It is December, 1949. Holden Caulfield has been expelled from his school, Pencey Prep in Agerstown, Pennsylvania, on account of sub-standard academic performance. After an argument with his roommate he packs up and leaves, in the middle of the night, and takes a train to New York City.
The identity struggle prevalent in this novel is primarily the internal struggle present in our hero (or antihero) Holden. Being an iconic teenage rebel, Holden spends the greater part of the book being victimised or alienated by those around him. He often feels trapped on "the other side" of life and society, and feels he belongs nowhere. He frequently fantasizes about becoming a hermit and living in the woods, and seems to only be liked and accepted by his family, specifically his youger sister, Phoebe.
Loneliness and the pain of coming of age are recurring themes in this book, along with dealing with the death of a family member, which I think is what makes it so accessible for teenagers, both when it was published and even now, sixty years after its first appearance.
Catcher in the Rye - Identity Quotations
