The events of chapter 16

Holden buys a record for his sister. Phoebe liked the song "Little Shirley Beans", which sang about the little girl. Walking along Broadway, Holden hears a passing lad singing "If you've been catching someone in the rye at night...". The song amuses the hero.

The events of chapter 17

Sally and his friend attend a morning performance, which Holden rates as "not bad". The young man puts on the same red hat he bought on the unlucky day of the failed fencing tournament and wanders the inhospitable, cold New York streets.

Again, Holden is haunted by a sense of 'fake', of a fake, of something not real.

After the walk, the friends go ice skating. Sally invites her friend to visit, to join the girl's family in tidying up the Christmas tree and celebrating Christmas Eve. Holden agrees. Suddenly Caulfield bursts into revelations that he feels hatred for his surroundings, for people and for school. Holden is surprised that his friend does not understand these feelings. Eventually, the young man offers to rent a car for the girl to go to new places for a few weeks, but the girlfriend refuses. Sally reasons her refusal with the fact that both she and Holden are children. Caulfield explodes. Sally becomes irritated with the young man, which leads to a disagreement and a quarrel. When the young man insults his girlfriend, she runs away in tears.

The events of chapter 18

After a quarrel with Sally, Holden attends a screening of a war-themed film. Caulfield thinks he would have gone mad at war. The hero dilutes his thoughts with a drink in a nearby restaurant.

The events of chapter 19

His meetings with people bring him only disappointment. Holden's new acquaintance was Karl, who was dating an exotic Chinese girl. The girl was over 30 years old: Holden was surprised. Carl Lewes is studying at Princeton, a prestigious American university.

Events of chapter 20.

Carl leaves. When Holden is alone, he abuses alcohol, calling Sally and asking for forgiveness. The young man tells his friend that he will definitely help clean up the spruce. As promised. After the call, Caulfield wanders around rainy evening New York City. At one point, the hero walks past Central Park, where he notices the pond, he's always wondered about. Pensive, Holden accidentally breaks a gift for Phoebe - a record. The incident forces the hero to consider returning home.

The events of chapter 21

Holden returned home. The young man was relieved because his parents were away. At home, Caulfield met his sister. The hero did give the girl a broken record, but Phoebe was not upset. The sister is a small child, but capable of empathy. Phoebe understands her brother, what Holden is feeling. The girl realises that her brother has been expelled from the school.

The events of chapter 22

Holden confesses to his sister that he has been expelled from school. The character criticises and scolds Pansy, believing it to be a vile place. Phoebe is upset: the girl feels that her brother is always unhappy. Then her sister asks the question: What would Holden like to be?

This chapter is a key one in the novel, because here the protagonist articulates a dream: Holden would like to be a catcher of children who get lost in a rye field and come too close to a dangerous abyss. Caulfield would have rescued the children so they wouldn't have fallen to the bottom. Catching kids in a rye field is a metaphor. Holden realises that the children are pure and naive, but soon the capitalist world will corrupt their souls.