Process Paper

Released AP Literature Question: Write an essay about a novel or play in which a character who
appears briefly-or does not appear at all-is still a significant presence. Describe how the
character functions in the work and how he or she affects such matters as action, theme, or
development of other characters.
In J.D. Salingers bildungsroman novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Allie Caulfield, brother
to the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, remains the epitome of beauty against the grotesque in the
world that leads Holden to make the decision of either accepting the responsibilities that come
with adulthood or to run from it. Although Allie does not appear directly in the plot, he still
impacts Holdens perspective about the world as a whole. Through Allies missing presence,
Holden views the world as being cruel and believes that no one could empathize with him. Thus
drawing back from society and its demands, Holden believes that he had no one to confide in
other than his little sister, Phoebe. Allie influences Holdens perspective of the world he is in by
the motif he comes to be, the analogy that Holden creates, and the imagery that Holden revisits
through memories.
To shed light on one would be to show faults in the otherwhen compared to the only
pure good in the world, all surroundings seem to grow more foul. Holden, who was never one to
leave the past in the past, indulges in fond memories of Alliehis once beloved living brother
then resurfaces in the world. Reunited with its horrendous broken walls tainted in vulgar words
meant to bring the world down to its hideous core, Holden refrains from wanting to take any part

in it. Claiming Allie to be one of the good people to grace the earth, Holden holds grudges
against the world for taking away such a blessing. The juxtapositional analogy between Allie and
the vulgarly tainted museum leads for Holden to carry biases on his back and discontempt in his
palms. Knowing not what the world would do with such a blessing as Allie if he were still alive,
the death of Allie does not tip the balance of the earth, but weighs Holdens view of it to the side
of everlasting disgust. Holden shies away from the worlds faade of becoming an adult when he
is reminded of his ethereal brother, and with this memory finds that the world is worse than he
had imagined.
Rich ear-to-ear smiles hang on the faces of children as they play in their seemingly
everlasting serenity. Memories replay Allie and his curly red hair in all its youth and fruitfulness
as Holden reminisces in the purity of childhood. Holden plays baseball with Allie in his
memories as he reads through the poems written on Allies mitt. Coming to realize that no phrase
is the same when one person stops saying it, Allie is forged from Holdens memory as kind,
precious, and the only real good the world had to offer, creating a beautiful aura one can easily
suffocate in. Allies presence in the world was as limited to daylight is to dusk. Holden runs in
search of the warmth that used to grace his features when the embodiment of an angel was still
existed on the earth. The imagery Holden creates by comparing the vile world to his pure brother
swells the world to seem even more cavernous and vast. Allie in all his good nature brings a part
of life into light: childhood. With no responsibilities weighing down eager shoulders, children
are able to run as they choose; blind to the viciousness in world they have yet to become aware
of. Holdens perception of Allie from an unadulterated childhood shapes the gap of adulthood to
seem ravenousever hungry to corrupt clean-slatted minds. The dirty staircases, the vandalized
public museumsincluding the people who seem to vandalize themselves willinglypaint the

world in dark consuming hues. The light Allie resembles drags Holden to dream of the world as
ghastly as he believes it to be.
Brought up throughout the book, Allie becomes a motif built up to be the cliff Holden
himself stands and peers down from. Holden stands guard at his heavens gate saving those who
he believes shouldnt fall down into the corruptness of the real world below. Growing stronger as
Holden continues to run away, Allie, the light of all that is righteous and good, leads Holden to
see more of the demoralization the world harbors. Holden decides to run from responsibilities
when he is on the borderline of childhood to adulthood and realizes that the light he had created
of his brother from his memory was just as consuming as the corrupt darkness that is the world.
Allie is a memory that reappears when Holden comes close to the perversion in the world. No
matter how Holden tends to run away from his responsibilities, he cannot live in a purely good
world where children exist without the atrocious world of the adults. Allie wouldnt be as
wonderful as Holden remembers him without having a vulgar world to compare him to. With the
analogy created between Allie and the world, Holden soon finds that he can no longer handle
either, and though the ambiguous ending casts Holden on a road to growing up, Holden has
actually lost himself in both darkness and light. Without Allie, Holden wouldnt have seen the
dividing difference between the odious corruptness of adulthood and the pure essence of
childhood.
As Allie is an ideal reconstructed from memory, the contrast between the pure, childish
good in the world and the tainted, nasty presence in the world widens Holdens view on society
as whole. He finds that he cant prevent others from fleeing responsibilities when he himself
could not run from them. The world is consuming and ravenous, and no matter how good
someone seems, the world will chew them up and spit them out. Allie was a blessing not given to

Holden for long, but his presence, though short, had a prominent effect on the outcome of
Holdens life. The distinction between Allie and adulthood are shown through the lasting motif,
analogy, and imagery which shape Holdens decisions and perspective for the future.