juliet and Holden is surprised that they would know about it. He donates ten dollars to one of their charities and is sorry that he did afterwards. After breakfast he decides to buy a record for his Phoebe called "Little Shirley Beans". He continues walking and meets a boy singing, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye".

It makes him feel good and he decides to call Jane. He looses his nerve and hangs up the phone when her mother answers. He buys theater tickets to a show called "I Know My Love". He decides to look for Phoebe in the park thinking that she likes to roller-skate there on Sundays. Holden is not successful and walks to the museum, remembering how much he enjoyed going there as a child. He realizes that the fascination that he felt when he was younger no longer existed for him now that he was older and he did not into the museum.

Holden goes to meet Sally at the Biltmore Hotel and is happy to see her. After the play, he takes her ice-skating at Rockerfeller Center. He enjoys watching her and thinks that she is quite attractive. In the midst of it all he starts to talk to her about how he feels and his voice rises to the point where he is almost shouting. When she doesn't seem to understand what he means about the "phonies" and asks him to stop shouting, he becomes even louder and proposes to Sally to run away with him and live somewhere alone in a cabin. When she tries to tell him that his ideas are absurd, he becomes more agitated and raises his voice to even a louder pitch.

She eventually becomes so frustrated with him that she begins to cry. Even though he tries to apologize, she is very angry and he walks away from her. After he left the skating-rink, he had a sandwich and again thought of calling Jane. When there is no answer, he calls Carl Luce, a guy he knew from the Whooton School to make arrangements for the evening. Since he has lots of time, he goes to a movie. He find the movie boring but remembers how he and Allie enjoyed going to Radio City Music Hall when they were both younger.

After the movie he walks to the Wicker Bar to meet Luce. On the way he reflects on war and the army as he has just seen a movie on the military. Holden arrives at the Wicker Bar before Luce and the reader learns about the place from Holden's description. He recalls how he frequented the place a lot and liked a show that featured Tina and Janine, two "French babes". He remembers that even though Luce was his Student Adviser at Whooton, he always gave his sex talks to the guys.

When Luce arrives, Holden tries to engage him in a sexual conversation, but Luce doesn't get drawn in and tells Holden to get psychoanalysis. Holden remains at the bar after Luce leaves and gets very drunk. He thinks of calling Jane but calls Sally instead. His call is received very poorly as it is very late and he is quite drunk. He tries to make a date with some women but is not successful. Holden decides to walk to the duck pond in Central Park.

On the way he accidentally drops the record he had bought for Phoebe and becomes very upset. Since it is very cold and his hair begins to freeze, his thoughts become very morbid and he thinks of catching pneumonia and death. He remembers that he had been unable to attend Allie's funeral because he had been in the hospital after breaking the windows of the garage and how he never wanted to place flowers on allie's grave. Holden finally decides to go home and is happy to find that his parents aren't home.

He finds Phoebe asleep in D.B.'s room and quietly reads through her schoolbooks. He finally wakes her and she is very happy to see him. She is very bubbly and tells him everything that has happened to her. Suddenly she realizes that he is home earlier than he was expected and surmises that he was kicked out of school. She covers her head with her pillow and doesn't want to talk to Holden anymore.

He walks out of her room to get some cigarettes. After getting his cigarettes, Holden goes back and gets her to listen. He tries to explain to her what happened at school and how awful it is. She tries to make him realize that there isn't a single thing that Holden likes. He in turn tells her that he likes Allie. Phoebe is annoyed at that because she tells him that Allie is dead.

When she asks him what he wants to do with his life, Holden doesn't have an answer. He talks to her about the song", If a body catch a body comin' through the rye". Holden continues to tells her that he pictures a lot of kids playing near the edge of a cliff and he is there catching "everybody if they start to go over the cliff... I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all". Holden leaves Phoebe's room to call Mr. Antolini, a teacher that he had at Elkton Hills.

The reader finds out Mr. Antolini was very kind and caring and that he was the only person who tried to help James Castle, the boy who committed suicide. Mr. Antolini invites Holden to stay the night at his house after he hears that was expelled again. Holden spends more time with Phoebe until his parents come home. He hides in Phoebe's closet until they go to sleep and then leaves.

He tells Phoebe where he is going and that he plans move out west. Holden borrows some money from his sister and gives her his red hunting hat. He is overcome with sadness when he says good-bye and begins to cry. Holden goes to Mr. Antolini's apartment expecting to receive sympathy and understanding. Holden tells him that rules at Pencey are too strict and squelch creativity. Instead of agreeing with him Mr. Antolinin points the fallacies for this argument and Holden backs down.

After having coffee, Mr. Antolini becomes more serious and tries to warn Holden that he sees major problems in his future unless he learns to apply himself and learns to face his issues. Feeling very tired, Holden goes to sleep on the couch. He is startled when he suddenly feels Mr. Antolini's hand stroking his head. Feeling uncomfortable after that, Holden leaves the apartment in a hurry. After he leaves Mr. Antolini's apartment, he takes the subway to Grand Central Station and decides to sleep on one the benches in the waiting room. The next day he decides to leave New York and hitchhike west.

He leaves a note for Phoebe at her school to meet him at the Museum of Art so that he can return the money that he borrowed from her. When Phoebe arrives, she is carrying a suitcase and insists that Holden take her with him. When he refuses, she gets angry and returns his hunting hat. Holden tries to get her to go back to school but when she refuses he offers to take her to the zoo. After a while they reach the carousel and Holden convinces Phoebe to ride it. He begins to feel good because Phoebe is no longer angry at him.

Holden ends the story by refusing to tell any more about himself or what happened after his day in the park with Phoebe. All he says is that he went home and was sent to a rest home. In the fall he expects to go to a new school and thinks that he will do all right there.