Holden Caulfield Character Analysis

“I was sixteen then, and I’m seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I’m about

thirteen.”(Salinger, 11). In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is a teenager

who suffers from a mental health disorder, because of a great loss he suffered. Holden goes

through up and down and has a hard time going on with his life. All throughout the story Holden

shows that he wants to be seen as a mature individual, but acts as a child and is perceived as one.

To everyone he seemed like a rebellious teenager who was no different than anybody else.

Holden’s way of dealing with what happened to his brother at such a young age, was by acting

like a child thus making him feel like his brother is still there. Every time Holden

Holden just wants to live his life the way he wants to

live, “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye

and all….And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch

everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where

they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just

be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy,......” (Salinger, 191) even though he doesn’t

realize it that what he wants to do is actually a combination of both of the two worlds.

Holden never truly chooses between childhood and adulthood. He crosses back and forth

between both worlds. Holden believes that childhood is about being carefree and having fun,

while adulthood is about being able to make choices on your own. He wants to be, but cannot be

a child any more ,and does not want to be, but must become an adult. Holden’s fear of becoming

a complete adult and losing his childhood forever is what’s keeping him stuck between the two

worlds are completely different. “This fall I think you're riding for—it's a special kind of fall,

The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps

falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or another in

their lives,....They gave it up before they ever really even got started.” (Salinger, 207). In

Holden’s view being a child and being an adult are two completely different things. They're not

though, he does not see that he can have fun and be carefree and still be an adult.

Holden has a hard time getting people to see him as an adult “I don’t give a damn, except that

i get bored sometimes when people tell me to act my age. Sometimes I act a lot older than I am -

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I really do - but people never notice it. People never notice anything.” he has a problem with

acting his age all the time and so when he acts like a child that is all that people see. It’s like

when someone does good deeds all the time and nobody notices but they do one bad thing and

that’s all they see. Holden enjoys being a child yes he wants people to see as an adult so he can

have the benefits of being an adult but he does not want to become a complete adult because