"The Catcher in the Rye"--Book Report with Persuasive feel and recomendation on Caulfield.

Holden Caulfield is teen angst bull-crap with a pickax. He's sarcastic, nasty, and completely unlikeable. He also doesn't give a crap. He is every teenager caught between the crapy little games of high school ("you're supposed to kill yourself if the football team loses or something") and the fear of adulthood ("going to get an office job and make a lot of money like the rest of the phonies"). The greatness in Holden Caulfield is …

…criticisms of the world are not invalid and nothing you say or think is so bad that you need to repress it. Ironically, this is not only something that is essential to survival (especially if you are a teenager and desperately trying to maintain your lily-white self image) but is also the key to ultimately becoming a decent caring human being. Keep your prophets, preachers and shamans. I'll take Holden Caulfield over them any day