Watching in the rye field

1. Summary

This novel recounts his last days in Pencey, where, as he was correcting four out
of five subjects, he was to be expelled before the Christmas break, two weeks before
Christmas, on December 9-10, but not for the first time because he he also studied at
other schools such as Whooton and Elkton Hills.

The story begins on a Saturday, four days before he left for New York, when he
was standing on top of a hill near the stadium, watching a football match between
Pencey and Saxon Hall that ended 3-2.

One of the reasons he did not leave is that he had to say goodbye to Mr. Spencer,
his history teacher, before leaving. After a moralizing discussion about his dissertation
on this subject and why he was corrected, Holden returns to Pencey's room, where he
finds his next-door neighbor named Ackley. He talks to his roommate Stradlater about
the girl he was dating, named Jane Gallagher, whom Holden knew but hadn't seen in a
long time. He decides to go to New York to spend a few days before returning home,
where he knew he would be scolded by his parents. They only learned of Holden's deed
on Wednesday when they received a letter from the director.

After arriving in New York, he stays in a poor hotel where he meets three girls at
the bar, about whom he had fun almost all night because they were "bad and ugly".
Then he leaves to spend the evening at a cabaret. Having nothing to do because he
was alone and depressed, he starts drinking and smoking until he meets a friend of
D.B .. Wanting to get rid of her, he returns to the hotel.

The next day, she meets an old friend named Sally, whom she takes to a play
starring her favorite actors, but which Holden couldn't stand. Then they go to the skating
rink, where, after getting tired, he enters a bar and tries to convince her to go on a trip
with him to get rid of that wretched world forever, but the discussion between the two
ends with an argument.

Leaving the rink, he goes out to eat and because he had nothing to fill his time
with, a former colleague from Whooton calls to meet him. After a few discussions, his
friend leaves, and Holden is left alone and starts drinking until he gets drunk. He calls
Sally again and after a short conversation he goes to the bathroom where he puts his
head in the water hoping to wake up.

When he recovered, he left for Central Park, hoping to see the ducks on the lake
and to answer the question that had been bothering him for some time ("Where do the
ducks go when winter comes?"), But he didn't find any. a duck and, sitting on a bench,
began to think of his death, of his funeral, and of all who would come to see him.

As he sat and reflected on all these things, he decided to go home to see Phoebe
at least once before she died because she felt sorry for him, remembering how much
she cared for him. When he got home, he was lucky that the night lift was new and he
didn't know it, so when he got to the front of the apartment, he slipped into the house
with great care. When he enters the room where Phoebe was sleeping, he doesn't wake
her up right away, but stays for a while to watch her sleep.

In the morning, reading an article in a magazine forgotten on the bench, he

imagines that he is suffering from cancer and, thinking again about death, he began to
walk and make plans for a possible departure far away, at the edge of a forest. , where
to build a cottage, work at a gas station and stop walking at home. With that in mind, he
went to the school where Phoebe teaches to leave a message for him to meet to say
goodbye. While he was waiting for her in front of the museum, he felt sick and fainted,
another proof that his health was not exactly good. Finally Phoebe appeared, carrying a
suitcase with her, hoping that her brother would agree to take her as well. Holden finally
decided it would be best not to leave, so they went to the fairs together, and then
headed home.

Back among his family, Holden falls ill, and his parents persuade him to go to
school again next year. During this time, his brother, D.B., from Hollywood, came to visit
him, and the family was reunited for the Christmas holiday.

Featuring a subjective narrator, the novel by contemporary American writer J.D.

Salinger reproduces the confession of a misfit teenager. Holden's experiences these
days are viewed by the character with a mixture of disappointment and detachment.

This literary work can be framed in two different literary themes: the family theme
in which we detail the relationships between the main character, Holden Caulfield family
and friends and the theme of the journey in which are presented the journey and
adventures Holden will go through when he returns to New York, where he spends a
few days at his disposal until he arrives home and tells his parents the bad news.
2. Narrator

Born:
Jerome David Salinge
January 1, 1919
Manhattan, New York, U.S.

Died:
January 27, 2010 (aged 91)
Cornish, New Hampshire, U.S

Occuoation:
Writer

Education:
New York University
Ursinus College
Columbia University

Notable works:
The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
Nine Stories (1953)
Franny and Zooey (1961)
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963)

Spouse:
Sylvia Welter

(m. 1945; div. 1947)
Claire Douglas

(m. 1955; div. 1967)
Colleen O'Neill
 

(m. 1988)

Children:

2, including Matt

3.Citeds

1. "Life is really a game! It is a game that should be played according to its rules."

2. "The characteristic of the immature man is that he wants to die heroically for a
cause, while the characteristic of the mature man is the desire to live modestly in her
service."

3. "I always say, "Delighted to meet you" people I am not at all happy to meet. But if
you want to survive, you still have to say these things."

4. "The man who falls into the void is not allowed to feel or hear when he touches the
bottom of the abyss. He just falls, never stopping. All of this is done for people who, at
some point in their lives, were looking for something that the environment could not
provide. Or so they thought. So they stopped looking around. They gave up before it
really started."

5. "There are some people you shouldn't make fun of even if it's worth it."

6. "All I know is that I miss those I told you about. Never say anything to anyone. If you
do, you'll start to miss them all."

7. " But don't you think that a man ceases to please you if he dies, what God?
Especially when he was a thousand times nicer than the people you know and are alive
and, well! ..."

8. "Among other things, you will realize that you are not the first person who has ever
been insecure or frightened by human behavior. By no means do I want to convey that I
recommend for the mother to be inactive. A lot of people have been just as morally and
spiritually disturbed as you are now. Fortunately, some have records of these
conditions."
4. Main character

Holden Caufield

About his character:

He was a person that didn't liked school beacause he was expelled from so many
schools and he was failing 4 out of 5 classes and his classmmate hated him.
He was immature when he wouldn't speck to people, when he wanted to leave his
family, when he was not good with his friends and he wanted his girlfriend to be def.
He was frustrated because his family was cold with him and people maded him
feel like he was unusefull.
The only important thig at him was that he liked to red.

5. Personal impression
My impression of this book is that not only does the author write the idea of not
being so bad towards your loved ones but also with the people around him.
At the same time he uses certain phrases through which you can realize the way
you behave with your family, loved ones, people around you but also with yourself, thus
managing to make you understand that not always you are right but also those around
you, even if they seem to be a little harsh with you.
I personally recommend this book because it is captivating and last but not least it
helps you with many essential things in your daily life.

Writed by: Dragan Iosif Sabin

Class: a X-a
Dtae: 3rd of January 2022