The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is one of the first novels written with young adults in mind, though it is a classic within mature reading circles. It is written in first-person format, with the main character, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, telling the story.
Holden is definitely the protagonist in this novel. His main goal is to attain an acceptance of both himself and society as a whole, while in turn protecting and maintaining a sense of innocence in those who are special and close to him. He aspires to hold his beliefs in high regards, and is turned-off by anyone who doesn╣t see the world as he does: a very unkind, polluted, and boring place to live.
Three people, besides Holden himself, who are or were in his life, come out as the strong antagonists. These people are Jane Gallagher, Allie Caulfield, and Phoebe Caulfield. There is a great deal of irony in this, being that these three people are the only characters in which Holden can truly relate to at one time or another. This also shows, with this conflict, that one of the antagonist is himself. The other three characters represent the underlying antagonistic theme of innocence, of which Holden is so desperately trying to hold on to in his life. Allie represents an infinite innocence, in being that he is deceased, and can never be changed. Jane shows us the example of someone who is no longer innocent, and though we never really see Jane in the novel, Salinger implicates her loss of innocence when she has the date with Ward Stradlater, and things are not as irreproachable as they may appear. Phoebe represents a changing or loss of virtuousness, which is exactly what Holden is fighting against.
The first point at which Holden first comes into conflict with the protagonist, being innocence and change, is on page two, first paragraph, which begins with Holden telling us of how he is leaving Pencey Prep School in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. This is a personal loss of purity and change within Holden, and this causes the start of the complications within.
There are many moments within the novel where Holden comes into conflict with the idea of innocence. When he speaks to the two professors on separate occasions, he is trying to solve his confusion of change by looking to them for answers. Mr. Spencer does not offer much to Holden on this point, but later on in the novel, Mr. Antolini seems to shed some light into his state-of-being. Holden is turned-off by Mr. Antolini╣s │pass,▓ or so it seemed to Holden. This is unfortunate in being that Holden could relate well with Mr. Antolini, and was coming closer to peace within, seeing how he finally found an adult who he could talk with. There are many other moments of conflict, and these include every encounter that Holden has, from the cab drivers, to the prostitute, to the afternoon he spent with Sally. In almost every instance, Holden is looking for someone to connect with, and time and time again, once he finds a fault within someone, he loses whatever connections he has established, and becomes ever increasingly more withdrawn.
The main antagonist within the novel are: society and the characters within it, the increasing loss of innocence and stability (the changing of Phoebe) in Holden╣s life, and Holden himself. He tends to alienate all who are around him because he has trouble understanding them, as they do him. Holden has little trouble relating with small children because of their vulnerability, and his need to protect it. The same is true of the nuns he interacts with in the terminal. Though he feels great compassion towards these individuals, he tends to show his own Achilles Heel by trying to be overprotective of such purity. It is a foible within himself.
The antagonists who are the characters, appear in most part, to be relatively flat. This could be because the characters are genuinely flat, or because Holden, who is telling the story, observes them as flat. He has a tendency to see most characters on the surface level, and tends to judge people on how │fake▓ or translucent they are. The less tainted a person is, the more naive they appear to Holden. Jane, Allie, and Phoebe, however, appear to the reader as being round, in the sense that Holden holds them dear to himself, and tends to delve more into their many-sided personalities. This could also be because of the fact that ninety-five percent of the other characters in the story are strangers to Holden.
The point of climax in the novel would be on page two-hundred and six, when Holden is talking to Phoebe, in paragraph six, and she tells him to │shut-up.▓ This devastates Holden. The one pure person left in his life, that he feels is vulnerable, and he needs to protect, has just shut him out, and made him feel as if he is no longer needed. This is Phoebe╣s loss of innocence in Holden╣s mind, and with those two simple words, he realizes that nothing is sacred,and that he can not protect everything, including himself. This is a very tragic moment for Holden. It was his last reach for purity, goodness, and his self-acclaimed role as protector, and Phoebe brought all of his self denial of the real world to the headfront, pushing him over the edge to the state he is in at present when telling the story.
Holden is a developing character, though he often seems as if he is quite static. The revealing aspect showing that he is a developing character, is in the end, he realizes how much he has alienated himself, and how much he misses everyone he has left around him. One of his main goals was a sense of human interaction, and though not as prevailing as his quest to maintain purity, it is something he is denied throughout the novel. He was lonely, but never realized how much he really missed people. This feeling of somewhat regret shows that he, on the surface level, has developed in that sense. It does seem however, that there is a good chance that Holden may slip back to his old ways if he doesn╣t continue to explore change while in the hospital because he seems to still hold the old Holden within a grasp╣s reach.
The novel is told in limited first-person format. This really made it easy to understand Holden,the narrator, and all of the personal trauma he was going through even though it is hard to relate with him at times. Seeing the story through Holden╣s eyes also could make an emotion connection with the reader, and might even make a reader feel sorry for his character, whereas if it was told any other way, it wouldn╣t have made the novel seem as personal towards Holden as it was meant to be presented.
With the novel being in first-person format from a sixteen-year-old╣s eyes, it made for a great literary device for Salinger. The style and linguistics used by Holden would only be used by a teenager in this time. Salinger is quick to point this out by structuring conversations to show Holden╣s immaturity. When speaking with adults, the adults use a more formal speech pattern, as does Holden, when speaking with them, yet his thoughts and speech outside of these interactions are unsophisticated. Salinger also uses repetition within the novel to impress certain ideas in the mind of the reader. One particular instance would be the use of the word,▓depressing.▓ It appears a number of times throughout the novel, and is usually related with anything that Holden feels inadequate in: fighting, social interaction, the loss of innocence. All of these things, and others, are noted in the novel as being │depressing▓ to Holden.
The Catcher in the Rye is a most intriguing novel. It uses the main literary device of first-person to bring you close to the main character, and relate with him in an personal way. Holden╣s character struggle in his attempt to shelter the vulnerable and make people happy often hides his own social inabilities and pursuit for his happiness, and makes him a character easy to hold sympathy towards. This is definitely a novel which has stood the test of time, and will remain timeless for many generations to come.
