His parents were hardly there to give him the love and attention he needed, even though they wanted the best for Holden, but they didn't ask him even once why he had been “axed”; instead, they labeled him a senseless child. “He keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement is designed for men who, at one time or another in their lives, were looking for something that their environment could not provide… They gave up before they even began” (Salinger 187). Everyone assumes that Holden has been deeply affected by Allie's death as he can no longer be in the right state of mind. It can be argued that Holden needs a relationship with someone who can save him for himself. This fear of rejection is stronger than reality, an irrational feeling of not being accepted as someone who needs love despite what he says he doesn't. In a sense it alone cannot be a “harvest in the rye”, everyone needs it. His suffering and loneliness as an outcast makes the audience further sympathize with him as a tragic hero who falls due to his inability to accept his true self, not necessarily as the "catch in the rye", but rather a human being full of emotions that he has difficulty expressing and dealing with