We are made aware from the outset that Holden Caulfield is currently residing in a mental hospital although he is not specific about its location and to a certain extent the location is irrelevant it's why he is in the hospital that is more pertinent. We immediately start to question whether Caulfield will be a reliable or unreliable narrator because of his apparent psychological problems but still we are eager to hear the story of how he has ended up there. We quickly learn that he is 16 years old and that the story takes place over the period of a few days just before Christmas when having been expelled (for the fourth time) he decides to leave school early, check into a hotel and not tell anyone he is back. These are clearly not the actions of a mentally stable person.

Holden Caulfield feels that he is alienated from the real world and that he is one of life's victims and doesn't belong in the world he inhabits, but as the book progresses it becomes apparent that this alienation' is merely his own way of protecting himself and gives him some sense of stability in his confusing adolescent world. For us as readers we can see that the way he is actually causes much of his pain and it is clear that he desperately needs to be loved and to have some simple human contact but because he puts up this protective wall around himself he can't, or won't, let anyone in - a great example is when he meets Sally Hayes and it is because he is so lonely that he seeks her out but equally his opposing need for isolation causes him to drive her away in a cruel and calculating manner.

He uses the concept of phoniness' as a means of attacking all the superficial hypocrisy and pretension that he encounters, particularly in adults whom he believes are all phony but just don't see it. This gives him yet another excuse to withdraw further into his own safe but excluded world. Sometimes it seems that he spends so much time searching for the flaws in those around him he is in danger of ignoring his own. He wants the world to be black and white with good on one side and bad on the other, and he can't deal with the failure of others to adhere to this ideal. The only person to escape is his sister Phoebe whom he believes to be perfect.

It is his loneliness that is the central thread of this story showing his desperation for a meaningful and deeply satisfying friendship, whilst being constantly overshadowed by meaningless encounters with the wrong people. He is often the one who sabotages potential friendships as he strives to protect himself and becoming more deeply introspective as time goes on. His obsession with sex pervades the whole book and although he is still a virgin he spends much of the book trying to shed it. Deep down he believes that sex, love and respect are inexorably linked but all around him he sees people treating sex casually which inflames him further.

All through the book Holden Caulfield is in denial about himself, those around him and the root causes of his somewhat erratic behaviour. The adults in his world seem to treat him in an unfavourable way which goes some way to explaining just why he acts the way he does, as does the death of his brother Allie and the suicide of one of his schoolmates. As he tries in hospital to make sense of his life and his future he comments "I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don't."

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