That's the thing I don't think you're supposed to sympathize with him. I've always interpreted the character as being a warning. That if you don't grow up and face your fears then you remain a childish emotionally unstable adult. Peter Pan syndrome if you will, That's why the book for me still resonates nowadays. We have so many adults like this that avoid all responsibility when it comes to growing up.I read it, never felt anything for Holden Caulfield but annoyance. Everybody in my class either hated him (whether it'd be from his status as a politician's son, his relative freedom from anything, his personality, etc) or thought the book was meandering and didn't speak to them.