For me, personally, I think that Holden was an amazing character. I loved him from the very beginning. It is rare that I enjoy a character so much in a story. I think that the things he thought about could not just randomly come to an idea from J.D. Salinger. I personally think that Holden is a form of J.D. Salinger. This book gives Salinger the qualities of jumping from topic to topic, hating the world, and just not fitting in.
I think it shoes that Salinger does not like the private schooling system. Holden speaks very poorly of his school, but he also speaks about how most people he mets tells him how great of a school he is going to when in reality, it is not much different from public schooling systems. There are just more stuck up kids in private ones.
It seems that J.D. Salinger values family. Phoebe and Holden had a very, very close bond. They kept each other's secrets and seemed like best friends. His dad cared very much so about how he was doing in school. I wish for that kind of bond with my sister.
He also seems to value individuality. Holden is a very different person from everyone else he associates with. Holden never exactly says it, but it is clear that he thinks his way of living is better than everyone else's. That includes school and the way he thinks. He has a very unique way of thinking. Although it gets him in trouble, Salinger never fails to give him something interesting to say.
I really do think that Salinger wrote Holden as himself, if only a little. Either that or he is the most creative person I have heard of. All of Holden's thoughts have to come from somewhere. I think that Salinger had these thoughts and nicely wrote them all down to be expressed in this lovely novel.
Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 2001. Print.
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