In "The Catcher in the Rye", how does Holden describe his mother? What is their relationship?

is
emotionally distant from his mother.  The loss of her younger son has locked Mrs. Caulfield in a
state of nervous exhaustion that is characterized by constant headaches and anxiety which causes
her to lose sleep and chain smoke.

Holden knows that his mother has not
gotten over the death of her youngest son, so she is still grieving, which leads the reader to
understand that she is sad.

In , Holden describes how his mother will react
when she finds out that he has been kicked out of another school. He wants to arrive home after
his parents have received the letter from Pencey Prep indicating that Holden has been
expelled.

"I didn't want to go home or anything till
they got it and thoroughly digested it and all.  I didn't want to be around when they first got
it.  My mother gets very hysterical.  She's not too bad after she gets something thoroughly
digested, though." (Salinger)  

In , when Holden
sneaks into his apartment, he talks about his mother again.  Holden tells the reader that his
mother is a light sleeper, she can hear a pin drop a mile away.

"You can hit my father over the head with a chair and he won't take up, but my
mother, all you have to do to my mother is cough somewhere in Siberia and she'll hear you.
 She's nervous as hell.  Half the time she's up all night smoking cigarettes.
(Salinger) 

Holden doesn't have a very good relationship
with either of his parents.  He can't confide in them.  He has not opened up to anyone about his
grief over his brother.  He sneaks into his apartment and listens to his mother scold , while he
hides in the closet, he can't even confront her, he doesn't trust her.

Holden
believes that his mother is in a fragile state, suffering from a nervous condition with constant
headaches is how he describes her in .  Holden's mother is so grief stricken over the death of
her son, , that Holden feels really guilty about being such a burden to her, that is why he
doesn't go home right away and that is why he chooses to hide while in NYC rather than go home,
even after he has no where else to stay.

The only person in the book that
Holden has a genuine relationship with that is based on trust and real love is his little sister
Phoebe.