Socratic Seminar Rubric

Here is the rubric for the Socratic Seminar.

Catcher Socratic Seminar

The Catcher in the Rye Socratic Seminar

Points for Discussion

In preparation for the Socratic Seminar, please consider the following points.  Please bring in notes to help guide your comments.  If there are any other points you wish to bring to the discussion, please feel free to add them.

1.  Consider the following statement:  We see the truth about people and the world through Holden's eyes.

Do you agree with this statement or not?  Point to specific places in the text to back up your opinion.

2.  In what ways is Holden a typical teenager?  In what ways is he atypical?  Would you be friends with him?  Why/why not?

3. What does it mean to reach “adult” status? How and when does an individual become an adult? What are the benefits to becoming one? What are the negatives?

4.  What aspects of people/life/the world does Holden find particularly enjoyable?  What does he find particularly abhorrent?  Is he justified in his views?

5.  Consider this question as it relates to Holden: How does our past dictate who we become?

6. Which moments in the text are the most significant to the meaning of the book as a whole?

7. What themes come up in this book?  How does Salinger develop these themes?  

8. What does this book help us to understand about the teenage (or, more generally, the human) experience?

9. Many people are dissatisfied with the book’s ending.  Were you?  Even if you were, how might the ending be considered appropriate for the book?

10.  Why do you think Salinger chose to name the book as he did?

11. Consider how the book is structured and the way that Salinger wrote it. How does this impact your reading of it?

Sample Passage Analysis

In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, there is a passage in which Holden reflects at great length about the Museum of Natural History in NYC.  In this passage, Holden illustrates how much he struggles with change.  At this point in the book, Holden is in a low place as he wanders aimlessly around the city.  He gets to the museum and thinks back on all of the fond memories that he has from his childhood there.  For all of the positives that he remembers, though, he explains how, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121).  The fact that Holden identifies this quality of staying the same as “the best thing” about the museum highlights how important consistency is to him.  Holden has experienced so much dramatic change in his life, such as losing his brother and being kicked out of numerous schools.  Therefore, having something like the museum that will always be there is of critical importance to him.  In Holden’s eyes, “Certain things they should just stay the way they are” (122).  He feels that “You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone” (122).    If Holden had been able to put his own childhood inside of a “big glass case”, then he would still have Allie alive; if the things in his life could have “just stay[ed] the way they [were]”, then Holden’s life would be a lot less complicated than it is now.  He longs for the simplicity of childhood, and he uses the museum as a way to show how he wishes things could have remained as they were when he was a child.

Vocabulary Lesson 13

Complete the following sentences and analogies with words from list 13.

1. In order to ____________________ an argument with my mother, I made sure to do the dishes before she got home.
2. As a form of _________________, the family received ten thousand dollars from the accident.
3. She had a breakdown because of all of the ________________ she was experiencing.
4. Every morning when I walk into school, I am verbally ___________________ by people in the hallway who bombard me with questions.
5. While the population of elephants has diminished greatly in the last few years, they are still __________.
6. The ____________________ for the fight was the insult that John made against Steve's mother.
7. While the president's words were meant to mollify the crowd, they only served to further ___________________ them to action.

8. _________________ is to refuse as reconcile is to argue.
9. __________________ is to insignificant as intrinsic is to external.
10. __________________ is to soothe as augur is to predict.

Catcher Passages - Ch 16-18

Click here for passages to examine from chapters 16-18 and group assignments.

Catcher in the Rye: Analyzing a Passage

Click here for a detailed description and example of how to analyze a passage.

Vocabulary Lesson 13 Practice

Use the following to practice with the words from lesson 13.

Period 6 Class Work 11/2

Hi Everyone,
Here is your work for today.

1. Complete the following journal prompt:

Reread pages 38-39 in Catcher, in which Holden describes Allie's baseball mitt and uses this as a way of telling us about Allie and his death.

Make a note of anything you notice about Holden's writing/thinking style in this passage.  What do you notice about his language, sentence length, the way he tells the story, describes Allie, etc.

In your journal, write about an object that is of great significance to you.



2. At your tables, share your points for discussion that you brought in.  Spend about fifteen minutes discussing these points.


3. At your tables, make a list of any/all observations that you have about literary and writing strategies that you have noticed in Holden's speech and thoughts.  (ex: flashback, direct language, etc.)

4. For Thursday, read chapters 8 and 9.  Identify one of the writing or literary strategies from your list in one of these chapters.  Write a paragraph in which you explain the effect of this strategy.  Bring in 3 more points for discussion from these chapters.

5. You may also work on vocabulary lesson 13 A and B, which is due on Wednesday.