Was Holden Caulfield Sane or Crazy?

[Lightkeeper]

This started from another thread. Some said that they thought Holden Caulfield was a neat person until they found out he was in an institution. What do you think? Was Holden cool?

In J.D. Salinger’s "The Catcher in the Rye", the main character of Holden Caulfield views the world as a place where valuable human qualities such as love and kindness have been overridden by the middle class version of “success”, which is based chiefly on money and power. Holden Caulfield is an idealist clinging desperately to the notion that basic human kindness is far more vital to a happy existence than material wealth. Salinger continuously portrays Holden as a cynical character, particularly in regards to issues surrounding wealth and corruption.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I'm not sure I agree with that quote. I thought Holden viewed the world as a place that is losing its innocence, and he wants to protect innocence from corruption...certainly money and power is a part of that...but so is cruelty, vulgarity and sexual promiscuity.

 

[Ceridwen018]

I don't think Holden really had one way of viewing the world, rather, he didn't really seem to know what he thought. I thought that Holden had psychological problems from the get-go. Obviously he was severly traumatized over his brother's death, and that was only compounded by the lack of support from his parents. While at school, etc., his problems were muted due to the fact that he was around other people and could focus on them, (which, I did notice that he spends an awful lot of time describing the people around him and what he thinks of them, rather than what he is thinking), but when he left school early and spent those couple of days virtually alone, or at least with no steady companionship, that's when he lost it.