Holden Caulfield is a sixteen year old mentally unbalanced teenager who sees absolutely no joy in life. He has dropped out of many schools, and Pencey was just one of them. Holden feels absolutely no motivation and flunks out of all the prestigious schools he's sent to. He recognizes everyone as a bastard, or a phony. No one is real to him, except Jane, Phoebe, D.B. and his late brother Allie. Those are the only people he truly cares for in the world.

In the beginning, Holden says he doesn't like Stradlater, but it seems like he admires him a some strange way. Holden doesn't like him because he thinks Stradlater might have had sex with the only girl he actually cared for in a "girlfriend" way.

Even though Jane is just a purely platonic friend. He doesn't see it this way. He sees it as if Stradlater was taking his soulmate.

Holden's parents saw him as mentally unstable compared to the rest of their children, and sent him to an institute. This was after the incident where he smashed all the windows in the garage after Allie died. More evidence that he wasn't stable was when he was walking down a New York City street, running at every intersection, then arriving on the other end praying to his brother out loud. It is also evident by him relating everyone as a phony. He thinks the world around him is breaking down socially, but it is he who is breaking down.

Around the end of the book, Holden seems to have gotten some of his san

Some common words found in the essay are:
York City, Phoebe DB, Pencey Holden, Holden Caulfield, doesn't stradlater, holden doesn't, holden doesn't stradlater,
Approximate Word count = 507
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)