Question: what does holden mean when he says he wants to be the catcher in the rye?
Answer: When Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to be when he grows up, he answers “the catcher in the rye” – a person he imagines as responsible for “catching” children in the field before they “start to go over the cliff.” The field of Holden's fantasy is free of adult ideas and artificiality.