synopsis:

The Catcher in the Rye is a book dealing with a young teenager called Holden Caulfield who finds his true self. He goes through several incidents which make him realize that he wants to be the catcher in the rye, not just another annoying high school teenager.

Holden Caulfield, the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye, begins the novel with an authoritative statement that he does not intend for the novel to serve as his life story. Currently in psychiatric care, this teenager recalls what happened to him last Christmas, the story which forms the narrative basis for the novel.

Holden Caulfield is a 16-year-old school student who has failed out of school two weeks before Christmas. Several days before he's expected home for Christmas vacation, he leaves school planning to spend some time on his own in New York City, where he lives. Though Holden is friendly with many people at school, and though he has several friends in New York, he is constantly lonesome and in need of someone who will sympathize with his feelings of alienation. The person Holden feels closest to is his ten year old sister Phoebe, but he can't call her for fear of letting his parents know he left school. He spends his time with a variety of people, but can't make meaningful contact with any of them. After a day of futility, he sneaks into his home to see Phoebe, but she disappoints him by being annoyed at his being expelled from school. Holden decides the the only solution to his overwhelming problem is to run away and establish a new identity as a deaf-mute who will not need to communicate with anyone. On the verge of nervous collapse, Holden changes his mind and decides to rejoin his family. He then enters a hospital not far from Hollywood, and he is telling us his story while in this institution. At the novel's close, Holden isn't sure whether he'll be able to handle things better when he leaves the institution, and he is sorry that he told his story at all.

on this book:

Although J.

D. Salinger has written many short stories, The Catcher in the Rye is Salinger's only novel and also his most notable work. The novel is the culmination of themes that appeared throughout a number of Salinger's short stories, however, some of which form the basis of individual chapters in The Catcher in the Rye. The Caulfield family is the subject of two of Salinger's major stories, This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise and I'm Crazy as well as a number of unpublished works.