Holden Caulfield, the main character of The Catcher in the Rye, is hovering between adolescence and adulthood. Holden is on the edge of the cliff trying to hold on to his youth for as long as possible. He is in the middle of an identity crisis; he can only be described by his traits, goals and tendencies to change.

Holden can be characterized by his traits. Throughout the novel, Holden is judgmental of everything and everyone. He criticizes and philosophizes about people who are just too typical or boring or most importantly phony. At times Holden displayed just as much phoniness, meanness or shallowness as anyone else in the story. For example, when he met Ernest Morrow's mother on the train; he told her, "Ernest is the most popular boy at Pency Prep and would have been elected class president if had let the other boys nominate him...