Setting: Early 1950's. The beginning of the novel takes place at Pency prep school. Holden leaves Pency and goes to various and sundry places in New York City.

Background: Holden is in a mental hospital. The entire novel is written in flashback. The reader does not know this until the end of the novel. Holden fails out of Pency. It is not the first school that has expelled him. Holden has a younger sister, Phoebe, an older brother, D.B. who is a screenplay writer in Hollywood, and a younger brother, Allie who died years ago of leukemia. After getting expelled of Pency, Holden must go home and tell his parents. Instead of deciding to face them with his failure, he wanders around the streets of New York City, and comes into contact with some interesting characters.

Plot Summary: Holden Caulfield is a 16-year-old prep school student who has failed out of school two weeks before Christmas. Several days before he is expected home for Christmas vacation, he leaves school planning to spend some time on his own in New York City, where he lives. Though Holden is friendly with many people at school, and though he has several friends in New York, he is constantly lonesome and in need of someone who will understand his feelings of alienation. The person that Holden feels closest to is his ten year old sister Phoebe. He can not call her because he fears that she would let his parents know that he left school. He spends his time with a different people, but can not make meaningful relationship with any of them. One day he sneaks into his home to see Phoebe, but she disappoints him by being annoyed at his being expelled from school. Holden decides the only solution to his overwhelming problem is to run away and establish a new identity as a deaf-mute who will not need to communicate with anyone. On the verge of nervous break down, Holden changes his mind and decides to rejoin his family. He then enters a hospital not far from Hollywood, and he is telling us his story while in this institution. At the novel's close, Holden is not sure whether he will be able to handle things better than when he leaves the institution, and he is sorry that he told his story at all.

Possible Themes:

A major theme is what Holden calls "phoniness." He feels surrounded by lies and false pretenses. Throughout the book he is often picking out the "phonies" he sees around him. Many of the people that Holden sees as phony are usually happy or successful people, though this may or may not be significant. Some readers feel that Holden shows the same "phoniness" he condemns. For example, at the start of the novel, the character Ackley disturbs Holden's privacy, and asks nosey questions. Later, when Holden's roommate Stradlater is getting ready for a date, Holden follows him into the bathroom, asks Stradlater personal questions, and then tackles him while he is shaving. Holden also puts on pretenses, lies, and makes illogical and contradictory assumptions and generally hides his feelings from other people. All these things put him apart from society, thus questioning if he is a phony himself. However, others say that this is a wrong interpretation of Holden's use of "phoniness", and that while he lies and shows other flaws, he does not fall into his own category.

Another theme is Holden's conflicted, obviously strong desire to be an adult and live in the adult world, though he is not yet ready and does not succeed, to his frustration. He repeatedly tries to fit into adult society, but almost in each situation, he says something wrong, or is simply seen as a physical adolescent by the adults around him. After being rejected, Holden's response is an even stronger rejection of the people he was trying to fit in with a few seconds ago. This offense, combined with his observations of "phoniness" in many of the people around him, cause him to be rejected by adult society and to sometimes see himself as a loner with outsider status. This attitude does not prevent him from trying to fit into adult society again.

The Catcher in the Rye has been covered in controversy since its publication. Reasons for banning have been the use of offensive language, premarital sex, alcohol abuse, and prostitution. According to some extremist theories, the book is an FBI or CIA tool for mind control.

Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lenon, was carrying the book when he was arrested immediately after the murder and referred to it in his statement to police shortly thereafter. John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was also reported to have been obsessed with the book.

Critics see Holden as a disturbing influence on youths they consider to be "social outcasts". Holden is portrayed as a juvenile who rejects and is rejected by many peers and individuals. People like Chapman and Hinckley come to relate themselves to Holden, the person that nobody understands and that can not understand anybody else.

Thirty years after its publication in 1945-46, The Catcher in the Rye was both the most banned book in America as well as the second most taught book in public schools.