Why do you think Holden cries before he leaves Pencey?

        In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden leaves Pencey Prep to go to New York. In my perspective, I think Holden cries because he feels lost and doesn’t know what to do. Holden was in a terrible situation where he couldn’t find the right path in his life because he got kicked out of school.  Also, he felt bad for his family for letting them down and disappointing them. He definitely didn’t want to tell his mom and siblings that he was kicked out. His brother, Allie, and his sister, Phoebe, were smart and got all A’s on their report cards. But, Holden failed in three out of four classes, except for English. When Holden starts packing and took the skates his mom sent him, he said, “She bought me the wrong kind of skates-I wanted racing skates and she bought hockey” (52). Holden mentions his mom and suddenly feels depressed. The racing skates and the hockey skates symbolized the differences between the personality of Holden and his mom. Racing skates symbolized individualism and running away, and hockey skates symbolized companionship and team effort to achieve a goal. His mom could’ve not bought the hockey skates because she wanted Holden to fit in and make new friends, instead of running away from difficult situations. In addition, I think Holden cried because he felt that there was no one who cared for him. He felt alone and wanted to find companionship, but instead he felt lonely when he was with others. When Holden talks about packing, he suddenly mentioned, “Old Stradlater didn’t even wake up” (51). Holden seemed upset because his own roommate didn’t even notice him leaving and didn’t have any interest at all. Holden wanted people to give him attention and at least care if he was leaving. When he shouted, “Sleep tight, ya morons!” on page 52, Holden wanted to get attention and wanted everyone to know that he would be gone. Holden wanted to receive love and affection from others, so he felt neglected and deserted.