Life made Holden Complicated, and Nature gave him Sincerity in the Catcher in the Rye

After reading Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, I find myself with a question. Am I different from my childhood? Did I "adapt" to the environment around me to fit in better? As the novel's protagonist, Holden is an alien in all the environments he's in because he disagreeswith how phony and ugly people act. The author uses flashbacks to illustrate Holden's situation before his mental breakdown. The story shows Holden's complexity through histhree states: his confused feeling about phoniness, his idealism for his brother Allie, and hisacceptance of his sister Phoebe. These three character traits depicted by J. D. Salinger make Holden a vivid and complicated person.

The world, to Holden, is full of phoniness and ugliness, and he unabashedly expresses his dislike for those things. He shows his extreme disgust for the phony when he states," Grand. There's a word I really hate. It's a phony. I could puke every time I hear it." (Salinger, 14) He doesn't use mild words to disguise his feelings; he says it in the most direct way. He would even physically react by vomiting when he hears the word "phony". Ironically he is himself unable to escape from becoming phony as he always shows antipathy to people who are phony throughout the novel. He admitted at the beginning of chapter three that, "I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life." (Salinger, 22), but the following line reveals his true thoughts, "It's awful." (Salinger, 22). He recognizes that he has become a liar, the type of person he likes the least. He is using his own way to protest and testify that this world is a bad place, where he uses his personal experience to demonstrate the message that it is nearly impossible to avoid being phony due to the influence of society.

In contrast to his criticism of phony people and the outside world, his family member Allie is an image of perfection and idealism in his mind. Holden creates Allie in his mind as a figure near an angel; he will pray to his brother Allie when he gets to the end of a block and pretends to talk to him, "Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie,don't let me disappear. Please, Allie." And then when I'd reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him." (Salinger, 257). Allie is a person with no flaws in Holden's mind; Holden always misses him. Holden is constantly reminded of his brother Allie when he is under pressure. Additionally, Holden sees the red baseball mitt as an important token that his brother Allie left him, "She was the only one, outside my family, that I ever showed Allie's baseball mitt to, with all the poems written on it." (Salinger, 101). He cherished the baseball mitt from his brother as a top priority item which he only shows to those closest to him. Holden reads the poems on the mitt written by his brother, which remind him of Allie's idealized uniqueness.

Holden's feelings toward Phoebe are complicated, combining his love for his family with realism. He cannot change Phoebe into what he wants by his will, instead accepting her as she is. She is the last person that Holden contacts; his sister always thinks precociously to avoid awkward and tense situations. Holden comments on her, stating, "You'd like her. I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you're talking about. I mean you can even take her anywhere with you. If you take her to a lousy movie, for instance, she knows it's a lousy movie. If you take her to a pretty good movie, she knows it's a pretty good movie." (Salinger, 88). Phoebe is a clever girl who will quickly act appropriately. She is an independent person in Holden's family, and she is functional beyond her age. Phoebe would help Holden with all she could do for him. Phoebe gives him all the money she received during Christmas and decides to escape with his brother. She is the one who tells Holden he cannot always be the one who protects the children, "The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it's bad if you say anything to them." (Salinger, 273-274). The children are going to grow up, and he must let them; Holden cannot always be the "Catcher in the Rye" to prevent them from the dangers and cruelty of reality. However, the lesson she teaches him at the end of the novel is that he can still protect them when they are young.

Holden has complex feelings regarding different people, and Allie and Phoebe must be in the softest part of his heart. He is sensitive to finding and judging the phony things around him. Holden becomes a liar, which is an inevitable but pathetic result of being around thephoniness people. However, he harshly refuses and denounces the people who adapt to society and change themselves into phoniness and ugliness. In other words, the complexity occurring in Holden directly reflects the complexity of society and each person.