Holden is not attending the football game for two reasons, both of which reveal a good deal about his character. First, Holden is careless and sometimes irresponsible. As manager of the fencing team, he left the equipment on the subway en route to a meet that morning with McBurney School in New York City. The team has returned to the school much earlier than it had planned. Second, Holden is on his way to bid farewell to his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, indicating that he does care about people. Holden has been expelled for academic failure and is not to return after Christmas break, which begins the following Wednesday. Even though he failed history with an abysmal performance, Holden does not blame the instructor. He likes old Spencer. Perhaps readers appreciate Holden more because he is not a perfect “hero.” Certainly we are attracted to him because he has a heart.
Salinger himself was once enrolled in McBurney School in Manhattan, the intended site of the novel’s canceled fencing meet. In addition, scholars often compare Pencey Prep to Valley Forge Military Academy, which Salinger attended from the ages of 15 to 17. Although similarities to Salinger’s life occasionally occur throughout The Catcher in the Rye, as readers we should be careful about biographical interpretations. Writers often use personal experience as background. Holden may be a part of Salinger, but the first-person narrator should not be confused with the author.
Holden has been expelled from Pencey Prep because he has flunked four subjects (passing only English), including Mr. Spencer’s history class. On his way to Spencer’s home to say good-bye, Holden feels terribly cold. There is no sun, and he feels as though he might disappear as he crosses Route 204 to go to Spencer’s house. This is the first of several instances when Holden feels he is losing himself or falling into an abyss. He arrives at the Spencer home frozen and shaken.
