While in J.D. Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, portrayed his childhood to be depressing. For instance, at the beginning on the novel, Holden watches a football game between his school aka …show more content…
Holden sometimes goes back and remembers the good experiences he had. A positive experience during his childhood was with his friend Jane. Holden remembers having a crush on her and mentions that she was “terrific to hold hands with” and even mentions that he was “always happy” whenever he held hands with her (79). That isn’t the only positive thing in Holden’s childhood. Phoebe, Holden’s little sister who he holds dearly to him, sees her as a kind and innocent girl who is basically like a best friend to him. Near the end of the book where Holden visits Phoebe’s room, he reads some of her writing and jokes from one of her notebooks and mentions, “I can read that kind of stuff, some kid's notebook […] all day and all night long. Kid's notebooks kill me.” (161). This is an instance in which the main character actually experiences some sort of happiness by reading his sister’s writing. They also seem to enjoy talking to each other throughout Chapter 21. This shows that Holden has positivity in his adolescence. Even though Holden experiences a lot of distress throughout his childhood, there is