I never saw him as rebellious, either, but deeply depressed--not Quentin Compson depressed, but almost. That anyone would have to make sense of a world where a beloved sibling dies too soon always made me feel close to Holden. Adolescents rant, for sure, and don't understand so well the nature of their own ranting. In high school, when i read it, some parents wanted it banned. So glad cooler heads, like my own mother's, prevailed. It changed my life.