This is accurate. Holden Caufield is full of shit. He's a classic unreliable narrator, in a formal sense, but also in a deeper cultural one. Every year hundred

This is accurate. Holden Caufield is full of shit. He's a classic unreliable narrator, in a formal sense, but also in a deeper cultural one. Every year hundreds of thousands of students are put off from this book by how much they dislike Caulfield. Too few of their teachers tell them "that's exactly the point, he's got his head up his ass but he's absolutely sure he's right about everything. One page he thinks X and he's contemptuous of all disagreement but ten pages later he's totally convinced of Not X. That's how most adults think of their teenage selves. Reflect on this." People talk about it as a coming-of-age book, and in a sense it is, but it's a lot less like American Graffiti and a lot more like American Psycho.