okay so I'd like to make a case for why holden caulfield is actually a likable character
first and foremost is the fact that he's incredibly vulnerable, he doesn't have the narrative voice he does because he's annoying or just a bad person - he's a child who's traumatised. throughout the book it becomes very obvious that holden has no support system. and yes, to be fair, that is partially his fault because he is a self isolating and self alienating character, but that is a direct response to him not wanting to get hurt (will expand on later). i'd specifically like to point out the lack of support he has from his family. a quote that stuck with me quite seriously is from chapter chapter 20 when holden is at central park, imagining that he is going to die and how his family would react. he says "I felt sorry as hell for my mother and father. Especially my mother because she still isn't over my brother Allie yet." holden is extremely aware of the people around him, and whilst he may often come to dubious conclusions from his observations (he is the unreliable narrator, afterall), I'd argue that this time it's a reasonable and likely true observation. allie's death affected holden directly, but it also affected the rest of his family, thus affecting him indirectly as-well. to further this point, regardless of whether allie's death affected how emotionally available holden's parents could be for him, they have a rocky relationship regardless. (in reference to his mother) "She bought me the wrong kind of skates - I wanted racing skates and she bought hockey - but it made me sad anyway." (chapt. seven) now I get that this could seem insignificant at first, his mother got him the wrong skates, so what - he sounds ungrateful. but really this quote symbolises the miscommunication between holden and his mother. whilst his mother wants to understand holden, she's probably struggling to do so. this then stems outward, as throughout the book, holden feels as if no one understands him at all. holden's father doesn't come up as much, but from what is mentioned, they don't seem to connect a lot either. in reality, it seems that the only people in his family that holden feels connected to is his brother D.B. and his little sister, pheobe. but of course, holden still limits himself with D.B. because he assumes/perceives phoniness in him (+ there's the physical distance and practicality issues with them communicating). and whilst pheobe does have a positive impact on holden, she's still just a very young child and would realistically not be able to (and shouldn't be made to) help holden process his own struggles. so it is established that holden has no support system. this alone, paired with the fact that he is only sixteen and navigating an undeniably difficult transition into adulthood already makes him vulnerable, but what makes it worse? the fact that he has unprocessed trauma and grief surrounding the death of his younger brother, allie. personally, i'd argue that allie is what the whole book comes back to, constantly. holden idealised allie (and continues to throughout the present setting of the book) as innocence personified, and as this amazingly kind and intelligent person. and then he died. this was something incredibly unfair, and obviously there wouldn't be any reason for it, something that'd make it incredibly hard for a thirteen year old to process. basically, at thirteen, this was holden's first insight into the adult world, where things happen out of your control, even if they're unfair. this is also likely the first time holden took to isolating himself as a coping mechanism "I slept in the garage the night he died," (chapt. 5), inferring that holden's unhealthy self-isolation stems from this trauma, which I think is something we should have sympathy for.
however, despite being self isolating, holden does try and connect to people, it's just that he has a tendency to foil those relationships (usually because he is reaching out to people who are completely mismatched to him) e.g. carl luce and sally hayes. still, I think the relationships established at the start of the book are more significant. with stradlater, holden really tried to be friends with him. he defended him to ackley, even though he himself thought of stradlater as a vain womaniser, and he wrote a composition for him, despite not having to. it was only when stradlater was ungrateful in respect to the composition that holden wrote, not knowing that it was about his dead brother, in which holden reached his breaking point with stradlater. ackley is quite the contrast to stradlater, though. he's generally disliked/a loner, and holden doesn't sound very forgiving of him initially, but the way holden acts suggests sympathy towards ackley. yes, he's cold with him, but he does let him stick around (despite having many gripes about ackley's poor hygiene or lack of room-reading skills), because he wouldn't want ackley to be lonely - because holden himself is lonely, and there are more similarities between holden and ackley in that sense than holden would likely be willing to admit. jane gallagher also comes up whilst holden is still at pencey, and she's unique because she's the first person we're introduced to who holden feels positively about for the whole novel. but there are only two really significant reasons why holden likes her. the first is that she's someone whom holden can actually relate to, she's gaurded and won't be vulnerable with people she hasn't known for a long time; "Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row" (chapt. 4) shows her reservation. the other reason why holden likes her so much is because he views her as innocent, and innocence is the one thing holden values and wants to protect. this becomes evident when holden recalls a time she cried infront of him, and he began to kiss her tears away, but wouldn't (and jane wouldn't let him, either) kiss her mouth. this theme becomes more prevalent throughout the book as holden is very nice to children, all the while resisting his transition into adulthood because he doesn't want to lose his own innocence (or, lose any more of it) and lose sight of what's important to him. I think a lot of people take issue with holden's incessant complaints about phoniness, but the truth is, he's only scared of becoming phony/an adult because he thinks he'll forget about allie if he does. his issue with phoniness isn't necessarily that people are being fake: [at a movie theatre] "She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about as kindhearted as a goddamn wolf." (chapt. 18) holden thinks movies are phony because he sees people get emotional over them whilst ignoring real issues. in this case, a mother is prioritising the movie over her son, and holden worries that if he engages in 'phony' activities such as movie-watching, that he'll no longer care about allie. and right now, he cares a lot. ultimately, the point i'm making is that holden has a lot of positive traits that are seldom acknowledged, but you have to look beyond the surface of his character to recognise them.
the other point i'd like to make about holden is that he's a tragic character. even if you ignore the fact that he's a child who was made to grieve his younger brother's death at the age of thirteen, life is repeatedly slapping him in the face. the entire book is him trying desperately to find meaning in life, and struggling. in school he's completely unable to connect to any of his class-mates, or the subject material. instead of anyone trying to understand and deal with this problem, his parents just constantly send him to school after school after school. holden's self-esteem is non-existent and he constantly thinks he'd be better off dead. he is constantly let down by adults in his life, a glaring example being mr. antolini, the one adult holden liked and thought he could trust. holden is so isolated and lonely that it eventually builds up to a mental health crisis that leaves him admitted to a sanatorium. sure, he's a rich kid who likes to complain, but he's also been dealt a really tragic deck of cards.
anyway, uhh... i think i'm done, though I probably missed a lot.
jacobvanloon
kianamaiart
titsay
yousharknotpass
izzy806
blakekathryn
