ctim of his own sensitivity and insights about others and himself. On the other hand, he is losing his innocence page by page in the book. By the end, however, we do see some sign that he has learned to care for those whom he has so severely judged earlier:
About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. . . . Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody (Salinger 214).
This "missing everybody" may not be a sign that Holden is about to enter a successful career in the corporate world, but it is certainly a sign that he has begun to awaken to a loving and compassionate understanding of human beings who have lost their childhood innocence, even human beings he seems to judge and even hate. If he could find a way to make a living with such wisdom and care and compassion and insight---as a writer perhaps?---he could successfully bridge the gap, but there is little indication in the book itself that he will be able to do so. For example, his reaction to the attempted homosexual seduction by Antolini is typ
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