novel, Aarfy stuns Yossarian when he rapes and murders the maid of the
officers' apartments in Rome.
Orr - Yossarian's often maddening roommate. Orr almost always crashes
his plane or is shot down on combat missions, but he always seems to
survive.
Appleby - A handsome, athletic member of the squadron and a superhuman
ping-pong player. Orr enigmatically says that Appleby has flies in his
eyes.
Captain Black - The squadron's bitter intelligence officer. He wants
nothing more than to be squadron commander. Captain Black exults in the
men's discomfort and does everything he can increase it; when Nately falls
in love with a whore in Rome, Captain Black begins to buy her services
regularly just to taunt him.
Colonel Korn - Colonel Cathcart's wily, cynical sidekick.
Major de Coverley - The fierce, intense executive officer for the
squadron. Major ----- de Coverley is revered and feared by the men--they
are even afraid to ask his first name-- though all he does is play
horseshoes and rent apartments for the officers in cities taken by American
forces. When Yossarian moves the bomb line on a map to make it appear that
Bologna has been captured, Major ----- de Coverely disappears in Bologna
trying to rent an officers' apartment.
Major Danby - The timid operations officer. Before the war, he was a
college professor; now, he does his best for his country. In the end, he
helps Yossarian escape.
General Dreedle - The grumpy old general in charge of the wing in which
Yossarian's squadron is placed. General Dreedle is the victim of a private
war waged against him by the ambitious General Peckem.
Nurse Duckett - A nurse in the Pianosa hospital who becomes Yossarian's
lover.
Dunbar - Yossarian's friend, the only other person who seems to
understand that there is a war going on. Dunbar has decided to live as long
as possible by making time pass as slowly as possible, so he treasures
boredom and discomfort. He is mysteriously "disappeared" as part of a
conspiracy toward the end of the novel.
Chief White Halfoat - An alcoholic Indian from Oklahoma who has decided
to die of pneumonia.
Havermeyer - A fearless lead bombardier. Havermeyer never takes evasive
action, and he enjoys shooting field mice at night.
Huple - A fifteen year-old pilot; the pilot on the mission to Avignon
on which Snowden is killed. Huple is Hungry Joe's roommate, and his cat
likes to sleep on Hungry Joe's face.
Washington Irving - A famous American author whose name Yossarian signs
to letters during one of his many stays in the hospital. Eventually,
military intelligence believes Washington Irving to be the name of a covert
insubordinate, and two C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Division) men are
dispatched to ferret him out of the squadron.
Luciana - A beautiful girl Yossarian meets, sleeps with, and falls in
love with during a brief period in Rome.
Mudd - Generally referred to as "the dead man in Yossarian's tent,"
Mudd was a squadron member who was killed in action before he could be
processed as an official member of the squadron. As a result, he is listed
as never having arrived, and no one has the authority to move his
belongings out of Yossarian's tent.
Lieutenant Scheisskopf - Later Colonel Scheisskopf and eventually
General Scheisskopf. He helps train Yossarian's squadron in America and
shows an unsettling passion for elaborate military parades. ("Scheisskopf"
is German for "shithead.")
The Soldier in White - A body completely covered with bandages in
Yossarian and Dunbar's ward in the Pianosa hospital.
Snowden - The young gunner whose death over Avignon shattered
Yossarian's courage and opened his eyes to the madness of the war. Snowden
died in Yossarian's arms with his entrails splattered all over Yossarian's
uniform, a trauma which is gradually revealed throughout the novel.
Corporal Whitcomb - Later Sergeant Whitcomb, the chaplain's atheist
assistant. Corporal Whitcomb hates the chaplain for holding back his
career, and makes the chaplain a suspect in the Washington Irving scandal.
ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen - The mail clerk at the Twenty-Seventh Air Force
Headquarters, Wintergreen is able to intercept and forge documents, and
thus wields enormous power in the Air Force. He continually goes AWOL
(Absent Without Leave), and is continually punished with loss of rank.
General Peckem - The ambitious special operations general who plots
incessantly to take over General Dreedle's position.
Kid Sampson - A pilot in the squadron. Kid Sampson is sliced in half by
McWatt's propeller when McWatt jokingly buzzes the beach with his plane.
Lieutenant Colonel Korn - Colonel Cathcart's wily, condescending
sidekick.
Colonel Moodus - General Dreedle's son-in-law. General Dreedle despises
Colonel Moodus, and enjoys watching Chief White Halfoat bust him in the
nose.
Flume - Chief White Halfoat's old roommate who is so afraid of having
his throat slit while he sleeps that he has taken to living in the forest.
