Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses suicide and anti-gay prejudice, and it uses stigmatizing terms about mental illness which are reproduced only in quotations.

Holden Caulfield is the narrator and main character of the book; though he is not necessarily an unreliable narrator, his viewpoint is highly subjective, and it is informed by several factors that linger in the subtext of his thoughts: his younger brother Allie’s death; witnessing the death by suicide of a dormmate at his previous school; and his own discomfort with adult sexuality are constant pressures on him, driving him toward a mental health crisis. The narrative implies that most of his actions and obsessions should be filtered through these lenses. Because of the nature of the book’s subjective point of view, the characters must be understood through the perspective of Holden Caulfield; several major characters never appear except in Holden’s memory.

Holden is highly idealistic, and this often manifests as his disdain for the people he sees as phonies. However, he is still empathetic toward the individuals in his life, even the ones whom he has labeled phony, and he often stops the narration to tell a story about one of his peers that humanizes them.