The most prominent fictional antihero, who remains etched in my memory is also one of America’s most memorable characters: Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger’s rebellious, teenage cynic from The Catcher in the Rye (1951). After a second reading, as an adult, Holden is still one of my favorite fictional characters because he symbolizes alienation, flickering with hope, testing the reader’s capacity to love a misfit teen.
Character Background
He has intrigued generations of Americans with his quick wit and his overwhelming apathy mixed with teenage angst. Although Holden’s voice accurately portrays the struggles of a teen, the character’s core problem is simply growing up.
Holden appears to be an unrepentant and spoiled 16-year-old, whining incessantly about “phonies” and thinking everyone is a “moron.” Holden says in Chapter 2, “People always think something’s all true,” and, “People never notice anything.” His overall generalization is that most people are “morons” who “hate it when you call them a moron.” Teens immediately identify with his sarcastic contempt for authority, vulgarity and absolutist beliefs.
Holden, considered emotionally disturbed or even borderline mentally ill by some, is wounded from several traumatic events like the death of his younger brother, Allie, who died of leukemia. After Allie’s death, the younger Holden slept in the garage, breaking things, and was later psychoanalyzed.
His classmate, James Castle, who was bullied, committed suicide by jumping out a window, “He was dead. His teeth, and blood, were all over the place, and nobody would even go near him. He had on this turtleneck sweater that I’d lent him.” Clearly, this event contributed to his depression and anger. Most importantly, how the adults cope with such events bothers Holden even more, revealing a vulnerable sensitivity and maturity.
Despite the trauma from two deaths that scarred Holden, he remains sensitive to others, especially those that he considers innocent. Holden could not save his brother Allie, nor could he save James Castle, thus causing him to feel helpless and even afraid. He hides this deep-rooted fear with his sense of humor and aloofness, which is another way of coping with his sense of helplessness and loneliness.
Holden’s parents, seemingly absent and distant, do not know how to deal with him so they send him to private schools and numerous psychoanalysts. His parents, an upper-class family, are probably a stereotypical post World-War II family that Holden does not resent, but they are part of his troubles. He says, “…my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They’re quite touchy…especially my father. They’re nice and all…but they’re also touchy as hell.”
Holden is neurotic, yet jokes about it. In Chapter 6, he says, “When I really worry about something, I don’t just fool around. I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something. Only, I don’t go. I’m too worried to go. I don’t want to interrupt my worrying to go.” Holden’s insight into his neurosis demonstrates his intelligence and his sense of humor.
Holden feels like a loser in his family compared to his two brothers, yet he’s not jealous: “My brother D.B.’s a writer and all, and my brother Allie, the one that died, that I told you about, was a wizard. I’m the only really dumb one.” Despite his vociferous rants that everyone’s a “phony,” it appears that he has accepted the label that he is “the only really dumb one.”
A Deeper Analysis
Maybe this antihero is a bit cliché now after so many years; however, Holden’s sarcastic humor, honesty, and sadness remain prominently stamped in my psyche two decades later.
Analyzing Holden as an adult, I uncovered a deeper sadness and strength that could eventually propel him to do great things later in life. After reading Catcher in the Rye as an adult, I quickly brushed off Holden’s sarcasm and know-it-all convictions as that of a boy yelling for someone to listen to his pain.
In high school, I was more amused by him – his language, his thinking, and his actions. But I did not respect him. In fact, I considered him a loser, an emotionally disturbed kid, who was entertaining and fun.
Now, I feel genuine concern and empathy for this boy. But, why?
Disillusioned and depressed kids like Holden are quickly discarded by schools and tuned out by parents. His juvenile attitudinizing, and his consistent apathy toward authority quickly turn adults away. When he cries for help, institutions shut him out. Kids like Holden need our love, patience, and understanding, not our contempt.
Holden gets expelled from schools that don’t really care about helping him or any student with their emotional trauma. And his parents simply don’t want to put up with his antics; instead, they’d prefer avoidance, leaving Holden alone in an emotionally barren field.
Even though it is easy for us to assume, even deny, that Holden Caulfield is some other kid, he is not. If we dig deep enough to the part of us where the id, ego and superego battle it out, then we might find the Holden in all of us, even as adults.
The tremendous success of Holden Caulfield is that humans relate to him on an unfiltered, subconscious level, despite our attempts at denial. Holden Caulfield will remain a part of us that confuses, amuses, and even scares. But, it’s there. He symbolizes the doubt, the uncertainty, and the inconsistency in all of us. In a sense, his frustration with society is our own. We know that the world we live in is often unfair and difficult for even the strongest, but we either learn to accept these truths or at least cope with them.
Holden taps into the reader’s guilt. We often ignore others’ pain and discomfort, protecting our sanity and emotional health. Holden struggles with leaving others behind. Maybe this constant othering, not recognizing ourselves in others, is our sickness, and Holden is really the sane one. Have we forgotten the Golden Rule?
Most importantly, we admire him for “sticking it to the man” by living on the edge. We covet and secretly admire his adventurous, even reckless spirit. He’s a neurotic, nerdy James Dean, who rebels with a cause using his wit and his heart. His cause is based on reason and emotional pain, allowing room for forgiveness.
Hope for Holden
Despite numerous personal tragedies, being labeled an outcast, and a clueless family, Holden Caulfield holds on to hope. His contempt for others comes from a good place: his desire to protect the innocence of others.
Holden demonstrates his love and sacrifice for others best when he tries to cheer up Phoebe, his sister, by taking her to the Central Park Zoo, where she rides the carousel in the rain. This sight fills him with happiness and joy-evidence of his complexity and decency.
By the end of the novel, the reader asks: What happens to a wayward teen like Holden? How the reader chooses to answer this question reveals more about their outlook– optimistic or pessimistic.
Holden ends his story the same way he began, thinking of others, still wounded and worrying: “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” The reader is not sure whether he changed. The optimist might believe that he will find a cause that taps into his core struggles, thus resolving most of his issues by doing great things for others and society. However, our inner cynic probably thinks Holden, still alienated and complacent at the end of the novel, will implode and be forgotten as a young adult.
I believe his capacity to love, although discombobulated, will override his disappointments. “There can be no deep disappointment when there is not deep love,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. His emotional problems will be diminished by his ability to care and his insight into others’ motives and intentions.
Salinger’s timeless character will be a powerhouse in American fiction because readers privately identify with Holden Caulfield’s contradictions, struggles, and beliefs. Salinger through the antihero challenges us to save a kid like Holden Caulfield. Offering no good solutions, Salinger offers the reader one good question: Do we care enough about a kid like Holden?
Teens will continue to read The Catcher in the Rye because Holden epitomizes American dysfunction, teenage alienation, and fragments of hope that continue to test our capacity to love.