The Catcher in the Rye - Character Analysis of Holden Caufield

Holden Caulfield is a tragic hero in his journey to defend all children from becoming adults and saving their youth and innocence, which is simply an impossible task. Arthur Miller describes a tragic hero as one who attempts “to gain his ‘rightful’ position in his society” and in doing so struggles for his dignity. Holden’s downfall happens because his tragic flaw is that he is hypocritical about himself and doesn’t understand himself.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

Holden’s deep depression arose from Allie’s death, and at Holden’s lowest moments, he starts to think about Allie. His depression started when Holden “broke all the goddamn windows with [his] fist” (39). Holden is unable to properly grieve for his brother leaving him in bitter depression with the lingering memories of Allie to bring him comfort. At the park, Holden’s contemplation on his own death leads him back to thoughts about Allie at the cemetery. Holden recalls the feeling of guilt he felt when he had to leave Allie at the cemetery so eventually he stopped going. Allie brings Holden back to reality at the park making him go see Phoebe and eventually Allie’s death reminds Holden of why he can’t leave Phoebe. The pain Holden constantly feels because of Allie’s death drags him deeper into depression, but also gives him some comfort in his toughest times. Holden’s contrast of emotions about Allie portrays his inability to stop thinking about Allie and to accept that Allie is gone.

Holden mentions Allie in the book quite often when he is feeling down. Allie was everything that Holden’s not. “He was terrifically intelligent.” His teachers were always writing letters to my mother , telling her what a pleasure it was to have a

Holden has shown many signs of having post traumatic stress. Some of the signs Holden had was as stated “triggers that can bring back memories of the trauma accompanied by intense emotional and physical reactions.” Holden always bring up Allie his brother, even when he wrote compositions for Stradlater, “So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allie’s baseball mitt,”(Salinger,38) Holden always tends to bring up the past. This is one of the many signs that Holden shows as the book progress. In the text, “All of a sudden, on my way out to the lobby, I got old Jane Gallagher on the brain again,” (Salinger, 76). Holden continuously brings up many people that has made him feel this way about people. Holden also demonstrates a lack of control when it comes to talking to people. When Holden brother Allie died when Holden was just 13, he punched out all the windows out of the garage saying, “It was just for the hell of it,” (Salinger, 39). This indicates that Holden is not a healthy psychologically adolescent, as he can’t articulate the thoughts of his actions. Holden’s lack of control and ability not to let go of the past shows how Holden is not mentally

Holden experiences extreme difficulty accepting his current realities and one of the main factors causing this is the lasting negative impact his brother Allies death had on his life. Firstly, when Holden decides to leave his school, he tells readers , “I don’t care if it’s a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 4). Holden’s need for closure is evident in this quote. When Allie died, it was very unexpected and he was not prepared to let him go, resulting in his denial that his brother is actually

Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye exhibits unusual behavior during the course of the novel. His actions resemble those of one who suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder. After his younger brother, Allie, dies of leukemia, Holden’s feelings toward the world change drastically. He begins to isolate himself from others. Even when he feels a connection with someone, he finds something to dislike about them and pushes them away. Holden also experiences frequent flashbacks to times when Allie was alive. He holds on to these memories and blocks Allie’s death from his mind. His PTSD also causes Holden to endure anxiety attacks. These attacks further push away the people he loves and makes it difficult for him to cope with his feelings.

Holden never going to Allie’s funeral gives us insight into why Holden is still holding onto Allie. After Allie’s death, Holden still went through experiences that caused his BPD, neglect and separation. During the time following Allie’s death, Holden’s family was in great grieving, making Holden feel isolated and not getting the attention he needed to fully grow mentally as a child (“National Allegiance on Mental Health”). Holden also expresses twice, that his mother is still grieving over Allie’s death by stating his mother, “still isn’t over my brother Allie yet” (Salinger 155). Holden is also never close to anyone. He meets with his family a limited amount of time throughout the year, and is kicked out of schools, giving him no permanent guidance in his life. Holden constantly describes his expulsion as, getting “the ax” (107). He shows a continuous changing in guardians, because of his attachment to both Mr. Spencer and Mr. Antolini, both old school teachers from schools he flunked out of. He also dealt with the separation from D.B. his other brother, who moved to Hollywood, Holden seems to be very inspired by him throughout the novel, but is mad that he left (1).

            Phoebe is the only person that Holden will listen to and this saves him. Their little talk in Phoebe’s bedroom sets his mind straight. Holden listens to every one of her words and takes them all into account. She tells Holden that he does not like anything and that he is constantly messing up his life. Phoebe forces her brother to think about his actions as she waits for her answer. He tells her how he likes Allie, but she is quick to say that he is dead. This is a significant answer because Holden realizes for the first time that his brother is truly dead and that he must move on. After he leaves the house and goes outside the house he feels the awkward falling sense. “Then all of a sudden, something very spooky started happening. Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street. I thought I’d just go down, down,

Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing” (Salinger 8). Through this quote, the author shows the reader how Caulfield just accepts life as it is, despite being unhappy with it, and doesn’t make an effort to change his situation. In sum, Holden Caulfield is too accepting of reality and does not attempt to take control over his own life, which is uncharacteristic of a true code hero.

Allie was Holden's younger brother that passed away from Leukemia at the age of eleven. Holden was very distraught when this happened, after he found out he punched the windows in the garage and ended up breaking his hand. Holden was sent to the hospital for his hand and missed Allie's funeral. Although it is not explicitly stated in the book, the fact that he missed his younger brother's funeral troubles him it could be one of the reasons Holden lacks closure about the passing of Allie. Allie passing away hit Holden harder than anyone else because Holden considered Allie his best friend and thought of him as the most intelligent and nicest member of the family. Holden also bonded a lot with Allie because his older brother, D.B., moved to Hollywood to become a writer for the movies. This made Holden partially resent his older brother because he considered D.B. a phony for "selling himself out to Hollywood". Once D.B. left, Holden bonded more with Allie even though they already were together whenever they could be. Almost four years after the death of Allie, Holden still considers Allie as the only person or thing that he truly likes. Phoebe, his younger sister, confronted him about it by saying that Allie is dead and does not count as someone or something he truly likes. Holden became very upset and even angry at that statement, responding

Holdens infatuation with Allie became a recurring idea in his narrative, even going as far as, “I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie.” Holden seems to only think highly of Allie commenting on how intelligent, kind, and well-liked Allie was. To Holden, Allie was perfect in childhood, and his premature death preserved that innocence in a sort of twisted immortality. Allie will never be corrupted by the drugs, drinking, and deceit that Holden associated with adulthood. Finally, his constant flunking out of schools demonstrates Holden's fear of the future.

This makes Holden a highly independent, yet lonely character. The traumatic incident of Allie's death altered his personality, making him less social and trusting of others. His interactions with other characters are full of lies, and ironically, the “phoniness” that he so greatly despises. The loss of his innocence at an early age affected Holden's character and helps the audience understand how his background ties into the story. The aspect of innocence also explains the reasoning behind his actions and

Due to Holden’s young age, inexperience, and immaturity, he is unfamiliar with the correct, healthy ways to deal with the loss of a loved one. Rather than discussing Allie with a therapist or someone who cares, Holden hides his feelings and uses negative

Holden is a profoundly negative person, he is constantly judging other people, calling them ‘phonies’ and criticising them. For instance when he says “I was surrounded by phonies.” of his time at Elkton Hills. (CITR, 14) Throughout the novel, Holden repeatedly behaves immature and makes irresponsible and destructive decisions, even if he knows it is the wrong thing to