Dori Duz - A friend of Scheisskopf's wife. Together, they sleep with
all the men training under him while he is stationed in the U.S.
The Catcher in the Rye
Chapter One:
The Catcher in the Rye begins with the statement by the narrator, Holden
Caulfield, that he will not tell about his "lousy" childhood and "all that
David Copperfield kind of crap" because such details bore him. He describes
his parents as nice, but "touchy as hell." Instead, Holden vows to tell
about what happened to him around last Christmas, before he had to take it
easy. He also mentions his brother, D.B., who is nearby in Hollywood "being
a prostitute." Holden was a student at Pencey Prep in Agerstown,
Pennsylvania, and he mocks their advertisements, which claim to have been
molding boys into clear-thinking young men since 1888. Holden begins his
story during the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall, which was
supposed to be a very big deal at Pencey. Selma Thurmer, the daughter of
the headmaster, is at the game. Although she is unattractive and a bit
pathetic, to Holden she seems nice enough, for she does not lavish praise
upon her father. Holden, the manager of the fencing team, had just returned
from New York with the team. Although they were supposed to have a meet
with the McBurney School, Holden left the foils on the subway. The fencing
team was angry at Holden, but he thought the entire event was funny in a
way. Holden does not attend the football game, instead choosing to say
goodbye to Spencer, his history teacher, who knew that Holden was not
coming back to Pencey. Holden had recently been expelled for failing four
classes.
Chapter Two:
Holden finds the Spencer's house somewhat depressing, smelling of Vicks
Nose Drops and clearly indicating the old age of its inhabitants. Mr.
Spencer sits in a ratty old bathrobe, and asks Holden to sit down. Holden
tells him how Dr. Thurmer told him about how "life is a game" and you
should "play it according to the rules" when he expelled him. Mr. Spencer
tells him that Dr. Thurmer was correct, and Holden agrees with him, but
thinks instead that life is only a game if you are on the right side.
Holden tells Mr. Spencer that his parents will be upset, for this is his
fourth private school so far. Holden tells that, at sixteen, he is over six
feet tall and has some gray hair, but still acts like a child, as others
often tell him. Spencer says that he met with Holden's parents, who are
"grand" people, but Holden dismisses that word as "phony." Spencer then
tells Holden that he failed him in History because he knew nothing, and
even reads his exam essay about the Egyptians to him. At the end of the
exam, Holden left a note for Mr. Spencer, admitting that he is not
interested in the Egyptians, despite Spencer's interesting lectures, and
that he will accept if Mr. Spencer fails him. As Holden and Mr. Spencer
continue to talk, Holden's mind wanders; he thinks about ice skating in
Central Park. When Mr. Spencer asks why Holden quit Elkton Hills, he tells
Mr. Spencer that it is a long story, but explains in narration that the
people there were phonies. He mentions the particular quality of the
headmaster, Mr. Haas, who would be charming toward everyone but the "funny-
looking parents." Holden claims he has little interest in the future, and
assures Mr. Spencer that he is just going through a phase. As Holden
leaves, he hears Mr. Spencer say "good luck," a phrase that he particularly
loathes.
Chapter Three:
Holden claims that he is the most terrific liar one could meet. He admits
that he lied to Spencer by telling him that he had to go to the gym. At
Pencey, Holden lives in the Ossenburger Memorial Wing of the new dorms.
Ossenburger is a wealthy undertaker who graduated from the school; Holden
tells how false Ossenburger seemed when he gave a speech exalting faith in
Jesus and how another student farted during the ceremony. Holden returns to
his room, where he puts on a red hunting hat they he bought in New York.
Holden discusses the books that he likes to read: he prefers Ring Lardner,
but is now reading Dinesen's Out of Africa. Ackley, a student whose room is
connected to Holden's, barges in on Holden. Holden describes Ackley as
having a terrible personality and an even worse complexion. Holden tries to
ignore him, then pretends that he is blind to annoy Ackley. Ackley cuts his
nails right in front of Holden, and asks about Ward Stradlater, Holden's
roommate. Ackley claims that he hates Stradlater, that "goddamn
sonuvabitch," but Holden tells Ackley that he hates Stradlater for the
simple reason that Stradlater told him that he should actually brush his
teeth. Holden defends Stradlater, claiming that he is conceited, but still
generous. Stradlater arrives, and is friendly to Holden (in a phony sort of
way), and asks to borrow a jacket from Holden. Stradlater walks around
shirtless to show off his build.
