Catcher In The Rye Character Analysis

“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.”(Carol Burnett) In The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, a 16 year old boy named Holden Caulfield, takes the reader through his life experiences. Holden is indecisive about his own life as he is growing up going into the adult world that he does not believe in. This novel shows how he handles the death of his brother, while growing up experiencing normal changes that come with life at that age on top of it. Holden believes he cannot connect with people the way he wishes he could since the death of his brother. He blames everything on the fact that he does not have him anymore. Holden struggles majorly throughout the novel with becoming who he truly is. He pushes

Holden holds onto anything innocent he can and does not want to grow up because his childhood was ruined by Allie’s death. Holden acts out in such a way because he is coping with the loss of his brother and realizes he is closer to being an adult than he is to staying a child. Everyone has a different way of getting through loss and pain. Holden does adult-like things such as going away from home, going to bars, and drinking to try to help himself even if it is not such a good way. As Holden is away he wishes to find someone to help him get over the pain he has been feeling. He attempts to change but never succeeds at first due to the fact that he was not doing it in the right way. As he encounters many women, in all of them he is simply looking for someone to care for him and understand him. Holden also reaches out to his old teacher, Mr. Antolini, hoping for some advice and help. When Holden stays a night at his house, Holden wakes up to Mr. Antolini touching his head in the dark. In chapter 24, page 211, it says, “I woke up all of a sudden. I don’t know what time it was or anything, but I woke up. I felt something on my head, some guy’s hand. Boy, it really scared hell out of me. What it was, it was Mr. Antolini’s hand. What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark, and all, and he was sort of

He is slowly changing. The pain he felt was hard on him, it affected everything. It is the reason why Holden as a character goes through many changes, bad and good. He went through much more than just Allie’s death also. Surrounding himself by Phoebe and spending time with her makes him feel good. As Holden watches Phoebe on the carousel after he takes her to the zoo one day, Holden views the carousel as something that keeps going around and around. Based on the novel, in chapter 25, page 233, the author stated, “All the parents and mothers and everybody went over and stood right under the roof of the carrousel, so they wouldn’t get soaked to the skin or anything, but I stuck around on the bench for quite a while. I got pretty soaking wet, especially my neck and pants. My hunting hat really gave me quite a lot of protection, in a way, but I got soaked anyway. I didn’t care, though. I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around… ” No matter what happens life keeps on going, sometimes people get stuck in a bad place but with help they can always get their lives back on track. At this moment Holden decides he wants to better himself for the sake of his own good and to protect his sister even more, he realizes he is capable of it. Holden will eventually know how to deal with the pain he has felt once he