Holden’s Scrapbook
The following entries were included in the scrapbook I created for my final project for the novel Catcher in the Rye. Each describes an item from Holden’s point, which he collected or may have collected throughout the course of the novel. The significance of the item and how it reinforces the themes of the novel are explained beneath the description. I created each item as true to the depiction provided in the book, and pasted it opposite the description in a black scrapbook.
These are the descriptions and explanations of Holden’s items:
This piece of paper was given to me by Mr.Antolini when I was staying at his house. He said to me, “I can very clearly see you dying nobly, one way or another, for some highly unworthy cause” (188). That is why he gave the paper to me. The quote was written by some psychoanalyst, and read “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” At the time, I was so tired, that I wasn’t really sure what he meant, but I thanked him for writing the quote down for me and everything. I pocketed the piece of paper, and I like to take a look at it every once in a while. He then proceeded to tell me that when I find out where I want to go, I will apply myself in school. And then he said something else that I remember pretty well. He said, “You’ll find that you’re not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior” (189).
Holden holds on to the quote given to him by Mr.Antolini. It is apparent that his former teacher is an important person in his life. He describes Mr.Antolini as a person “you could kid around with…without losing your respect for him” (174). He calls him late at night, seeking connection, after the link he tried to form with his sister Phoebe fails. Holden regards his old teacher as more of a friend or big brother then a superior. He meets Holden’s need by trying to reach out and help him. The connection Mr.Antolini was trying to make with Holden was not working because Holden was in a rundown state from not eating or sleeping and drinking a smoking excessively. Mr.Antolini tries to show Holden that he is “by no means alone” (189). He tries to mentor and send him in the correct path. Unfortunately, Holden forgets their talk when he is awoken with Mr.Antolini patting his head. “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” (192).
This item is significant because it illustrates Holden’s struggle for help and connection from another person, and how once again, for reasons out of his hands, he fails unsuccessfully. Mr. Antolini understood that Holden was trying to “die nobly for a cause”. Holden wanted to be the catcher in the rye, and he would have “to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff” (173). This piece of paper would remind Holden of the connection he almost achieved with Mr. Antolini, and the truth behind the advice he attempted to present to an overly exhausted boy.
I bought this record, “Little Shirley Beans” for my younger sister because “I knew it would knock old phoebe out” (114). I got it at a record store near Broadway and I paid five dollars for it because it was hard to get. “Boy, it made me so happy all of a sudden” (116). But then this horrible thing happened. I was in central park, and all of a sudden, I dropped the record, and it broke into pieces. “I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible, but all I did was, I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket. They weren’t any good for anything, but I didn’t feel like throwing them away or anything” (154).
Holden is very proud of the record that he bought for his sister. However, when he shatters it, Holden proceeds to keep the broken records. The pieces of the record, are significant because they represent his current state of being. Holden is the shattered record, and by keeping the pieces, it illustrates that Holden is not willing to give up or throw away his life.
When I was at the Edmont hotel, I took one of those matchbooks with the hotel’s name on it. I smoke a lot, so I sorted needed them to give my cigarette a lit. When I was sitting with Sally Hayes in the restaurant, after we skated at Radio City, I started lighting the matches. “I do that quite a lot when I’m in a certain mood…It’s a nervous habit” (129-130).
Nervousness is one of Holden’s psychological traits. The match book is indicative of a nervous habit, lighting matches, which he posses. It is also the “spark” which ignites his nicotine cravings. Nervousness is just another symptom which illustrates that Holden needs help. Holden may include such an object in his scrapbook to remind him of some of the reasons he needed help.
I brought my brother Allie’s baseball mitt with me to Pencey. He was a left-handed outfielder and he had written poems on all the fingers and everything. “He wrote them on it so that he’d have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat” (38). I had his mitt in my suitcase and I took it out so I could write a composition about it for Stradlater. Boy, Allie was a great kid. “You’d have liked him” (38). I really miss Allie.
