The Catcher in the Rye Timeline

Holden Caulfield had a bad history with school and Pencey Prep is no different. He flunked most of his classes and, around Christmas break, gets kicked out.

Holden finds out that his roommate, Stradlater, is going out with a girl named Jane. Holden was surprised to find this out because he goes way back with her.

On Saturday, Pencey Prep always serves steak and mash potatoes so Holden, Mal Brossard and Ackley go to New York for some burgers and a movie. Only they end up playing pinball instead.

Before Stradlater goes out with Jane he asks if Holden can write a descriptive paper for him. After Holden gets back from New York he sits down and begins. Holden writes about Allies glove, His dead brother. A left handed mitt with poems written in green ink all over it.

When Stradlater gets back from his date with Jane, Holden is very nosy and wants to know about everything that happened. He ends up getting to personal and wants to know if Stradlater and Jane "did it" and when Stradlater wont tell him Holden punches him in the face. Naturally Stradlater doesn't like this so he kneels on Holden's chest and ends up punching Holden in the face to. With Holden on the ground Stradlater leaves the room.

After the fight with Stradlater, Holden decides to check out early instead of waiting till Wednesday, his last day at Pencey. So he packs his bags, sells his typewriter and leaves the campus.

After a conversation full of lies with a classmates mom on the subway, Holden calls a cab to take him to a hotel. Only he forgets that he is going to a hotel so they drive halfway to his house before turning around and going back. In the hotel room he gets pretty lonely so he calls up this girl Faith Cavendish. When she cant go out to get cocktails Holden goes down to the club inside of the hotel and dances a while with these three girls around 30 years old.

After the three girls leave the club, Holden does as well. However the night is still young so he takes a cab to Ernie's, a well known bar with a amazing piano player. He had only bee there for a bit when one of his brothers old friends, Lilian Simmons, comes over and starts up a conversation. She asks Holden to sit down with her and her boyfriend but Holden doesn't want to so he says he has somewhere to be, and leaves.

When he gets back to the hotel, Holden is offered a prostitute by Maurice, the elevator guy. Holden says yes so he gets back to his room. Sunny, the prostitute, comes in and is ready to do it but all of a sudden Holden doesn't want to. He just wants to talk. They talk for a bit but then Holden pays her half what he owed her and she leaves. A little while later Maurice comes in and demands $5 more. When Holden says no Sunny takes it from his wallet and Maurice punches Holden in the gut.

The next day he calls up one of his old friends Sally Hayes and sets up a date with her. Holden then leaves the hotel to get breakfast and then just messes around in New York until his date with Sally. They go to a play even though Holden isn't that in to it and later they go to the ice skating rink. They skate for a while then Holden asks her if she wants to leave New York with him. They get into a argument and Holden calls he a, "pain in the ass," then he leaves.

After Holden's argument with Sally, Holden and his old classmate Carl Luce go to a bar and have a drink together. Holden gets a bit to nosy and personal with Carl so he leaves not soon after he gets there. Soon Holden is mad drunk. In his insanity he wets his head in a sink. After wondering around outside he finds little chinks of ice in his hair and thinks he is going to die from pneumonia. So he decides to go say good bye to Phoebe before he does.

When he gets to his house he finds Phoebe sleeping in his brothers room. They talk for a while but then Phoebe finds out that Holden got kicked out. She gets sad and mad for a while so Holden leaves her alone and calls Mr. Antolini, his former teacher. Mr Antolini says Holden can stop by anytime. Holden hangs up and goes back to Phoebe. Then Phoebe and Holden make up and dance for a while. When their parents come home Holden hides in the closet. When their parents go to bed, he leaves.

After leaving his house, Holden goes to Mr. Antolinis house to spend the night. He gets there and Mr. Antolini talks to him about getting kicked out of Pencey and how he is scared for Holden's future. Soon Holden goes to bed but is woke up in the middle of the night by a frightening experience. Mr. Antolini is petting Holdens head! Holden decides to get out of there as soon as possible so he gets his cloths on and leaves. He spends the rest of his night on the benches in the subway waiting room.

After that terrible night at Mr. Antolinis Holden decides to get out of New York and go west. He goes to his sisters school and asks the front desk to give a note to Phoebe telling her to meet by the museums so he can say his good byes. However when Phoebe gets there she has her things pack and is ready to go with him. This makes Holden mad and when he says "no" Phoebe gets mad to. They end up going to the zoo together and they make up. Holden watches Phoebe there and it makes him happy again.