Thursday, November 6, 2025

Thursday

 Today we will discuss the ending of the book and begin to review for tomorrow's test.


 

Catcher in the Rye is a story about a young teenage named Holden Caulfield.  Holden has a conflict with himself – he feels that everyone around him is a phony.  He seems to hate everyone and everything.  The only thoughts of innocence and childhood bring him joy.  Perhaps he struggles to accept the hypocrisy of the adult world.  Holden is the narrator and anti-hero.  The novel is a coming of age story or a bildungsroman novel.  You will need to look at the following themes, symbols and conflicts while reading:

 

MAJOR THEMES:                                                         SYMBOLS:

 

Loss of Innocence                                                            Alle’s Baseball Glove

 

Rebellion From Society                                        Holden’s Red Hunting Cap

 

Mental Instability                                                            The Duck Pond

 

Death                                                                            The Carrousel

 

Hypocrisy                                                                      Holden Caulfield’s name

 

Sexual Confusion                                                            Kings in the back row

 

                                                                                    Prep School Life

 

Major Conflict: Person vs. Self.  Holden has a hard time dealing with the people around him believing that they are all phonies and either pretending to be something that they are not, or selling themselves for some reason.  Everyone is untruthful. 

 

OBJECTIVES:

 

At the end of the unit students will be able to

 

1)    Define character development, irony, metaphor, personification, subplot, atmosphere, tone, allusion, symbol, bildungsroman. Antihero.  

 

2)    List all the characters that appear in the novel and describe their physical appearance, motivations, social class.

 

3)    List various allusions and foreshadows and discuss what they mean in relation to plot.

 

4)    List the various types of conflict that occur throughout the novel and discuss who the conflicts are between.

 

5)    Keep a journal that outlines the novel – and the plot

 

6)    List three themes and in a paragraph or more discuss how these themes work in the novel.

 

7)    In an essay of a page or more discuss how Bradbury uses particular images or characters as symbols and discuss how these symbols reflect larger themes or ideas in the novel.

 

8)    Outline the character development (inward change) of various characters (to be mentioned later).

 

9)    List and outline the central plot.

 

10) In a paragraph or more discuss how the title and the images of innocence or childhood

 

11) Pick out two or three examples of similes and/or metaphors and in a paragraph discuss how they are used.

 

12) Given a quotation identify the speaker.

 

13) Write an essay on Catcher in the Rye.

  Catcher in the Rye: Study Guide

 

Be able to explain the following themes and give examples of three scenes that fit each theme:

 

Loss of Innocence

 

Rebellion From Society

 

Mental Instability

 

Death

 

Hypocrisy

 

Sexual Confusion

Be able to explain the following symbols – what they represent and why they are important:

 

Allie’s Baseball Glove

 

Holden’s Red Hunting Cap

 

The Duck Pond

 

The Carrousel

 

Holden Caulfield’s name

 

Kings in the back row

 

Prep School Life

 

The title

 

List and explain five allusions.

 

Explain the major conflict.

 

List the point of view.

 

Discuss how Holden is an unreliable narrator.

 

Discuss how Holden in an anti-hero.

 

Discuss how Catcher in the Rye is a Bildungsroman novel.

 

Pick out and explain three ironies.

 

Discuss Holden’s character development.

 

Outline the plot.

 

Briefly discuss Holden’s relationship with girls (Jane, Sally, Sunny, Bernice, Marty, Larverne, Faith Cavendish, Mrs. Morrow)

 

Discuss the importance of the following characters:

Achey

 

Stradlater

 

Horwitz

 

Ernie

 

D.B.

 

Phoebe

 

Allie

 

Maurice

 

Carl Luce

 

Lillian Simmons

 

Mr. Antolini

 

Mr. Spencer

 

List some schools that Holden got kicked out or (or left).

 

Given a quotation be able to identify the speaker

 

Compare Holden Caulfield to Scout Finch.


A caul is a membrane covering a fetus's head, which some believe brings good luck. In the novel, it can symbolize the blindness of childhood or Holden's inability to see the complexity of the adult world. His name may imply that he is "hold[ing] on" to the "caul," representing his wish to hold on to childhood innocence.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Tuesday

 Today we are going over this Study Guide Study Guide: PART 1: Short Stories   1)    For following stories please give the type of confl...