giovanni's room

In Defense of Holden Caulfield

The Catcher in the Rye

I am one of those people who was in love with J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye from the first page. Shortly after reading it, however, I noticed that the novel and its protagonist are synonymous with ungrateful teenagers and their angst. Maybe I only liked it because I was in high school; I was mad at the world and every crummy thing in it. In many ways, though, I admire and pity Holden Caulfield to this day. Continue reading