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The Catcher in the Rye By J.D. Salinger Theme: Growing up (Having to…

- - - - Quote from Holden:
        "I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written "F**k you" on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they'd wonder what the hell it meant, and then finally some dirty kid would tell them--all cockeyed, naturally--what it meant, and how they'd all think about it and maybe even worry about it for a couple of days.”
    - - Quote from Holden:
        "I don't know, and I don't give a damn. How 'bout sitting down or something,
        Ackley kid? You're right in my goddam light." He didn't like it when you called him "Ackley kid." He was always telling me I was a goddam kid..."
  - - - Quote from Holden:
        "It was one of the worst schools I ever went to. It was full of phonies. And mean guys. You never saw so many mean guys in your life."
      - Quote from Holden:
        "That killed me. I just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs. The only good part of his speech was right in the middle of it. He was telling us all about what a swell guy he was, what a hot-shot and all..."
- - - - Quote from Holden:
        "I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn't do it."
  - - - Quote from Holden:
        “This next part I don't remember so hot. All I know is I got up from the bed, like I was going down to the can or something, and then I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat open.”
      - Quote from Holden:
        "I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead.”
      - Quote from Holden:
        "Then I got back in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep--I wasn't even tired--but finally I did. What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would've done it, too..."
- - - - Quote from Holden:
        "I ordered a Scotch and soda, and told him not to mix it--I said it fast as hell, because if you hem and haw, they think you're under twenty-one and won't sell you any intoxicating liquor. I had trouble with him anyway, though. "I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but do you have some verification of your age? Your driver's license, perhaps?"
        I gave him this very cold stare, like he'd insulted the hell out of me, and asked him, "Do I look like I'm under twenty-one?"
    - - When someone asked Holden for his age:
        Man: "Hey--how old are you, anyhow?"
        Holden's thoughts: That annoyed me, for some reason.
    - - Conversation between Holden and a stranger:
        Man: "How old are you, chief?" the elevator guy said.
        Holden: "Why?" I said. "Twenty-two."
  - - - Quote from Holden:
        "I told them my name was Jim Steele, just for the hell of it."
    - - Conversation between Holden and a stranger:
        Holden: "It's me. I have to have this operation."
        Stranger: "Oh! I'm so sorry," she said.
        She really was, too. I was right away sorry I'd said it, but it was too late.
        Holden: "It isn't very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the brain."