I recently finished rereading The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. The book is about Holden Caulfield, a quintessential rebel without a cause. It is written in the first person from the perspective of Holden, an angst-filled adolescent fighting a battle against the world. Throughout the novel, Holden is able to find a flaw, peccadillo or fault with just about anyone or anything he encounters.
There are many summaries on the internet about this book and why it is important. They all talk about how the story is one of alienation, a coming of age tale of an adolescent bridging the gap between childhood and responsibility. Holden believes he lives in a world of phonies. A world where he is the only sane person alive. This realization is both a product of his immaturity and his first tastes of reality. As I read through the book, I slowly came to realize that we all go through phases like this. An interesting point is that while some people escape the phase unscathed, some continue to carry this weight of incredulity. They live their days finding faults with everything but themselves, unable to understand that, despite what each of their senses is reporting, the world does not revolve around them. I admit that I carry this weight from time to time. I can only hope that the first step towards wisdom is admitting it.
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