Why is Holden on a quest in the book catcher in the rye?
I wouldn’t say that he is on a quest as such, but more-so that he is confronted with the prospect of losing his innocence, he wishes not to sell out his values as such, he fears becoming a ‘phoney’ like most of the characters around him that he considers ‘phoney’. He is at a point though at the time in his life where he doesn’t really have any option but to become a part of society like everyone else in order to function which means giving up his values in Holden’s perspective. There are a couple of moments when Holden comes up with a couple of plans in-which he could live life without becoming a ‘phoney’ but they never come to fruition and so he doesn’t escape and ends up in a mental hospital but still with what he considers his integrity intact.
