What are some examples in the text from Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye that show Holden Caulfield to be relatable?

The way Holden Caulfield relates to each reader can be different depending on individual experiences. Holden is a 16 year-old boy with anxiety and depression, but this seems to make him more human than unrelatable; hence, there are many different experiences that can apply to any and all readers. Readers can mostly identify with Holden as a brother, a student, and as a teenager.

As a brother, Holden loves his siblings. He makes a few mistakes, as everyone does, but on a whole, he loves his siblings. For example, he once rode off from his little brother Allie because he didn't want to hang with him, but he felt poorly about it later. Then, the way he treats his sister Phoebe is very kind, protective, and loving. He describes her in the following way:

"But you ought to see old Phoebe. . . You'd like her. I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you're talking about. I mean you can take her anywhere with you" (67).

Next, as a student, Holden talks about teachers, administrators, and roommates in a way that seems universally relatable. It is hilarious how he describes Mr. Spencer, one of his professors, because students always make fun of teachers. He describes him the following way:

". . . I used to think about old Spencer quite a lot, and if you thought about him too much, you wondered what the heck he was still living for. I mean he was all stooped over, and he had very terrible posture, and in class, whenever he dropped a piece of chalk at the blackboard, some guy in the first row always had to get up and pick it up and hand it to him. That's awful, in my opinion" (6-7).

Finally, the insecurities and quirkiness of being a teenager is so accurately described, that many can relate with this awkward time in life. One awkward time Holden experiences is when he disappoints the fencing team by leaving the foils on the subway so they couldn't go to their competition. Later, during the school game, he is standing on Thomsen Hill feeling lonely. He describes it like this:

"So we got back to Pencey around two-thirty instead of around dinnertime. The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train. It was pretty funny, in a way" (3).

Holden acts like it's no big deal and "pretty funny," but it's not. Many people have experienced feeling ostracized after making a mistake with friends or family, and this also makes Holden relatable. There are many other relatable experiences throughout the book, too; such as, dating, smoking, drinking, being alone, and many others. Again, it just depends on the experiences that each reader brings along while reading.