As the novel opens, the narrator, Holden Caulfield, speaks directly to the reader from a mental hospital or sanitarium in southern California. He says that he will tell us (the readers) of events occurring around Christmastime of the previous year. First, however, he mentions his older brother, D.B., a writer who now works in nearby Hollywood and visits Holden nearly every weekend.
Holden’s story, in the form of a long flashback, begins around 3 p.m. on a Saturday in December, the day of the traditional season-ending football match between his old school, Pencey Prep (in Agerstown, Pennsylvania) and rival Saxon Hall. Holden, a junior at Pencey, can see the field from where he stands, high atop Thomsen Hill. He has been expelled and is on his way to say good-bye to Mr. Spencer, his history instructor. At the end of the chapter, Holden arrives at Mr. Spencer’s house and is let in by his teacher’s wife.
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