What Is The Catcher in the Rye About? Summary and Key Facts
The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old who is expelled from his boarding school and spends a few days wandering New York City just before Christmas. He tells the story himself, looking back from a place where he is recovering.
Not much happens on the surface. The book is about Holden's loneliness, his grief for his dead brother and his struggle to grow up.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | J. D. Salinger |
| Published | 16 July 1951, Little, Brown and Company |
| Narrator | Holden Caulfield, aged 16 |
| Setting | Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania, then New York City |
| Time span | A long weekend shortly before Christmas |
| Genre | Coming-of-age novel |
What is the basic story?
Holden is a tall, sharp-tongued teenager who has failed most of his classes at Pencey Prep, a boarding school in Pennsylvania. He is told he will not be coming back after Christmas, and instead of waiting for the term to end he leaves early.
The whole book is his account of the days that follow, told in his own slangy, first-person voice.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens in the story?
At school Holden argues with his roommate Stradlater over a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl Holden likes, and gets into a fight. He takes a train to New York but does not want to face his parents yet, so he checks into a cheap hotel.
Over the next days he goes to bars, meets a nun and a cab driver, has an awkward and sad encounter with a young prostitute named Sunny and her pimp, and tries to contact old friends. Almost everyone disappoints him, and he describes most people as phony.
He sneaks home to see his ten-year-old sister Phoebe, the person he trusts most. He then visits a former teacher, Mr. Antolini, whose behavior leaves him shaken. Holden decides to run away for good, but Phoebe insists on going with him, and he finds that he cannot leave her. He takes her to a carousel in Central Park, and for the first time in the book he feels happy.
The last chapter jumps ahead: Holden says he is now in a rest home, will go back to school in the autumn, and does not want to say more about what happened.
↑ Back to the topWho are the main characters?
Holden Caulfield is the narrator. Phoebe is his younger sister. Allie is his younger brother, who died years earlier, and whose memory shapes much of Holden's mood. D.B. is his older brother, a writer in Hollywood.
Other figures include Stradlater and Ackley, two boys from Pencey, Jane Gallagher, the girl Holden cannot bring himself to call, and Mr. Antolini, a former English teacher.
↑ Back to the topWhat is the book trying to say?
Critics usually describe the novel as a story of adolescent alienation. Holden is angry at the fake behavior he sees in adults, and he is also afraid of becoming one of them. His wish to protect children from losing their innocence gives the book its title.
It is often read by teenagers, although Salinger originally wrote it with adult readers in mind.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Catcher in the Rye
This guide covers the novel only. Details such as page counts vary by edition.