you could still want something that is very unlikely to happen
Throughout the whole book passes the protagonist’s dissatisfaction with his life, people around him. One would think: Holden has no reason for complaint. He’s an offspring of wealthy parents, no responsibility rests on him, the only one thing he should do is studying. But he can’t do even this ! Doesn’t want to. He even doesn’t try to. Nearly everything maddens him. What bothers him the most is the hypocrisy and ugliness around him, which diminish the innocence and beauty of the external world. When his little sister Phoebe asks him to enumerate things which he loves Holden is at a loss for words. He doesn’t know what he wants from life. A typical teenager. Behind his cynical word conceals sensitiveness and naivety.