The Catcher in the Rye Timeline

The Catcher in the Rye Timeline

by: Linda Chen

Before leaving to Mr. Antolini's house, Holden gives Phoebe his hunting hat (180).

When Holden went back to the hotel after going to the nightclub at Greenwich Village, he meets the elevator man ,Maurice (90).

After breakfast, Holden decides to buy the "Little Shirley Beans" record for Phoebe (114).

Holden gets kicked out of Pencey Prep school (4).

Stradlater returned home from his date with Jane Gallagher (40).

When the novel begins, we see that Holden is being kicked out of the school. Immediately, we, the readers, know that Holden's life will suddenly turn downhill.

The elevator man asked Holden if he was interested in hooking up with a prostitute (91). He agrees because he wanted some practice in case he ever got married. The elevator man brings up a prostitute named Sunny and Holden realizes that he is not in a mood for sex and he rather just talk (94-98).

Since Holden has no place to sleep, he phones Mr. Antolini and asked if he could spend the night at his house. Holden gives Phoebe his hunting hat as a sign of care for her before leaving.

Holden and Stradlater get into a fight because Stradlater may or may not have hooked up with Jane (43-44). Before the date, Holden kept asking Stradlater about her. It is very obvious that Holden has a crush on her. They begin to exchange fists. Stradlater beats Holden in the fight so in result, he decides to leave Pencey and head to New York (52).

When buying the record for Phoebe, Holden hears a little boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye (115)." He sees cars zooming by and brakes screeching while the little boy kept walking on the curb singing.

When Stradlater asked Holden to write an English composition about anything descriptive (28).

Holden heads to his house after meeting his older friend, Carl Luce (157).

Holden thought of giving Jane a buzz but instead he gave Sally Hayes a buzz (105).

After he arrives at New York, he thinks about phoning Jane, D.B, or Phoebe but he doesn't (59).

Stradlater knows that Holden is flunking all of his classes but yet, he still asks Holden to write it. Holden reluctantly agrees to do it. He writes about his deceased younger brother, Allie's baseball mitt. In the mitt, there were poems, written in green ink that Holden always read. Allie's death impacted Holden because he refused to acknowledge that Allie was dead. He broke all of the windows in the garage on the night Allie died (38-39).

When he thought about phoning one of the three people, he analyzed what would happen if he did call. So, he decided to not call neither one of them and took a cab to Edmont Hotel. During the cab ride to the hotel, he asked the taxi driver, "You know those ducks... to know by any chance (p.60)."

Holden makes a movie date with Sally Hayes even though Holden thinks she is a "phony" (106). Holden arrived early to the date so he goes to eat breakfast where he meets the two nuns. They discussed about Romeo and Juliet and in the end, Holden donates ten dollars for their collection (109-113).

Holden meets Carl at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel. There, they have a conversation about sex. Holden then leaves the bar and heads back home to see Phoebe. He arrives at the apartment and sneaks into his house to find Phoebe sleeping in D.B's room (158-161).