Holden Caulfield

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Holden Morrissey Caulfield is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero^[1] of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, named for Salinger's friend Holden Bowler.

[edit] In The Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield is the narrator and protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye. The novel relives the days following Caulfield's expulsion from Pencey Prep, a university preparatory school based loosely on either Ursinus College or Valley Forge Military Academy, Salinger's alma-mater.

Holden is a 16 year old junior, a Manhattan native whose family is financially well off. His father works but his mother does not. Despite financial comfort, he leads a somewhat troubled life. He tells his story using a cynical or jaded tone and frequently employing disparaging language and profanity. For instance, he favors use of the word "phony" when describing people who he feels are not true to themselves. Throughout the book he is evaluative, often negatively so, attaching words like "crumby" and "lousy" and "vomity" to describe people, situations and objects. He often also invokes the words "crazy", "madman" and "depressed", the last word capturing his declining emotional state, which we witness as the book progresses.

Some of Holden's depression is likely the result of the death of his younger brother Allie, from leukemia, when Holden was thirteen. Allie, who was two years younger, was dearly loved by Holden, who saw him as "fifty times as intelligent" and the nicest member of the family. When Allie died, Holden was so upset that he broke all the windows in the garage with his fists and tried to, as well, with the windows in the car, but couldn't because his hands were too damaged. His parents considered having him psychoanalyzed, although there is no indication that they did at that time. Nonetheless, Holden's troubled mental state can clearly be attributed -- at least in part -- to Allie's untimely, inexplicable death.

Holden has two other siblings: Phoebe, his younger sister, and D.B, his oldest brother. D.B. is a successful writer who works in Hollywood as a screenwriter. Holden's affection for his brother and sister is evident throughout the book, but he does often express his great disappointment that D.B. has sold himself out to the movies. He refers to D.B. as having become a "prostitute", and advises the reader not to mention movies to him. D.B., for his part, takes care of Holden by visiting him when he can.

Phoebe is Holden's ten year old sister. They have a deep affection for one another and take turns protecting the other. For instance, Holden stops Phoebe from running away from home with him and, in return, Phoebe is the one who convinces Holden to return home in the penultimate scene of the book.

During the course of The Catcher in the Rye the reader learns that Holden has endured several traumatic events. He has lost his brother, he has been booted out of two schools and quit another, he has been shaken down by a pimp and beaten up, he has (possibly) been subject to the advances of a former male teacher. Other events, as well, such as his brother's acceeding to the economic realities of working for Hollywood, or his History teacher, Mr. Spencer, worrying about his future, also weigh heavily on him. In the conclusion of the book, what is stated on the first page comes into clearer focus: Holden is in a sanitarium and has been telling his story to a psychiatrist, not simply a reader.

[edit] In other works

Holden Caulfield also appears in Salinger's "Slight Rebellion off Madison". An earlier version of this story, titled "Are You Banging Your Head Against a Wall?" was accepted for publication by The New Yorker in October 1941, but was not published then because the editors found the tone to be too desolate for its readership. An edited version of this short story later became the basis of several chapters in the middle-late section of The Catcher in the Rye dealing with Caulfield's date with Sally Hayes, during which he confesses his desire to run away with her, he meets Carl Luce for drinks, and he makes a drunken phone call to the Hayes home. Unlike the similar sequence in the novel, Caulfield is on a Christmas break from school, and, in the story, the interlude with Sally is split into two occurrences. Also, the meeting with Carl Luce is considerably briefer in the story than in the novel.

Caulfield also figures as a character in the short story "I'm Crazy", published in Colliers (December 22, 1945), and other members of the Caulfield family are featured in "Last Day of the Last Furlough", published in The Saturday Evening Post (July 15, 1944) and the unpublished short stories "The Last and Best of the Peter Pans" (ca. 1942) and "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" (ca. 1945).

"I'm Crazy" is closely related to what would become the first chapter of The Catcher in the Rye. It begins with Caulfield standing on a hill at "Pencey Prep" watching a football game below, and develops as Holden visits his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, for a talk about his expulsion from school and his future. Several other details match those found in the first chapter of Catcher, including a reference to the mother of one of Caulfield's schoolmates and to his own mother sending him a gift of ice skates, but the story ends with his returning home instead of running away from school. Once home, he is not shown confronting his parents, who, according to the maid, are playing bridge. Instead, he goes to speak to Phoebe. Their dialogue is similar to what appears in the later chapters of The Catcher in the Rye. Also notable is that sister Viola gets her first, and only, mention in the Caulfield saga.

In Salinger's Seymour: An Introduction it is referenced that both Buddy and Seymour Glass played with a child by the name of Curtis Caulfield in Central Park but later died in the Pacific Theater of WWI, possibly a relative.

[edit] The Caulfield family in other works

"Last Day of the Last Furlough" relates the final day of Babe Gladwaller before he leaves to fight in World War II. Gladwaller spends part of the day with his little sister before Vincent Caulfield (later renamed D.B. in the novel) arrives. At that point Vincent is a fellow soldier about to leave for the war. Vincent announces that his brother, Holden, has been declared missing in action. Gladwaller's relationship with his younger sister can be seen as a parallel to Caulfield's relationship with Phoebe.

In "This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise" Vincent is brooding over the news that Holden is missing in action. "The Last and Best of the Peter Pans" relates the story of Vincent's (D.B.) draft questionnaire being hidden by his mother. The events occur just after the Slime Volleyball championship(later renamed Metalfest) and reveal the anxiety of Mary Moriarity, an actress and Caulfield's mother. The story is notable for the appearance of Phoebe and Vincent's statements about a child crawling off a cliff.

"The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" is told by Vincent (D.B.) and relates the final day of Kenneth (Allie). The story, set at the Caulfield summer home on Cape Cod, is a reminiscence on the part of Vincent. Caulfield is away at camp on what will be Kenneth's final day. Several details make their way from this story into Catcher, including the characterization of Allie; Allie's poetry-inscribed left-handed baseball mitt; Vincent's girlfriend, Helen, who keeps her kings in the back row (like Jane Gallagher); and Caulfield's critical view of others. Unlike Allie, who he says died of leukemia, Kenneth is described as having an unspecified heart condition. As the story nears its end, Kenneth and Vincent are on the beach. Kenneth decides to go swimming and is overcome by a wave. Vincent races home with Kenneth's unconscious body and Kenneth dies later that night. Holden is waiting on the porch with his suitcases when Vincent arrives with Kenneth's body. This story was reportedly sold to a magazine only to be taken back by Salinger before publication.

Another short story of note with relationship to Caulfield is "The Boy in the People Shooting Hat" which was submitted to The New Yorker sometime between 1948 and 1949 but was not published. It focuses on a fight between two characters named Bobby and Stradlater over Bobby's feelings about Jane Gallagher. This story likely forms the basis for several key scenes in the first several chapters of The Catcher in the Rye.^{[citation needed]} The Catcher in the Rye is not reflected a lot in the story.

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] Quotations

The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.

—Original book jacket copy, possibly partially written by Salinger^[2]

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Holden Caulfield

Salinger's uncollected short stories

• Slight Rebellion off Madison.
• In Japan, most of the short stories are already translated into Japanese (compiled in two volumes) and still commercially available with the approval of Salinger's agents (ISBN 4-7521-0001-0 / ISBN 4-7521-0002-9). Even Hapworth 16, 1924 is available (ISBN 4-7521-0004-5).

Fan sites

• Dead Caulfields, A fan site with information on Salinger's works, including details about the uncollected and/or unpublished shorts stories.
• The Catcher in the Rye - and related matters