"I'm Crazy" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

written by

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...

for the December 22, 1945 issue of ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...

'' magazine. Despite the story's underlying melancholy, the magazine described it as "the heart-warming story of a kid whose only fault lay in understanding people so well that most of them were baffled by him and only a very few would believe in him." The story is told in first-person

narrative mode Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to storytelling, convey a narrative, story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deli ...

Holden Caulfield Holden Caulfield (identified as "Holden Morrisey Caulfield" in the story "Slight Rebellion Off Madison" , and "Holden V. Caulfield" in ''The Catcher In The Rye'') is a fictional character in the works of author J. D. Salinger. He's most famous ...

. Salinger later reworked the story to incorporate it into his classic novel ''

The Catcher in the Rye ''The Catcher in the Rye'' is an American novel by J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form from 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst ...

''.

Synopsis

Boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

dropout

watches a basketball game from a nearby hill. He then visits his elderly history teacher Mr. Spencer, who lectures him about his academic failure. Holden tells Mr. Spencer about meeting the mother of a "lousy" fellow student on the train and lying to her about how wonderful her son was, which Holden thought would make her feel better. He regrets withdrawing from school mainly because his mother had just sent him ski boots, albeit the wrong kind. Holden likes Mr. Spencer but realizes that he will receive no sympathy or understanding from him, so he leaves abruptly. He boards a train to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and sneaks into his family's apartment, where he talks to his younger sisters Phoebe and Viola. Even Phoebe admonishes him for his academic failure. Holden finally owns up to his parents in a scene that is only described very briefly and indirectly ("When they were all done with me ..."). He concludes that he will not be returned to school but forced into an unpleasant office job.

References

1945 short stories Short stories by J. D. Salinger Works originally published in Collier's {{1940s-story-stub