<P> The next morning, Holden, becoming increasingly depressed and in need of personal connection, calls Sally Hayes, a familiar date . Although Holden claims that she is "the queen of all phonies", they agree to meet that afternoon to attend a play at the Biltmore Theater . Holden shops for a special record, "Little Shirley Beans", for his 10 - year - old sister Phoebe . He spots a small boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye", which lifts his mood . Although Holden's date initially goes well, it soon sours after Sally introduces her friend George . After the play, Holden and Sally go ice skating at Rockefeller Center, where Holden suddenly begins ranting against society and frightens Sally . He impulsively invites Sally to run away with him that night to live in the wilderness of New England, but she is uninterested in his hastily conceived plan and declines . The conversation turns sour, and the two angrily part ways . </P> <P> Holden decides to meet his old classmate, a Columbia student named Carl Luce, for drinks at the Wicker Bar in the Seton Hotel . During the meeting, Holden annoys Carl with his fixation on sex . After Luce leaves, Holden gets drunk, awkwardly flirts with several adults, and calls an icy Sally . Exhausted and out of money, Holden wanders over to Central Park to investigate the ducks, breaking Phoebe's record on the way . Nostalgically recalling his experience in elementary school and the unchanging dioramas in the Museum of Natural History that he enjoyed visiting as a child, Holden heads home to see Phoebe . He sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are out, and wakes up Phoebe--the only person with whom he seems to be able to communicate his true feelings . Although Phoebe is happy to see Holden, she quickly deduces that he has been expelled, and chastises him for his aimlessness and his apparent dislikes towards everything . When asked if he cares about anything, Holden shares a selfless fantasy he has been thinking about (based on a mishearing of Robert Burns's Comin' Through the Rye): he pictures himself as the sole guardian of thousands of children playing in a huge rye field on the edge of a cliff . His job is to catch the children if, in their abandon, they come close to falling off the brink; to be, in effect, the "catcher in the rye". Because of this misinterpretation, Holden believes that to be the "catcher in the rye" means to save children from losing their innocence . </P> <P> When his mother returns home, Holden slips out and visits his former and much - admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who is now a New York University professor . Mr. Antolini expresses concern that Holden is headed for "a terrible fall" and advises him to begin applying himself . Although Holden is exhausted, he is courteous and considers his advice . Mr. Antolini also provides Holden a place to sleep . Holden is upset when he wakes up in the night to find Mr. Antolini patting his head, which he interprets as a homosexual advance . Confused and uncertain, he leaves and spends the rest of the night in a waiting room at Grand Central Station, where he sinks further into despair and expresses regret over leaving Mr. Antolini . He spends most of Monday morning wandering Fifth Avenue . </P> <P> Losing hope of finding belonging or companionship in the city, Holden impulsively decides that he will head out west and live a reclusive lifestyle as a gas station attendant . He decides to see Phoebe at lunchtime to explain his plan and say farewell . While visiting Phoebe's school to give a forged excuse note, Holden becomes obsessed with graffiti containing the word "fuck", and becomes distressed by the thought of children learning the word's meaning . When he meets Phoebe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she arrives with a suitcase and asks to go with him, even though she was looking forward to acting as Benedict Arnold in a play that Friday . Holden refuses to let her come with him, which upsets Phoebe, so Holden decides not to leave after all . He tries to cheer her up by allowing her to skip school and taking her to the Central Park Zoo, but she remains angry with him . They eventually reach the zoo's carousel, where Phoebe reconciles with Holden after he buys her a ticket . Holden is finally filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe riding in the rain . </P>

What was the catcher and the rye about