     The Catcher in the Rye, a famous book written by J.D. Salinger, has impacted several generations since 1950s. The protagonist in the story is a sixty years old boy who dislikes the world of adults. The boy's name is Holden Caulfield, and the story begins with his departure from Pencey prep, a famous school he attended in Agerstown. He gets expelled, because he failed four of his five classes. 

     First, in chapter one, Holden mentions that he has a brother who works for Hollywood, and gives up a career in serious literature for money and fame of the movies. We can know Holden's personality from second chapters. He went to visit Mr. Spencer for politeness, even he failed in his history class. His cynicism gets showed from the conversation with Mrs Spencer. When Mr. Spencer asks him that the reason Holden left his last school, Holden's answer in his mind was that there were so many hypocrite, especially the headmaster Roxas(Salinger). Holden says that every Friday, when parents come to school to pick their kids up, Roxas would be super nice to those parents who drive cars and dress nicely. When he sees some parents who dress bad, he would not say anything, but just smile at them for a second. However, Holden did not tell Mr. Spencer what he really think about the reason he left his last school, because he knew that Mr. Spencer could not understand him. Therefore he ran away.

     Second, after Holden fought with Mr Rudd letta, he left school immediately because he was so angry. He went to New York and decide to live in a hotel, because he did not really want to see his parents. During this time, many things happened around him. Holden went to Ernie's. He does not really like the pianoforte Ernie played after he he feel the environment in the Ernie's. People applaud no matter they like the pianoforte or not, and Ernie will bow phonily after he plays(Salinger). Holden thinks that Ernie does not even think about weather he does well or not, and the fickleness of the crowed changes Ernie. Therefore, he takes a table and listens the conversations around him. Holden gets disgusting by the phony talk of a couple. The boy was talking about a professional football game to his girlfriend. The girl had no interest on football, but she was listening, even she did not really pay attention. There are another couple seat near Holden. The man dresses like a Yale student. He was stroking the girl's private part while he was telling her a story about a person in his dorm who ate aspirin for suicide. Although he dresses like a successful man which most people think you are successful if you go to a nice school such as Yale, he was doing the dirty things. After that, Holden encounters an obnoxious girl named Lillian Simmons, whom D.B. dated in the past. She does not respect people by blocking everyone's way. She showed a big passion after she knew D.B. was working for Hollywood, and Holden thinks that the reason she invites him to seat with them is that she wants Holden to tell D.B. how nice is she.

     Last but not the least, the most famous part in the book should be the conversation between Holden and his sister Phoebe. At the time Holden went back home, Phoebe was sleeping in D.B.'s room. Phoebe was overjoyed to see him. She started telling him things in her life. Holden also enjoyed listening Phoebe's talking, because she was still innocent, and what she told were the things she truthfully wanted to share with Holden. However, Phoebe got angry after she noticed that Holden was home two days early and he must be kicked out by school. We all know that people get mad about the things you do because they care about you. That was what Holden felt from Phoebe. Holden explained to Phoebe why he did not like the school. As he says, adults look lousy when they are sleeping, children look all right(Salinger). Afterwards, Phoebe asked him what he wanted to do with his life. Holden said "I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff -- I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all(Salinger)." This reveals that he yearn for idealistic childhood and his role as the catcher of innocence. Why does Salinger use "catcher" here, but not "savior" or "protector"? Imagine a graph which having a cliff at the end of the rye. Holden knows that children will fall off the cliff if there is not a catcher. As we all know, rye is pure, which there is only wheat. Holden uses rye describe the purely innocence of children. Salinger does not use "protect" here, because there is no need for protecting if a child fall off the cliff. All he wants to do is catching the children who will fall. Salinger does not use "savior", either, because Holden does not think he saves the children. He does not think himself as great as other readers do. For him, catching a kid who will fall off the cliff is his responsible. If Salinger uses "savior" instead of "catcher", it will show the glorification of Holden. However, Holden dose not think about the honor he can get by being a catcher. The point of Holden is wanting to let the innocence of children stay, or in another word, retain the innocence without the alienation.

     Unfortunately, we can not get a result from the ending of the book. Holden is always trying not to be alone, but he just can not step into people's world which have already been alienated. Therefore, he wants to be a catcher in the rye; he wants to let more children keep their innocence. Nevertheless, the power of alienation by the society is so strong that it is impossible for him to catch others' innocence. We do not know what kind of life will Holden have with the incessant disappoints. Maybe he will be alone forever, or he may be alienated by this society.
