Well right off the bat, I definitely sympathize with Holden because he just got kicked out of his school, although he sounds like he doesn't care. Even though he sounds like that, I kind of think he does care because no matter who you are in the world, you feel self-conscious at one point or another. It's just human nature, there's no way around it. I've felt self-conscious before, you (the reader) have felt self-conscious, and anyone who tells themselves they've never felt self-conscious is lying to themselves.
From what I've experienced, when you tell people that you don't care about something, you really do. Or, you have had some bad experience that makes you feel like you don't have control over anything so why should you care about what happens? There are probably many more reasons for someone not caring about something, but it also depends on the person you are talking about. Take Holden for example, in The Catcher and The Rye, Salinger writes, "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth" (Salinger 1). This first sentence sets the whole mood of the book. From this quote, I think that Caulfield wants us to think that he doesn't care about anything because he is too cool. He tries to mask his uncertainty about how we will perceive him by talking about how he doesn't care about anything, and how so many things annoy him. That is why I sympathize with him. He is afraid to show his true self to us, and is instead hiding behind a mask of false carelessness which is not big enough to cover everything up. A prime example of this is towards the end of chapter 4 when Holden talks about Jane Gallagher. You can definitely tell that he really cares about her, because he repeats what he says about her to Stradlater two to three times, and he also talks a lot about going down to say "Hi" to Jane even though he never does do it.
I guess I can empathize with him a little bit too because sometimes I'm not that interested in a certain subject either and I see why he failed that paper, but on the other hand I see why Mr. Spencer was mad at him: He didn't even try! I think that's what separates me from him, he seems to not care about his grades while I care a lot about my good grades. I also empathize with his loss of interest because of our school on the verge of closing. I can still remember the week of and after the announcement that our school would be shutting down. I don't think we did very much in school, and even now, I have little to none inspiration to work. There just seems to be nothing to look forward to anymore. While Holden's school isn't being shut down, Holden is getting kicked of the school, which is like our school closing except teachers don't lose their job and only one person has to leave school. Another example of out similarities is the Disclaimer I put at the top of this post, and the note he left at the bottom of his paper for Mr. Spencer. Although his note was about his lack of interest and mine was about writing at a way late time, I can feel how he tried to work on the paper but eventually gave up caring and trying because he got frustrated.
Towards chapters 3 and 4, I started to pass judgement on him because of this, "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible" (Salinger 16). I'll admit I lie, but not for reasons like that. I don't know why he would lie an say he's going to the opera instead of a store, but I guess this was an older book where going to the store must have been for adults only. Whenever I lie, it's because the lie is better than the truth sometimes. The more I think about lies, the more I think that maybe they aren't always the bad things to do. I mean if you tell certain kids that they were adopted during the school year when they learn about family, you are bound to have an awkward, even bad relationship with your adopted kid as they grow older. I really wish I could think of another example, but I'm blanking out right now.
Another reason why I sort of passed judgement of Caulfield during chapter 4 was the part where he puts Stradlater in a half nelson and keeps him there until Stradlater breaks free. I think this shows that there is some violence under neath his not-caring act and hidden self-conscious. This is something that scares me because in the book Caulfield just says that he felt like putting his own roommate in a half nelson.
That's pretty much all I've got to say about Holden Caulfield so far. He definitely is an interesting character with a lot of depth. But it's been an hour since the coffee and I'm getting really tired, so I'm off to bed.
I love the way you connected to all of this, and the way that your thoughts were still coherent even though you wrote this late in your work day. Also, you're so honest, and a lot of people do what they think other people want to hear.
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