Holden’s brother Allie died when he was just a young boy. Allie’s death was very traumatizing for Holden. It was the beginning of Holden’s isolation and it sparked violent outbursts. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (39). Allie’s baseball mitt reminds Holden of Allie and how he was vulnerable and innocent when he died. As he cherishes the glove, he holds fast to the memory of his little brother. The mitt is significant because it represents Holden’s loss and longing for Allie, and the problems that his death creates for Holden.
Stradlater asked me to write this composition for him, because he was going out on some date and didn’t have time to do it himself. “He was always asking you to do him a big favor” (27). I had nothing better to do, so I said I’d do it for him. He told me to write something “descriptive as hell” (28). I didn’t feel like writing about some old room or anything, so what I did was I got out my brother Allie’s old baseball mitt. I wasn’t too crazy about writing the thing or anything, but I liked writing about the mitt. When Stradlater finally got home, and I handed him the composition I wrote. But he only got mad. “For Chrissake, Holden. This is about a goddam baseball glove” (41). So I tore it up because Stradlater wasn’t satisfied, and I thought I would keep the pieces and everything. That just made him even more sore.
It is apparent that the glove means a lot to Holden. When he brings the composition to Stradlater, Holden is trying to connect with his roommate. Holden wrote a composition about an object that is very important to him, and is the source of some painful memories. However, Stradlater sees right through Holden’s attempt at connection. Holden puts himself out and tries to communicate his feeling, but Stradlater, who does not get the picture, furthers his isolation and encourages a violent outburst on Holden’s part. Stradlater says, “You do everything backasswards” (41). This is true because Holden’s way of seeking connection is unique, which in turn causes him to not be able to form a link with another person. The composition is significant because it represents one of the ways Holden attempts, yet fails to communicate.
When I got to Penn Station, I hopped in a cap and went over to the Edmont Hotel. I checked in and “they gave me this crumby room” (61). I didn’t stay there long or anything, but I was just killing time before I went home. When I got in, I stuck one of those cute little cocktail napkins with the hotels name on it in my pocket along with my room key.
When Holden arrives to Manhattan, he decides to go to a Hotel instead of going home. This decision is significant because it represents Holden’s isolation. Through the window in his room, Holden observes people in the rooms on the other side of the hotel doing strange and perverted things. “I’m not kidding, the whole hotel was lousy with perverts. I was probably the only normal bastard in the whole place – and that isn’t saying much” (62). Holden is constantly surrounded by perverts or phony people that he has trouble connecting with. When he describes himself as the only normal person in the hotel, he is isolated from the rest of the crowd because he cannot connect with the people there. The hotel items represent his detachment from the people who are part of his life. Normally, a person goes to a hotel on vacation, or as a means of getting away from something. In Holden’s case, he is trying to escape Pencey. He couldn’t stand being there with all the phonies. He tells Phoebe later in the novel, “It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies” (167). Therefore, the key and cocktail napkin provide a memory of his short stay at the Edmont, why he went there, and how it furthered his state of isolation.
After I bought old Phoebe the record, I decided to go see if I could find her so that I could give her the record. She wasn’t in the park, so I asked this little girl if she new old Phoebe. She said she knew what class she was in, and that she was probably at the museum today. However it was Sunday so I knew she wasn’t there, but I walked over to the museum anyway. “I knew that whole museum routine like a book” (119). I remembered all the times I went there myself as a kid. “I get very happy when I think about it” (119-120). I used to take those little pamphlets they gave out with the museums information and everything. What was strange though, when I finally got to the museum, I really didn’t want to go inside.
