Catcher in the Rye Chapters 21-22

Chapter 21

1. When Holden gets on the elevator, whom does he tell the operator he is going to visit?

He tells the operator that he was going to visit Dicksteins, who lived on the same floor with Holden's house.


2. Holden is very skillful at opening the door quietly. What profession does he say he should have gone into?

He says that he really should've been a crook.


3. When Holden enters the family apartment, how does he know for sure that he is in the right apartment?

Because their foyer always has a funny smell that doesn't smell like anyplace else.


4. How does Holden describe his mother’s hearing ability?

He says that his mother has ears like a bloodhound, and also he says that all you have to do his mother is cough somewhere in Siberia and she'll hear you.


5. Why does Phoebe not like her own room?

She doesn't like her own room, because she says that it's too little.


6. During the first few moments that he is in Phoebe’s room, Holden says something he has not said for many chapters. What is it?

He exaggerates a little bit. He says that he gets to Phoebe's room in an hour, and also that the bed in D.B.'s is 10 miles long and 10 miles wide.


7. Holden’s mother has outstanding tastes in what area?

She has outstanding tastes in clothes.


8. What kind of reading does Holden find very interesting?

In one of Phoebe's notebooks, he finds notes that Phoebe and her friends wrote.


9. How did Phoebe hurt her arm?

A boy in Phoebe's class pushed her while she was going down the stairs in the park.


10. What does Holden say that he may do now that he has been expelled from school?

He says that he may get a job on a ranch.


Chapter 22

1. To what does Holden compare Phoebe’s behavior when she finds out that he was expelled from Pencey?

He compares it to the fencing team at Pencey when he left all the equipments on the subway.


2. Where does Holden say that his father will send him when he learns that Holden has been expelled?

He says that his father will send him to the military school.


3. Even though Holden likes Mr. Spencer, why does he consider him a phony?

Because when the headmaster came into the History class and sit there. And a few minutes later, the headmaster starts doing a lot of corny jokes, and Mr. Spencer would kill himself chuckling and smiling.


4. What was the Pencey alumnus looking for when he came to Holden and Stradlater’s dorm?

He asked them if they'd mind if he used the bathroom. Also, he wanted to see if his initials were still in one of the can doors.


5. When Holden thinks about the nuns, what does he picture them doing?

He pictures them going around collecting dough in those beat-up old straw baskets.


6. Why did James Castle commit suicide?

Because seven dirty guys from the school locked the door of his room and did things that are too repulsive, because that James called one of the guys conceited. Finally, he jumped out of the window.


7. What was the topic of the only conversation that Holden remembers having with James Castle?

When Holden was brushing his teeth, he asked Holden if he can borrow his turtleneck sweater.


8. What habit of Holden’s does Phoebe wants him to change?

She wants Holden to change his cursing habit. She doesn't want him to curse.


9. What bothers Holden about becoming a lawyer?

When you are a lawyer, everybody congratulates you in the court when the trial was over. This way you wouldn't be able to know that if you really want to save people's lives, or if you really want to be a good lawyer, with everybody congratulating you.


10. Who is the author of “if a body meet a body coming through the rye?”

It is a poem by Robert Burns.