Have you ever thought about what influences you to make the choices you make? Or the consequences that will come along with it? The novel entitled The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger introduces main character Holden Caulfield and his thoughts through his personal journey. Holden is a troubled teenager trying to find his purpose in the world. He examines others and labels them as phonies. Over the course of the novel, he makes choices based on the people he meets and the situations he experiences. Holden Caulfield is a sane person in an insane world because of his brother Allie´s death, getting expelled from multiple schools, and the absence of his parents.
In the beginning of the novel, the audience is introduced to the death of Holden’s brother Allie. Holden had a rough time emotionally, coping with this demise. He used his emotions in a physical manner which led to the difficulty of dealing with reality. “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it. I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon we had that summer, but my hand was already broken and everything by that time, and I couldn’t do it. It was a very stupid thing to do, I’ll admit, but I hardly didn’t even know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie” (39). Being sixteen years old, this is a rational reaction because he lost someone so close to him. He rebels, just like any normal teenager because it is confusing for him to see how life can be normal after such tragedy.
Holden was very close to his brother and always tried his best to save his youthful innocence. Holden keeps his brothers baseball mitt because it’s a reminder of Allie’s purity. “The thing that was descriptive about it, though, was that he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and he’d have something to read when he was in the field and nobody was up at bat” (43). Keeping his baseball mitt showed steps of coping and sanity. He did punch a wall, however, he found something to help him deal with it. Holden despises phonies although he can be a hypocrite himself, Allie’s baseball mitt is a reminder of the connection and inspiration he looks for in his feelings and in other people. Going through this hard time also caused for him to be slacking in school.
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Holden was kicked out from multiple schools, and expelled from his most recent school, Pencey, due to academic failure. He doesn’t want to grow up, he despises his roomates, and wishes to go to a public school. Holden knows passing school means going into adulthood, of which he fears. ‘Well. . . they’ll be pretty irritated about it, I said. ‘They really will. This is about the fourth school I’ve gone to.’ I shook my head” (22). Holden desires people who are genuine and innocent, being an adult ruins it all. He is passing english class and has a smart mind-set but chooses to fail. “That is all I know about the Egyptians. I can’t seem to get very interested in them although your lectures are very interesting. It is all right with me if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything else except English anyway” (50). Holden’s idea of not wanting to grow up comes along with the value of Allie. He has a hard time finding closure which is fair-minded. He does have a difficult time however, others may think he is immature and unstable.
Others may think Holden is insane because of his lack of self-control. He doesn’t try to fix his ‘problem’ because he shuts everyone out. Holden’s natural personality and instics are to not let anyone in. “Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game. I remember around three o’clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill. You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place. You could hear them all yelling” (3). He believes people are phonies, people he thinks are fake, un genuine, or just someone he doesn’t like. Some may say, he’s insane for not going down to the game he observes from a far because he tends to isolate. What’s the point of analyzing if he is not going to socialize? He’s a hard headed sixteen year old who smokes, drinks, tries to flirt with older women, and is associated with prostitutes. ‘Finally, I got up and went out in the living room and got some cigarettes’ (166). People may say, he is insane for smoking at such a young age thinking it is okay. But how can he know any better if he doesn’t have anyone by his side?
Holden’s parents have high expectations for him yet never seem to be around. His father always dreamed for him to go to an elite school. They send him to schools but never want to take a better look at the bigger picture, on why he is failing his classes. It is not completely Holden’s fault. His parents send him to a school where he has to sleep in a dorm. Holden’s parents not being around, is hard. He receives no guidance or advice to help him along the way.
Holden wants to save children from falling off the cliff of “childhood” and into adulthood that contains all the bad things. Holden feels satisfaction from wanting to save children from the troubles he knows they will encounter. This is a valid thought and crave because he is aware of his actions and wants to save others from falling in his footsteps. “I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all”. I believe he has a stable mind a good intentions, he just went through alot that he wasn’t able to control.
Holden is a normal teenager who has a hard time dealing with the real issues. It is a normal problem in most teenagers. Everyone has an obsession weather it’s animals, nick nacks, or even fantasies. Holden has an obsession of holding onto childhood innocence. He is a scared sane human who went through a traumatic time which caused him to rebel in school and in life. Having no guidance growing up caused for a greater struggle in the real world. He gave up on his life because he realized that dealing with death meant being an adult. He wants to die innocent like Allie, but not finding closure and growing up so quickly caused the lost of his innocence. He is sane in an insane world because of the lifestyle he was grown into. I believe the only way he will grow is by detaching himself from this mindset of innocence and finding a new meaning he can control.
