Holden Caulfield A Rebellious Teenager

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger portrays a rebellious teenager who has run away from everything. Throughout the book, he gets himself into trouble several times all while his parents think he is still in the school that he flunked out of. Set aside from running away, Holden makes many mistakes and does things that would never be expected from a 16 year old boy. Many people say that this book encourages teens to rebel against society’s expectations by his actions of drinking, smoking, and breaking the rules, but it is through these actions Holden accomplishes nothing.
As the story progresses, Holden’s alcohol and tobacco intake increases, but only seems to affect him negatively, showing readers the dangers of doing these

things, especially for an underage teen struggling with depression.

While Holden is staying in a hotel after running away from his prep school, he smokes several cigarettes, “I sat in the chair for a while and smoked a couple of cigarettes” (98). Most people would smoke one cigarette, but Holden sits and smokes a couple, and knowing that Holden tends to exaggerate the truth he most likely smoked several. Some people may say that Holden smoking is an inappropriate image to be seen by readers, but really it is a symbol of his depression, as he smokes more and more at a time as the story goes on. Later on in the story Holden goes out to a bar and is served, and becomes very drunk. He walks into the bathroom and sits on the radiator, and begins to cry, “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (153). Instead of seeking help, Holden smokes and drinks to try and escape his pain, but it helps him in no way. After leaving the bar Holden has a breaking point, with all his depression and alcohol/tobacco intake taking a toll on him. He is outside in the cold after having many

cigarettes and drinks and sits down on a bench, “Boy, I was still shivering like a bastard, and the back of my hair, even though I had my hunting hat on, was sort of full of little chunks of ice. That worried me. I thought probably I’d get pneumonia and die” (154). Holden is going through a very difficult time and doesn’t know how to deal with it any way besides smoking and drinking, and the effects are harmful to him physically and emotionally. To be outside in the cold, shivering and thinking of dying, is a bad place to be, and instead of smoking and drinking he should just have called home.
Another way Holden rebels against society is the way he feels about women and sex.

He goes back and forth throughout the story about his feelings on sex. He respects women more than most boys his age, but he glosses over the truth saying, “I don’t mean I’m oversexed or anything like that - although I am quite sexy” (54). The way Holden describes his feelings are constantly contradicting his own statements, but deep down he respects women for more than sexual purposes. He even admits eventually that he is a virgin after talking about how “sexy” he is. Later on in the story Holden stays at an old hotel after running away from school. He is feeling bored and lonely, so he decides to call a girl that he knows sleeps with younger boys, “I was feeling pretty horny… I started looking for this address a guy I met at a party last summer gave me… She used to be a burlesque stripper or something” (63). I think that when Holden says he is feeling horny, he is actually just lonely. I think that he again is glossing over the truth, and tries to have a date for the night that he can sleep with, but in reality he just wants someone to be with. Later on that evening, after the girl he calls says that it is too late to see Holden, he goes out feeling lonely and dances for a while until it is very late in the evening and he heads back to his room. On his way to his room a man asks him if he would like “a little tail” for the night, leading Holden agree to pay for a girl for the night and lie

about his age. Once the girl is sent to Holden’s room, he begins feeling more and more nervous. He realizes he made a mistake inviting her to the room, and asks her if they can just talk and relax and avoid any sexual contact. After the girl leaves and claims Holden owes her more than the original price, the man in charge of her arrives in Holden’s room and roughs him up telling him he owes more money. Holden refuses to pay, and is punched and knocked down in the gut by the man. Holden lays on the ground feeling awful from being beat, and thinks to himself, “What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window” (104). The sheer feeling going through Holden at this point is very dangerous, and shows how depressed Holden really is. He didn’t want to sleep with the girl in the first place, but he still put himself in the situation because of his impulsive decisions he makes. Instead of receiving any sort of satisfaction from hiring the prostitute, Holden only feels more pain and depression.
The start of Holden’s rebellion in the book that pushed his depression to a new level was running away and leaving school. At the very beginning of the book, Holden is standing on the top of a hill looking down on Pencey, the school he has recently flunked out of, thinking, “They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself - especially around midterms, when my parents came up for a conference with old Thurmer - but I didn’t do it” (4). He doesn’t care about his academic Holden’s careless attitude towards school as a whole has resulted in being flunked out of several schools by this point. Although Holden appears as an unintelligent individual, he explains his love for reading, “I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot” (18). Holden enjoys reading and explains also how he hates the movies. This shows that Holden could apply himself and do well in school, but he makes the decision not to. He chooses to leave his prep school he has been expelled from a few days early, to clear his head. “I stood for a while next to the corridor. I was sort of crying. I don’t know why” (52). He is clearly upset that he is leaving another school, and knowing how he tends to bend the truth he was most likely bawling. I think that he knows he is the one who is at fault for failing all his classes, and it upsets him.
Holden experiences a rough few days, some of the worst he has ever had. During these days after ditching school he spends his time smoking, drinking, hiring a prostitute, and almost committing suicide. Reading this book doesn’t inspire teens to run away and rebel the way Holden does, but it shows us the miserable pain brought to Holden through doing these things.