Chapter 4 Summery of The Catcher in the Rye

In Chapter 4, Holden's roommate asks him to write a composition for him because someone told him that he is a "hot shot" in English. People obviously see his abilities, but he doesn't believe in himself enough to care or even try to succeed, it's almost as if he is "too good" for school, or conforming to general society in any way. We also find out that Pencey is located in New York, where he buys his one dollar, red baseball cap which he calls his "people killing hat", for reasons I have not yet pieced together. Stradlater tells Holden that he is on a date with a girl who knows him, a girl who Holden used to play checkers with and obviously had feelings for based off the enthusiasm he shows when Stradlater tells him.

Chapter 3 Summary of Catcher in the Rye

In this chapter, our protagonist makes a rather bold and quite frank statement, he claims to be a frequent and "terrific" and "awful" liar. This reveals a deeper side to Holden's personality. The way I interpreted this was that he is very self-aware in the way that he knows that he lies therefore it's almost an excuse not to change this habit because he knows he does it and continues to do so because it has become a safety blanket for him. He lies to everyone so often that it almost turns into the truth. He begins to believe his own lies and it prevents people from getting to know him, which I believe he desires. He wants to be the only person that knows himself, but when he lies he loses a little part of his true self. He tends to drift from topic to topic in the matter of one paragraph, he is all over the map. He explains to us a bit of the setting at Pencey and how the other boys are in his wing and introduces to us Stradlater and Ackley, his roommates.

Summary of Chapters 1-2 of Catcher in the Rye

In chapter 1 of Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield, the protagonist, is introduced. Though the action is limited in these two opening chapters, they do reveal quite a bit about our main character. What we can tell is that he seems to be the troubled and angsty teenage types. He can be described as defiant due to his background of being kicked out of school after school, and willfully so. He's a huge complainer, he never stops complaining about about how "phony" the rich kid "crooks" are at his prestigious and expensive school, Pencey, are. When he goes to visit his History professor prior to being kicked out of the school, he reveals that he was completely  self-aware of his lack in drive academically. His professor reads to him his sarcastic and brief essay on the Egyptians and at the bottom of the paper he writes that he understands if the professor has to fail him and to not feel bad in doing so. He has a very "I don't care" attitude. He isolates himself in his comfortable, negative and slightly bitter cocoon.