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# Chapter 3 ## Overview This entity is a chapter from a literary work, specifically labeled as Chapter 3. It exists in digital form as part of a structured text extraction, containing lines 379 to 645 of the source document. The chapter was extracted from a file associated with the novel *The Catcher in the Rye* and is composed of six smaller text chunks that preserve its segmented content. It is part of the [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection, indicating its status as a canonical Western literary text. ## Context The chapter originates from a digital version of J.D. Salinger’s *The Catcher in the Rye*, a seminal 20th-century American novel. It was processed and segmented by automated systems, including the [Structure Extraction](arke:01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H) service, which identified and labeled structural components like chapters and chunks. The text is preserved within the [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS) collection, curated by user [Nick](arke:01KESY9D0GB2CTGJMF5B7NCCTF), which includes other canonical works. The chapter reflects the narrative voice of the novel’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield, during his time at Pencey Prep. ## Contents The chapter details Holden Caulfield’s return to his dormitory after visiting his history teacher, Mr. Spencer. It includes his reflections on Ossenburger, a wealthy alumnus after whom his dorm wing is named, whom Holden views as a hypocritical "phony" for delivering a pious speech while amassing wealth from a funeral business. The narrative continues with Holden describing his red hunting hat, a symbol of his individuality, and his reading of *Out of Africa* by Isak Dinesen. He is interrupted by Robert Ackley, a socially awkward and unhygienic classmate, with whom he engages in a tense, sarcastic conversation. The chapter ends with the arrival of Holden’s roommate, Ward Stradlater, who asks to borrow Holden’s jacket before going on a date, highlighting the contrast between Stradlater’s popularity and Holden’s alienation.

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Chapter 3

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362 3 363 I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to 364 the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to 365 say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible. So when I told old Spencer I had to go to the gym 366 and get my equipment and stuff, that was a sheer lie. I don't even keep my goddam 367 equipment in the gym. 368 Where I lived at Pencey, I lived in the Ossenburger Memorial Wing of the new 369 dorms. It was only for juniors and seniors. I was a junior. My roommate was a senior. It 370 was named after this guy Ossenburger that went to Pencey. He made a pot of dough in 371 the undertaking business after he got out of Pencey. What he did, he started these 372 undertaking parlors all over the country that you could get members of your family 373 buried for about five bucks apiece. You should see old Ossenburger. He probably just 374 shoves them in a sack and dumps them in the river. Anyway, he gave Pencey a pile of 375 dough, and they named our wing alter him. The first football game of the year, he came 376 up to school in this big goddam Cadillac, and we all had to stand up in the grandstand and 377 give him a locomotive--that's a cheer. Then, the next morning, in chapel, be made a 378 speech that lasted about ten hours. He started off with about fifty corny jokes, just to 379 show us what a regular guy he was. Very big deal. Then he started telling us how he was 380 never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down his 381 knees and pray to God. He told us we should always pray to God--talk to Him and all-- 382 wherever we were. He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all. He said he 383 talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving his car. That killed me. I just see 384 the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more 385 stiffs. The only good part of his speech was right in the middle of it. He was telling us all 386 about what a swell guy he was, what a hot-shot and all, then all of a sudden this guy 387 sitting in the row in front of me, Edgar Marsalla, laid this terrific fart. It was a very crude 388 thing to do, in chapel and all, but it was also quite amusing. Old Marsalla. He damn near 389 blew the roof off. Hardly anybody laughed out loud, and old Ossenburger made out like 390 he didn't even hear it, but old Thurmer, the headmaster, was sitting right next to him on 391 the rostrum and all, and you could tell he heard it. Boy, was he sore. He didn't say 392 anything then, but the next night he made us have compulsory study hall in the academic 393 building and he came up and made a speech. He said that the boy that had created the <!