In response to Alicson’s post.
The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.
I personally find the book to be in my 'top ten' list of favorite books for no other reason but that Salinger was able to personify the clash between innocence and awareness that one reaches in their teens. While the book was written in the '50s, Holden still represents the conflict and inner turmoil that most American teenagers face among their peers, society and themselves. We see Holden coming from a well to do family, spending a weekend wandering around New York while accusing all others of being "phony"; he knows, and isn't shy to use, all the curse words and yet tries to hide them from his sister and the other children; he is aware of his own failings while trying to be more than the sum of his broken parts for the sake of the greater ideal of "catching" the children as they drop from the rye. All the while, his journey takes place in New York City, a city that offers everything that one might want...only if you give into the mythology of success.
And all too often, that's exactly how it is for people who don't think independently and who lack self-awareness. They don't call it the rat-race for nothing and Holden sees that and sees it everywhere he looks. From his classmates, his teachers, his authority figures and even his own brother. His saving grace is in Phoebe, whose name is another name for the goddess Artemis: the virgin, the goddess of the woods, the goddess the sacred things. And in his younger sister Holden finds the girl who selflessly gives him her money when he's broke, who shows up with her suitcase when he's ready to wash his hands of the whole situation and who offers insight into Holden and those around him. Instead of judging, she forgives and offers another chance at reconnecting to the world instead of alienating himself further away. My favorite thing about Phoebe is that she isn't an innocent, wide-eyed little girl. She is someone who sees and understands the faults of the world around her, but doesn't become overwhelmed by them.
While the hero of the journey is Holden, the object of worship and reverence is Phoebe.
The book is about establishing your own path and realizing that, as Donne put it, no man is an island. Our connections to one another matter, and, if we seek it out, they become our only source of saving grace.
The book isn’t about being an outcast, in fact, it’s just the opposite. As Holden himself puts it, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” “Catcher” is about realizing that the grace of it all is in self-awareness, avoiding being “phony” and in embracing one’s ties to those who matter the most.