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Abby Leisure
Professor Dziech
ENGL 2089
02 March 2017
Reflection #9: Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye

While many students across the country read J.D. Salingers The Catcher in the Rye in

high school, this was my first time reading the book. I really enjoyed it and found it to be an easy

read. The book recounts three days in the life of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old who has just

been kicked out of yet another private prep school. In these three days, Holden leaves his former

school and heads back into New York City to experience the city and enjoy himself before his

parents receive the news of his expulsion. Holden shares his inner thoughts, allowing the reader

to see many sides of him. As a whole, Holden is immature, confused, and struggling to face

reality and the expectations that have been set for him by both his parents and society. He has

trouble forming relationships and finds fault in nearly everybody he encounters. By declaring

people as phonies, morons, jerks, or flits, Holden allows himself to reject others before he can be

rejected himself causing him to always feel alone. Even through these faults, Holden is a likeable

character who is trying to establish his role in the world, a sympathetic endeavor for many

millennials.

Holden immediately assesses everybody he comes into contact with whether it is his

classmates at Pencey Prep or the New Yorkers he meets on the street. For example, Holden

describes Robert Ackley who shared the room next to him at Pencey as a regular annoyance.

Holden says, His teeth were always mossy-looking, and his ears were always dirty as hell, but

he was always cleaning his fingernails. I guess he thought that made him a very neat guy (22).

While Holdens assessments are very entertaining to the reader, they lack true depth. Holden has
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more interaction with Ackley in this story than anybody else at Pencey, yet he merely views

Ackley as a pimply moron. He fails to dive deeper and see his true character. He immediately

rejects Ackley and throws away the thought of ever forming a true relationship. When Holden

runs into his brothers old girlfriend Lillian Simmons at a bar, he immediately describes her as

strictly a phony (86). Holden doesnt know how to interact with her, so he labels her with one

of his terms. He is so flustered by their brief conversation that he ends up leaving the bar to avoid

having to stay and talk to Lillian. This interaction like many others show Holdens lack of social

skills.

While Holdens interactions show his distaste for most people, his interactions with a few

select characters such as his sister Phoebe and two nuns he meets at breakfast one day allow his

compassionate and caring side to shine through. His love for his sister Phoebe is evident even

though he struggles to express it. When Holden decides he is leaving for good, he must say

goodbye to Phoebe and return her money. He fails to say goodbye to anybody else in this life, but

he must say goodbye to her. When Phoebe gets mad about him leaving, he decides to take her to

the zoo showing he does truly care about her feelings. It is watching her on the carousel that

makes Holden sincerely happy in his most depressive state. He says, I felt so damn happy all of

the sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling (213).

These small moments make Holden likable, and it is clear that he is not a bad person just stuck

and not sure how to handle the world in which he lives. Holden respects women a lot more than

most of his former classmates. He struggles deeply with the idea of casual sex and believes sex

should only happen between two people who deeply care and respect one another. Because he is

unable to force himself to enjoy casual sex, he feels further alienated from the rest of his peers.

He goes as far as to hire a prostitute one night in a hotel, only to reject having sex with her and
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paying her anyway. This quality makes Holden redeemable even though he cant see that, and it

makes him feel like an outcast even further.

I respect Holden because he stays true to himself and his beliefs. He struggles to find his

identity, but throughout this struggle, he stays true to himself and doesnt just confirm to

societys standards. He makes decisions based on his own moral beliefs even if his own morals

dont align with his peers opinions. I think many millennials have some of the same feelings as

Holden does, although I think most do not struggle with them as much as Holden. I cant say I

see much of myself in Holden. I never struggled with my feelings or forming relationships with

those around me, and I am pretty confident on in my goals in life. Holdens feelings are extreme

and exaggerated, but they are certainly present in many people. While I am hopeful that Holden

will recover, I dont believe he ever truly will. In the last chapter, Holden responds to the

question of if he will apply himself in school next semester by answering, Its such a stupid

question in my opinion. I think I am, but how do I know? I swear its a stupid question (213). It

doesnt appear that treatment is having any effect on Holden, and he seems to have the same

attitude he did before his breakdown. He even describes D.B.s girl as pretty affected, but good-

looking (213). This brief description is no different than the ones he used to describe girls

before his treatment. Holden even seems to regret sharing his story as it causes him to miss the

people in the story such as Stradlater and Ackley. He doesnt want to experience these feelings.

Holden will never recover fully until he is able to express his feelings and form true relationships

with those around him.