-- [Page 10](arke:01KFYTACAGYVS6EER62Q85GY5T) --> 394 disturbance in chapel wasn't fit to go to Pencey. We tried to get old Marsalla to rip off 395 another one, right while old Thurmer was making his speech, but be wasn't in the right 396 mood. Anyway, that's where I lived at Pencey. Old Ossenburger Memorial Wing, in the 397 new dorms. 398 It was pretty nice to get back to my room, after I left old Spencer, because 399 everybody was down at the game, and the heat was on in our room, for a change. It felt 400 sort of cosy. I took off my coat and my tie and unbuttoned my shirt collar; and then I put 401 on this hat that I'd bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one 402 of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out 403 of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck. 404 The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back--very corny, I'll admit, 405 but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way. Then I got this book I was reading 406 and sat down in my chair. There were two chairs in every room. I had one and my 407 roommate, Ward Stradlater, had one. The arms were in sad shape, because everybody 408 was always sitting on them, but they were pretty comfortable chairs. 409 The book I was reading was this book I took out of the library by mistake. They 410 gave me the wrong book, and I didn't notice it till I got back to my room. They gave me 411 Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen. I thought it was going to stink, but it didn't. It was a very 412 good book. I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot. My favorite author is my brother D.B., and 413 my next favorite is Ring Lardner. My brother gave me a book by Ring Lardner for my 414 birthday, just before I went to Pencey. It had these very funny, crazy plays in it, and then 415 it had this one story about a traffic cop that falls in love with this very cute girl that's 416 always speeding. Only, he's married, the cop, so be can't marry her or anything. Then this 417 girl gets killed, because she's always speeding. That story just about killed me. What I 418 like best is a book that's at least funny once in a while. I read a lot of classical books, like 419 The Return of the Native and all, and I like them, and I read a lot of war books and 420 mysteries and all, but they don't knock me out too much. What really knocks me out is a 421 book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific 422 friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That 423 doesn't happen much, though. I wouldn't mind calling this Isak Dinesen up. And Ring 424 Lardner, except that D.B. told me he's dead. You take that book Of Human Bondage, by 425 Somerset Maugham, though. I read it last summer. It's a pretty good book and all, but I 426 wouldn't want to call Somerset Maugham up. I don't know, He just isn't the kind of guy 427 I'd want to call up, that's all. I'd rather call old Thomas Hardy up. I like that Eustacia Vye. 428 Anyway, I put on my new hat and sat down and started reading that book Out of 429 Africa. I'd read it already, but I wanted to read certain parts over again. I'd only read 430 about three pages, though, when I heard somebody coming through the shower curtains. 431 Even without looking up, I knew right away who it was. It was Robert Ackley, this guy 432 that roomed right next to me. There was a shower right between every two rooms in our 433 wing, and about eighty-five times a day old Ackley barged in on me. He was probably the 434 only guy in the whole dorm, besides me, that wasn't down at the game. He hardly ever 435 went anywhere. He was a very peculiar guy. He was a senior, and he'd been at Pencey the 436 whole four years and all, but nobody ever called him anything except "Ackley." Not even 437 Herb Gale, his own roommate, ever called him "Bob" or even "Ack." If he ever gets 438 married, his own wife'll probably call him "Ackley." He was one of these very, very tall, 439 round-shouldered guys--he was about six four--with lousy teeth. The whole time he <!