Examples Of Misfit In Catcher In The Rye

The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger is a story about a young man named Holden Caulfield. In the novel, Holden first gets expelled from school, meanders around the city, and finally his parents are informed of his expulsion. For the duration of the novel the reader has a full insight into his thoughts and feelings. This leads the reader to choose whether they believe he is a misfit or if society is the problem. As evident by examples in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye the author shows Holden as the misfit because of his failure to tolerate “phonies”, his inability to understand everyone grows up, and his neglect towards his education.

Holden is unable to deal with so called “phonies” unlike most people that know there will

always be “phonies” in life; which they will have to tolerate. This shows that he is the misfit because he is the one being difficult, while everyone else just ignores the people they dislike.
In the story, Holden explains “The thing with kids is if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” This means that you have to let someone take a risk, and if they fall they’ll learn from their mistakes and grow up a little. This is when Holden realizes that everyone has to grow up whether they want to or not. His desire to never grow up makes him a misfit.