Chapter Four:
Since he has nothing else to do, Holden goes down to the bathroom to chat
with Stradlater as he shaves. Stradlater, in comparison to Ackley, is a
"secret" slob, who would always shave with a rusty razor that he would
never clean. Stradlater is a "Yearbook" kind of handsome guy. He asks
Holden to write a composition for him for English. Holden realizes the
irony that he is flunking out of Pencey, yet is still asked to do work for
others. Stradlater insists, however, that Holden not write it too well, for
Hartzell knows that Holden is a hot-shot in English. On an impulse, Holden
gives Stradlater a half nelson, which greatly annoys Stradlater. Stradlater
talks about his date that night with Jane Gallagher. Although he cannot
even get her name correct, Holden knows her well, for she lived next door
to him several summers ago and they would play checkers together.
Stradlater barely listens as he fixes his hair with Holden's gel. Holden
asks Stradlater not to tell Jane that he got kicked out. He then borrows
Holden's hound's-tooth jacket and leaves. Ackley returns, and Holden is
actually glad to see him, for he takes his mind off of other matters.
Chapter Five:
On Saturday nights at Pencey the students are served steak; Holden believes
this occurs because parents visit on Sunday and students can thus tell them
that they had steak for dinner the previous night, as if it were a common
occurrence. Holden goes with Ackley and Mal Brossard into New York City to
see a movie, but since Ackley and Brossard had both seen that particular
Cary Grant comedy, they play pinball and get hamburgers instead. When they
return, Ackley remains in Holden's room, telling about a girl he had sex
with, but Holden knows that he is lying, for whenever he tells that same
story, the details always change. Holden tells him to leave so that he can
write Stradlater's composition. He writes about his brother Allie's
baseball mitt. Allie, born two years after Holden, died of leukemia in
1946. The night that Allie died, Holden broke all of the windows in his
garage with his fist.
Chapter Six:
Stradlater returned late that night, thanked Holden for the jacket and
asked if he did the composition for him. When Stradlater reads it, he gets
upset at Holden, for it is simply about a baseball glove. Since Stradlater
is upset, Holden tears up the composition. Holden starts smoking, just to
annoy Stradlater. Holden asks about the date, but Stradlater doesn't give
very much information, only that they spent most of the time in Ed Banky's
car. Finally he asks if Stradlater "gave her the time" there. Stradlater
says that the answer is a "professional secret," and Holden responds by
trying to punch Stradlater. Stradlater pushes him down and sits with his
knees on Holden's chest. He only lets Holden go when he agrees to say
nothing more about Stradlater's date. When he calls Stradlater a moron, he
knocks Holden out. Holden then goes to the bathroom to wash the blood off
his face. Even though he claims to be a pacifist, Holden enjoys the look of
blood on his face.
Chapter Seven:
Ackley, who was awakened by the fight, comes in Holden's room to ask what
happened. He tells Holden that he is still bleeding and should put
something on his wounds. Holden asks if he can sleep in Ackley's room that
night, since his roommate is away for the weekend, but Ackley says that he
can't give him permission. Holden feels so lonesome that he wishes he were
dead. Holden worries that Stradlater had sex with Jane during their date,
because he knew that Stradlater was capable of seducing girls quickly.
Holden asks Ackley whether or not one has to be Catholic to join a
monastery. He then decides to leave Pencey immediately. He decides to take
a room in a hotel in New York and take it easy until Wednesday. He packs
ice skates that his mother had just sent him. The skates make him sad,
because they are not the kind that he wanted. According to Holden, his
mother has a way of making him sad whenever he receives a present. Holden
wakes up Woodruff, a wealthy student, and sells him his typewriter for
twenty bucks. Before he leaves, he yells "Sleep tight, ya morons."
Chapter Eight:
Since it is too late to call a cab, Holden walks to the train station. On
the train, a woman gets on at Trenton and sits right beside him, even
though the train is nearly empty. She strikes up a conversation with him,
noticing the Pencey sticker on his suitcase, and says that her son, Ernest
Morrow, goes to Pencey as well. Holden remembers him as "the biggest
bastard that ever went to Pencey." Holden tells her that his name is Rudolf
Schmidt, the name of the Pencey janitor. Holden lies to Mrs. Morrow,
pretending that he likes Pencey and that he is good friends with Ernest.
She thinks that her son is Њsensitive,' an idea that Holden finds
laughable, but Holden continues to tell lies about Ernest, such as that he
would have been elected class president, but he was too modest to accept
the nomination. Holden asks if she would like to join him for a cocktail in
the club car. Finally, he tells her that he is leaving Pencey early because
he has to have an operation; he claims he has a tumor on his brain. When
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