Catcher In The Rye Tragic Hero Analysis

Young and Childish

Every story has a hero, whether it be a classic such as Hamlet and Macbeth, or a more modern film such as Lord of the Rings. However, not all heros are successful in their journeys, and end up as a tragic hero. Throught The Catcher in the Rye, Holden faces failure. After flunking out of school for the fourth time, Holden goes back to New York to start his journey and figure out what to do with his life. Holden then goes through life, acting childish and being unable to progress in his venture into the future. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a great example of a tragic hero, as the reader follows Holden Caulfield as he retells his story, which exemplifies his immaturity through his inability to interact with people,

He tries to make excuses, calling everyone a “fake” or “phony”, saying that everyone only cares about themselves and therefore aren’t real with others. This is a defense mechanism for him, making it harder for him to communicate with people, thus frustrating him. One example of these failed interactions can be seen with his roommate from Pencey Prep, Stradlater. Holden questions if Stradlater hooked up with his date that night, Jane Gallagher, who was a childhood friend of Holden’s. When Stradlater is dodgy with his answer, saying “That’s a professional secret, buddy” it angers Holden to the point of physically harming him (Salinger 43). This shows immaturity because a mature person would understand that Stradlater doesn’t want to talk about it, and would not turn to violence to try and solve their problems. Along with his lacking ability to maturely handle some situations, Holden also communicates immaturely with others. This can be seen when he meets up with Carl Luce, one of his advisors from Whooton. When he attended Whooton, Holden knew that Luce often talked to the boys about sex, and tries to bring this into the conversation, asking him multiple questions about his sex life. Luce, who has since matured, shoots Holden down and says “...typical Caulfield questions… When in the hell are you going to grow up?” (Salinger 146). This further

This is first seen when Holden gets mad at Stradlater and leaves his school early, getting on a train back to New York, his hometown. After getting back to the city, he stays in a hotel, unwilling to go home and face his parents after getting kicked out of yet another school. This can be seen as immature because he is running away from his problems at school, and is then afraid to face problems at home. Another instance is when he asks Sally to run away with him to Vermont. He claims that he will empty his bank account and they can live in a cabin and will one day get married. Sally rejects the idea immediately. Trying to talk some sense into him, she says “In the first place, we’re both practically children. And did you ever stop to think what you’d do if you didn’t get a job when your money ran out? We’d starve to death” (Salinger 132). Holden’s idea exemplifies his immaturity by suggesting something so irrational. Any mature, rational sixteen year old would never suggest leaving their home to start a life on their own. However, Holden yet again decides that he wants to leave home by moving out west and working at a filling station until he has the money to build himself a cabin. By yet again wanting to go through with this, it shows his lack of maturity, even after Sally said all that could go wrong with the plan. Holden’s sporadic decision to move westward can also be seen