Holden Caulfield Conformity

Everyone finds it difficult to fit in with society’s expectations at some point, although in the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, finds it more difficult than most. Salinger's novel is about a boy coming of age, grieving over his dead younger brother, and learning how to accept the corrupt world around him. Through the characterization of Holden Caulfield, JD salinger develops the theme that the world we live in is corrupt and full of conformists.

The main character, Holden, sees adults as conformists and has trouble accepting that reality. Holden is walking through New York City when he decides to go watch the Rockettes at Radio City. Holden feels sickened as the “Rockettes were kicking their

heads off [...] in line with their arms around each other’s waist” (152). Holden hates to see all these women conformed to a line kicking and dancing at the same time while the “audience applauded like mad” (152). Not only was Holden disgusted by the women integrated into a line, but was also appalled how the audience was encouraging it. In the society that Holden feels trapped in, people are being guided into following the same rules and judgement without leeway, leaving Holden feeling lost wondering where his place is. A year before, Holden had gone to see the same show with his friend, Sally Hayes, and remembers feeling nauseated when “she kept saying how beautiful it was, the costumes and all” (152). Holden sees the costumes as covers for people to hide their real personalities and feelings as they try to conform with the rest of the group. He dislikes the costumes because he’s trying to form human connections, but is unable to do that if there is a cover in the way. He is longs for a relationship like he once had with his younger brother, Allie, or his once close friend, Jane Gallagher. Holden is disgusted by the conformity he is witnessing and doesn't want to be a part of it.
In the same way that Holden hates watching strangers being conformists, he also feels sick watching his friend, Sally Hayes, conforming into society.

Holden and Sally were finished watching a show when Sally sees a boy she knew “from somewhere” (141). The boy and Sally walk over to one another and they say hello as if “they hadn't seen each other in twenty years”(141). Holden finds this reunion nauseating because Sally and this boy didn't actually “know” (141) one another, but instead probably met just once at a party. Since the boy went to an ivy league school this is another example of Sally Hayes wanting to conform with the elite and increase her popularity. As the conversation between Sally and the boy continued she “started talking about a lot of people they both knew” (142). Holden felt this was the “phoniest conversation [he] ever heard in [his] life” (142). This was because Holden knows Sally Hayes was name dropping for her own self promotion. Sally doesn’t care about the boy, or want a real conversation with him; instead, she was being shallow and using him to her advantage. Holden and Sally then walk over to the ice rink, where Sally was given a skirt to wear. She then would keep “walking ahead of [Holden], so that [he’d] see how cute her little ass looked” (143). All Sally wanted was attention and would show off in any given opportunity. Sally conformed with all the other girls who were also wearing those skirts. Holden finds it repulsive to see anyone conform to

society and only seek attention
Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator to say the entire adult world is corrupt, but there is truth to what he witnesses. Today in our lives we turn on the news, and almost everyday there is a new person held accountable for sexual assault or harassment. Young adults conform to the belief that the small selection of Ivy League schools is the only way to success. These expectations and reality of society are corrupt and should be abolished.