Summary
Catch Me If You Can Summary and Analysis.
- Course
- ENG240Y1
- Institution
- University Of Toronto (U Of T )
Catch Me If You Can Summary and Analysis.
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3Overview
Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake is a nonfiction book written from the
perspective of Frank Abagnale, a famous conartist and check-forger. Though styled as an
autobiography, the book was co-written by Abagnale and author Stan Redding. Originally
published in 1980, Catch Me If You Can was popularized by a 2002 film directed by Steven
Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The book also inspired a Broadway musical of the
same name.
Much of Catch Me If You Can revolves around Abagnale’s experience as a con artist from
1964 to 1969. Between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, the world-wise Abagnale dons a
wide variety of professional disguises and assumes jobs accordingly. These professions
include copilot, doctor, lawyer, sociology professor, FBI agent, and U.S. Bureau of Prisons
agent. Through the cashing of over $2.5 million in forged checks, Abagnale is able to finance a
luxurious lifestyle, purchasing fine suits, expensive cars, and traveling around the world. During
his travels, he pursues relationships with a number of women, many of whom work in the
airline industry and unconsciously abet Abagnale’s crimes.
Abagnale cites his parents’ divorce as a major impetus for his criminal evolution. Hoping to
win back Abagnale’s mother, his father coaches him in the art of delivering speeches and
gifts, unwittingly teaching him how to be a con man. Abagnale runs away to New York,
beginning his criminal career out of a need to survive. His mature appearance allows him to
cash a number of fake checks from bank accounts with no money in them. When the fake
checks begin to add up, Abagnale realizes he can no longer stay in New York.
Inspired by their stylish uniforms and aura of accomplishment, Abagnale assumes the identity
of a Pan Am copilot. After creating a fake pilot license and researching at the airport, he poses
as a copilot deadheading (flying in the cockpit between different employment destinations free
of charge)to business destinations. This scheme allows him to fly anywhere for free. In every
city he visits, he obtains money by cashing fake checks. While pretending to be a pilot, he
makes both friends and girlfriends. Most of the time, he stays in a city for only a few days.
Tired of constant travel, Abagnale moves into a luxury apartment outside of Atlanta. To avoid
questions from the landlord, he assumes the identity of a doctor. A neighbor who is a real
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,doctor invites Abagnale to take a position as a supervising resident in the local hospital. After
this position ends, Abagnale jumps from town to town, assuming the identity of a Harvard
educated lawyer and a Columbia-educated sociology professor.
Both to ease his restlessness and to stay away from the FBI, Abagnale decides to reassume
his pilot identity and go to Europe. He creates a fake flight crew to make his operation appear
more legitimate. He learns that Pan Am recruits flight crews at the University of Arizona, and
he recruits his own crew for a faux PR campaign for Pan Am. He flies around Europe, cashing
fake checks while young women pose for photos in uniform.
Abagnale again grows weary of his constant movement and decides to settle in rural France.
There, he is apprehended and imprisoned by French police. French prison conditions are harsh
and inhumane. Next, he is extradited to Sweden, where prisoners are treated with care and
dignity. He is then sent to prison in the United States. While in the U.S., he manages to escape
police custody two times: once from a taxiing airliner, and once from a U.S. federal
penitentiary.
After serving four years in a prison, it is difficult for Frank to find a job. He decides to capitalize
on his criminal talents and reputation and get work fighting crime. Frank obtains a job as an
American security consultant, and remains considered one of the country’s leading experts on
financial foul play.
5
,Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 1-2
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Fledgling”
The first chapter (along with all subsequent chapters of Catch Me If You Can) is narrated
from the first person, past tense perspective of Frank W. Abagnale. Abagnale is a former
conman looking back in time to recount and reflect upon his criminal exploits.
The book begins with a scene wherein Abagnale observes his image in a Windsor Hotel
mirror. He wears a pilot’s uniform and muses, “A man’s alter ego is nothing more than his
favorite image of himself” (1). In the lobby, he charms a female cashier and cashes a large
check with the ease of a habitual conman. At the airport, he notes that the inspector waves
him through without asking to see his ID. Abagnale enters the cockpit of a plane, where he
plans to ride in the role of a deadheading pilot. The captain introduces himself and suggests
that Abagnale “fly this bird for awhile” (3) as a courtesy gesture. Abagnale promptly puts the
plane on autopilot, confessing to the reader that he “couldn’t fly a kite” (4).
Here, Abagnale reveals to the reader that he is not a copilot, but rather a multi-millionaire,
international con-artist. Abagnale relates that even through his many disguises and alter egos,
he never deluded himself into thinking that he was anyone other than Frank Abagnale. He
recalls his experience with a University of Virginia psychological study performed after he was
finally caught. At the end of the study, the psychologist ironically concluded that Abagnale had
a low criminal threshold, and that his psychological profile did not fit that of a conman.
Abagnale reflects back to his childhood as one of three siblings in a middle-class, Bronxville,
New York family. He contemplates the separation of his mother—a young, attractive French
Algerian woman seeking her independence—from his father, a stationary store manager often
drawn away from home by his activities as a local Republican politician. Tired of his father’s
long absences, Abagnale’s mother leaves with his two siblings, allowing Frank to stay with his
father.
Abagnale’s father then enlists Frank as an accomplice in attempts to woo back his mother.
He coaches Abagnale in the art of delivering speeches and gifts to his mother, unwittingly
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, teaching Frank how to be a con man.
His father’s political connections include cops, union bosses, stockbrokers, and cabbies, whose
behaviors Abagnale observes for future reference. He matures quickly, both in attitude and
physical appearance. He turns to crime, hoping the money will finance dates with women,
whose charms have begun to ensnare him. Abagnale’s first scam revolves around the car
purchased by his father to celebrate his first job. In cooperation with a young gas station
attendant, he charges a set of tires to the gas card his father pays, allowing the attendant to
keep the tires while he pockets $100 in cash. He repeats this scam several times over the next
few weeks until a Mobil investigator shows up at his father’s store. Abagnale’s father
empathizes with Frank and defends him. His mother, however, sends him to a Catholic
Charities private school for troubled boys.
When Abagnale returns from school on a break, he is disturbed to learn that his father has lost
the business and now works as a postal clerk. With the business, his father has also lost his
fine suits and illustrious acquaintances. He advises, “You’ll learn, Frank, that when you’re up
there’re hundreds of people who’ll claim you as a friend. When you’re down, you’re lucky if one
of them will buy you a cup of coffee” (19).
Chapter 2 Summary: “The Pilot”
At age sixteen, Abagnale runs away to New York City. Dissatisfied by his low wages, he begins
to write bad checks from his New York bank account, cashing $10 or $20 checks at hotels and
department stores. He notes that no one seems to notice these small amounts, rationalizing
that if people are stupid enough to be swindled, they deserve it.
The bad checks add up, and Abagnale searches for a way to skip town. Noticing a flight crew
emerging from the Commodore Hotel, he decides to become a fake pilot. He procures a copilot
suit by calling Pan Am’s purchasing department and claiming his uniform was stolen. The
operator directs him to the Well-Built Uniform Company, where Abagnale is measured, suited,
and instructed to bill his employee account. He fills out form with the first five numbers that
come to mind.
Abagnale calls Pan Am’s switchboard and gets directions to their store at the Kennedy Airport.
At the Pan Am hangar, he conceals his lack of an ID badge by casually flipping his raincoat over
his uniform. He obtains wings and a hat emblem, lying to the store clerk that his two-year-old
took them. He makes note of the Pan Am ID cards worn by other workers. He studies Pan Am’s
operations at the public library. He also gains intel by calling a Pan Am
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