RUNNING HEAD: Holden’s View of the World

Holden’s View of the World

Professor Seymour

January 6, 2022

Robert Hoth

North Central Michigan College

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Growing up with a rougher childhood than most children his age, Holden began to walk

a different path which gave him different ideas about the world around him. Being sent away to a

school he does not care for, never making any friends, and flunking out of boarding school are all

slight problems we see in Holden's life early in the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Aside

from these smaller problems in life, Holden lost his younger brother. The death of his younger

brother pushed Holden towards new ideas of childhood innocence, peace, and all the corruption

and unfairness in the world around him. Holden’s views of the world he lives in are heavily

swayed because of the events that have happened in his life.

One of the first things we read about in The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield’s

schooling experiences. It does not take long to find out that he is not a super student. In fact, by

the time he is 16 years old, Holden has already attended two other schools and is now failing out

of Pencey Prep. It is at this point where he begins to realize that growing up may not be as easy

as it is made out to be. Shortly after Holden describes all of the phony people at Pencey, he

flunks out and also realizes that he now has to go home. He is going to be a disappointment in

his parents eyes. Holden begins to think about his home in New York City, and the ducks at

central park; “I was wondering if the lagoon would be frozen over when I got home, and if it

was, where did the ducks go… I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them to the zoo

or something. Or if they just flew away” (Salinger, 16). These ducks are used as a symbol

throughout the book as a way for Holden to cope with his own thoughts. He appears to be living

in his own world, running from his problems, and never facing them. Early on in the book, the

author illustrates a negative world and Holden’s reaction is to shrink to it.

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The second major event in the book that really changed Holden as a person was the death

of his eleven year old brother Allie. At just thirteen years old Holden went through the roughest

time of his life, and adolescence was much different for him than many of others his age.

Throughout the story Holden’s depression seems to come from the loss of Allie. In chapter five

the author explains Holden’s deep connection he had with his younger brother. After the passing

of Allie Holden proceeded to break all of the windows in the garage with his bare hands, causing

his parents to request a psychoanalyzation. After that readers find out that the baseball mitt

Holden owns is his brother's old catchers mitt. Holden experiences grief, depression, and anger

after the loss of his brother. This sways his ideas on the world in another negative way. He

wonders why the world is so unfair for some and why all the bad luck seems to follow him

around. Holden understands that everyone is going to die, but he questions why it has to be

someone so close to him. As mentioned in chapter fourteen “...he picked them, but he picked

them at random.” (Salinger, 111) This is where Holden is talking about Jesus and wondering why

everything he does is random.

Holden was greatly affected by the loss of his younger brother at the age of adolescence.

This makes the third main problem that Holden sees in the world, the loss of childhood

innocence. In chapter sixteen there is a young boy skipping and singing along the curb of a street

and this seems to make Holden sort of happy; “...it made me feel not so depressed anymore.”

(Salinger, 129) This is one of a few times the author shows Holden having a positive reaction to

the world around him. This interaction with the younger boy gives Holden hope that there is still

childhood happiness, and the world is not all dark. Similarly, the tone begins to change when

Holden finds Phoebe’s notebook. Because Holden has struggled so much feeling like he lost his

innocence when his brother died, it gives him peace to find that Phoebe is still innocent and
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preserved her childhood. Holden states “I sat there on D.B.’s desk and read the whole notebook.

It didn’t take me long, and I can read that kind of stuff, some kids notebook, Phoebe’s or

anybody’s, all day and all night long. Kids notebooks kill me” (Salinger, 178). He emphasizes

just how childish her notebook seems.

In conclusion, Holden provides a fair amount of information on his views of the world

around him. There are very few times that Holden seems to have a positive attitude, and many

deep thoughts lead him to think that the world is not a good place for adolescence. Overall, the

dark thoughts must have led Holden into an even darker place because at the end of the story the

author hints that Holden is in a mental hospital.

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Reference Page

Salinger, J.D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown and Company