Every character, at some time, is called to start the quest, to leave the old life for a new one. Holden, the main character and narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is no exception to this rule. He experienced, like many others, a period in his young life when he received the quest call to start his life journey.

Holden answers the call to adventure, the first step in Joseph Campbell's Theory of the Quest, when he gets kicked out of school. According to Campbell, the call can take a variety of forms. The call can look like a call to live, a call to die, a call to go on a religious adventure, or a call to go on a historical adventure. For Holden, the call is a call to live. Holden goes through several struggles and ends up in a rest home. At the end of the no

We do not see whether or not Holden chooses to return into the real world. According to Campbell the sixth step of The Theory of the Quest is the Choice of Return. The Choice of Return is the choice whether or not the hero wants to go back into the Known world. Since the last of Holden we see is himself in a rest home we do not see whether or not he goes back into the real world. We do not know whether or not Holden gets better.

Holden's parents come home so Holden sneaks out of the apartment and goes to another one of his teachers, Mr. Antolini's house. Here he does not find the understanding he wants to find and again feels rejected. Holden wakes up in the middle of the night to Mr. Antolini caressing his head and he gets scared. He gets so frightened he makes up a lie. He cries, "I have to go anyway...I left my bags and all at the station. I think maybe I better go and get them. I have all my stuff in them." Now Holden had nowhere to go so he starts off to Grand Central Station and sleeps on a bench.

Holden learns that he is happy with the way things are. According to Campbell, the fifth step of the Theory of the Quest is The Treasure. The Treasure is the lesson the hero learns from the trials. Holden learns that Phoebe is going to change and is going to have to face the real world. He realizes he cannot be the catcher he wants to be and that not everyone can be saved. He states, "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 goddamn 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 not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them." We do not know if he can share his lessons because we do not know what happens after Holden is in the rest home.

Holden is now so lonely that he sneaks into his apartment to see Phoebe. She is angry with him because he was kicked out of school. The only person he truly loves now rejects him. Finally Phoebe again accepts him and they have a conversation. The bond between them strengthens and we now see what the title means. Holden wants to be "the catcher in the rye" saving children from the real world. He wants to keep them in the rye field forever so they are always innocent.

Holden crosses The Threshold when he leaves Pencey Prep. According to Campbell the hero must leave the world he knows and travel to a world he does not know. He must go from the Known to the Unknown. The Unknown can take a variety of forms. The Unknown can look like a jungle, a forest, a lost continent, or another dimension. The Unknown usually has a characteristic of being strange. The Known to Holden is Pencey Prep because everything there is familiar and paid for. Holden goes into the Unknown, New York, where he does not rely on

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Approximate Word count = 1957
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)