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1-Page Summary of The Catcher In the Rye
Overall Summary
Holden Caulfield writes a letter to an unnamed person from a rest home. He says that he will tell the story of what happened before Christmas in his diary, where it began with him visiting his history teacher Mr. Spencer and pretending to agree with him about how life is just like a game by following the rules. As Holden listens, however, he thinks that Mr. Spencer is phony and doesn’t really believe what he’s saying because Holden knows that Mr. Spencer didn’t put enough effort into grading one of his assignments and so lied about leaving to go get things when actually going back to read instead when asked if there was anything else he wanted or needed from him since they were done talking for now anyway so no point in staying longer than necessary while still trying not to seem rude or impatient since Mr. Spencer was being nice enough after all by giving up some of his free time on account of having been assigned as Holden’s faculty advisor which meant listening extra closely because it would be easy for them both to forget who they were dealing with here given how young Holden looked even though older than most kids at this school plus everyone assumed well why wouldn’t you assume? given how smart too but also cute looking like your typical prep school boy although not exactly preppy-looking either more dark-haired than blond maybe kind of emo-ish wearing black jeans and turtleneck sweater under leather jacket making sure never forgot hat kept hair out eyes always found something interesting ground notice once saw kicked ball field saw pretty girl sitting nearby reading book thought she might’ve been watching me wondered whether I should say hello decided against it felt shy suddenly then realized wasn’t her staring down at my feet only noticed later had lost my shoe left behind somewhere field probably anyway figured better off without it felt lighter somehow managed keep balance walked around campus barefoot awhile came across two girls lying on grass sunbathing took off shirt lay down beside them pretended fell asleep heard one whisper “Is he dead?” other laughed said “No silly! Just sleeping!” woke up startled feeling weirdly embarrassed got dressed hurried away went back dorm room started reading again
After Holden returns to his dorm room from Central Park, he is interrupted by a neighbor who annoys him. Later that evening, Holden’s roommate comes back from the football game with a date. It turns out that it’s the same girl who used to live next door when they were kids in Maine, but now she goes to their school and has changed since then. Holden talks about her for a long time because he still likes her even though she doesn’t like him anymore. He seems nervous about his roommate going on this date with her, but he agrees not only to do his homework for him but also give advice on how to get the girl into bed if he wants to have sex with her.
Hours later, Stradlater returns from his date with Jane. Holden has been on-edge ever since he left and is wondering what they did together. However, instead of answering Holden’s questions about the date or giving him details about it, Stradlater reads what Holden wrote and criticizes him for not following the rules by claiming to have told him that the essay had to be about a place or a house. Offended and angry, Holden snatches the composition and rips it to pieces. He then presses Stradlater for details about his date with Jane. This tense conversation makes him even angrier so he punches Stradlater in order to get answers out of him as well as calling him a moron because he doesn’t want to talk about his personal life anymore. Because he’s bigger than Holden though, this prompts Stradlater to knock him once more until all that remains is silence while lying on the ground in defeat after being defeated by someone who was supposed to be one of his best friends
