The book opens with Holden Caulfield in some kind of rest home in California. He is the narrator of the novel and tells whole story in long flashback.

In the beginning of the story Holden is watching the Friday night football game from atop a hill. He had just returned from a fencing match in New York that had to be cut short because the captain of the fencing team (holden), left all of the equipment on the subway. Needless to say it was a long trip home for Holden. After all of this has happened Holden gets back only to learn that he has been released from Pencey Prep, his current school, and placed on academic probation. Holden was not stupid by any means, but if he did not desire to learn what was being taught, he refused to try. The professors on the ot

ecomes obviously unrealistic. The gold rings are ironically not gold, but really brass-plated iron. The gold rings are symbols of the corrupted world which always "wears" a shiny surface to hide its evil. It is at this point that Holden sees that he can not stop children from growing up, and therefore losing their innocence. They will fall if they fall, there is nothing that can be done. Shortly after this point Holden has his nervous breakdown. His breakdown is due to this depressing realization that the world is corrupt and filled with evil. He knows now with a sickening certainty that he is powerless to stop both evil and maturation. As a matter of fact, it is "bad" to do so.

I have heard about this story many times, and have wondered why it was so widely acclaimed. It is, as holden says, the kind of book that, "When you were all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours, and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." It really makes you think twice about the society we are all living in. It's a very thought provoking book, and I like that, because when you read a book with a nice story, its fun and entertaining, but you really don't gain anything. However, reading a book like this, a book that blows you mind and makes you question all the values we all grew up with and are accustomed to, just makes you feel good and makes your head spin. I like that.

. This was not the first time that Holden was removed from a school. Holden knew there was always another boarding school that would be happy to accept him and his money. This time he was not going to just sit back and wait for the next school to pick him up, he was going to enjoy himself while he could. He was scheduled to leave on Wednesday. It was only Friday. The possibilities were endless on what could happen in those five days.

I very much agree with and admire the character of Holden. His views of a corrupt world and a phony society ring very true to me. I also admire him for attempting to make an effort to fix society. However, it`s the way he went about trying to fix it that I disagree with. As Mr. Antolini told over to Holden in the name of Wilhelm Stekel: "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Just think about that for a minute. That is one the truest and most profound statements I have ever come across. It makes so much sense. Some one who really cares about a cause, the mature one, will go about it in a way where the public sees he`s really sincere and has no intent for building himself up in the process of promoting the cause. In affect, his cause will be successful and rise high. However, the immature man will go about publicizing his cause in a haughty, insincere way, and his ca!

it is one of the "Innocent" children that he is trying to protect, who helps him come to terms with this realization. It is Phoebe who challenges his plan to escape out west. As he is telling Phoebe of his plan to run away, she says she's going to join him. When Holden tells her she can not run away, he discovers that he too can not run away. "You can't ever find a place that is nice and peaceful, because there isn't any." The final stage of realization comes near the end of the book, when he is watching Phoebe on the carousel. "All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she'd fall off the G-ddam horse, but I didn't say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and n

Some common words found in the essay are:
Phoebe Holden, Strangely Innocent, JD Salinger's, Holden Catcher, Wilhelm Stekel, Holden Caulfield, I`d Phoebe, Salinger Holden, Shortly Holden, Holden Manhattan, book holden, children growing, story holden, catcher rye, body comin' rye', world it's, fall fall, school holden, life holden, date holden, grab gold ring, that's i'd,
Approximate Word count = 2462
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)