Catcher in the Rye Summary & Sign Post

After Holden describes his brothers death and how he is still very emotional about his death. Stradlater gets back from another date from Jane. Holden hands him his english homework he had done for him, and Stradlater ungratefully says that this work sucked and that no wonder he got expelled from his other school. Holden then was furious and grabbed his assignment and ripped it up angrily. Afterwards Holden starts smoking because he knows that it bothers Stradlater. Holden then asks about the date and Stradlater said no without thinking twice. Stradlater refused to tell Holden any details of the date in which infuriates Holden. Holden then tries to fight Stradlater but Stradlater just pinned Holden to the floor until Holden calmed down. As Holden is still pinned down to the floor, Holden insults Stradlater to the point where Stradlater punches Holden in the nose. Holden then gets up and walks into Ackley's dorm with a bloody nose.
A sign post that often pops up throughout the book is memory moments and a-ha moments. For example, Holden has many memory moments throughout the book such as when he remembers his brother's death, or how he remembers how his family used to be. Noticing these sign post means that Holden is still stuck in the past and how he needs to let go. Although it was a significant period of his life, he still need to remember that it happen because in the book, there are many times when Holden still mourns for the death of his younger brother in which cause him to give attitude to those around him and just gets him in trouble. So far there had been around two a-ha moments where Holden realizes something. For example, in the book Holden realizes how people are fake and "phonies". All throughout the book, Holden explains how he hates those who are "phonies". This sign post really helps the reader understand the character more. Knowing this means that you will be able to predict on what will happen in certain situations based on what you know of the character and what he might do.