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?