The Catcher in the Rye — J. D. Salinger

The protagonist, 16-year-old Golden Colfield, is in the throes of a deep personal crisis. He has just been expelled from a prestigious school for poor academic performance. Unwilling to return home to his parents early, Golden sets out on a solo journey through December in New York City.

For several days, he wanders the city, meets with acquaintances, reflects on life, and tries to find an answer to the question: where do the ducks from Central Park go when the lake freezes over?

Key themes and ideas:

Hatred of “fakeness”: Golden reacts sharply to the hypocrisy, pretentiousness, and artificiality of the adult world. The word “phony” is his main description of his surroundings.

Fear of growing up: The protagonist desperately wants to preserve his childlike sincerity. The adult world seems dirty and cruel to him.

The image of the “Catcher”: Golden dreams of one thing and one thing only: standing on the edge of a cliff in a rye field and catching children who are playing and cannot see the edge of the cliff, so they don’t fall into “adult” life.