The title of the book A Catcher in the Rye is reflected in the mistaken words of a poem by Robert Burns. Holden thought it was "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." That's what he wanted to be. The only older individual in a group of kids in the rye, that he would catch them before they fall off the cliff. Many events caused this belief or illusion that he could stop people falling off and eventually he came to many realisations.
             Holden Caulfield was (believe it or not) an average teenager in an adult world with many conflicting ideas and thoughts. He was trying to establish his own personality, and was searching for secure values. Yet, he found nearly everyone and everything to be "phoney". He observed that the principal shook hands with rich parents while discarding the poorer and that most people were hypocrites. It was these (plus many more "phoney) elements that Holden did not want the kids to see - kids like Phoebe. He was protecting them against the adult and materialistic world and was 'catching' them before they fell. He had already seen too many 'falls' and in fact it was these people who 'fell' who fell into the category of non-phoniness. This was probably because Holden's memories of them remained pure. Many people fell. James Castle 'fell' out of the window and Allie 'fell' to death. He thought that these innocent people had gone. They had been eaten by the phoniness and that they didn't have a 'catcher' to protect them from harm. Holden wanted to prevent any more of this happening by being the 'catcher' himself.
             But being the 'catcher' it distanced himself from many characters in the book. He stayed away from everyone who he thought was phony, hypocritical, or had bad habits. In fact, he did not come past many people who were not in the above category. What made him stay away? As mentioned before, it was the adult world. He rejected them and they rejected him. Only a few people like Phoebe even listene
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