The Catcher in the Rye

Summary

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J. D. Salinger, published in 1951 by Little, Brown. It is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old who tells, from a place in California where he is resting and receiving care, what happened to him over a few days the previous December. Holden has been expelled from Pencey Prep, a boarding school in Pennsylvania, for failing most of his subjects. On his last Saturday he visits his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, argues with his roommate Stradlater, who has a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl Holden cares about, and fights with him. Restless, he leaves for New York City in the middle of the night but delays going home. In Manhattan he checks into a hotel, goes to nightclubs and bars, and agrees to the elevator operator Maurice's offer of a prostitute, Sunny; he only talks with her, and Maurice later beats him over the fee. He makes a date with Sally Hayes, takes her skating, proposes running away to New England and insults her when she refuses. He drinks with an older acquaintance, Carl Luce, and wanders through Central Park, wondering where the ducks go in winter. Holden repeatedly condemns people as 'phony' and returns in memory to his younger brother Allie, who died of leukemia, and whose baseball mitt is covered with poems. He sneaks into his parents' apartment to see his ten-year-old sister, Phoebe, who challenges him to name something he likes. He says he would like to be 'the catcher in the rye', standing at the edge of a cliff to catch children playing in a field before they fall, an image drawn from his misremembering of a Robert Burns song. He spends part of the night at the home of a former teacher, Mr. Antolini, but leaves abruptly after waking to find Antolini patting his head. Planning to hitchhike west, he arranges to say goodbye to Phoebe, who arrives with a suitcase to go with him. He refuses, takes her to the Central Park carousel and, watching her ride in the rain, feels happy. The novel's colloquial first-person voice and its treatment of grief, adolescence and the loss of innocence made it a best seller and a fixture of school reading lists, while its language and content have also made it one of the most frequently challenged books in American schools.

Top Lessons

• Grief beneath the surface

  Holden rarely speaks directly about Allie's death, but it shapes his behavior. The novel invites readers to notice what a narrator avoids saying.

• Innocence and growing up

  Holden wants to protect children from falling, yet he cannot stop Phoebe from reaching for the gold ring. Students can discuss what growing up requires.

• Voice and reliability

  Holden's slang, exaggerations and contradictions create the novel's voice. Readers must judge how far to trust him.

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