Holden Caulfield Selfish

Holden Caulfield is an intriguing character. He comes across as an alienated, confused, and depressed teenager. It is easy to draw conclusions about him based on how he presents himself on the outside. However, beyond the apparent, there is a reason behind the troubled teen that Holden seems to be. As illustrated in Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a deeply troubled young person who is struggling with a fear of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. He often attempts to act like adults because he desires to be a grown up, however, his actions and thoughts expose his immaturity. Holden desires to be the perfect adult who preserves children’s innocence, it is almost as if he is attempting to rectify an error that was made in his own

life.
Holden is quick to judge without getting sufficient details. He thinks negatively of many things, almost everyone is a moron to him. “They started giggling some more. I’m not kidding, they were three real morons” (J.D. Salinger 79). Holden makes it harder for people to sympathize with him because of how he acts. He hates almost everything and has a negative attitude majority of the time. It takes great patience to go beyond his attitude and try to understand his struggle, something that many people do not hold. It is uncomplicated to conclude that Holden acts the way he does because he is a teenager, and while this is imaginable, it is important to consider all possible reasons for his actions. Most teenagers go through this phase that Holden is experiencing, a phase of confusion and rebellion against religion, culture, friends, teachers, parents, or other people in general. There are reasons behind teenage rebellion, some more understandable than others. For instance, often when teenagers rebel against their religion or culture, their rebellion is their way of taking time to explore the various cultures and beliefs that could potentially be a place where they belong.
Salinger writes about this kind of teenage nature, more specifically, about Holden. He has been kicked out of three different schools and he does not seem to care much about that. In the book, Salinger thoroughly expresses his thoughts and emotions. He gives clear cut details of his thought process and this puts into perspective how relatable of a person Holden can be. The article, Of Teen Angst and an Author’s Alienation, in The New York Times states, “...Catcher, published in 1951, remains one of the books that adolescents first fall in love with — a book that intimately articulates what it is to be young and sensitive and precociously existential, a book that first awakens them to the possibilities of literature” (Michiko Kakutani). Salinger focuses on a character, who countless teenagers connect with because he reveals their sensitivity that adults tend to overlook. They conclude that all teens mental state is because of hormones. Holden is going through a confusing stage in his life and Allie’s death does not help the situation.
An essay, Love and Death in Catcher in the Rye, says “For although Allie's death might be cited to account for much of Holden's behavior, no single act or expression of his stands out as inexplicable without reference to Allie. His brother's death exacerbates rather than constitutes Holden's adolescent crisis” (Peter Shaw). Death is a tragic event that has a negative effect on people. It is difficult to deal with the death of a loved one. It is even more difficult not dealing with the death and masking over the pain. Holden did not deal with Allie’s death. He was in a stage of denial for a long time, he did not think that Allie’s death had much of an effect on him. In Catcher in the Rye, when Allie died he says, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist just for the hell of it” (Salinger 44). Holden believes he punched the windows because he wanted to, he does not realize that he was frustrated about his brother’s death. Holden tried believe that he did not care about Allie since he was dead. He even says, “Who wants flowers when you’re dead?” (Salinger 179). Holden tried to convince himself that because Allie died he did not matter anymore.
The world is an enormous place but somehow it is also very lonesome.

Each person is absorbed in their own world, they hardly check on the next person. In the article, The Books of the Times it is stated that, “Holden is bewildered, lonely, ludicrous and pitiful. His troubles, his failings are not of his own making but of a world that is out of joint”(Nash K. Burger). Holden’s only friends are children and even then, he cannot really identify with them. He does not have many friends of his own age, he has no one to confide in. This has also played a major role in the person he is. He has no one he identifies with, however his desolation is partly because of his own doing. Holden pushes people away because he does not want to get too attached to them. He does not want to miss people in the event that they abandon him. Holden’s defense mechanism has caused him to distance himself from other people and miss out on opportunities to build new

friendships.
“It is difficult to be sympathetic toward the frustrations of a youth who is privileged to ride in cabs and go to the theater.

The act of exiting from the rear door of the bus to accommodate others hardly qualifies as a discontent of civilization” (Peter Shaw). It is understandable that Holden’s attitude towards life upsets people. His life seems so unrealistic that it is hard to label him as a relatable character. He comes across as an immature over privileged teen who always complains. Despite his immaturity, it is crucial to understand the place that he is coming from. Not only is Holden a teenager going through changes, he is also struggling to deal with the death of his brother. For that reason, it is considerable to be more compassionate towards

him.
The New York Times Article mentions that, “Holden wants to be the catcher in the rye, who keeps kids from falling off a cliff...” (Michiko Kakutani). Holden seems to value children’s innocence. He wants to preserve their innocence and conserve that part life that he believes to be the good part of life. It seems like Holden lost a big part of himself as he was growing up and this made him feel like his life is miserable because things changed. He does not want life to change for other children as it did for him. There is a void in Holden’s life that he cause him to considered suicide. Suicide felt like the way out of his problems and out of his depression. Holden tried to fill the emptiness inside of him by lying and making up fake images of who he is. Holden needed help but he did not realize this because he did not let anyone into his life. The transition to becoming a teenager was really difficult for him because of Allie’s death. He struggled to accept his brother’s death ad move past it because his parents were not there for him emotionally. Holden however, felt like he was depressed because things changed when he grew up.