Holden has never been really interested in school. Actually he has almost always flunked all his subjects and now he has been kicked out of the school for the third time. He has no ambitions to life. He complains about the world and people around him a lot. He feels nobody (except maybe his little sister Phoebe) understands him and that he doesn’t understand others.
He pretends to be someone else. He acts as if he were “a tough guy”, but in reality he is very sensitive. You can tell just by the things he is talking about. He concerns himself with such details that might be insignificant to others. On the other hand, he finds things that are serious for other people funny, because he sees the irony of it. He seems quite intelligent (even though his vocabulary is limited), but sometimes he acts as if he were younger. He asks needless questions and gives childish arguments. (For example when he asks the taxi driver where the ducks go when the lake freezes over)
He is rebellious but he still obeys some rules of good behavior. He swears a lot; however.

Doesn’t like almost everybody. He has no respect for nearly anything, hates his school, teachers, schoolmates, successful people and everything commercial. Sometimes it seems that he hates the entire world. The exceptions are just few special people who he acknowledges, like one professor from school, some members of family.
(„Bohatstvo, ako ja školu nenávidím! A nielen školu. Všetko. Nenávidím život v New Yorku a vôbec. Nenávidím taxíky a autobusy na Madison Avenue so šoférmi, čo večne na teba revú, že sa vystupuje vzadu, nenávidím výťahy, v ktorých sa musím voziť, ak chcem ísť von, predavačov u Brooksa, čo ti donekonečna skúšajú nohavice, nenávidím...“PG:133)

When his beloved sister Phoebe ask him why he hates everything and what would he want to do,Holden answer:
(„- Poznáš tú pesničku Keď raz človek niekde v žite chytí človeka?
- To má byť Keď raz človek niekde v žite stretne človeka. To je báseň. povedala Phoebe.
- Proste ja si v jednom kuse predstavujem, ako sa davy malých deciek hrajú na takmom velikánskom žitnom poli. Tisíce malých deciek, a široko-ďaleko ani jediného dospeláka, myslím teda okrem mňa. A ja Ti stojím na kraji nejakej strašnej priepasti. A vieš, čo musím robiť? Musím chytiť každého, kto sa priblíži k tej priepasti. Rozumieš, ak uteká a nedáva pozor, kam uteká, ja musím odniekiaľ vyliezť a chytiť ho. Toto by som robil od rána do večera. Chytal by som tie decká v žite.