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- Holden despises the fake renditions of life in movies and the adults around him. Yet, he finds himself consistently meeting people and doing things he dislikes. He continues to form temporary connections and is unwilling, for most of the novel, to call a genuine person like his sister or Jane.
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Yet, while his behavior indicates his loneliness, Holden consistently shies away from introspection and thus doesn’t really know why he keeps behaving as he does. Because Holden depends on his isolation to preserve his detachment from the world and to maintain a level of self-protection, he often sabotages his own attempts to end his loneliness.
The obvious reason Holden leaves Pencey is that he’s flunking out. Not only has he failed all of his classes except for English, but he’s also just come back from New York, where his fencing team had to forfeit their matches because he lost their equipment on the subway.
Although he does not kill himself, Holden keeps his depression at bay by creating temporary relationships. He thinks of calling his friend Jane, whom he met the previous summer.
Holden reflects on Allie's funeral, which he could not attend because he was in the hospital with his broken hand (and possibly for emotional evaluation). His memory of Allie's grave at the cemetery depresses him. Finally, he decides to sneak home and visit Phoebe in case he dies, too. Analysis
But we’re not so sure about that. In fact, it seems to us that he feels like he can’t have a sexual relationship with a girl at all, because it would turn her into an object. This means Holden has to either fulfill his sexual urges with girls he doesn't care about, or not fulfill them at all.
Holden resents Phoebe in this moment because he suddenly realizes that she’s willing to do whatever he says, even if it’s against her best interest. This troubles him because it forces him to realize that he’s the one who should be responsible.
What makes The Catcher in the Rye unique, however, is not the fact that Holden is an alienated teenager, but the novel’s nuanced portrayal of the causes, benefits, and costs of his isolation. Simply put, alienation both protects and harms Holden.
