Holden Caufield, the main character in J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, has two distinct sides to his personality. He is sometimes sarcastic and cynical, and he is sometimes kind and sweet. The majority of the book is in Holden's sarcastic and cynical personality. One instance that we see this is towards the beginning of the book when Holden is in his room and Ackley barges in. At one point Holden says, "…showed first 75 words of 320 total…

…showed last 75 words of 320 total…Holden realizes how young she is it depresses him. He is feeling peculiar and says he just wants to talk. Holden really just wants someone to hold a logical conversation with. Throughout the entire book Holden has two clashing personalities. This makes it hard to distinguish who he really is. Is he cynical and sarcastic, sweet and kind, or both? J.D. Salinger has done an excellent job of making the reader decide for themself.