sympathetic, empathetic, or judgmental?

at the beginning of this novel, i really believed that like most of us, holden caulfield was very judgmental. the remarks he made about people and their personalities, appearances, and flaws/achievements seemed as if he was critiquing their lives in front of us. for every person we were introduced to, there were many statements that portrayed them based on holden's opinions rather than who they really were. a great example of this was with old spencer. holden put this old, hairy, smelly, coughing man in our minds before we read them conversing. for me, the whole environment changed and i interpreted who spencer was differently then i probably would have without those statements. i saw holden as this cynical teenager who wasted his time judging others to create reasons for why he didn't want to be like them.

though this perception was in my mind at the beginning of the novel, around the 4th and 5th chapters, i really began to see a different side of holden that completely changed my perception. after i read about allie and the impact he had on holden, i realized that holden was just sympathetic. after watching his brother who he described as extremely intelligent, nice to everyone, and never mad, die, i think holden wanted to become like his brother almost. he was able to see that while many people have flaws, sometimes they deserve more than they get and that 's why he feels so outraged about "phonies" and "hotshots." they have the popularity factor and tehy get so much more credit than others do because of it. holden tries to sympathesize with those who don't get that positive attention, much like himself. at the end of the 5th chapter, when describing ackley, holden shows this sensitive side. he says: "that guy had just about everything. sinus trouble, pimples, lousy teeth, halitosis, crumby fingernails. you had to feel a little sorry for the crazy sonuvabitch."