Holden Caulfield Case
Essay Preview: Holden Caulfield Case
Report this essay
In the story The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is very indecisive and hesitant due to the loss of his brother, phony, and not following through. Holden Caulfield is a different type of kid that goes to Pencey Prep. He made it in but he doesnt like to do any work and fails a lot of his classes. Holden tries to protect other people that he likes but if he does not like them he calls them phonies. In reality, Holden is the real phony. Due to Holdens lack of reality in a way that he believes he is the only kid who can do anything and that everyone else is below him. Holden is also very indecisive and never follows through with anything. He is either frightened or just thinks that he doesnt want to do it anymore but a second ago he did. This is his bipolar, and this is when we start to see a change in his personality. He thinks he wants to do it at first and then he just changes his mind. The last thing that affects Holden is the loss of his brother Allie, he feels alone and grief from his death.
After Leaving Pencey Prep, he is hesitant to go home and confront his parents because he feels alone in the world. Holden feels lonely most of the time after leaving pencey prep and never feels that he fits in with anyone. He also feels that he is opposite of everyone that he contacts. “I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I almost wished I was dead”(48). Holden stated this when he left pencey prep and no longer felt himself. Holden goes on to talk about his shape, “I dont get hardly anything out of anything. Im in bad shape. Im in lousy shape”(131). Holdens shape is affecting his health and the way he makes decisions. Sometimes he doesnt follow through with things after he starts to feel alone. When Holden feels alone he wants to go to “a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and stay there for the rest of my life” (199). Another thing Holden says that states he is lonely and depressed, “thats the whole trouble. You cant ever find a place thats nice and peaceful, because there isnt any” (204). Holden always talks about a peaceful place but there really is none. Holden starts to tell people “Dont ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (214) because it makes him feel more alone and Holden is already feeling alone. The irony of The Catcher in the Rye is that Holden subconsciously longs to be accepted yet feels he cannot make the connection. Yet he does by making Salinger the unwilling, while guru to a generation of displaced teenagers who made Holden an icon of their angst (Miller Edwind). Holden is a young man who approaches all life situations on a deeper plane than most teens his age, making it almost impossible for him to relate to anyone on a normal level. His efforts to connect with any stereotypical kid his age result in abject failure.
Another reason Holden is instable is because he thinks everyone is a phony. Holden believes that all adults in the world are phonies. “One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. Thats all. They were coming in the goddam window. For instance, they had this headmaster, Mr. Haas, that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life.”(
In reality Holden is the phony. Holden never tells the truth and lies through his teeth about almost everything. But “Mothers are all slightly insane. The thing is, though, I liked old Morrows mother,” (102) who happens to be proud of her moronic son. When she wonders whether Holden is leaving school before the beginning of vacation “because of illness in the family,” he casually informs her, “I have this tiny little tumor on the brain” (103). The fib achieves the expected result, Mrs. Morrows genuine sympathy for an ill “son.” (Privetera, Lisa) This shows Holdens big lie that we all get to listen to. He lies because he doesnt want to tell her that his son is a mean, harsh, and bad student. Lying is affecting his life by lying to everyone and anything even though he doesnt have to or know the person personally. This affects him mentally because he sometimes thinks that he is the person he is describing and this is not good.
When Holden calls Carl Luce, an acquaintance whom Holden hates, as a last resort, he comes the closest to the truth about himself. By telling him “your mind is immature” (147), Luce acknowledges that Holden is in need of psychoanalysis or some such professional help, but, in true Holden fashion, he laughs it off. Holden is nervous and knows he needs help but he acts all tough and laughs at it.
Holden never follows through with anything he wants