“The suffering of being unable to love” Is this the key to “Catcher In The Rye”?

J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye depicts a struggling 16 year old Holden Caufield desperately searching for somebody to love him, but cannot find what he seeks because he drives people away due to his own fear that he or others have or may lose their innocence, change or bring about conflict. Because of these things Holden is unable to love. This is what The Catcher in the Rye focuses on:, Holden’s everlasting search for companionship as he thwarts all his attempts to find this. Even Holden’s “Catcher in the Rye” fantasy itself is something that stands in his way, this idea demonstrating that a fall from childhood and all things pure is, in his eyes equivalent to death.

As a younger boy Holden became friends with a girl named Jane Gallagher, introduced in chapter four, the first time we hear of her is when Stradlater(Holden’s roommate) mentions that he is going on a date with her. Holden is extremely surprised and begins to gush about all the fun they had when they...