The Catcher in the Rye

There are many reasons why I did not really like the main character, Holden Caulfield, of the book The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger. Hopefully, there are enough reasons to fill an entire blog. One reason why I was not a big fan of Holden was because he was always very negative. He never saw the good in anything or anyone around him. It made me so mad when he would be walking the streets of the amazing nineteen-fifties New York City and would only be thinking about how depressed he was or how his life was horrible or all of his problems. I wanted to jump in there are say “Holden, what the heck is wrong with you. Open your eyes, look around you, and stop feeling sorry for yourself. It is boring to read. Thank you.” Holden was very judgmental towards the people around him, which I think goes hand in hand with the negative attitude. He always had something bad to say about everyone, whether it was his jerk roommate, his grimy, dirty friend across the hall, his parents, or his teachers. There was literally one person in the entire book he was not negative towards, and that was his little sister Phoebe. Phoebe saved the story. I did not like how Holden Caulfield created his own problems and then tried to run away from them. The only thing he did not do was blame someone else for his problems; he was very aware and exceptive that he did that to himself. I wish he had had more fun while he was by himself in New York City, instead of moping around being bored and trying to find somewhere where he could drink underage. The story feels like it is going a lot slower when the main character is bored and feeling sorry for himself. Let me tell you something, depression is not fun to read about. Holden should have taken advantage of his youth and had the time of his life before he faced his fear and went home. There is a lot that Holden did that I did not agree with.