RE: The Catcher in the Rye help with homework Chapter 14
Chapter 14
- Is Holden religious? Supply proof for your answer.
- On page 103, Holden says, “I thought I was dying.” In Chapter 1 Holden says, “…I felt like I was sort of disappearing.” Find two statements he makes in this chapter to indicate his mental state.
- After Sunny leaves, what does Holden think about?
- Why does Sunny come back to Holden’s room?
- Back at Wooten, what had Holden often discussed with his friend Arthur Childs?
Is Holden religious? Supply proof for your answer.
When Holden gets very depressed, he sometimes talks “sort of out loud” to his younger brother. He does so after Sunny leaves. His communication with Allie is almost religious, a confession of Holden’s boyhood lack of consideration for the kid. Eventually, he goes to bed.In bed, Holden has greater difficulty with conventional prayer. He wants to speak with Jesus but can’t. He “likes” Jesus but finds the Disciples annoying and considers himself an atheist. He is bothered that the Disciples repeatedly let Jesus down, indicating the importance of friendship and loyalty to Holden. It is telling that, other than Jesus, Holden’s favorite character in the Bible is “that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones.” He refers to Mark 5: 1-20, in which Jesus meets the troubled soul whose “name is Legion: for we are many.” Holden himself is a troubled soul and, like the man from the tombs, resists being tamed.
