The Catcher in the Rye question

Holden has no focus, in book he's in a search for his identity. While critisizing others, I feel like he's trying to figure out what he is not. This is the reason he evaluates each person he meets, while actually not getting deeply into their personalities.

Holden is uncomfortable in his masculinity in a world that praises unfeeling 'phony' masculine behaviour, and as a teenager, he no longer possesses the un-phony or pure behaviour of his younger brother who died or his younger sister. He aspires to be a saviour to all that is uncorrupted yet.
He is confused, overwhelmed, and rightly cynical and disconnected.

Holden is a teenager. He is impulsive, short-sighted, and holds everyone in contempt because they are, in his estimation, "phonies." Just your run-of-the-mill prick.

Holden's childhood impacted his future as a person so much. He wants to seem adultlike throughout the entire novel but in the end, his mind is still that of a child's. He wants to be accepted but only those with very immature mindsets were able to understand him. Even then, his younger sister found confusion in the way he acted. He struggled to understand himself the way everyone else continued to question his actions. Personally, I believe that there were more than enough instances in the novel where he had girl problems and then consistently commented on Stradlator's muscles to the point that you could assume he was gay. It would explain a little of his self-confusion, but while that is huge on its own to handle at that time period, that was not the only thing that he was struggling with.

Jared wrote: "Holden is a very passive person and unwilling to join in a community to socialize with many other people."

Passive? What is passive about: a) fighting your roommate because he's abusive toward girls and just had a date with a girl you are protective of and b)getting serially kicked out of schools for bad grades; c) injuring your hand by slamming your fist through a window when your brother dies; d) connecting with a child prostitute and just want to talk, then; e) getting clobbered by her pimp when she wants more money than agreed; f) becoming depressed after witnessing the suicide of a close friend, James Castle, and seeing his bloodied broken body lying on the sidewalk; g) getting shunned and bounced from the fencing team for leaving their equipment on the subway; h) getting turned down for trying to buy liquor under age, then i) succeeding and getting stuck with the drink tab for a group of older women you danced with at a nightclub; j) getting depressed and wanting to kill yourself; etc., etc.

Unwilling to socialize? Come on, he sought out conversation everywhere he went: a) on the train with the mother of one of his classmates; b) with cab drivers; c) with a group of nuns at a restaurant; d) with a group of older women tourists at a nightclub; e) he met with an older former classmate f) he sought out a former teacher for advice; and g) he sought out his younger sister and socialized with her at the park.

Maybe Holden had outgrown the kids at school and was seeking more mature and intelligent conversation. Maybe he criticized people because he was very intelligent and hadn't come to terms with all the "morons" (i.e., less intelligent people) in society. (It can be tough, for example, when so many people vote for the likes of Donald Trump.)

For further and deeper insights, here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My grandson. I go to counciling with my grandson every other week. He has mild Aspergers Syndrome (which my daughter swears he genetically received from me) and he must learn social interactions that are natural for most.

I sit in those sessions and never fail to think of Holden as my grandson expresses his feelings and opinions.

If you look at the book as a metaphor for WW2 Holden may represent General Motors. Why do i say this. Because Holden is the name of a car company in Australia that GM bought in 1931 and started changing it into a war machine factory; long before Hitler rose to power. Also every car in The Catcher is a GM except the Jaguar which is an English Job. J D (abbreviation for Deutsche Bank ) drives that one. He is Holden's brother. He made a lot of money selling "short" (stories). His best one was My Secret Goldfish.
Hmmm were there secrets about who and how WW2 was orchestrated?
Didn't it bother you that Holden kept asking about the Ducks?
What were the ducks in WW2? Do these ducks drive around central park? Were they made by GM?