The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield is the narrator and main character of the book; though he is not necessarily an unreliable narrator, his viewpoint is highly subjective, and it is informed by a number of factors that linger in the subtext of his thoughts: his younger brother Allie’s death; witnessing the death by suicide of a dormmate at his previous school; and his own discomfort with adult sexuality are constant pressures on him, driving him toward the nervous breakdown he is experiencing. We can filter most of his actions and obsessions through these lenses.

Holden is highly idealistic, and this often manifests as his disdain for the people he sees as phonies. However, he is still empathetic toward the individuals in his life, even the ones whom he has labelled as a phony, and he often stops the narration to tell a story about one of his peers that humanizes them. His idealism gets him in trouble often and makes him uncomfortable with his place in society as a child of the upper class.

hat discomfort is magnified by the fact that he’s at a turning point in his transition into adulthood. He is stuck between the adult world, which he finds largely despicable, and the world of children, which is embodied by his love for Phoebe.