Allie

My favorite part of Catcher so far is Holden's relationship with his brother Allie. I think Allie's death is the reason for most of Holden's pathological lying. Since Holden was really close with his brother when Allie was taken away Holden is scared to get close to other people. As Peyton from One Tree Hill would say "People always leave" right? 

It seems that the Caulfield's never dealt with Allie's death but rather pushed it in the past and never talked about it or helped each other move on from it. I think this hindered Holden's ability to create relationships with others. Holden makes everyone seem inadequate to be friends with him. He says everyone is phony or quirky. This is to make himself feel that no one is good enough for him to get close to so he doesn't need to. 

My favorite quote Holden says about Allie is, 

"It was a very stupid thing to do, i'll admit, but I hardly didn't even know i was doing it, and you didn't know Allie" (38). 

This quote was when Holden was talking about how he punched through the garage windows the day Allie died. I think this statement is really strong because people always judge the way others deal with their problems. People judged Holden for punching through the windows but the truth is no one really ever knows what he was feeling because people mean different things to different people and no ones situation is ever the same. So until you step into someone's exact situation you will never know the true pain they feel.