-- [Page 11](arke:01KFYTAC71H5Y7P7MRNDP6FCCJ) --> 440 roomed next to me, I never even once saw him brush his teeth. They always looked 441 mossy and awful, and he damn near made you sick if you saw him in the dining room 442 with his mouth full of mashed potatoes and peas or something. Besides that, he had a lot 443 of pimples. Not just on his forehead or his chin, like most guys, but all over his whole 444 face. And not only that, he had a terrible personality. He was also sort of a nasty guy. I 445 wasn't too crazy about him, to tell you the truth. 446 I could feel him standing on the shower ledge, right behind my chair, taking a 447 look to see if Stradlater was around. He hated Stradlater's guts and he never came in the 448 room if Stradlater was around. He hated everybody's guts, damn near. 449 He came down off the shower ledge and came in the room. "Hi," he said. He 450 always said it like he was terrifically bored or terrifically tired. He didn't want you to 451 think he was visiting you or anything. He wanted you to think he'd come in by mistake, 452 for God's sake. 453 "Hi," I said, but I didn't look up from my book. With a guy like Ackley, if you 454 looked up from your book you were a goner. You were a goner anyway, but not as quick 455 if you didn't look up right away. 456 He started walking around the room, very slow and all, the way he always did, 457 picking up your personal stuff off your desk and chiffonier. He always picked up your 458 personal stuff and looked at it. Boy, could he get on your nerves sometimes. "How was 459 the fencing?" he said. He just wanted me to quit reading and enjoying myself. He didn't 460 give a damn about the fencing. "We win, or what?" he said. 461 "Nobody won," I said. Without looking up, though. 462 "What?" he said. He always made you say everything twice. 463 "Nobody won," I said. I sneaked a look to see what he was fiddling around with 464 on my chiffonier. He was looking at this picture of this girl I used to go around with in 465 New York, Sally Hayes. He must've picked up that goddam picture and looked at it at 466 least five thousand times since I got it. He always put it back in the wrong place, too, 467 when he was finished. He did it on purpose. You could tell. 468 "Nobody won," he said. "How come?" 469 "I left the goddam foils and stuff on the subway." I still didn't look up at him. 470 "On the subway, for Chrissake! Ya lost them, ya mean?" 471 "We got on the wrong subway. I had to keep getting up to look at a goddam map 472 on the wall." 473 He came over and stood right in my light. "Hey," I said. "I've read this same 474 sentence about twenty times since you came in." 475 Anybody else except Ackley would've taken the goddam hint. Not him, though. 476 "Think they'll make ya pay for em?" he said. 477 "I don't know, and I don't give a damn. How 'bout sitting down or something, 478 Ackley kid? You're right in my goddam light." He didn't like it when you called him 479 "Ackley kid." He was always telling me I was a goddam kid, because I was sixteen and 480 he was eighteen. It drove him mad when I called him "Ackley kid." 481 He kept standing there. He was exactly the kind of a guy that wouldn't get out of 482 your light when you asked him to. He'd do it, finally, but it took him a lot longer if you 483 asked him to. "What the hellya reading?" he said. 484 "Goddam book." <!-- [Page 12](arke:01KFYTAC735YNR02WH64EENRE4) --> 485 He shoved my book back with his hand so that he could see the name of it. "Any 486 good?" he said. 487 "This sentence I'm reading is terrific." I can be quite sarcastic when I'm in the 488 mood. He didn't get It, though. He started walking around the room again, picking up all 489 my personal stuff, and Stradlater's. Finally, I put my book down on the floor. You 490 couldn't read anything with a guy like Ackley around. It was impossible. 491 I slid way the hell down in my chair and watched old Ackley making himself at 492 home. I was feeling sort of tired from the trip to New York and all, and I started yawning. 