My thoughts on: The Catcher in the Rye

In this book, we see everything through Holden Caulfield's eyes, a sixteen-year old who gets kicked out from the school -and it is not for the first time-. Holden is sarcastic, he really made me laugh sometimes, as in "It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win". 

Also, something that really caught my attention is that Holden seems so conscious about class differences, for instance when he compare his expensive suitcases and his roomate's cheaper ones, and how that makes him so sad. Also, when he encounters the nuns and they're having just coffee for breakfast while he's getting eggs and etc; and how that always seems to affect his mood, since he seems to be quite aware of the differences and inequalities between people. 

I know much people don't seem to like Holden, but I'll say his attitude is a consequence of his brother's death, Allie. He was his favorite person in the world and right at the beginning of the book you find out he's so hurt because of his loss. All that anger and indiference sums up in his way to express his sadness, or at least I think that. 

Also I believe he is quite afraid of the changes in general, he is afraid of growing up, maybe. For example when he stresses that he likes certain things -such as the museum or the carrousel- because they never change even if you do, they're always the same. I think, as a teenager that he is, he is afraid of the upcoming changes that comes with being an adult and have responsibilities and assume consequences. So for me, it a story of a boy who is passing through the adolescece and in the path to become an adult, and that frightens him so he does all those things such as quitting school, going to the city, invite girls, looking for people he knows (former teachers and classmates), etc., because he's looking for some certainty and some sign that everything is going to be ok in the future, that the trauma of growing up would not hurt so much. 

*SPOILER ALERT*

In the end, is his other favorite person, Phoebe, his little sister, who becomes the real reson why he doesn't left, which I think is quite adorable and cute. I really liked these last pages when he seems to have changed his mind a little bit and a bit of hope seems to rise. 

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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