breakdown, typified by his bouts of unexplained depression, impulsive spending and generally odd, erratic behavior, prior to his eventual nervous collapse. During his psychological battle, life continues on around Holden as it always had, with the majority of people ignoring the 'madman stuff' that is happening to him -until it begins to encroach on their well defined social codes. Progressively through the novel we are challenged to think about society's attitude to the human condition - does society have an 'ostrich in the sand' mentality, a deliberate ignorance of the emptiness that can characterize human existence? If so, when Holden begins to probe and investigate his own sense of emptiness and isolation, before finally declaring that he world is full of 'phonies' with each one out for their own phony gain, is He actually the one who is going insane, or is it society which has lost it's mind, failing to see the hopelessness of their own lives?Perhaps the book does not define someone caught between the maelstrom of Childhood or Adulthood; rather it debates the sanity of our culture versus the sanity of individuals. In any event, we have all suppressed certain elements of the very same forces operating within Holden Caulfield. It is for this reason I would recommend this thought provoking novel as a fascinating and enlightening description of our human condition, however you wish to interpret it....