493 Then I started horsing around a little bit. Sometimes I horse around quite a lot, just to 494 keep from getting bored. What I did was, I pulled the old peak of my hunting hat around 495 to the front, then pulled it way down over my eyes. That way, I couldn't see a goddam 496 thing. "I think I'm going blind," I said in this very hoarse voice. "Mother darling, 497 everything's getting so dark in here." 498 "You're nuts. I swear to God," Ackley said. 499 "Mother darling, give me your hand, Why won't you give me your hand?" 500 "For Chrissake, grow up." 501 I started groping around in front of me, like a blind guy, but without getting up or 502 anything. I kept saying, "Mother darling, why won't you give me your hand?" I was only 503 horsing around, naturally. That stuff gives me a bang sometimes. Besides, I know it 504 annoyed hell out of old Ackley. He always brought out the old sadist in me. I was pretty 505 sadistic with him quite often. Finally, I quit, though. I pulled the peak around to the back 506 again, and relaxed. 507 "Who belongsa this?" Ackley said. He was holding my roommate's knee 508 supporter up to show me. That guy Ackley'd pick up anything. He'd even pick up your 509 jock strap or something. I told him it was Stradlater's. So he chucked it on Stradlater's 510 bed. He got it off Stradlater's chiffonier, so he chucked it on the bed. 511 He came over and sat down on the arm of Stradlater's chair. He never sat down in 512 a chair. Just always on the arm. "Where the hellja get that hat?" he said. 513 "New York." 514 "How much?" 515 "A buck." 516 "You got robbed." He started cleaning his goddam fingernails with the end of a 517 match. He was always cleaning his fingernails. It was funny, in a way. His teeth were 518 always mossy-looking, and his ears were always dirty as hell, but he was always cleaning 519 his fingernails. I guess he thought that made him a very neat guy. He took another look at 520 my hat while he was cleaning them. "Up home we wear a hat like that to shoot deer in, 521 for Chrissake," he said. "That's a deer shooting hat." 522 "Like hell it is." I took it off and looked at it. I sort of closed one eye, like I was 523 taking aim at it. "This is a people shooting hat," I said. "I shoot people in this hat." 524 "Your folks know you got kicked out yet?" 525 "Nope." 526 "Where the hell's Stradlater at, anyway?" 527 "Down at the game. He's got a date." I yawned. I was yawning all over the place. 528 For one thing, the room was too damn hot. It made you sleepy. At Pencey, you either 529 froze to death or died of the heat. <!-- [Page 13](arke:01KFYTAC4T6DS8THR10Y6JSAFW) --> 530 "The great Stradlater," Ackley said. "--Hey. Lend me your scissors a second, 531 willya? Ya got 'em handy?" 532 "No. I packed them already. They're way in the top of the closet." 533 "Get 'em a second, willya?" Ackley said, "I got this hangnail I want to cut off." 534 He didn't care if you'd packed something or not and had it way in the top of the 535 closet. I got them for him though. I nearly got killed doing it, too. The second I opened 536 the closet door, Stradlater's tennis racket--in its wooden press and all--fell right on my 537 head. It made a big clunk, and it hurt like hell. It damn near killed old Ackley, though. He 538 started laughing in this very high falsetto voice. He kept laughing the whole time I was 539 taking down my suitcase and getting the scissors out for him. Something like that--a guy 540 getting hit on the head with a rock or something--tickled the pants off Ackley. "You have 541 a damn good sense of humor, Ackley kid," I told him. "You know that?" I handed him the 542 scissors. "Lemme be your manager. I'll get you on the goddam radio." I sat down in my 543 chair again, and he started cutting his big horny-looking nails. "How 'bout using the table 544 or something?" I said. "Cut 'em over the table, willya? I don't feel like walking on your 545 crumby nails in my bare feet tonight." He kept right on cutting them over the floor, 546 though. What lousy manners. I mean it. 547 "Who's Stradlater's date?" he said. He was always keeping tabs on who Stradlater 548 was dating, even though he hated Stradlater's guts. 549 "I don't know. Why?" 550 "No reason. Boy, I can't stand that sonuvabitch. He's one sonuvabitch I really can't 551 stand." 552 "He's crazy about you. He told me he thinks you're a goddam prince," I said. I call 553 people a "prince" quite often when I'm horsing around. It keeps me from getting bored or 554 something. 