Examples Of Insecurity In Catcher In The Rye

Vin Diesel once said, “It's insecurity that is always chasing you and standing in the way of your dreams.” In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden struggles with insecurity and accepting his personality and intellect. We get glimpses of these very traits Holden is insecure about through his observations of certain people he looks up to, namely his brother Allie and his old friend Mr. Antolini. It can’t be a coincidence that the people he admires happen to have certain ideal traits on which Holden expresses self-doubt. Salinger uses the description of characters that Holden holds in high regard to represent key traits that Holden is insecure about within himself.

Holden admires Phoebe and Allie for their stunning intelligence, which he doesn’t find in himself. As Holden thinks about topics for Stradlater’s paper, the subject shifts to Allie whom he

he says, “Allie was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent” (38). Holden’s remark can be interpreted as an honorary way to bring up Allie, but also a way to shame himself by comparing his intelligence to that of a little kid. Holden also says, “ He was terrifically intelligent. His teachers were always writing letters to my mother, telling her what a pleasure it was having a boy like Allie in their class. And they weren't just shooting the crap” (38). Although Holden generally associates pleasantries with phoniness, he sees these pleasantries on Allie in a sincere manner, demonstrating Holden’s high regard for Allie. Likewise, both Holden and Allie’s teacher’s sincere compliments emphasize Allie’s remarkable intelligence. While Allie received compliments from his school teachers, Holden was getting kicked out of various boarding schools, highlighting the substantial difference in educational intelligence. “Shooting the bull” is