The events of chapter 1

The narrative begins by describing the situation: Holden Caulfield is in an asylum, where the hero is visited by D. B. It is Holden's older brother, who has now found work in Hollywood: D. B. writes screenplays. In conversation with his brother, Caulfield tells D. B. about a story that happened last Christmas.

Holden begins the story with his decision to leave school. The decision was preceded by a trip to New York, where Caulfield was going to play on the fencing team. However, the hero lost his fencing equipment somewhere on the underground. For this reason, the competition did not take place. Because of underachievement, Holden was expelled from school: at Pansy's school, the hero received unsatisfactory grades in five out of nine disciplines. After the Christmas holidays, Holden was sent home.

Pansy is a boarding school in Pennsylvania. Holden has a long list of school abandonment. For example, the boy had already left Elkton Hill because he had seen a "fake," i.e., fake.

The events of chapter 2

In this part, Holden sees Spencer, an old history teacher. In conversation with the tutor, Caulfield says that he has not informed his parents of his expulsion from the school. The teacher scolds the young man, trying to arouse shame in the pupil. The young man's thoughts wander far away. For example, Holden worries where the park ducks disappear to when the water in the pond becomes ice-crusted.

Previously, Holden attended two schools where he, too, felt uneasy. The young man has an explanation: in schools everything is not done for real, it is only an empty demonstration, but freedom as such is absent there. A sense of fakeness, of 'faking', accompanies Holden in every society. The hero is trapped in his own contradictions: on the one hand, Caulfield cannot stand being alone with himself, on the other hand, he feels irritated in the company of people, neighbours, adults, peers.

Events of chapter 3

Holden lies to his teacher as he returns to his dorm room. In New York, Caulfield bought a hat: sitting in the bright red headdress, the hero was leafing through the pages of a book called In the Wilds of Africa. Holden was caught like that by his roommate Ward.

The events of chapter 4

Ward is busy thinking about his date with his girlfriend, Jean Gallagher. So Stradlater turns to a fellow neighbour for help: could Holden help with the essay? Meanwhile, Caulfield suddenly thought of Jean: the hero remembered playing checkers with this girl. Holden felt sympathy for Jean.

The events of chapters 5 and 6

Holden writes an essay for his neighbour. The subject of the essay is the baseball glove of Alli, the protagonist's brother, who has already died. Allie wrote poetry on the glove, which he read before the competition. Caulfield did not follow the request of the neighbour, who wanted the essay to narrate a room or a house. The neighbour did not like the text. Ward even became angry, which offended Holden. Caulfield admitted that he liked Jean, but Stradlater went to see her anyway. The comrades quarrel, a neighbour smashes Holden's nose.

The events of chapters 7 and 8

After a fight with a neighbour, Caulfield packs his things, leaving Pansy in a hurry. Boarding the train, Holden contemplates what he will tell his parents. During the journey, the young man met a lovely lady. It turned out to be the mother of Pansy's most obnoxious pupil, Ernest Morrow. Holden did not tell the woman that her son was doing bad things, calling the obnoxious classmate "everyone's favourite".