Holden maybe the protagonist and who the book is centered around, but I believe that his lovable, smart, little sister, Phoebe, is the hero of the legendary book.
Holden loves his little sister Phoebe and is constantly saying how smart she is. The book takes a while before Holden actually sees Phoebe, though he talks (or thinks, rather) about her a lot before hand.
Phoebe can be a little hard on Holden and becomes mad at him quite a bit, but I think this is just because she cares about him. She notices that he is going in kind of a bad direction, so she becomes upset obviously like anyone else would if they cared about someone who is failing school and considering running away.
Phoebe gave Holden the silent treatment after he told her that he was probably going to leave and go west. She didn't like this. She loves her big brother a lot, and she wants him to continue school and it is upsetting to her that he could go away like that because who knows what could happen to him. Holden tries to do everything to get her to talk and be happy again. He saw a carrousel and gave her money to go on it. This helped her become less depressed, but she told him that if he didn't leave she would be happy, and Holden said he wouldn't. He really didn't want to either. That is a big reason on why I think Phoebe is the hero of this story, because she talks him out of leaving. If he left, maybe great things could have happened, but she knew it probably wouldn't. She knew it would be better for him to stay. Maybe this time when he starts his new school he'll actually try and do well and have a great life.
Also, when Phoebe was really happy riding on that carrousel, it made Holden extremely happy, and he was depressed throughout this whole book. She shed some light and made him happy. This reason within itself should be why she's the hero of the book. Anyone who can lend happiness to someone who is depressed is a hero in my book!
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.
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