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Holden gets kicked out of Pencey Prep
The book starts out with one of the biggest major events, Holden getting kicked out of another school. -
Holden's farwell to his old history teacher & hears about an old friend from Stradlater
Holden talks about saying goodbye to his old history teacher, who tries to pester Holden about his habits. He then introduces and messes around with Ackley, a fellow classmate from Pencey. He also hears about his old friend Jane Gallagher from his roomate Stradlater. This bothers Holden, and he tries to use Ackley as a way to stop thinking about it. -
Holden writes a composition for Stradlater
This event is important because we are introduced to Holden's brother who had passed. He writes Stradlater's composition about his brothers old baseball mit that had sentimental value. It really showed how much the death of his brother had affected Holden. -
The fight between Stradlater and Holden
This event is important because it shows another side of Holden, and showed more about his personality. Holden begins to instigate, and causes a fight between him and Stradlater because of Holden's thoughts on Stradlater going out with his old friend Jane. Stradlater ruins Holden in the fight. -
Holden leaves Pencey and goes to New York City
Holden decides to leave Pencey early. He was supposed to go home Wednesday, but decides to hang around New York City alone until then, in order to avoid his parents until then so that they don't know he was kicked out early. -
Holdens encounter on the train
On the train ride to NYC, Holden runs into the mom of a guy he had gone to Pencey with. This causes Holden to think about giving somebody a phone call. He wants to talk to anybody on the phone, and thinks about giving his sister Phoebe a call, or Jane, etc. -
Holden stays at a hotel
Holden holes up at a cheap hotel, and hits the bars. He drinks, and dances with girls, and tries to get with them, but doesn't get his way. He also begins to think more about Jane again, and his childhood memories of her and him, and things they did together. He also talks about the thought of Jane being possibly sexually assaulted by her step father -
Holden goes to Ernie's nightclub with an old friend
Holden goes to this nightclub with an old friend from a previous prep school he had gone to, and runs into his brothers ex-girlfriend, who was with a sailor. He is annoyed by her to the point where he leaves the bar. -
Holden is offered a prostitute back at his hotel
When Holden returns from the night club, the elevator man is a pimp who offers Holden a prostitute. The prostitute is sent up to his room, and he was getting ready for it, but when the girl showed, Sunny, he didn't feel in the mood and said he depressed him and made him feel sad. He wanted to just talk to her, but she wasn't interested in what Holden had to say. The prostitute tries to get more money out of Holden before leaving, but Holden refuses. -
Holden runs into trouble with Maurice and Sunny
Maurice and Sunny show up together at Holdens hotel room, where Maurice accuses Holden of ripping him off. Holden stands up for himself, and refuses. This leaves Holden to get punched in the stomach, where Sunny then takes the 5 dollars they claimed Holden owed them. -
Holden makes a date with Sally
Holden makes a date with Sally the next day. During the day, he does many things. He buys a record for his sister, donates to these 2 nuns he meets while eating breakfast and also has a conversation with. He tries to find his sister at the muesam, she ends up not being there. Holden then goes on his date with Sally. He takes her to a show, and then ice skating, and all is going well, until he proposes to Sally that they run away together. Holden ends up yelling at Sally and Sally then leaves. -
Holden goes back home to see Phoebe
Holden is slightly drunk when he decides to go back home so that he can see his sister Phoebe. His sister finds out Holden was kicked out and keeps it a secret from their parents. When Holdens parents arrive home, Holden leaves once again. -
Holden goes to Mr. Antolini
Holden decides to stay with Mr. Antolini because he has no where else to go. Holden doesn't really listen to him as he tries to lecture Holden about his decisions in life. While asleep, Holden awakes to Mr. Antolini petting his head as he slept, and is creeped out. He decides to then leave. -
Holton has a mental breakdown
When Holden leaves, he goes for a walk. On this walk, every time he is about to cross the street, he feels as if he's going to fall off the sidewalk and continue going down. Before crossing the street, he asks his brother Allie to protect him from falling. -
Holten gets an idea to leave New York
Holten then gets the idea that he was going to leave everything and everyone before and head out West, where he would live simple. -
Holten tries to say goodbye to Phoebe
Holten goes to Phoebe's school and gives a note to a teacher to pass on to her to meet him at the muesam. While waiting at the muesam, Holten meets these 2 boys who he shows the mummies and talks to them about them. He then meets his sister out front, who has a suitcase, and tells Holten she wants to go with him. Holten says no and that he wasn't going to go anymore. -
Holten takes phoebe to the zoo
Holten then takes his sister to the zoo and the carousal. He says here that he feels happy watching his little sister. -
Holden goes home
The last part of this book talks about Holden doing therapy. He is asked what he thinks about all the events that he had recalled. He regrets then, telling all of these stories, because he begins to miss everybody that he had mentioned.