555 "He's got this superior attitude all the time," Ackley said. "I just can't stand the 556 sonuvabitch. You'd think he--" 557 "Do you mind cutting your nails over the table, hey?" I said. "I've asked you about 558 fifty--" 559 "He's got this goddam superior attitude all the time," Ackley said. "I don't even 560 think the sonuvabitch is intelligent. He thinks he is. He thinks he's about the most--" 561 "Ackley! For Chrissake. Willya please cut your crumby nails over the table? I've 562 asked you fifty times." 563 He started cutting his nails over the table, for a change. The only way he ever did 564 anything was if you yelled at him. 565 I watched him for a while. Then I said, "The reason you're sore at Stradlater is 566 because he said that stuff about brushing your teeth once in a while. He didn't mean to 567 insult you, for cryin' out loud. He didn't say it right or anything, but he didn't mean 568 anything insulting. All he meant was you'd look better and feel better if you sort of 569 brushed your teeth once in a while." 570 "I brush my teeth. Don't gimme that." 571 "No, you don't. I've seen you, and you don't," I said. I didn't say it nasty, though. I 572 felt sort of sorry for him, in a way. I mean it isn't too nice, naturally, if somebody tells 573 you you don't brush your teeth. "Stradlater's all right He's not too bad," I said. "You don't 574 know him, thats the trouble." 575 "I still say he's a sonuvabitch. He's a conceited sonuvabitch." <!-- [Page 14](arke:01KFYTAB110YBKGZD29EGK4WZH) --> 576 "He's conceited, but he's very generous in some things. He really is," I said. 577 "Look. Suppose, for instance, Stradlater was wearing a tie or something that you liked. 578 Say he had a tie on that you liked a helluva lot--I'm just giving you an example, now. 579 You know what he'd do? He'd probably take it off and give it ta you. He really would. 580 Or--you know what he'd do? He'd leave it on your bed or something. But he'd give you 581 the goddam tie. Most guys would probably just--" 582 "Hell," Ackley said. "If I had his dough, I would, too." 583 "No, you wouldn't." I shook my head. "No, you wouldn't, Ackley kid. If you had 584 his dough, you'd be one of the biggest--" 585 "Stop calling me 'Ackley kid,' God damn it. I'm old enough to be your lousy 586 father." 587 "No, you're not." Boy, he could really be aggravating sometimes. He never missed 588 a chance to let you know you were sixteen and he was eighteen. "In the first place, I 589 wouldn't let you in my goddam family," I said. 590 "Well, just cut out calling me--" 591 All of a sudden the door opened, and old Stradlater barged in, in a big hurry. He 592 was always in a big hurry. Everything was a very big deal. He came over to me and gave 593 me these two playful as hell slaps on both cheeks--which is something that can be very 594 annoying. 'Listen," he said. "You going out anywheres special tonight?" 595 "I don't know. I might. What the hell's it doing out--snowing?" He had snow all 596 over his coat. 597 "Yeah. Listen. If you're not going out anyplace special, how 'bout lending me 598 your hound's-tooth jacket?" 599 "Who won the game?" I said. 600 "It's only the half. We're leaving," Stradlater said. "No kidding, you gonna use 601 your hound's-tooth tonight or not? I spilled some crap all over my gray flannel." 602 "No, but I don't want you stretching it with your goddam shoulders and all," I 603 said. We were practically the same heighth, but he weighed about twice as much as I did. 604 He had these very broad shoulders. 605 "I won't stretch it." He went over to the closet in a big hurry. "How'sa boy, 606 Ackley?" he said to Ackley. He was at least a pretty friendly guy, Stradlater. It was partly 607 a phony kind of friendly, but at least he always said hello to Ackley and all. 608 Ackley just sort of grunted when he said "How'sa boy?" He wouldn't answer him, 609 but he didn't have guts enough not to at least grunt. Then he said to me, "I think I'll get 610 going. See ya later." 611 "Okay," I said. He never exactly broke your heart when he went back to his own 612 room. 613 Old Stradlater started taking off his coat and tie and all. "I think maybe I'll take a 614 fast shave," he said. He had a pretty heavy beard. He really did. 615 "Where's your date?" I asked him. 616 "She's waiting in the Annex." He went out of the room with his toilet kit and 617 towel under his arm. No shirt on or anything. He always walked around in his bare torso 618 because he thought he had a damn good build. He did, too. I have to admit it.

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