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Holden as a Good Person in The Catcher In The Rye Essay

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Lonely and unwilling to go home, a boy wanders the streets of New York City, never lingering in any one place for too long. After being kicked out of his old school, which was filled with phonies, he searches for a compassionate person, but to no avail he only finds people who either ignore him or seem just as bad as his friends from school. As he struggles to find his way in the chaos of the city, Holden Caulfield attempts to hold onto his own perceptions of the world in order to figure out how he should act. In the novel, The Cather in the Rye, author J.D. Salinger portrays the main character as a self doubting teen who thinks of himself as immoral. As Holden struggles against the atrocities of society, the author conveys the characters true compassionate and caring nature through a religious sensibility. Ironically, in revealing this sensibility, Salinger illustrates that Holden is not the pervert that he claims to be. Instead, the author creates a tension between how the main character views himself, and how he behaves. By doing this, the author conveys the theme that, although one may view their personality in one respect, one may actually act in a completely opposite way.

Throughout the novel, Salinger constructs a fine line between the behavior of phony people and the behavior of authentic people. A majority of the people that Holden meets in this story are considered phonies, and thus he dislikes them very much. In the beginning of the novel, the author portrays the character Ackley as one of the people Holden dislikes the most, and as one of Holdens best friends. Although Holden doesnt like Ackley much he still asks Mal if he minded if Ackley came along (Salinger 36). In contrast to what Holden believes, and what one who is a bad person would do, the main character actually befriends people whom he doesnt get along with. This is one of the first instances of Holden reaching out to someone else in the book. But more importantly, this is the first instance of the main character taking someone in as a so called, disciple. To Jesus, most of the disciples were very loyal and stood by him all the time. However, Jesus first had to go out and find these disciples that would stand by him and spread his word. Salinger portrays Ackley in such a way as to make him seem as though he is spreading Holdens words. He does this through joking around and hanging out with Holden. And by having the main character make friends with those who he dislikes, the author conveys Holdens true caring nature. At various points throughout the novel, the writer mentions many people that the main character dislikes, such as Ackley, who seem to be very close to Holden, at least as close as one could be to him. Salinger emphasizes the main characters dislike of these people through Holdens dislike of the disciples. Holden expresses this by saying that he likes almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples (Salinger 99). By illustrating that the main character dislikes his closest friends, and by juxtaposing it with the idea that he also dislikes the disciples, Salinger reveals that many of Holdens close friends are considered disciples. This is one of the major occurrences of Holdens religious sensibility as it pertains to his inherent kindness. Again, even though the main character does not like many people, including people close to him, he still befriends those people. Most significant of these friends is Ackley, who does not have many friends, but Holden proves his kindness through going to the movies with Ackley, an activity the main character does not enjoy much.

Towards the middle of the story, the writer begins to reveal the main characters inherent goodness through the most blatant forms of religious symbols. As Holden travels around New York City, he meets tons of new people but considers most of them phonies, sex maniacs, or perverts. Holden even considers himself to be one of these. However, when the author tests Holdens moral compass, Holden shows that he is kind and caring. The writer does this by placing the main character in a situation to take advantage of a young prostitute, but when given the chance to have sex he decides that he wants to talk. Then when the prostitute asks for the ten dollars he owes her, he refuses to pay. Later when Holden meets two nuns on the bus he started to talk to them. When they left though, he felt sorry that [hed] only given them ten bucks (Salinger 113). He felt sorry about this because he only gave the same amount of money that the prostitute stole from him. However, he also felt sorry because he was low on money and could not afford to give any more, although he really wanted to. This also shows his inherent kindness. The author emphasizes that Holden is running low on dough and how bad he feels that that is all he could give. Salinger also states that the nuns were not even taking a collection but that Holden just has such a kindheartedness that he felt obligated to give the nuns money, though a little out of guilt. This action also further reveals the main characters religious sensibility by blatantly placing the catholic nuns in the scene where Holden succumbs to his inherently good nature. As the author begins to reveal the main characters kindness, the character is also revealed to have a religious sensibility.

Towards the end of the novel, Salinger finalizes the idea that the main characters inherent kind nature is related to his religious sensibility. When Holden is speaking to his favorite teacher, Mr. Antolini, he realizes that all his actions have been those of someone who is friendly and compassionate. When this is revealed, Mr. Antolini states that if Holden has something to offer, someone will learn something from him (Salinger189). This is possibly the most powerful employment of religious symbolism in the novel to reveal the main characters true nature. This gives of a sense of something greater than just teaching someone through Holdens experiences, instead, Salinger says this as very reminiscent of the bible. Just as the bible teaches people right and wrong through the stories of Jesus, Moses, and various other religious figures, Mr. Antolini feels that Holden can also teach people right from wrong through his own stories. This also reveals that Holden is inherently good. If Mr. Antolini did not believe Holden to have something important to offer, he would not have said such a statement. The author employs this and the rest of the religious symbols to reveal Holdens true compassionate and kind nature, contrary to his belief of being immoral.

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