I remember reading “The Catcher in the Rye” as a high school sophomore, and at that time, it was the most shocking book I’d ever read. It’s funny thinking back to how innocent I was four years ago; I even remember closing the book when I got to the part when Holden Caulfield hires a prostitute, thinking, “OMG! Are we seriously even allowed to read this?”

Even though the racier bits of “The Catcher in the Rye” are nothing compared to the material in some books I’ve read since, and it has long ceased to be among my favorite books, it’s hard to deny the book’s power to resonate with teenagers experiencing all the pitfalls of growing up. For me, it really helped define what being an angst-filled teenager was about. I even loved how nonchalantly my classmates seemed to react to the book (many downright dismissed it as nonsense); but I knew some of them, like me, were secretly fascinated by it.

For many people, J.D. Salinger’s novel has been a rite of passage, a gateway book to more mature content. Readers are usually extremely polarized about “The Catcher in the Rye” — they either love it or hate it.

For me, it was easy to relate to Holden, even as a teenager without a rebellious streak. Holden’s parents are wealthy Upper East Siders, and he attends an elite prep school, facts that critics often use to label Holden as an immature ingrate. But no matter what privileges you are given in life, the insecurities and struggles of adolescence are universal. I saw him not as a rebel who rejects society, but as a teenager not being able to find his place in the adult world; especially in a world filled with hypocrisy and frustrating ambiguities, as well as real pain and real conflict.

In a way, I realized that, as unlikeable as Holden’s character can be, we all have a little bit of him inside of us. The main reason people probably hate the book and hate Holden is because Holden has many of the traits that we hate most about ourselves. His inconsistency and unreliability often poke at our own faults. Holden is famous for his I-Don’t-Care attitude, but he, like a lot of us, cares more than he lets on.

And, like him, I often catch myself purposely acting more indifferently than I actually feel.

Even now, I remember the most hateful thing that someone has ever said to me: “Why do you care?” It wasn’t offensive, but I was still irate, as if caring was some kind of cardinal sin of which I was being accused. Maybe I have a little bit of a Holden-complex myself, not wanting to seem too attached to anything.

And I know I’m not the only one.

Salinger may have died quietly, but despite his reclusive nature, he definitely did not leave his life without any noise. Every detail of his personal life has been studied by fans desperately trying to learn more about him, and the more he resisted, the more fascinating he became. “The Catcher in the Rye” also had a massive influence on many subsequent coming-of-age novels, which have become virtually their own genre, and helped spawn movies about angst-filled teens, such as “Igby Goes Down.”

His death leaves much to be answered and has created even more questions. With Salinger gone, will there finally be a film adaption of “The Catcher in the Rye”? While he was alive, Salinger aggressively resisted any attempts to have his book made into a film, but maybe his money-hungry agents will find a way to sell the movie rights to the novel. And will there be any new Salinger books hitting bookshelves? Salinger hasn’t published any new works since the early 1970s, even though, according to some reports, he continued to write extensively, and left behind several unpublished manuscripts.

For all we know, death may just be the beginning for one of America’s most influential writers.