‘Well, I wasn’t really asking for you,’ I said, ‘he just told me he was going out with you, and I said I knew you. I mean, I was going out myself so I couldn’t come down.’ I don’t know why I told her that. I mean I didn’t want her to think I had nothing to do, or that I was angry at Stadlater for going out with her. I mean one time we got very close to necking, but it was really because she was upset with her step dad, that bastard. But like nothing really happened, she didn’t even let me get close to her mouth. But the idea of her and Stadlater being together is just disgusting, I mean he does even know that she always leaves are her kings in the back row because they look nice back there.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said as if I was the one making a whole deal about it, ‘I’m glad you’ve called. It has been ages since we’ve seen each other. So how are you doing? How is school? And how is Phoebe?’
There was a long silence. Where are you supposed to start when you have so many questions? She was different; there was something different about her. Why was she asking stupid questions about stupid things? Its like when you see family you haven’t seen in a long time and they just start asking stupid questions, like how old are you and why have you grown so much, or what do you want to do when you grow up. I hate that she was asking about that and I hated the fact it was her that asked.
‘Holden?’ there was a tone of guilt in her voice, ‘Are you still there?’
‘Yeah I’m here. Sorry I’m just kind of busy. Well I’m ok, although the school doesn’t think so.’
‘Oh no… what happened? Don’t tell me you got thrown out again!’
I didn’t want to tell her. I thought I was talking to my mother or I was back at Mr Spencer’s office. I told her because I thought I could trust her But she was different from the last time we spoke, she was worrying about nonsense, I thought she would understand. ‘Well, yeah I got the axe, but it wasn’t really my fault. I mean what’d they expect when you have old Thurner in charge and all.’
‘Oh, Holden, I can’t believe it. I was hoping we could get together this summer, it’s too bad. Well…I mean, do you think you would be able to go out?’
‘No,’ It kind of just pop out, ‘well I need to go.’
‘It was so good talking to you. We have to keep in touch so you can tell me where you are going next. We could even meet in spring break and all. Well, take care, and try to call again, bye.’
‘Bye.’ I wasn’t really in the mood to say much more after that. I hate phony conversations, were you talk but don’t really say anything. I couldn’t believe Jane was like that, I thought I was talking to one of those old ladies who drink tea and put on to much make up. It was her fault I didn’t tell her I was in New York, or that we could meet. I felt like if she’d call my mother or Pencey if I told her. I mean she hadn’t even complained about Stradlater in their date. Well maybe she should go out with him again, why would I care?
Rationale – Telephone conversation “The Catcher in the Rye”
This is the recreation of a telephone conversation between Jane Gallagher and Holden Caulfield. Although in the book Jane never appears, she is referred to several times. She is presented to us when Holden remembers their summers at Maine, and although he tries to call her a number of times they are never able to talk. This conversation could be placed in chapter 11, when Holden goes down to the lobby and starts thinking about Jane. Instead of only thinking about her, the telephone conversation could be integrated into the story. Of course, if this actually happened the rest of the story would change.
Through this telephone conversation I wanted to first show how Holden tends to idolizes people, especially those who he hasn’t had much contact with in a long time. This group of people includes Allie, Jane, Mr. Antolini and Mr. Spencer. However both of the last characters prove the way in which Holden’s impressions changes after he reencounters each of them. He seems to be very judgmental of every person he meets, especially as he tells the story because he has grown now out of his childhood and is often asked about his present and future. As he says repeatedly, when he was a child his life was much simpler, and this is when he met and spend time with Allie and Jane, two characters that he has no connection with through out the book. That lack of relation between the character, is what makes us understand why Holden idealizes them so much, while criticizes the rest of grown ups.
Holden is always talking about how much he knows about Jane and how perfect she seems to be. Still, we like with the examples shown before, he ends up criticizing everyone he meets and considering them “phony”. I believe he would think the same about Jane, if he was to have any contact with her through the book, as he would realize that she is not only a normal girl, but probably because she would have grown physically as well as mentally, therefore making Holden uncomfortable. His opinion about people changes particularly fast when someone asks him about his future, and most probably Jane would ask him about this particular subject. During the conversation we may see how she is concerned about him, as she asks him “How is school?” Holden feels awkward by these remarks; talking about all these problems would not only make him remember about them, but also realize that part of growing up is dealing with them.
Another of the facets of Holden I want to show through this conversation is the way he relates to women. Different women have different effects on Holden. He is definitely attracted to many of them, even if he finds them phony. Yet, he is angry at himself for being attracted to people such as Sally Hayes. On the other hand, Jane is presented to us as an intelligent girl who has no trouble when it comes to dealing with life. Still, we may not relay much on what Holden tells us, as there are several clues that tell us that he may be exaggerating, first being the fact that we are only able to hear his perspective of the events, and also that by the end of the book he seems to be in a mental hospital. The Jane presented to us is much younger and has been idolized. However this does not disprove the fact that Holden seems to have strong feelings towards her, we often find him with “old Jane Gallagher back into [his] head”. Although, H. Caulfield seems to be interested with her in a romantic manner, many times we find that actually he cares for her more as a sister, and wants to protect her from “going out with Stradlater”. This is why he hates him so much. He is in some way jealous, although he tries to deny it, but his jealousy is due to the fact that Jane has gone out with Stradlater in the first place, and does not actually complain about him during their conversation. At the end we find that he wishes that she would go out with Stradlater again, like punishing her for growing up. Showing again the way in which Holden is afraid of change and growing up.
35/45 (for 2 courseworks) IB level 6
