In the beginning of the novel, Holden refuses to talk about the story of his lousy childhood but starts with his brother, D.B, who is a Hollywood writer. Then he described how he is being expelled from his school, Pencey Prep in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, because of his failure of four subjects and refusal to apply himself.
On the Saturday before Christmas begins, Holden stands on Thomsen Hill overlooking the football field, where Pencey plays its annual match against Saxon Hall. Holden is the manager of the school's fencing team. They come back earlier from the meet in New York because Holden lost the team's equipment on the subway. He is not interested in the game but just wants to feel some senses of goodbye. He recalls the period when he plays football with his friends even after it grows dark outside.
Finally, Holden goes to say goodbye to Mr. Spencer who is an old history teacher with bad health. Mrs. Spencer greets Holden at the door, and he goes in to see Mr. Spencer.
Relate:
My childhood is quite different from Holden's. I spent all my childhood in China, where the schools were much busier than those in Canada. I grew up in the countryside without any worries and concerns. I did very well on my school subjects and had many lovely friends.
After I moved to a small city, I got trouble with my non-standard pronunciation and the different way I spoke and acted isolated me from others. I always thought a lot when I was alone. There might be a moment that I felt like I was not seen by others, so that I wouldn't be embarrassed by the crazy things that I wanted to do.
Fortunately, I gradually got involved into a group of friends as I practicing language everyday. My childhood was as normal as all other Chinese kid's. I studied and played with friends and I also met several teachers, like Mr. Spencer, who cared my life and future so much.
But the difference was that I appreciated my teachers and was not as sensitive as Holden was.
Reflect:
Holden, the protagonist, is expelled from his school, on account of he flunks four of his five subjects and refuses to apply himself. He lost the equipment of school's fencing team, forcing the team to return earlier from the meet in New York. All these things Holden has talked about made him seem stupid and lack of responsibility. However, Holden tells his story in a very cynical vioce. The language he uses is full of negatives, and he loves using adjectives like: crumby, goddam, lousy and terrible, etc. He likes exaggerating the fact, showing by a quote: "It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn't win" (Pg #2). People of course will not commit suicide, but his way of describing people's feeling is accurate and funny.
Holden writes his novel by inserting flashbacks. He loves throwing out the results first, and then goes back to explain the reason. The theme is to show how a prep school looks like and how its student, Holden, is a distinct character from others.
Interesting Questions:
1: Why Holden did Holden refuse to apply himself after he failed four of his five subjects?
Holden did not apply for his subjects because he was not even interested in those subjects and also because of his rebellious in adolescence. As a result of the frequent warnings from his teacher, he decided to take no actions ,causing him to be kicked out from school.
2: From Holden's recall, we know that he once enjoyed football games, but why he was not interest in school's annual football match?
He enjoyed the periods when he played with his friends. However, he was not interested in the annual football match because he just got kicked out from school and also he lost the equipment of school' fencing team. With many troubles going on, he became a bit depressed.
Predict:
I think what will happen next is that Holden will be blamed by his history teacher, Mr. Spencer because of his failure of his class. The reason why I predict this is that Mr. Spencer is very old and ill, so he must be very strict and traditional on Holden's failure of his history class.
Media Component:
Here is a link of a You Tube video about how a day at York Prep school looks like. I choose this video because the story of the novel Catcher in the Rye is also happening in a prep school. By looking through this video, we can get a sense of how prep school is different from a public school.
Holden's character analysis:
Holden Caulfield is the protagonist of this novel. Holden showed his dissatisfaction with the place he lived in and the people around him. Holden is a very sensitive boy who always has many opinions on things happening around him.
He likes to criticize and exaggerate things that he thinks phony. A quote from the novel, "They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hot-shot guy on a horse jumping over a horse. I never even once saw a horse anywhere near the place."(Pg #2) He thought his school is making wrong ads in purpose to attract people and he uses the word," a thousand", to exaggerate the fact in order to further show his opinion.
Holden also likes making conclusions even though he only has one evidence to prove it. He makes a conclusion: "The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has." (Pg #4), by telling his camel's hair coat was stolen, then he thinks Pencey is full of crooks. He is kind of one-sided but that's how he is.
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