Holden Caulfeild Character Analysis

GOAL!

Quote About Holden 2

"You asked for it, God damn it" (Stalinger 45)

This quote with no context is a bit vague in itself, but deeper down what is really happening is Stradlater is trying to tell Holden that he needs to live up to his actions and take responsibilities. Now, hitting Holden in the face may have been a bit extreme but negative reinforcement is the most efficient form of reinforcement. The real question is, was Stradlater really in the wrong? He asked Holden to stop calling him a moron more than once and just lost his temper.

Quote about Holden 1

"Life's a game boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules." (Stalinger 8)

Mr. Spencer is one of Holden's old teachers at Pency, and this quote shows that Holden and Mr Spencer are on the same page deep down. Mr. Spencer knows that Holden is better than he shows and needs to let Holden know that. This quote shows that beautifully with the metaphor of it all being one big game. One that you can win, or one that you can lose.

Quote From Holden 2

"That killed me. Her middle name was Josephine for god's sake, not Weatherfeild."

Although this is not actually said in the book out loud, this is a really well hidden conflict in the book between Holden and himself. Holden is starting to see that even his little innocent sister is becoming what he calls a "Phony" and everyone needs to lose the innocence that Holden holds so dear.

Holden's Quote 1

Holden Caulfeild Character Analysis

"I mean did you ever get scared everything was going to go lousy unless you did something?"(Salinger 130)

This this quote shows that Holden is finally coming to realize that he has to keep everything in check in his life and his surroundings.

He has started to come to the fact that life is in fact a game, and he was playing it wrong the whole time.

Symbol 3: The Carousel

The Carousel is a very late symbol to the book, only showing up in the closing chapters. Even though, it is still one of the more important points in the whole book. The carousel symbolizes Holden having to move on and finally grow up, this is shown through him having to let his little sister try to grab the gold ring, even though she may get hurt in the process. The real point of the whole thing was to show Holden that everyone has to lose he innocence that he holds so dear to his heart.

Symbol 2: Holden Caulfeild's Hand

Caulfeild's journey to move on from the past

At first glance, Holden Caulfeild's hand seems to just be something that happened when he was a kid, back when Allie died. Although it is from a previous injury, his hand shows so much more. The fact that his hand is still hurt even after all these years shows that Holden is still hindered by his past. And the fact that Holden doesn't do much about it other than grin and bear it shows that although most would go and fix what was hurting them, Holden either doesn't want to, or he just plain can't.

Symbol 1: Allie's Baseball Mitt

One of Holden's most prized possessions is his late younger brother's baseball mitt. This may seem as a bit of unimportant leather, but to Holden it means the world. The mitt is covered with poems that Allie wrote. "He wrote them on it so he'd have something to read when he was on the field and nobody was at bat" (Salinger 38) This was Caulfeild's only connection with his brother, who is brought up (mostly when Caulfeild is feeling down about himself) many times in the book. This traumatic event, Allie's death, stuck with Holden throughout the years, and shaped him to be a childish young adult who doesn't want to lose the only thing him and Allie shared, he didn't want to lose his innocence.