Notebook Prompt: What would you say to Holden Caulfield?

Throughout his lonely wanderings around New York City, Holden Caulfield is seemingly desperate for a little "intelligent conversation," trying to strike up some kind of discourse with everyone from cab drivers to Sunny the disturbingly young-seeming sex worker he inadvertently hires. But in most of these attempts at conversation, Holden has no interest in talking about himself or his current crisis--after he gets the "start applying yourself in school" routine from Mr. Spencer, he seems uninterested in any advice or suggestions about his plight, and while he certainly seems to enjoy complaining in his rants to the reader, we have to remind ourselves that he's not in fact walking around the city criticizing everything and everyone he sees, at least out loud.

Starting with his ill-fated "date" with Sally Hayes, we see Holden start to talk a little more directly about the "topics on his mind," and we also see Sally and Carl Luce push back against the assertive self-assurance of Holden's narrative voice. They both call him out in various ways, and none of his complaints about prep-school culture or society at large seem to resonate with them. We get an uncomfortable glimpse of how Holden is apt to come across to others in his life: emotionally immature, erratic, and seemingly out of control.

If you could talk to Holden Caulfield at this point in his narrative, what would you say to him? And how would you say it so that he wouldn't simply denounce you as just another phony giving him phony advice? Remember that this narrative style uniquely positions or projects the reader as a close friend and confidant--along with Jane, we are the only ones he's ever told about Allie's baseball glove, for example. He seems to presume that we will always agree with him or "get" his various complaints about human behavior and society, but he also seems to trust us, to potentially value our opinions. Imagine that this is a friend of yours who is going through this difficult period: What would you say to him? What does he need to hear?

Please take 5 minutes to contemplate this prompt in your notebook.