Chapter 5

Dialectical Quote 1:

“I'll bet a thousand bucks the only reason they did that was because a lot of guys' parents came up to school on Sunday, and old Thurmer probably figured everybody's mother would ask their darling boy what he had for dinner List night, and he'd say, 'Steak'. What a racket. You should've seen the steaks. They were these little hard, dry jobs that you could hardly even cut. You always got these very lumpy mashed potatoes on steak night, and for dessert you got Brown Betty, which nobody ate except maybe the little kids in the lower school that didn't know any better-and guys like Ackley that ate everything.” (Pg.35)

I thought this quote was funny and fairly important. Sometimes when we’re about to have guests stay at our house, we’ll like to have the house all clean and make everything look perfect before they arrive to make it look as if we never make a mess. However, Holden doesn’t like the phoniness behind the school’s dinner scheme. This makes Holden dislike the dining room.

Dialectical Quote 2:

“It took him about five hours to get ready. While he was doing it, I went over to my window and opened it and packed a snowball with my bare hands. The snow was very good for packing. I didn't throw it at anything, though. I started to throw it at a car that was parked across the street. But I changed my mind. The car looked so nice and white. Then I started to throw it at a hydrant, but that looked too nice and white, too. Finally I didn't throw it at anything. All I did was close the window and walk around the room with the snowball, packing it harder.” (Pg.37)

The white painted car symbolizes purity. Holden doesn’t want to disturb the purity and peacefulness around him. This shows when Holden doesn’t want to throw the snowball at the car or the hydrant. Holden is still pure and somewhat innocent, and he’s able to retain it by trying not to corrupt things around him.

Theme Quote:

“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. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I didn't even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie. My hand still hurts me once in a while, when it rains, and all, and I couldn’t make a real fist any more-not a tight one, I mean-but outside of that I don’t care much. I mean run not going to be a goddam surgeon or a violinist or anything anyway.” (Pg.39)

He discusses, almost in passing, his behavior, saying that he slept in the garage on the night of Allie's death and broke all the windows with his bare hands, "just for the hell of it.” He tried to break the car windows, as well, but could not because his hand was already fractured from smashing the garage windows. Throughout the novel, it becomes increasingly clear that Allie's death was one of the most traumatic experiences of Holden's life and may play a major role in his current psychological breakdown--the cynicism with which Holden avoids expressing his feelings may result from Allie's death.