Holden Caulfield Reliable Essay

Is the Truth Spoken? In J.D. Salinger’s the Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield tells the story of how he arrived at his current destination. The novel is a narrated flashback of his previous life experience up until his current point in time. Throughout the book, it is debated whether or not he is a truthful and reliable narrator. However, it is obvious that Caulfield is an unreliable narrator. This is shown through his hypocrisy and mental state. Holden Caulfield first shows signs of being a poor narrator when he is hypocritical or contradictory. At the beginning of Chapter 9, he checks into a hotel, when he states, “...the goddamn hotel was full of perverts and morons” (68). The same night, he makes a hypocrite of himself by becoming a type of pervert himself. He is seen looking through windows of other guests and watching the events inside of the rooms unfold. Once, he mentions, “You’d be

Some may argue that the narrator is reliable. Holden is know to be truthful to the reader. Many times, he will make a statement, and follow it up with the phrase, “if you want to know the truth.” One example of this is after he gets into a fight with Stradlater. He states, “I’m a pacifist, if you want to know the truth” (52). Unfortunately, this is a faulty claim. He does make a statement and appears to be truthful with the reader, using “if you want to know the truth” as a closer to his statement. However, this claim is made after he gets into a physical fight that he started. He provoked Stradlater, knowing his comments would evoke anger from him. This proves that he is an unreliable narrator.
Holden Caulfield is a narrator of his own story, and many disagree and debate on whether or not he is a truthful and reliable narrator. Though both sides make valuable supporting claims, there is plentiful and sound evidence that states Caulfield is an unreliable