Progressively through the novel we are challenged to think about society's attitude to the human condition, does society have an "ostrich in the sand" state of mind, a purposeful ignorance of the emptiness that can describe human existence? And if yes, when Holden begins to probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation, before stating that he world is full of "phonies" with each one out for their own phony and selfish gain, is Holden actually the one who is going insane, or is it society which has lost it's mind for failing to see the hopelessness of their own lives?
When we are honest we can see within ourselves suppressed elements of the forces operating within Holden Caulfield, and because of that I would recommend this thought provoking novel as a fascinating and enlightening description of our current human situation. However, for that very reason it is not comfortable reading for the mentally disturbed.
"The Catcher in the Rye" is a story of an emotionally disturbed young sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden is telling this in first person, although the whole thing is all one big flashback. The story is one of a young boy trying to grow up in an Adult world. Holden, being the Idealist that he is, searched to find everything that needs to be changed, but never gives an alternative to the situation or thing or is to lazy to or thinks that the world wont need one. In the few days that the story covers, Holden ends up getting himself kicked out from Pencey to New York where he and his sister meet. While with his sister, so innocent to the world around her that he thinks is so depressing. He tries to shelter Phoebe from the world by not letting her do things that he is doing. So in a way, Holden is himself, a hypocrite, by doing particular things and then turning around and telling her to do them. The story begins and ends in the Mental Hospital or Resting Home as h!.
