The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale based in New England (primarily New York). It is about a young man named Holden Caulfield. Holden is sixteen and is enrolled in a boarding school named Pency Prep. His parents sent him to boarding school after he repetitively failed his classes at his old school in New York where the family lived.
The story takes place in the early nineteen thirties. The location of the story changes as Holden leaves his school behind and goes back to New York where his family lives, only he doesn't go home to his family he stays at hotels and lives on his own for a week.
Holden is not like all the other men attend bring Pency Prep. He usually gets along with them but is very much a loner, especially when it comes to social events. He doesn't like the way people treat each other and he would rather live away from people out in the middle of nowhere. He likes for his environment to be simple and peaceful. He is, however, an avid conversationalist and most people enjoy his company.
Ackley is one of Holden's classmates. He is not what you would call one of the popular students. He has bad acne and hygiene. He is also rude without knowing that he is being so. Other than those bad traits Holden knows Ackley as a nice sincere guy.
Ward Stradlater was another of Holden's classmates. He was known for being athletic and a popular guy with the ladies. Stradlater was often caught by Holden admiring himself in the mirror of the room he shared with Holden. Ward loathed the company of Ackley and would heckle him to the point of conflict. Ackley, however, being a calm man, always declined to raise a fist at such confrontation.
Phoebe Caulfield is Holden's little sister and the only person he confides in. She is a young girl but according to Holden she is very mature. She often tells Holden of his mistakes and calms him when he is angry.
In one instance Holden meets the mother of one of his classmate's mothers on a train to New York. She asks about her son and Holden tells her "He's a swell guy and he will do very well at Pency," but in reality Holden can't stand the company of her son. He thinks that the young man is overly arrogant and Holden tries to avoid him when he sees him. This demonstrates Holden's distaste for the society he lives in but also how he is a compassionate man and would lie for the benefit of someone he doesn't even like.
Holden, at many times in the book looks back to his past and thinks of how life used to be a joyous thing in which his ignorance of the goings on around him allowed him to be happy. In one occasion he thinks of how him and his sister used to skate around Central Park and how they would laugh and play all day not having a care in the world. Then he wonders if life could be that happy again if he were to go somewhere secluded and live without having to worry about what other people did and how they treated him. At that point he decides to leave his school and go to New York, to a part of town where no knows him so he can see if he can enjoy life with out people bothering him. After he has many mis-adventures (some of which aren't suitable to be discussed in an English report) he decides that for his idea of seclusion to work he would have to be away from all people not just people he knew, and by that time he is lonely so he tries to contact his sister without letting his parents know that he is not in school.
Many people have tried to look for a deeper meaning in the story and have found that it tries to illustrate a reclusive or anarchist tendency in the main character, but even if you don't look that deep it is a classic coming of age tale. The story has shown me that some things you will not understand until you take care of yourself and are not dependent upon anything. It also means to me that in everyone's life there comes a turning point where an adolescent becomes a reliable and responsible adult.
"Mr. And Mrs. Antolini had this very swanky apartment over on Sutton Place, with two steps that you go down to get in the living room, and a bar and all." Holden always notices people with too many luxuries and it seems like a waste to him. He feels as thought too many luxuries make life too complicated. He enjoys a simple environment. This book to me makes a lot of sense and I identify with Holden on most of his opinions. It seems like J.D. Salinger wrote this book about me.