Catcher in the Rye- Character Analysis of Holden

Holden Caulfield is the main character in the story. The story is told in first person so the story is completely about him and his thoughts. The book is telling of his teenage years. Holden is definitely what I would describe as a pessimist. A pessimist is a person who only sees the negatives in just about everything. This is very true in how Holden views other people. "People never notice anything." (Salinger, J.D., pg. 9) This is just one example of how he feels other people are. He feels that other people are just rude, incompetent, and really have no feelings. This is one of the reason he has no/ very few friends. When he sees everyone as bad it is hard for him to want to be friends with anyone. It would be hard to make friends through such an awful outlook on them. I do like that Holden is very real and truthful. He is what most would call brutally honest. He tells it how it is and he doesn't hold anything back because he doesn't see the point. This makes him come across as mean and arrogant sometimes. Holden does have one weakness and that is his family. He doesn't care much about what other people think or say besides his parents. He is always worried about being a disappointment to them because he does want to please them. This is hard for him though because he seems to always be doing the opposite of what they would want. His other weakness is his sister. She is about the only person he is close to in the story. She really makes him become himself around her and he can definitely tell the difference. With her he finds the happiness in the little things that he has been searching for. When he sees his sister happy he feels just a feeling of pure joy that he can't find in anything else. This is why he becomes so close to her and keeps every promise he makes to her sacred.