The novel The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield over a weekend. The story begins in Agerstown, Pennsylvania at Pencey Prep School, with Holden standing on top of Thomson Hill on his way to Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, to say goodbye because Holden was expelled for not following the rules. On the way to Spencer's, Holden "felt like he was disappearing." (Salinger 5) The symbolic meaning of the word “disappear” is that he feels alone and almost invisible. When Mr. Spencer begins reading Holden's failed diary, Holden begins to dream of "wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen" (13) in New York's Central Park. The symbolic meaning of this comment is that Holden is frozen in his adolescence. Holden returns to school and goes to his room in the dorm. In his room reading quietly, his neighbor Robert Ackley entered. Holden describes him as a spotty, insecure, boring boy with poor dental hygiene. When Holden's roommate, Stradlater, "madly in love with himself" (27), arrived home after the football game, Ackley left abruptly. Stradlater tells him that he has a meeting with one of his friends, Jane Gallagher. Jane is someone who really cares about Holden and because he knows Stradlater, Holden became worried about her. "It drove me absolutely crazy thinking about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that big ass Ed Banky's car." (48) Holden has become depressed and lonely, so Holden decides out of the blue to pack his bags and leave for New York a few days early. On the train to New York, Holden meets the mother of one of his classmates. Not wanting to tell his whole life story, he told her his name was "Rudolf Schmidt", the name of the... middle of paper ...... had to disappear. He runs to Phoebe's school to leave her a note to meet him. While he waits, he notices "Fuck you" (201) on the wall. “It almost drove me crazy,” he thought. Holden sees Phoebe with her suitcase as she tells him, “I’m coming with you.” Can I? Okay?" (206) Holden's response was "No. Shut up". Phoebe got angry and didn't let up until Holden accepted that he wasn't leaving. She went on the carousel in the park and as she went around in circles, Holden felt so happy that "[he] was about to bawl." (213) Holden eventually returned home and clearly went to therapy because he was "sick." (213) He also wishes he hadn't told his story to us, the reader, because he missed Stradlater, the nuns, and even Maurice. His last words were: “Never tell anyone.” If you do, everyone starts to miss you”. (214)