What exactly happens at the end of "The Catcher in the Rye"?

Question

I really did like the book up until I hit the very confusing ending. Though I hate to do it, I looked it up on the booknotes pages, but still don't understand which site is right. Where is Holden and did he write a book for everyone to read or what? If anyone out there can clear up the ending for me, I would really appreciate it. Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

I thought he went off to the funny farm, or California, assuming there's a difference.

Answer 2

In 2007.

Answer 3

dont know only on chapter 18. i dont read much its for school

Answer 4

I'm not sure if I could explain just the ending, so I'll give a summery of the book. I hope it enlightens.

The novel covers a few important days in the life of the protagonist Holden Caulfield, a tall, lanky, highly-critical and depressed sixteen-year-old who decides one night to run away from Pencey Prep boarding school, just before Christmas vacation. Holden has actually been expelled from Pencey Prep; he is required to leave the school for good, once vacation begins, but instead he secretly leaves a few days before his scheduled departure date, late one night after having a particularly depressing day with the people in his orbit. Rather than return to his family home in New York City, he decides to spend a few days in the city on his own. Because he is overly critical, and the fact that he points out faults of people only to exhibit them later, Holden is widely considered to be an unreliable narrator, and the details and events of his story are apt to be distorted by his point of view. Nonetheless, it is his story to tell.


His story starts on Holden's last day at Pencey Prep. He is standing on the crest of a hill that overlooks the football stadium. It is the final game of the season, but Holden has never cared much for established tradition. He instead runs across the street to the residence of Mr. Spencer, Holden's history teacher. It is revealed here that Holden has been expelled, and that he doesn't particularly care. Mr. Spencer is disappointed in Holden, and lectures to him about the importance of hard work and education. Holden lies about removing some equipment from the gym to get out of the discussion, says goodbye to Spencer and his wife, and goes to the school dorm.

Back at the dorm, Holden talks to his roommate, Stradlater, a tall, good-looking ladies' man. Holden sees him very differently, describing him as a "phony" and the sort of person who shaves and grooms himself for women, but doesn't bother to clean the dirty, rusty razor he uses to do so. Stradlater returns home late from a date with Jane Gallagher, one of Holden's childhood friends with whom he has had a long-standing infatuation. During Stradlater's date, Holden had been told by Stradlater to write a theme for him on "a room or something." Holden finds inspiration in writing about his brother Allie's baseball mitt, but when Stradlater returns and finds what Holden has written, he is enraged. During the ensuing argument, Holden snaps and tries to hit his unsuspecting roommate. Stradlater quickly wins the fight, Holden not being particularly strong.

His neighbor in the dorm, Robert Ackley, is also introduced. Ackley is a pimple-ridden outcast whose relationship with Holden is fairly complex: On the one hand, Holden criticizes Ackley by calling him a "phony", and expresses disgust at his hygiene, acne, and personality. But Holden spends time with him of his own free will; he is drawn to Ackley because there is nobody else, going to movies and having snowball fights with him even though he comments on how abrasive Ackley is.

That night, considering everything, especially the fact that he will be leaving Pencey anyway, Holden packs a suitcase and takes the train to New York City. En route, Holden meets the mother of one of his schoolmates. This schoolmate, in particular, was not popular at all; he was in fact nominated for class president as a joke. But Holden decides to benevolently lie to the mother; he tells her that her son is a terrific young man and very friendly. Holden also notes many times that although the mother is middle-aged, she is seemingly attractive.

Holden loiters around New York City, drinking heavily and meeting various people. He visits Club Ernie's, but he is disappointed by the "phonies" who visit the club. He becomes increasingly depressed as he spends more time there, observing those around him and judging their hypocrisy.

Holden encounters a pimp at his hotel, the Edmont. He hires the pimp's prostitute, Sunny, but when she comes to his room, Holden cannot bring himself to have sex with her. He pays her, instead, to talk about life with him. Later, she leaves – but only to return with the pimp, who extorts another $5 from him forcibly.

Later, he has a date with one of his previous girlfriends, Sally Hayes. They go ice skating at Rockefeller Center and see the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall. The experience leaves him more depressed, as he realizes that they do not have much in common. Holden tells her about a plan he has had for a long time to go out to the west coast and build a cabin and live off the land. Sally rejects him and his idea, especially after Holden frustratedly blurts out that she's "a royal pain in the ***."

Holden finally decides to surreptitiously return home to see his younger sister Phoebe. During a short conversation with her Holden reveals the meaning of the novel's title: The "Catcher in the Rye" idea is based on a misreading of a line in the song "Comin' Thro' the Rye," by Robert Burns, which Holden heard a young boy singing. The young boy instead substituted "When a body meet a body, comin' thro' the rye" for "When a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye."

Holden imagines children playing a game in a field of rye near a cliff, and it is his role to protect the children by catching anyone who comes too near to the edge. Such a job, he says, would make him truly happy. Holden tells Phoebe he has always wanted to be a Catcher in the Rye (symbolically, a rescuer of children). Holden tells her his plan to run away, to live far away from everybody, and Phoebe offers him her Christmas money. Holden flees the house when his parents arrive home.

Holden goes to a former teacher's house, Mr. Antolini, where his teacher gives him a speech about life and how, in order to live happily, Holden has to be prepared. After Mr. Antolini becomes drunk, Holden and Antolini part to go to bed. Holden awakes to find Mr. Antolini patting and rubbing his head. Holden interprets this as a sexual advance, although the question of whether Antolini is gay, drunk, a caring man, or a combination of the three is never answered. Holden leaves confused and even more depressed after Antolini says he was just admiring him.

Holden sleeps in the train station. In the morning, he decides to hitchhike West and build a cabin for himself away from the people he knows. He plans to pretend he is a deaf-mute, and get an ordinary job. However, he can't leave without saying goodbye to Phoebe and returning her Christmas money to her.

Explaining the situation, Holden gives a message to a person at her school so it could get to her. He tells her to meet him at lunchtime outside the museum so he can give her back the money. At the same time, Holden witnesses a "**** you" message etched on the wall, and comments that if you had a million years, you couldn't get rid of half of the "**** you" messages on Earth.

When Phoebe arrives at lunchtime, she is carrying one of Holden's old suitcases, full of clothes. Phoebe tells Holden that she no longer wants to be away from her brother, and is going with him. He refuses angrily, feeling that he has influenced her to want to go with him instead of staying in school. She cries and refuses to speak to him. Knowing that she will follow him, Holden walks to the zoo, letting his anger lift. After walking through the zoo, with a short distance between them, they visit a park across the street. Phoebe starts talking to Holden again, and Holden promises to go back home. He buys her a ticket for the carousel in the park and watches her ride an old horse on it. As Holden watches her ride the carousel, his own mood lifts. Soon he is nearly moved to tears with remorse, longing, and bittersweet happiness.

At this point in the book, the reader is given several clues as to the possibility that Holden is narrating the book from a mental hospital in California. He explains that he will be going to another school in the fall again but doesn't know for sure if he will start applying himself. He then finishes talking with the words, "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

Answer 5

he caught the ball, duh?