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1. Exposition: Holden Caulfield goes to school at Pency Prep, a private school in Pennsylvania but he has always hated it in Pency. The book begins with the school having a football game against their school rival. The dorms are empty because everyone is at the game so Holden takes the time to himself after loosing all of the fencing equipment on the train earlier in the day which resulted in a cancelation of the match as well as him losing his position as fencing equipment manager. He also realizes he has failed his history exam and is to be expelled. Holden wrote an extra note on his exam that said Mr. Spencer shouldn't feel bad for failing him and he understands it but then Mr. Spencer reads it out loud... Holden doesn't really appreciate that but Mr. Spencer is only trying to help him out in getting on the right path of academic excellence. On the other hand, Holden is really stoked about a hunting hat that he had bought in the city when he was out with the fencing team.
Then, we meet Ackley. Ackley is an annoying and grimy guy who lives next door. He asks a lot of questions and is ok with being nosey. Holden tries to get him to leave so he can read but then he has to deal with his own roommate, Stradlater. Stradlater is a womanizer and spends an evening out with a girl named Jane, whom Holden had had feelings for. Stradlater asks Holden to write an english project for him so he can go out on his date. Holden writes about his brother Allie and a baseball glove. Allie had died of leukemia and it hit Holden hard. He remembers smashing all the garage windows with his bare hands after Allie had died. When he returns, Holden asks Stradlater all about his night and Stradlater begins talking about Jane like a piece of meat and teases Holden about it. Holden gets really angry because Stradlater's silence hints that something might have happened between them. Holden attacks him and Stradlater pins him and gives him a bloody nose. Holden insults him and spends the night in Ackley's room where he stays up all night and tries to have some type of comforting conversation... which fails...
Rising Action: He then packs everything up and leaves for the train station. He sees his classmate's, Ernest, mother. He lies to her and tells her what a great guy Ernest is before getting on the train to NYC where he plans to stay until Wednesday, when his parents expect him home for break. He goes to the Edmont Hotel and is intrigued by all the people he gets to watch. He calls a girl named Faith whom his classmates would call because she was a stripper. Holden talks her into meeting the next day even if she was annoyed by his call but he hangs up before they make any plans.
He goes to the Lavender room and tries to get served alcohol but the waiter doesn't allow it. Holden tries to dance with some tourist women and looks to get laid but they don't get anywhere close to that. Then he goes to a club in Greenich and tries to see women there. He doesn't get anywhere with them because he gets irritated that they can't carry on an intelligent conversation.
So Holden resorts to calling a prostitute to his hotel room. Sunny comes up to the room but he gets uncomfortable and asks if they could just talk instead of do anything. Sunny gets irritated but takes it for a little while, insisting he still pay and even extra. She leaves and her pimp comes back and forces Holden to pay extra. He roughs him up and then the two leave.
The next morning, Holden calls up Sally Hayes and arranges a date at the theatre. He goes out on the town to stall and he sees some nuns at a cafe discussing Romeo and Juliet. He buys a record for his sister, Phoebe, who is also his best friend. Holden finally goes out with Sally to the theatre and it is a little awkward at first. Then they go out ice skating after. Holden gets a crazy idea that Sally should run away with him and she refuses. Holden calls her a pain in the ass and she leaves hurriedly. He tries to apologize but she won't take it and leaves.
Holden goes out to a Christmas show and gets insanely drunk. He can't help but think of the ducks the whole time he is in NYC. Where do they go when the ponds are frozen over? He goes out to Central Park to see them but he breaks Phoebe's record in the process of trying to find them... Holden gets really down about it and then decides that he should see his sister. On the way over he thinks about Allie and the Natural History Museum. He thinks its odd how the statues never change but the world always is....
Holden sneaks into his family's apartment to find Phoebe. He wakes her up and makes her promise not to tell his parents are in town. He talks to her about the 'catcher in the rye' and how he has interpreted it that he is meant to be a type of guardian like the song but really the song is about death and a loss of innocence.
Then Holden goes to see his old English teacher, Mr. Antolini. Mr. Antolini gives Holden life advice and tells him to try to find something to live for. Holden thinks he is being really nice and then Mr. Antolini gives Holden a place to stay for the night. But just as Holden starts to get comfortable, Mr. Antolini strokes his face and Holden flips out thinking he is trying to hit on him. He opts for a cold bench on the street instead of his old English teacher's house as he questions what just had happened in Mr. Antolini's apartment.
Climax: The next day, Holden decides to go out west and become a deaf-mute to start his life over. He mentions his plans to his sister. She says pleads with Holden to let her go with him and he tells her she can't go. Phoebe becomes really upset and Holden decides to not go. He drops his plans as he watches his sister go around on the Merry-Go-Round. He is so happy watching her.
Resolution: Holden alludes to him being in a mental institution at the present day and won't comment on how he had gotten admitted. He thinks about his old classmates and even begins to miss the times he had at Pency.
3. The tone of the novel is sarcastic, cynical, and judgmental. "What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.""People never notice anything."
Characterization:
1. Indirect:
Direct: "That guy had just about everything. Sinus trouble, pimples, lousy teeth, halitosis, crumby fingernails. You had to feel a little sorry for that crazy sonuvabitch.
3. Holden is a dynamic and round character. He is fully developed character although he doesn't really know how to communicate with anyone but his sister Phoebe. You can see his character start to lose touch with his reality towards the end of the book and he alludes the fact that he is looking back on his life from a mental hospital.
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