Holden Caulfield is the narrator and protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye. The novel relives the days following Caulfield's dismissal from Pencey Prep, a university preparatory school based loosely on Ursinus College, Perkiomen School, or Valley Forge Military Academy. Holden is a 16-year-old junior whose family is financially well off. His father works, but his mother does not. Despite financial comfort, he leads a somewhat troubled life. He tells his story using a casual every-day tone and frequently employing disparaging language and profanity. He often uses the word "phony" when describing people who he feels are neither true to themselves nor to the rest of the world. Some of Holden's depression is likely the result of the death of his younger brother, Allie, from leukemia when Holden was thirteen. Allie was two years younger and dearly loved by Holden.
