"I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy" said Holden as he was retelling the incident of how he ended up in the mental hospital. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger and narrated by Holden Caulfield, is set in the 1950's in the mental hospital Holden in staying at. He is at the hospital as a result of his belief in preserving the innocence of children. Holden is preoccupied with saving children before they are corrupted by the phony adult world where people are not true to themselves; he wants to save children from being exposed to sex, deceit, and the phoniness of being fake. .
One of the most important passages in the novel comes when Holden tells Phoebe that he would like to be the catcher in the rye. When Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life, Holden responds with his image that reveals his fantasy of idealistic childhood and of his role as the protector of innocence. Holden tells Phoebe, "I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they"re running and don't look where they"re going I have to come out of somewhere and catch them." (p. 224) The rye is a symbol of childhood because children play in it; the rye grows so high that small children cannot see over it, just as children are unable to see over the borders of childhood. Holden stands on the cliff that separates the field of youth from the cliff of adulthood. Trapped in his own conscience and with his innocence in uncertainty, Holden wants to be the "Catcher in the Rye" so he can protect children's innocence that is missing in the world around him. He wants to prevent children from falling into disillusionment that might accompany adulthood. .
Holden is quite clear that he specifically wants to protect children from the knowledge of sex.