Holden, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He spends three days in New York City and tells the story of what he did and suffered there.
The story of adolescent Holden Caulfield who runs away from boarding-school
in Pennsylvania to New York, where he preserves his innocence despite various
attempts to lose it. The colloquial, lively, first-person narration, with
its attacks on the 'phoniness' of the adult world and its clinging to family
sentiment in the form of Holden's affection for his sister Phoebe, made
the novel accessible to and popular with a wide readership, particularly
with the young.