Catcher In The Rye Selfish Quotes

At first glance, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye simply tells the story of Holden Caulfield, who is often characterized as annoying and whiny by the people around him. The anti-hero frequently speaks on impulse, making quick and often inaccurate observations of others. Holden’s immature and overly critical attitude turns off those he encounters, who are displeased with how callow he is. However, what these characters fail to understand is that there is actually a sort of sophistication behind Holden’s reasoning. In fact, throughout the novel, Holden disguises his maturity through outward displays of childishness.
Although Holden’s interest in sex often presents itself in a juvenile way, he does have sensible ideas about it. Perhaps

the most obvious example can be found when Holden pays a prostitute, the one person in the world who gets paid to have sex, not to have sex with him. Holden invites Sunny, the prostitute, in an attempt to lift his spirits after having a rough day in the city. Yet he only gets more depressed when Sunny takes her dress off, which is when he realizes how sleazy the scenario is, especially since Holden is a virgin. Despite it seeming childish for Holden to call up the prostitute in the first place, Holden was able to realize the degradation it would create, and was proficient in halting the situation before it could climax. This action exhibits Holden’s ability to hold on to his innocence, when clearly he is already maturing. Besides, Holden subtly reveals that he may have experienced a pedophilic advance when he was younger, aiding in his confusion and fear about sex. Another example is when Holden is peering into other guests’ hotel rooms through his window. When observing one couple squirting water out of their mouths at each other, he says, “I don’t like the idea…. I think if you don’t really like a girl, you shouldn’t horse around with her at all, and if you do like her … you ought to be careful about doing crumby stuff to [her face], like squirting water all over it” (81). Holden shows that even among his nebulous views about sexuality, he knows that women should be treated with respect, and not as a silly sex object. It bothers him even more that the couple is doing this with open shades and extreme levity, as if it was normal to. In this case Holden was quick to mask his inner matureness by visibly reverting to childish instincts, as he also does with Stradlater in their dorm.
Holden’s interactions with Stradlater allow insight into how his conflict between maturation and youthfulness can mistakenly impede a formation of friendship.

It is made evident that Holden is enamored with Jane Gallagher, and this first manifests itself when Holden talks about her to Stradlater. “I used to play checkers with her,” Holden recounts. “ ‘She’d get [her kings] all lined up in the back row. Then she’d never use them. She just liked the way they looked when they were all in the back row.’ Stradlater didn’t say anything. That kind of stuff doesn’t interest most people” (41). In a world where almost everything is so “goddam depressing,” thinking about Jane’s minor traits actually makes Holden happy, even if it is the kind of stuff that does not interest most people. It allows him to channel his childhood, where he was oblivious to the phoniness around him. However, this silly nostalgia cannot get across to Stradlater, who is more interested in Jane as a sexual being than trivialities such as her checker tactics or struggles with ballet. This physical interest eventually becomes the root of their brawl in their dorm. Although Holden’s interrogative mood agitates Stradlater, Holden is only showing his genuine care for Jane. Unlike Stradlaer, Holden has enough sense to know that Jane, being the humble, intelligent girl she is, deserves to be treated right. So, even though Holden lets his anger get the better of him and eventually start a fight, he has reason to do

so.
While Holden’s violent bursts of anger, as with Stradlater in the dorm, and thoughts of killing may come off as immature, they really are not.

Indeed, just the naming of his red hunting cap as a “people-shooting hat” is suspicious enough; but Holden merely wants to stand out in a crowd and be different from all the phonies around him, and the unique hat is enough to do so, despite it making him look foolish. He is going “people-shooting” in the sense that he is putting down partisans of the supposedly fabricated adult world, the same people who put Holden down for his visible immaturity. The cap gives Holden the confidence he needs to feel like his own independent person – an adult – without actually being one. This is yet another one of Holden’s desperate attempts to cling onto whatever shred of youth and innocence he has left and avoid growing

up.
Holden Caulfield is most definitely a patron of childhood innocence, yet his advocacy comes at a price. He is an erroneous figure to his peers, mainly because of his youthful attitude towards virtually everything. From his opinions on sex to violence to societal norms, Holden appears to have no place among the sophisticates. But this is just his façade – Holden is aware of his growth, but is denying it for fear of the change brought upon adults. He is just not ready to let go of his childhood, and this is what makes Holden so misunderstood among those who claim to be more adult-like and mature than him.