The Catcher In the Rye Timeline

The Catcher In the Rye Timeline

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Allie's Death

Allie was Holden’s younger brother

According to Holden, he was very intelligent and used to write poems in green pen on his baseball mitt

He passed from leukemia, which which greatly influenced Holden by enforcing depression upon him

Going to Other schools

• Holden goes to NY with the fencing team but he forgets the equipment on the subway, this is when he buys his symbolic red hat. The hat represents Holden’s desire to stand out and be individual but he sometimes also illustrates insecurity with it.
• Holden finds out he is going to be kicked out so decides to say goodbye to one of his old teachers. Mr. Spencer ends up lecturing Holden
• Holden finds out that his roommate Stradlater is dating a childhood friend of his, Jane. After doing a writing project for him about Allie’s baseball mitt, he gets in a fight with Stradlater.

Holden walks on 5th avenue and he feels as if he is going to disappear. At this point, he is mentally, emotionally and physically ill. He decides to pen Phoebe and tell her he’s leaving. As he goes to her school to deliver the message, he notices profanity written on the walls and becomes angry as he tries to scratch at it. This again, enforces his thoughts of being “The Catcher in the Rye”. After visiting the museum, Holden meets with Phoebe who has brought the red hat and a suitcase since she wants to join him. They argue and eventually Holden follows her around and decides not to leave. As Phoebe rides the carousel, Holden realizes that it’s okay to let the children fall and not to catch them and as he watches his sister, he is finally overwhelmed with happiness.

• Holden wakes up around 10 and makes a date with Sally Hayes. He goes to the Grand Central Station to lock up his things.
• He meets two nuns at the sandwich bar. Holden is amazed by their generosity and it encourages him to donate 10 dollars. This conversation highlights Holden’s intelligence. While he claims his siblings are the smart ones, Holden is still able to discuss literature and understand the emotional tragedy of Mercutio’s death in Romeo and Juliet.
• He walks down Broadway around noon and hears the boy singing “if a body catch a body comin thro the rye” which inspires his idea of wanting to be the Catcher in the Rye and to preserve innocence and youth in children
• Holden goes and looks for his sister Phoebe for whom he bought “Little Shirley Beans” for and ends up at a museum. He says he likes it there because nothing ever changes.
• After watching a play with Sally, they go ice skating and eventually get into an argument. Holden gets a crazy, impulsive idea to run away and get married and Sally becomes angry with him for not thinking practically.
• Later, Holden goes to Radio City Hall by himself and notices a woman who is crying and invested into the performance yet refused to take care of a child earlier. Like he does with many, Holden immediately sees the woman as a phony.

Holden spends a lot of time attending many other schools and getting kicked out

A boy named James Castle commits suicide at one of his schools and this seems to leave an impression on Holden

Finally, Holden ends up at Pencey Prep.

Sunday

Sunday Night

Saturday Night

Monday

Before

Saturday

Sunday Night

Saturday Night

• Around 11:30, Holden decides to leave Pencey Prep, he packs up his things, obtains some money and hops on a train. On the train, Holden runs into a student’s parent and the reader gets to see how easy lying is for Holden.
• He finally gets to the city and checks into the Edmont Hotel. Holden goes down to the Lavender room and meets three ladies there. He continuously thinks about how phony they are while simultaneously dancing and chatting with them.
• Afterward, Holden takes a cab to Ernie's and once again asks the cab driver about the ducks at the pond. This is important because it depicts Holden’s curiosity and youth.
• Back at the hotel, Holden runs into Maurice and decides to hire Sunny. However, when she gets there he just wants to talk to her because he’s lonely. While this leads to her getting angry and Holden beaten up, it also shows the deep rooted isolation Holden possesses.

At 10 pm, he meets Carl Luce in the Wicker Bar and after they get into an argument and Carl leaves, Holden is left to drink until 1am. By now, the reader can see that while Holden tries to surround himself with people, he isn’t able to build many consistent, healthy relationships.

As he leaves and breaks Phoebe's record at the lagoon, possibly representing a loss of innocence, Holden decides to visit her

He breaks into his house and wakes up Phoebe. He gives her the broken record and Phoebe is quick to guess that he got kicked out of school. She seems to be disappointed in him but Holden just tells her he wants to be “The Catcher in the Rye”. Meaning he wants to protect the ideals of innocence and youth. He gives Phoebe his hat, gets money from her and calls Antolini. After sneaking out again he heads to his former teacher's house.

Goes to Antolini

• Antolini lectures Holden about how his life is falling apart but eventually Holden goes to sleep and wakes up to Antolini petting him.
• Holden freaks out and leaves as quickly as possible giving off the impression thathe has been sexually assaulted before

He then goes back to the station and falls asleep on a bench