I didn't like how the catcher in the rye ended but it is called the catcher in the rye because when Holden goes into phoebes room they start talking and phone asks Holden what he wants to do with his life and Holden responds with his dream was that these kids were running around in a field of rye near an edge of a cliff and Holden was supposed to catch them if they get to close to the edge. At the bottom of the cliff that Holden is saving the kids from is adult hood or even from becoming fakes or phonies. Holden believes that the older they get to be fake because of all the things the world throws at them and it makes them fake and it's holdens job to keep them from becoming that.