Holden and the Complexity of Adult LifeWhat was wrong with Holden, the main character of The Catcher in the Rye, by JDSalinger, was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "false" and his acute sensitivity to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in which he saw his lost childhood reflected . There is something wrong or missing in many writers' novels of desperation and frustration. The harsh note of bitterness and the recurring theme of sadism have become almost a convention, never fully explained by the author's reliance on a psychoanalytic interpretation of an important character. Boys who are spoiled or turned into budding homosexuals by their mothers and a loveless home life are as familiar to us today as brave, dependable young heroes like John Wayne were to the previous generation. We accepted this interpretation of the restlessness and bewilderment of our young people because no one had anything better to offer. It is tragic to hear the anguished cry of parents: "What have we done to hurt him? Why doesn't he care about anything? He's a smart boy, but why doesn't he pass his exams? Why don't you talk to him?" A remarkable and engaging novel, "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger, may serve to calm the apprehensions of fathers and mothers about their responsibilities, even if it does not attempt to explain why all the boys who dismay their elders do not they have successfully overcome the barrier between childhood and youth. It is a deeply moving and disturbing book, but it is not without hope. Holden Caulfield, sixteen years old and six feet two inches tall... center of card... Boy, was I shaking like crazy." The Catcher in the Rye isn't all horror of that kind. There's wry humor. in this sixteen year old's attempt to live up to his height, to drink with men, to understand mature sex and why he is still a virgin at his age. His affection for children is spontaneous and delightful few little girls in modern fiction as charming and adorable as her little sister Phoebe. Overall, this is a book worth reading carefully and more than once. It's about an unusually sensitive and intelligent boy, but it's not all unusual and worthy boys understanding? If they are bewildered by the complexity of modern life, unsure of themselves, shocked by the spectacle of perversity and evil that surrounds them - aren't adults equally shocked by the knowledge that even children cannot escape this contact and awareness???