Holden's Three Defining Characteristics
Holden's Three Defining Characteristics
In The Catcher in the Rye, main character Holden Caulfield displays three specific characteristics. In this paper I will be converse about how Holden very compassionate, needy and lonely. Holden shows many times in this book how he is needy, most of the time he tries to hide this trait but with some people Holden bares it all. Holden shows compassions while he watches his younger sister Phoebe go around on the Carousel, and he begins to cry. Lastly he is lonely, he never really seems to make many friends and he stays very attached to his dead brother throughout the whole book.
Holden Caulfield try’s to show us during this book that he is very independent and strong, but if you really look at him as a true person you see that he is needy. The main thing that I see Holden as being needy towards is people. He loves to talk with people and is always trying to start up a conversation with some one. Even when the person he is talking to does not seem interested he goes on, and at great length. For example when he meets the three girls at the bar he continues to talk to them even thought they do not even look at him or answer any of the many questions he asks them. Holden being the sarcastic person he says, “You’re a very good conversationalist”(72) to one of the girls after he gets tired of her not answering any of his questions. There is one other thing that makes Holden needy and that is his brother Ally. Ally died when Holden was younger and he has never seemed to get over it. He often refers back to his brother talking about how he had his best times while in the company of Ally. Also when Phoebe asks Holden what he enjoys he replies “I like Ally”(171). This shows that he still relies on his brother even though he is dead.
Continuing on to what I was saying in the previous chapter Holden’s attachment to Ally makes him lonely. Holden does not give people a chance. He is very critical and is always looking at the lesser qualities in people. He also loves his younger sister Phoebe and being that he attends boarding school he does not get to see her. An example of Holden being lonely is...