Holden Caulfield is a prep school student who failed out of Pencey Prep around Christmas. Several days before he is expected home, he leaves school planning to spend some time on his own in New York City. Though Holden is friendly with many people, he is constantly lonely and in need of someone who will sympathize with his feelings of alienation. He spends his time with a variety of people, but cannot make meaningful relationships with any of them. Holden decided 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 rest home, and he tells a psychoanalyst his story. Holden i

s not sure whether he will be able to handle things better when he leaves the institution, and he is sorry that he told his story at all.

Holden had already seen too many "falls." It was these people who fell into the category of non-phoniness. James Castle "fell" out of the window and Allie "fell" to death. He thought they had been eaten by phoniness and that they did not have a "catcher" to protect them from harm. Holden wanted to prevent this from happening again by being the "catcher" himself. By being the "catcher" he distanced himself from many characters in the book. He stayed away from anyone whom he thought was phony, hypocritical, or had bad habits. He rejected them and they rejected him. Holden had told Sally to run away with him to

Holden saw the world as phony and pretentious, he wanted to save the innocent, such as Phoebe, from going into the materialistic adult world. His wish to be a "catcher" showed his unrealistic view towards himself and everyone. Holden finally realizes he cannot be the "catcher in the rye" because he is helpless against a world full of phonies. Holden is alienated because he cannot conform to the materialistic adult world. His downfall is when he is sent to a psyc

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Approximate Word count = 818
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)