The catcher in the rye ( résumé)

Pencey is Holden’s fourth school; he has already failed out of three others. At Pencey, he has failed four out of five of his classes and has received notice that he is being expelled, but he doesn’t want to return to home before Wednesday. He goes visit his history teacher, Spencer, to say goodbye. And then Spencer tries to speak about his school results, Holden becomes annoyed.

Back atschool, Holden is irritated by his unhygienic neighbour, Ackley, and by his own roommate, Stradlater. Stradlater has one date with Jane Gallagher and the problem is that Holden know Jane and he likes her a lot. During the evening Holden is very nervous about this date between Stradlater and Jane. And when Stradlater come back he doesn’t stop to asking him questions. The consequence is that Stradlaterstrikes him the nose. After that Holden decides to leave Pencey and he goes to New York.

On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one student in Pencey. From him, this student is a complete “bastard” but he lies and tells to the mother that his son is very shy and that he’s respected at school. When he arrives at New York he gets in a cab and asks the cab driver where the ducks inCentral Park go when the lagoon freezes, but his question annoys the driver.
Holden goes to the Edmont Hotel. From his room at the Edmont, Holden can see a transvestite (a dark queen). He also sees a man and a woman turns spitting mouthfuls of their drinks into each other’s faces. He interprets the couple’s behaviour as a form of sexual play. He calls Faith Cavendish, a woman he has never metbut he remembers hearing that she used to be a stripper, and he believes he can persuade her to have sex with him.
Holden goes downstairs to the Lavender Room, where he dances with three women in their thirties who want to meet a celebrity. When Holden dances with the blonde he feels that he is “half in love” just because she dances well.
Holden leaves the Edmont, he starts to think about JaneGallagher and he tells us how he got to know her. They met during the summer vacation in Maine, played golf and checkers, and held hands at the movies. And after he takes a cab to Ernie’s jazz club in Greenwich Village. Again, he asks the cab driver where the ducks in Central Park go in the winter. Holden sits alone at a table in Ernie’s. He meets Lillian Simmons, an ex-girlfriend of his brother,who invites him to sit with her and her date. Holden lies and says he has to meet someone, leaves, and walks back to the Edmont.
Maurice, the elevator operator at the Edmont, offers to send a prostitute to Holden’s room for five dollars, and Holden agrees. When he saw her, he didn’t want to have sex with her anymore but he pays her anyway. She asked him 10 dollars but Holden gives her 5dollarsbecause that’s the price that Maurice said. Sunny returns with Maurice, who demands another five dollars from Holden. When Holden refuses to pay, Maurice punches him in the stomach and leaves him on the floor, while Sunny takes five dollars from his wallet. Holden imagines that he kills Maurice and after he goes to bed.
The next day Holden has a meet with Sally, an attractive girl with who Holdendated before. They go see a Broadway piece. He eats breakfast in a sandwich bar where he speaks with two nuns and gives her 10 dollars. After he takes a cab for central park to see his sister but she isn’t there. Holden and Sally go to the play, and Holden is annoyed that Sally talks with a boy she knows. Holden tries to explain to Sally why he is unhappy at school, and actually urges her to runaway with him to Massachusetts or Vermont and live in a cabin. When she refuses, he calls her a “pain in the ass” and laughs at her when she reacts angrily. She refuses to listen to his apologies and leaves.
He calls Carl Luce, a friend of his old school. Luce always speaks about sex in the school, so Holden tries to draw him into a conversation about it once more. But Luce gets irritated by the…