Holden Caulfield Comparison

Unlike other protagonists with amazing superpowers or cunning wits, the characters from the film Rushmore, and the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” share many of the same characteristics. In Wes Anderson’s film, Rushmore, the main character, Max Fischer, played by Jason Schwartzman has an unprecedented amount of similarities to J.D Salinger’s character Holden Caulfield from “The Catcher in the Rye”. Both stories focus on the idea of children wanting to grow up quickly whilst still being too immature to do so. The similarities include their personality traits, and the relationships they have, but the characters also differ in one major way, their views on sex. These similarities create a feel of familiarity in the reader or viewer allowing them

to create a deeper connection with the characters in each story; the different opinions on sex from both boys also allows the reader and viewer to see how different forms of immaturity affects different people.
In the movie Rushmore, Max Fischer, a fifteen-year-old boy attends Rushmore Academy one of the top schools in the United States.

He was accepted into the school after receiving a full academic scholarship; the one act play he wrote and directed while in the second grade showed the dean of the school Max Fischer’s academic promise. Although, Fischer’s grades end up putting him on academic probation; henceforth, causing him to be later suspended and expelled. This sequence of events is eerily similar to the one we see in the “The Catcher in the Rye” Holden Caulfield: a sixteen-year-old boy filled with promise and also gifted with his ability to write was also expelled from his school Pencey Prep for academic insubordination. In Caulfield’s case the see his own English teacher recognize his writing when his roommate Stradlater asks him to write a descriptive essay but not to do it to good because “that son of a bitch Hartsell knows you’re a hot shot at English”. (Salinger). The recognition from Caulfield’s teacher exemplifies that his writing skill was not just one recognized by his peers but by people of authority as well. Fischer and Caulfield both are unwilling to apply themselves in school leading the reader to believe these characters are both immature sue

to their ability to recognize what is truly important – their education. In the novel Caulfield’s while thinking to himself thinks that “I still act like I (am) only about twelve. Everybody says that especially my father.” (Salinger). This quote explicitly states that not only does Holden’s dad think he is immature, but he knows it as well. Fischer, on the other side of the spectrum, acts immature but is not aware of it like Holden is. Max’s signs of immaturity are less obvious within his education other but rather the fact that he disregards his school to focus on his pursuit of Ms. Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). Ms. Cross even describes Fischer as a “little [child]” (Williams). This description sheds light onto a side of Fischer he does not want to accept but his actions lead to Ms. Cross’ accurate use of the words “little [child]” (Williams). The immaturity within the characters is also what leads them to struggle with meaningful relationships.

The relationship struggles in these two stories begin with the families that Caulfield and Fischer grew up in.

These two children both attempt to alienate themselves from their parents Caulfield thinks to I would never go away to another school and… then I’d hitch hike my way out west” (Salinger), he also never plans to say goodbye to his parents and only planned to say goodbye to his younger sister Phoebe. Moreover, Max isolates himself from his father in one instant when he tells is father that his dinner after his show was cast and crew only; the dinner was for Ms. Cross and Herman Blume. While at dinner with Ms. Cross, Blume and Ms. Cross’ guest, Max begins to let his emotions fly after he has had a drink and confesses his love for Ms. Cross. This immature act is then followed by countless more acts of pure desperation including faking a head injury to get inside Ms. Cross’ house and attempting to kiss her. These acts end up destroying the friendship Fischer had with Ms. Cross. In the case of Caulfield, he has one girl who could be described as “the one that got away”, Jane Gallagher is a girl whom Caulfield spent an abundance of time with one year at a cottage in Maine. Although never present in the story we only hear positives about Jane and how she “always kept her kings in the back row” (Salinger). As the story progresses we only see Caulfield make one attempt to reach out to Jane and when it is unsuccessful he never tries again, Holden withheld future attempts

because he was scared of seeing what was in his eyes, the perfect girl and her not being what he remembered. The idea of going out with any girl was hard for Caulfield because he would always compare them to Jane Gallagher, the perfect girl. One encounter that neither boy had on their journey with women was sex and it may have been due to their very differing opinions.

Sex. An encounter most people have in their lifetime but always a controversial topic. For Caulfield, sex was an intimate experience to be shared with someone you loved and was meant to be special. Whereas to Fischer sex was something often joked about or used as a motivator. Caulfield had the opportunity to have sex while on his journey in New York after he requested a prostitute come to his room yet, when she arrived Caulfield was unable to go through with having sex because he saw the prostitute as a person and not just an object of sex. “I thought of her going in a store and buying it, and nobody in the store knowing she was a prostitute and all… It made me feel sad as hell—I don't know why exactly.” (Salinger). This thought from Caulfield’s hotel room was one that truly shows that he cares more about who he has sex with then the sex itself where Fischer does not seem to care. Max Fischer puts on some what of a sex god persona at Rushmore Academy when he tells Magnus Buchan about how he was “getting a handjob from Mrs. Calloway in the back of her Jaguar” (Schwartzman). This was a lie, but Fischer used it so that he would seem superior to his peers. This was contradicted when in another scene Fischer enters Ms. Cross’ room and says “So this is where it happens” (Schwartzman) and she says back “where what happens” (Williams) and Fischer says nothing. This blunt question proves that Fischer really has no emotional connection to sex and for him it is more of a right of passage to growing up.

Throughout the two storylines we see major similarities and differences between Fischer and Caulfield. The similarities and differences truly highlight the characters immaturity and show how the boys are unable to form relationships, their ideologies behind sex and how they do not understand what is truly important in their life. The maturity of the boys will only grow once they begin to understand the smaller things in their life but until then they will remain parallel to one another.