Writing from a rest home where he's recuperating some illness or break down, Holden Caulfield says he'll tell the story of what happened to him just before the previous Christmas. Holden's story begins at Pencey Prep on the day of the big football game, Holden, who has just been expelled for failing 4 of his 5 classes, visits Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. Mr. Spencer lectures Holden about playing by the rules and thinking about his future. Holden pretends to agree with what he hears but actually thinks Mr. Spencer is a “phony.” Back in his dorm room, Robert Ackley, Holden's irritating neighbor, interrupts Holden as he tries to read, and Ward Stradlater, Holden's conceited and good-looking roommate heads out for a date with Jane Gallagher,
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When Stradlater returns, he says that the essay isn't on topic, and refuses to reveal the details of his date. Holden attacks and insults him. Stradlater punches Holden in the nose. Holden decide to leave Pencey early. He takes a train to New York and rent a room at the Edmont hotel. He soon feels lonely and depressed and starts acting strangely. He wears a red hunting cap everywhere he goes, asks cab drivers what happens to the ducks in the Central Park Lagoon during the winter, and wanders around from the hotel lounge to another bar trying to pick up women whom he claims to hate. Back at his hotel, the elevator man, Maurice, offers him a prostitute for $5. Holden agrees, but it's so uncomfortable when she arrives he says he can't have sex because of recent surgery. She demands $10. When he refuses, she returns with Maurice. Maurice punches holding in the stomach while she takes another $5. The next morning, Holden makes a date with the girl he knows named Sally Hayes. He then wanders around town, and here's a boy singing a song while coming out of church: “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” Hoping to find his younger sister, Phoebe, Holden walks all the way to the Museum of Natural History, which he loves for its unchanging
When Stradlater returns, he says that the essay isn't on topic, and refuses to reveal the details of his date. Holden attacks and insults him. Stradlater punches Holden in the nose. Holden decide to leave Pencey early. He takes a train to New York and rent a room at the Edmont hotel. He soon feels lonely and depressed and starts acting strangely. He wears a red hunting cap everywhere he goes, asks cab drivers what happens to the ducks in the Central Park Lagoon during the winter, and wanders around from the hotel lounge to another bar trying to pick up women whom he claims to hate. Back at his hotel, the elevator man, Maurice, offers him a prostitute for $5. Holden agrees, but it's so uncomfortable when she arrives he says he can't have sex because of recent surgery. She demands $10. When he refuses, she returns with Maurice. Maurice punches holding in the stomach while she takes another $5. The next morning, Holden makes a date with the girl he knows named Sally Hayes. He then wanders around town, and here's a boy singing a song while coming out of church: “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” Hoping to find his younger sister, Phoebe, Holden walks all the way to the Museum of Natural History, which he loves for its unchanging