'The Catcher in the Rye' Quiz

Holden is expelled because he is failing nearly all of his academic classes at Pencey Prep.

When Stradlater gets back from his date with Jane Gallagher, Holden asks whether he slept with her. Stradlater won't answer, and Holden becomes so angry that he punches him.

The hotel's elevator operator, Maurice, offers to send a prostitute named Sunny to Holden's room for five dollars. Holden agrees, but when the woman arrives, he becomes uncomfortable and changes his mind. He sees how young and nervous she is and tells her that he just wants to talk.

Phoebe, Holden’s ten-year-old sister, is one of the few people Holden does not consider "phony." For Holden, Phoebe embodies the lost childhood innocence that he is mourning. In his "catcher in the rye" fantasy, he envisions himself catching innocent children before they fall over the edge of a cliff—effectively preventing them from losing their innocence. Phoebe (as well as Holden's late brother Allie) is the character Holden most wishes to save.

Holden feels intensely happy as he watches Phoebe on the carousel. He imagines her grabbing for the gold ring—a risky maneuver that could earn her a prize. Holden accepts that he must allow her to take this risk. Of the children grabbing for the ring, he observes, "If they fall, they fall." With this realization, Holden seems to relinquish his desire to be a catcher in the rye who saves children from falling off a cliff; he accepts and even begins to embrace the inevitability of childhood's end.