The Catcher in the Rye

Why is the book called 'The Catcher in the Rye' ?

Holden is a very depressed young man who is full of hate mostly. He is emotionally unbalanced and feels like a loser on account of he is not very successful

at life so far. He knows that he is yellow deep inside and also 'lonely as hell'.

In my opinion the children in the rye symbolize the successful

life Holden could have had or the successful

life he had before, which he didn't tell us about. Or the children are just the ones which Holden wants to protect . So that he could prevent them being like him. And there's a little detail such as Holden hates it when someone says 'Good Luck!' to him, it makes him depressed. Maybe deep inside he thinks that nothing should rely on 'the luck' and by protecting the children from falling , he could destroy the factor of luck, in a way it is a kind of guarantee.

Also he says that, 'Children are running but they don't look where they are going', this is the thing that happens all the time with Holden. He never makes plans or anything, he just decides to do something spontaneously and does it right at that time. This kind of behaviour affects his life badly. He hardly has a clue about his future except 'his dreams'. The dreams that are totally illogical such as playing a deaf-mute guy and live in peace forever. Maybe deep inside he wishes he had someone to catch him before he falls while he runs 'blindly'.

'If a body catch a body coming through the rye?'

His life would be better if somebody had have caught him until now but that somebody should be himself anyway. Only way one saves himself is catching 'himself'. We can say that Holden decided to change and catch himself, if we consider

the last two chapters.