Chapter 20 - Escape Extract

I think that a good extract of Chapter 20 for the theme of escape is on page 168.

The extract begins with 'I started thinking' and finishes with 'It was just very cold and nobody around anywhere'.

I think that in this extract Salinger is making so that Holdens seems like he escaping to the thoughts of death. It is as if Holden does not want to think about the good times when he is alive but wants to think about what other people will think when he is dead. Maybe Holden feels uncomfortable in himself so he feels like he should show himself in a way that does not accept fear, it is as if he is not scared about the thoughts of death, or even being dead. It is possible that that is just the way that he wants to be but does not care about life at all. The nice thing is this extract is that he thinks about 'Old Phoebe' and how she will feel, so he knows that death will upset many more people not just himself but he still feels as though he should think about it and maybe even at sometime consider it to be a permenant decision.