The Catcher in the Rye: Post 1

At this point in the book, I've come to really like the personality of Holden Caulfield. At first in the book, I felt like he might be a little too self-centered for my liking, but I found that while he might be self-centered, he really wasn't ignorant or selfish about it. By this I mean that he was still a nice person. An example of him just being a nice person is how he visited Mr. Spencer. Typically, I'd expect a self-centered teenager to disregard an old teacher who wanted to say goodbye to him, but it seemed to me that Holden really did care about seeing Mr. Spencer before he left even though he wasn't really fond of him. "He had the grippe, and I figured I probably wouldn't see him again till Christmas vacation started." (3)

With him being a pretty nice guy, I really like how he expresses himself in a really direct and courageous way. He doesn't ever seem to really care about what people think of him, and he approaches communication with people pretty directly and with intent. In other words, I admire him for really just "keepin' it real", in the parlance of our times.

I also really enjoy his sense of humor. I enjoy reading about the things he does just for kicks, and I admire the way he really just keeps himself entertained. "So I backed up a few feet and started going this tap dance, just for the hell of it. I was just amusing myself. I can't really tap-dance or anything, but it was a stone floor in the can, and it was good for tap-dancing."(29)

If I had to say I either sympathize, empathize or pass judgement on Holden, I'd have to say I'm closer to empathizing with him. I can understand the concept of entertaining yourself when nothing interesting's really happening. Or being nice to someone for the soul purpose of not being a jerk. And I can't say that I judge him or sympathize him because I really hold him in high respect for who he is.