Holden Caulfield Enemies

BP-1 Tests, Allies, Enemies
The protagonist, Holden Caulfield, through interactions with other experience tests, meets allies, and enemies. Holden struggles with being socially accepted, so he tries to overcompensate to make up for the lack of social skills he possesses. Holden constantly feels inferior in comparison to others around him, and similar to Adler diagnosis on “compensation theory” suggesting, someone who feels “inferior” to other will constantly try to cover up their weaknesses such as pretending to be someone who they aren’t in Holden’s case(Compensation theory). Holden refuses to accept his maturity level and progress, so he tries to prove he is more “mature” than he actually is by having an “adult lifestyle” by attempting

to partying or flirt with older women. For example, Holden tries to persuade a classmate’s mother that she should have drink with him before she rejects Holden’s offer because she is aware he isn’t old enough to be drinking (57).

Likewise, Holden attempts to make an arrangement with a prostitute with the incentive of proving he is a mature man, but backs out due to nervousness(66-67). Holden realizes he isn’t mature or confident enough to sleep with the prostitute so ends up attempting to maintain a conversation with her for his time being. Holden’s love interest, Sally Hayes, is an ally who helps Holden begin to emotionally open up and trust her throughout their time spent together over the Summer break. Likewise, Holden becomes his own worst enemy due to his “black and white thinking” that forms his negative outlook on the world, causing coping challenges that further contribute to his crippling mental state. Ph.D Glenn Geher would reiterate that Holden posses the quality of this form of thinking because Holden simply tried to categorize aspects of the world or his life as “good or bad” without taking into consideration the natural fluctuation in mental state. The bullies Holden encounters such as Morease, who blackmail him into paying more for the prostitute put a strain on personal growth and his ability to form confidence (103). Holden is unable to stand up for himself because he doesn’t have the strength physically or emotionally to try to be able to defend

himself against a more mature man. Throughout the novel, Holden makes friends,foes, and is tested to see how much he can endure.
Holden meets few prominent mentors throughout the novel who are comforting to him because they allow him to relive the past not the present. Allie and Phoebe are both mentors to Holden because he enjoys reminiscing about all the memorable times they spend together. Allie is significant because he reminds Holden of his positive experiences with his brother before Allie has passed. Furthermore, Holden struggles when Allie first passed away and violently reacts displaying his impaired judgement due to the stress of losing a family member (38-39). Holden admires his brother for being able to work past hardships and emotionally express himself through his unique poetry on his baseball mitt a becomes a symbolic item of remembering his brother. Holden’s other prominent mentor is his sister, Phoebe, who sticks by his side throughout the entire and novel ultimately encouraging him to face his problems by being inspirational to Holden. Likewise, Holden emphasizes essential qualities he needs to succeed that Phoebe possesses, “You never saw .... she’s really smart. I mean she’s had all A’s ever since she started school”(67). Holden is able to face his problems because he has met the psychological “need of belonginess and love needs” to try to reach his goal of being able to succeed at obtaining his goal( Maslow Hierarchy). After forming a stronger relationship with Phoebe more of his psychological needs are met because Holden feels comfortable trusting his sister and becomes more affiliated with others around him instead of isolating himself from others as a defense mechanism.Holden’s ideology on people around him is very similar to Chris McCandless from Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild because they both struggle to form connections with others and have relationship issues with their family. “He acted like it was it was hard for him to be around people...It was pretty obvious he didn’t get along with his family” ( Krakauer 63). McCandless like Holden posses a negative relationship with family that causes himself to isolate himself from family similar to Holden wanting to run away after being kicked out of school to avoid facing judgement from family. Holden and McCandless both possess stronger relationships with their sisters that others in the family and face difficult being put in social situations with others because they feel the need to isolate themselves from others. The isolation that they have common changes causes them to feel more stress and less empathy in reaction to emotional stimulants(Edmonds). Holden and McCandless face difficulty relating to others emotionally and feel uncomfortable trying to connect with others similar to how Holden leaves his English teacher’s house because he is uncomfortable when being around others so long because he is used to being alone.Therefore, Holden’s mentors strengthen his relationship he has with others because his mentors reassure hope that he is able to trust others.
BP-3 Ordeal:
Holden experiences many obstacles also known as an ordeal throughout the novel with his own conflicting thoughts and those around him.

Holden’s thoughts emphasized to the reader that he is state of mind is very disoriented and so Holden comes off as unsure of his opinions causing contradictions. Critics of the book highly disagree on why Holden comes of as contradicting throughout the novel. Dan Porter suggested Holden acts in a hypocritical manner to avoid taking responsibility for his actions (goodreads). I disagree with the perspective that being hypocritical has a correlation to him avoiding taking responsibility but his mental health is large aspect of him avoiding responsibility. While I will admit that Holden did have actions that cause contradictions and could be even referenced as being hypocritical, Holden doesn’t take responsibility for his actions because of the feelings of depression he experiences that distort his judgement making it difficult for him to efficiently progress throughout the novel to reach his goals. In addition, after being beat up and taken advantage Holden remarked how he feels suicide. “What I really felt like,though,was committing suicide...I was all gory” (104). Holden struggling to maintain good mental health eventually leads to his downfall. His mental state makes it difficult for him to succeed and motivate himself to do well when he sees so much negativity. Holden has emotional response after agreeing to take sister's Christmas money

to be able to run away from the rest of his family.“Then all the sudden I started to cry. I couldn’t help it” (179). Holden feels it’s demeaning for him to take financial support from his young sister who isn’t aware how Holden is struggling. Phoebe giving Holden money is a tribute to the support she is willing to offer even it may have consequences for herself. The most prominent example of the ordeal is when Holden plans on visiting his previous English teacher, Mr. Antolini, when Holden begins to feel uncomfortable when Mr. Antolini tries to comfort him. “ I felt something on my head…, it was just Mr.Antolini’s hand”(191). Holden struggles feeling connected to anyone and when Mr. Antolini tries to comfort Holden when sleeping by putting his hand on Holden’s head Holden wakes up and is upset so he leaves. Comfort instead of being alone makes him stressed and uncomfortable because he isn’t used to being comforted by anyone besides his sister. Therefore, Holden's ordeal is when he must leave Mr. Antolini’s house because he feels uncomfortable.