Holden Caulfield's Homosexuality

The Catcher in the Rye, a novel by J.D. Salinger, follows the adolescent misadventures of Holden Caulfield, a Caucasian, upper-class male who struggles with feelings of isolation in New York in the 1950s. Although Caulfield seems like he does not have disadvantages on the surface, he suffers greatly inside. Partnered with the grief of his young brother’s death, Holden struggles with the pain of growing up and of a sexual awakening he does not understand. Holden Caulfield’s feelings of alienation and loneliness stem from his repressed homosexual feelings, in a time where having homosexual tendencies was seen as mentally ill behavior.

Holden’s relationships with the characters, Ward Stradlater and Carl Luce, show his hidden feelings and his perceptions

of homosexuality, respectively. Stradlater is Holden’s roommate at Pencey, who is well-known for his amorous adventures with girls. Holden has sexual and romantic feelings for Stradlater, noting that “he always walked around in his bare torso because he thought he had a damn good build”(34). In the same line, Holden admitted that he truly did and that he was “pretty handsome.” Although admiring other males is seen as normal, Holden’s actions go beyond innocent observation.
Holden’s view of Carl Luce contributes to his perception of his self and his own sexuality. Carl Luce is a former schoolmate of Holden’s who was knowledgeable about sex and male and female homosexuality. Known for his night-time sexual discussions, Luce also had the reputation of goosing (poking one between the buttocks) other boys and talking to them while they were in the bathroom together, actions Holden characterizes as “flitty” or homosexual. Ironically, earlier in the novel, Holden not only talks with a barely-clothed Stradlater in the restroom, but he tackles and wrestles with him in the same scene. Whether a flirtatious or platonic act, it is clear that Holden has performed acts that he associates with homosexuality.
One of the defining moments of the novel that deals with Holden’s sexuality is the hiring of the prostitute, Sunny. When Maurice, the pimp, approaches Holden by the elevator of the hotel, Holden is at a low point. Not only has he gotten slightly intoxicated, he is quite depressed and feeling dejected. His decision to solicit sex is rash and unwise one, but it does help the reader understand Holden’s sexuality more. Throughout the novel, he tells us that he feels sometimes “sexy” and emphasizes his heterosexuality in a way that makes the readers suspect otherwise. He admits that he has trouble being sexually intimate with a member of the opposite sex when he says, “...when I'm horsing around with a girl, I have a helluva lot of trouble just finding what I'm looking for, for God's sake, if you know what I mean”(Insert page number here).
When Sunny arrives in his hotel room, Holden is quite nervous and resists the prostitute’s attempts at seduction.

This nervousness and reaction is a combination of his emotional immaturity and his discomfort with sexual relations with females. He also tells the prostitute that his name is “Jim Steele.” Now this could just be a precaution for his own safety, but Holden has acted rashly throughout his time in New York, so what does he have to lose by telling a prostitute that he will never meet again his real name? Could this be an attempt to shed his homosexual side and embrace a more heterosexual persona? The whole situation showed us that Holden’s main reason for hiring Sunny was to try to “cure” himself of his homosexuality by forcing himself to experience sex with a female, hoping this would make him happier with life and

himself.
The one adult who truly connects with Holden is Mr.

Antolini. He is a young, charismatic, and clever English instructor who we infer is a homosexual. Although he is married, the fact that he is married to a far older woman and that the couple is noted by Holden to almost never be seen in a room together, we can assert that Antolini and his wife are either in a platonic relationship or are married to each other to cover up Mr. Antolini’s homosexual tendencies, surprisingly common of time. He provides Holden with a vision of the future. His lifestyle is something Holden will emulate if he follows society’s conventions. Marrying someone like Sally Hales, settling down, but suppressing his own true feeling is something that a homosexual would have to do if they wanted to perceived as a mentally healthy and normal individual and is something Holden sees as salvation from his struggle with

homosexuality.
During Holden’s visit the Antolinis’ apartment, the advice he receives not only addresses his trouble in school, but the alienation and depression that stem from his closeted homosexulity. Antolini tells him that his current troubles or “fall” is “designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with” (page number). As we know, homosexuals were not socially accepted. Antolini, with assertion that he himself is a homosexual, is trying to tell Holden to accept his sexuality and wait for a social climate that is accepting to come out publicly. He has done that with his wife and he believes Holden would benefit from it to.
When Holden wakes up to find Mr. Antolini patting his head, he finds himself confused. For the first time, Holden is faced with another male consciously wanting to have sex with him. Throughout the novel, he has struggled with these feelings, from wrestling with Stradlater to hiring a prostitute to try to “fix himself”. Here he has a choice: To respond to the sexual advances or to flee. In the end, he runs from the Antolinis’ apartment, but we have to wonder: was this the right choice? Mr. Antolini’s action are not to take advantage of Holden, but to help him accept himself. As with Sunny, Antolini is trying to “fix” Holden through a sexual experience.