What is the meaning of the 'the catcher in the rye'?

Question

I am in 8th grade and I have recently read the book The Catcher in the Rye. Can someone explain to me what it means when Holden says he wants to be the 'catcher in the rye'? What is the metaphor? And what is going on at the end?

Answer 1

The title comes from Holden's misunderstanding of a line in the song "Comin' Thro' the Rye" by Robert Burns. He likes the song as a boy and mistakes the lyrics for "When a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye" for "When a body meet a body, comin' thro' the rye." Holden imagines himself in a field of rye at the edge of a cliff, in which children constantly wandered, and he has the job of catching any who might fall. Thus, he says that he wants to be the catcher, because it serves a real purpose in a world that is otherwise so often phony.

From what I remember this happens toward the end of the book when he is very depressed. He's talking to his sister Phoebe at the time. I think imagining himself as the catcher in the rye is his way of escaping the ugliness of the world that he hates so much.

At the end of the book Holden has something similar to a nervous breakdown. He is narrating the story from a hospital. I would assume some kind of mental institution. He talks about how he will be going to a new school in the fall. Almost like he will be starting over but he doesn't really seem to know if he is any different.

Answer 2

The meaning of the title: "During a short conversation with Phoebe, Holden reveals the meaning of the novel's title. The idea is based on a misreading of a line in the song "Comin' Thro' the Rye,"[5] by Robert Burns, which Holden heard a young boy singing. Holden mistakenly substituted "When a body catch a body, comin' thro' the rye" for "When a body meet a body, comin' thro' the rye." Holden interpreted the line literally, imagining a field of rye at the edge of a cliff, in which children constantly wandered, and that someone had the job of catching any who might fall. Thus, he says that he wants to be the catcher, because it serves a real purpose in a world that is otherwise so often phony/trivial."

The ambiguous ending: The reader has to pick this up from a few hints as Salinger never states it explicitly. After he starts sobbing, while he watches Phoebe on the carousel, Holden must have some sort of breakdown. This is the main hint the reader gets that the whole book has actually been narrated by Holden from a hospital bed.

Answer 3

As the source of the book’s title, this symbol merits close inspection. It first appears in Chapter 16, when a kid Holden admires for walking in the street rather than on the sidewalk is singing the Robert Burns song “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” In Chapter 22, when Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life, he replies with his image, from the song, of a “catcher in the rye.” Holden imagines a field of rye perched high on a cliff, full of children romping and playing. He says he would like to protect the children from falling off the edge of the cliff by “catching” them if they were on the verge of tumbling over. As Phoebe points out, Holden has misheard the lyric. He thinks the line is “If a body catch a body comin’ through the rye,” but the actual lyric is “If a body meet a body, coming through the rye.”

Answer 4

The Catcher in the Rye is Holden's idea of the song, "Coming Thro the Rye" which has a lyric "If a body meet a body, coming thro the rye." Holden thinks the lyric is "catch a body," and faced with this inaccuracy believes his version is better.

For him the song and the misheard lyric conjures a vision in which he is in a field by a cliff, where many children are running around and playing. He saves them, catches them, from falling off the edge of the cliff the meadow is on. He is the Catcher in the Rye.

What this means symbolically is that he wishes he could save young people from growing old and becoming (his favorite word) "phony." He (Holden-Salinger) wants to preserve youth.

Answer 5

The little girl he overhears singing what's supposed to be "if a body meets a body coming through the rye."
Holden wants to be a "catcher in the rye" to catch, i.e. save, protect young people like Phoebe before they grow up into adults, i.e. phonies.

Answer 6

It means that Holden wants to be the one to catch children falling off a cliff, to prevent them from falling into the rye field that is "Phony Adulthood," as he explains a vivid dream to his sister, Phoebe. Holden thinks of the poem in which he misheard a line, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." However, Phoebe explains that the correction is, "If a body MEET a body coming through the rye."

Answer 7

It has something to do with a song that he heard. He mistaked the lyrics for "catcher in the Rye" but they were something else. Sorry if that doesn't help at all.

Answer 8

I don't like profanity so I wouldn't even bother reading it.

Sometimes farms plant rye instead of letting grass grow so that it's more fertile land to grow fruit/vegetables later on. If it's when a body meets a body coming thru the rye...it's probably they were merely walking on thru some farmland and met up.