Catcher in the Rye

1. The narrator of this story is in the hospital or mental institution. Although he is going
to tell the reader about his life, he is not going to write about his parents. He writes, “In
the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about
two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.” My family was
the same way, and I suppose most families are. If they have nothing to hide, why do you
suppose families act like that.?

Sometimes families don’t like to get personal. Even if they have nothing to hide they may
just not want their family name disbursed for rumors to be started. Even if a family
doesn’t have anything to hide, something could always be started. Holden also said, “I’m
not going to give you my whole god damned biography.” It family doesn’t have anything
to do with the actual story.

Patricia McGrew Chapter 2
7. In t...