A Catcher In The Rye — Summary
The Catcher in the Rye is narrated byHolden Caulfield, a sixteen year-old boy recuperating in a rest home from anervous breakdown, some time in 1950. Holden tells the story of his last day ata school called Pencey Prep, and of his subsequent psychological meltdown inNew York City. Holden has been expelled from Pencey for academic failure, andafter an unpleasant evening with his self-satisfied roommate Stradlater andtheir pimply next-door neighbor Ackley, he decides to leave Pencey for good andspend a few days alone in New York City before returning to his parents'Manhattan apartment. In New York, he succumbs to increasing feelings ofloneliness and desperation brought on by the hypocrisy and ugliness of theadult world; he feels increasingly tormented by the memory of his youngerbrother Allie's death, and his life is complicated by his burgeoning sexuality.He wants to see his sister Phoebe and his old girlfriend Jane Gallagher, butinstead he spends his time with Sally Hayes, a shallow socialite Holden's age,and Carl Luce, a pretentious Columbia student Holden treats as a source ofsexual knowledge Increasingly lonely, Holden finally decides to sneak back tohis parents' apartment to talk to Phoebe. He borrows some money from her, thengoes to stay with his former English teacher, Mr. Antolini. When he believesMr. Antolini to be making a homosexual advance toward him, Holden leaves hisapartment, and spends the rest of the night on a bench in Grand CentralStation. The next day Holden experiences the worst phase of his nervousbreakdown. He wanders the streets, looking at children and talking to Allie. Hetries to leave New York forever and hitchhike west, but when Phoebe insists ongoing with him he relents, agreeing to go back home to protect his sister fromthe ugliness of the world. He takes her to the park, and watches her ride onthe merry-go-round; he suddenly feels overwhelmed by an inexplicable, intensehappiness. Holden concludes his story by refusing to talk about what happenedafter that, but he fills in the most important details: he went home, was sentto the rest home, and will attend a new school next year. He regrets tellinghis story to so many people; talking about it, he says, makes him miss everyone