The museum pamphlet represents Holden’s connection with the museum. In general, he likes the museum and he has good thoughts about it. “I loved that damn museum” (120). However, as Holden walks there, he remembers the best thing about the museum was that “everything always stayed right where it was…Nobody’d move” (121). He then proceeds to say that “the only thing that would be different would be you” (121). For Holden, the museum is the source comfort because every time he steps inside, he will know exactly where everything is and he will know what to expect. This is important to Holden because throughout his life, so many sources of comfort and happiness have changed, such as the death of Allie. The museum is a source of stability for Holden, because he knows there, nothing will turn phony, and everything will be preserved in time. “Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of the those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (122). Although this is what Holden would like, he realizes that it is unrealistic. He thinks about Phoebe, and every time she goes into the museum, she will be different. When Holden got to the entrance, he said, “a funny thing happened…I wouldn’t have gone inside for a million bucks” (122). The pamphlet is significant because it illustrates how Holden is afraid to realize how he has changed from the last time he was there. As much as the museum is a source of happiness for Holden, it makes him depressed to compare himself, a changing individual, against something that is preserved behind glass.
Before I woke Phoebe up, I sat down at DB’s desk and checked out the stuff on it. It was mostly Phoebe’s things from school. I started to look at her notebooks, one for geography, one for spelling. I opened the one under the spelling book and read the whole thing. “I can read that kind of stuff, some kid’s notebook…Kid’s notebooks kill me” (161). I remember one of the pages really well. It was the one where she wrote her name about six or seven times, but with a different middle name. She doesn’t like her middle name, “Every time I see her she’s got a new middle name” (160).
A piece of Phoebe’s notebook could be an item found in Holden’s scrapbook, because although he might not have actual taken the page from her notebook, he would remember it. Holden read his sisters notebook because Phoebe is one of the only people who Holden felt was not phony, and he could connect with. Holden really likes his sister and he even risked being caught by his parents to see her. “I was afraid my parents might barge in on me all of a sudden and I wanted to at least say hello to her before they did.” (161). Phoebe’s notebook is significant because her writing displays her innocence and how she is young and has not been corrupted or turned phony. Holden is in conflict about growing up, and having a piece of Phoebe’s notebook helps him feel connected to his sister and his past.
When I was at Old Spencer’s house, I was shooting the bull around, but at the same time, I got to thinking about the ducks at Central Park South. I wanted to know where they all went in the winter. When I was ridding in the taxi on the way to a hotel in Manhattan, I got to thinking about the ducks again. So I asked the taxi driver, “You know those ducks in the lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?” (60). He didn’t seem to know, so the next time I was in a cab, I asked the driver again. But he only gave me a crazy answer and said that, “they live right in the goddam ice” (82). But I was so damn curious about those ducks, I can just picture them swimming around in that little pond. And then they are just gone for the winter.
The ducks in Central Park South are very significant because they are a representation of Holden. Holden is constantly worried and curious about where the ducks go when winter time comes and the pond freezes over. At this point in his life, Holden’s life is “frozen” just like the pond, and he is at a stand still. He does not have anywhere to go because he was kicked out of school, and he is searching for connection. When he asks about the ducks and where they will go, he is essentially concerned about himself and what will happen to him. “I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away” (13). Including an image of the ducks in central park in Holden’s scrapbook is significant because they are a representation of his anxious state at the time.
When I was in
Holden puts on his red hunting hat
quite a few times throughout the novel. “Then I took my hunting hat out of my
coat pocket…”(180).
The hunting hat is significant because it represents that Holden is
hunting for something. A hunting hat is
generally associated with hunting, which means to seek out or search for. The hat is also associated with shame and is
a source of protection for Holden, similar to a security blanket a child might
posses. He buys the hat after he lost
the fencing equipment and he puts it on after his fight with Stradlater in the
dorms. “I put it on, and turned the peak
around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I went over and took a look at
my stupid face in the mirror” (45). His
“stupid face” is the source of shame that causes him to grab his hat. Another situation when he puts on the hunting
hat is when he was leaving the bar where he met Carl Luce. Holden was really drunk and he tried to ask
the coat check lady out for a date, but he made a fool of himself. The hunting hat is significant because it
shows that Holden is searching for something, but it is also a source of
protection from the shame he feels because he believes himself to be a
failure.