Catcher In The Rye: Summary

The book starts off with Holden Caulfield beginning the story of what happen to him last Christmas. Holden had just been kicked out of the his third or fourth boarding school for failing his so many of his class. He was failing four of five classes and English was the only one he was passing which he was very proud of. He uses words like "boy" and "all" a lot. He explains, "I also say "Boy!" quite a lot . Partly because I have a lousy vocabulary and partly because I act quite young for my age sometimes."(Salinger, 9). He had just got back from New York and it back at Pencey Prep. He goes to Mr. Spencer's house, his history teacher, because Mr. Spencer had left a note saying he want to see Holden and say goodbye. Mr. Spencer feels bad for failing Holden but Holden assures him that he would have done the same thing in his place.

He then goes and hangs out with his roommate Ward Stradlater for a while. Holden later gets into a fight with Stradlater over Jane Gallagher, Holden loses. Holden then decides he is tired of all these phonies, so he packs his bags and heads for a hotel in New York. At the hotel, Holden get into a fight with a pimp named Maurice over money and loses again. Holden drinks and smokes a lot for only being 16 years old, so when Holden is in New York he spend a lot of time a bar and clubs. While in New York Holden become more sad, depressed, and lonely. Holden make a date with Sally Hayes, whom he has known for a while. During their date Holden expresses to Sally that he feels like running away, nut she did not take it well. Holden then decide he wants to leave, but before he does he wants to say goodbye to his younger sister, Phoebe. When Phoebe learns of his plans from a note he left her after they had talked she decide that she wants to go with him.