Do we like them?

Do we like Holden Caulfield?

A character from The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

Our score: 6 out of 10. We'd back him, though not as a role model. He's prickly, judgmental and a bit of a fibber. But he is honest about his hurt and fiercely protective of kids, so he gets a warm, worried thumbs-up.

Holden Caulfield is the narrator of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel. He comes from a well-off New York family and has flunked out of several schools. As the book starts, he is leaving Pencey Prep and has decided to spend a few days in New York before facing his parents. He tells the story in a chatty, digressive voice, and 'phony' is one of his favourite words.

Holden is a mix of sharp insight and teenage confusion. He is sensitive, sarcastic and very lonely. He judges adults for their hypocrisy, though he is often a bit phony himself. Under the cynicism is real grief and a desperate wish to protect innocence, shown in his fantasy of being 'the catcher in the rye' who saves children from a cliff. He is also unreliable: he tells stories, true and false, to make sense of his life and to avoid his feelings.

That mix is why he scores a 6. He is funny, honest about his feelings and truly loving toward kids, and many readers see themselves in him. But he is also self-pitying and quick to judge, and he sabotages himself. He wants time to stop, and that isn't possible. We'd happily stand by him, but we'd also want to sit him down for a proper chat.

The story ends with Holden telling it from a sanitarium in southern California, after a physical and emotional collapse. A tender moment watching Phoebe on the carousel gives him a flicker of joy and shows he is starting to accept growing up. Whether he has matured enough is left open.