Holden, Let Me Be Your Jane

Claire GoldbergStaff WriterWhen I first read "Catcher in the Rye," I fell in love. Not only did I fall in love with the book itself, but also with Holden Caulfield. He knows how I feel, always has the right  thing to say and has insight that is not only meaningful, but also relatable. Even better is that he can be insightful without forcing hours of analysis for an ounce of depth. From page one, I was hooked. Salinger's unique writing style and blatancy drew me in. "I'm not going to tell my whole goddamn autobiography or anything" is the kind of sentence that just grabs you and lets you know that Holden's story isn't going to be like Mr. Darcy's. Salinger is my kind of author, and Holden is my kind of man.Holden's honesty was a driving factor in my love for the novel. He says everything so straight up and to the point . Reading about Holden is like having a conversation with someone who knows exactly what they're going to say and sticks to it. Holden gets to the point, and that makes him so relatable. I feel like I'm talking to a friend instead of reading about character exposition, and I absolutely and irrevocably love that.The title of the book is explained when Holden goes home to visit his sister. Holden tells her that he wishes to become a catcher in the rye, a person who saves children from falling off the side of a rye field on top of a cliff. When I first read the book, it took me a long time to figure out what he meant. A person can interpret it in many different ways, but I see Holden wanting to save people from falling into unhappiness. Holden wants to protect all these children playing together in a field of rye, being eternally happy in their youth, from "falling."Every  teenager needs a book that keeps them grounded when they feel isolated and alone. When I was 14 and first reading "Catcher in the Rye," Holden mainly just made me feel so much less alone in the world. Modern young-adult fiction is modeled after "Catcher in the Rye" so frequently that it is beneficial to read the book not only for the experience of it but also for the comprehension of many other similar books. The book was the starting point of cult classic fiction, from which bloomed many wonderful books, movies and other sources of escape for teens. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is another one of my favorites, and that is partly due to its intense similarity to "Catcher in the Rye." It is basically the modern version of the book, but can still hold its own as a cult classic.Holden personifies the American teen. He hates phonies, he is constantly on edge and he has to deal with the constant push-and-pull of emotions that life throws at us every single day. I always hear people talking about how they hate people who are fake, or who act like something they're not to impress a certain group of people. Almost every person that I know is worried about their future, their grades, or even their life in some way or another. We are no longer children in the rye field. We have already fallen, and are beginning to grow up, so reading about Holden living with the death of his beloved brother and not knowing how to cope gives people hope. He is a best friend, a symbol for hope and the love of my life. I want to be Jane Gallagher in the world of Holden Caulfield.