Holden Caulfield Character Analysis

Have you ever read a book and connected with the main character? For example, when I read the book The Catcher in the Rye, I connected with the main character’s daily struggles. Holden Caulfield is not technically a real person, but people can still relate to him. Holden has many real-life struggles just like most people. Most people can relate to him in this book. There are many struggles that Holden goes through that some people can relate too, like his relationship with others, behavior, and his traumatic past. In the book, The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger the main character Holden represents the voice of real people because of his relationship with others, his actions, and his traumatic past.

One of the ways that Holden represents the voice of real people is his relationship with others. Holden does not have many friends but the friends he does have he cares about. Holden is a very judgmental person to everyone including his friends. In the book, it said, “He was one of these very, very tall, round-shouldered guys- he was about six-four- with lousy teeth” (Salinger 19) People can relate to this because

Holden is a very independent person, but when he gets mad or frustrated he doesn’t make the best decisions and I believe most people can relate to that. There is a part of the book where he got mad at Stradlater and tried to hurt him. Holden and Stradlater were in an argument about Jane “...and then [Holden] I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddamn throat open” (Salinger 43). Holden does not have the best control over his emotions, which most people haven’t learned yet. Most people have at least thought about doing something like this when they were mad at someone.That’s one of the reasons why people can relate to him so much. Not only do people relate to him because of his behavior but also his traumatic past which shaped him into who he