Holden Caulfield (born c.1935) is the fictional teenage protagonist and narrator of author J. D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. Since the book's publication, Holden has become an icon for teenage rebellion and angst, and now stands among the most important characters of 20th-century American literature. Holden is naive and at the same time resentful of the adult world. He is very caring and respectful, and calls himself a "pacifist." One of Holden's most striking and quintessential qualities is his powerful revulsion for "phony" qualities, a catch-all term for all the perceived hypocrisy that irritates Holden. It is this cynicism that causes him to distance himself from other people, despite wanting connection as well.
