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Catcher in the Rye presenets a boy who is both a strong and a weak character.
One incident from the novel which illustrates this theme is in the chapter where Holden interacts with his ageing teacher. J.D. Salinger draws a clear picture of the attitude that Holden has towards his teacher, Mr. Spencer and his wife. He shows Holden as being keenly observant, perhaps too much so for a normal teen. His comments are almost narcissistic.

The reader is shown signs of Holden's obsessive -compulsive like behaviour concerning personal hygiene and appearance, ("Their bumpy old chests are always showing. And their legs. Old guys legs at beaches and places, always look so white and un hairy")This portrays him as a weak character - concerned only with outward appearances.

Contrary to this, though, is Holden's familiar attitude to his schoolteacher, detailing fond memories of meetings that they once shared, and calling him " Old Spencer", which is a very familiar tone, although one which could also be used to make himself feel superior to those around him, again, presenting to the audience a weak character with low self-esteem.

The fact that Holden describes Mr. Spencer in such a disgusted way at first, making frequent references to his appearance and his home, could show readers that Holden has problems with being let down. By making himself think of his acquaintance in a bad light, he will miss him less when he leaves.

As the novel progresses, the reader is given more and more evidence to show that some of Holden's personality defects stem from his fear of being let down. One example of this is the incident when Holden gets off the train (in chapter 9.) He decides that he would like to ring someone. The first person he chooses to ring is his old friend's mother, to see when Jane Gallagher's vacation starts. He refrains from ringing her because he thinks that he will be let down by Jane, who may not remember him, or if she does, may not want to talk to him. Holden does not want his hopes to be let down, so he does not ring.

This brings up another point regarding Holden's portrayal as a weak character - his insecurity regarding authority. The incident with Jane's mother shows the reader that Holden is actually making excuses for the fact that he is scared that Jane's mother will pick up the phone, and he will have to explain himself. This is interesting because Holden seems to have an insecurity complex regarding his own parents as well. In the same paragraph, Holden says that he would like to have rung his sister, Phoebe, but he doesn't because he knows that his parents may pick up the phone. His parents have made all the decisions in his life so far, and this gives them an overbearing sense of authority over him.

The novel gives a unique insight into the mind of a bereaved teen who is struggling to cope with loss, adolescence, identity and guilt all at the same time and who is heading for a breakdown.

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