The characters in a novel play critical roles in influencing the protagonist and the accompanying themes. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield, a sixteen year old boy and his realizations juxtaposing with the world around him. Holden is very nonchalant and has been kicked out numerous schools. This leads him to take a chance and transpire a voyage to New York. These events have allowed Holden to meet a variety of characters that affect his life in various ways and prove themes in the novel. Salinger portrays the themes the phoniness and the lack of phoniness in the adult world in The Catcher in the Rye by introducing several counterfeit, secondary characters such as Sally Hayes and Ward Stradlater and authentic characters
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“James Castle called him [Phil Stabile] a very conceited guy…they [Phil’s friends] tried to make him take back what he said, but he wouldn’t do it,”(Salinger 188) which inarguably personifies a character that is very seldom to Holden. This character is very seldom because the majority of his encounters with the teens he meets at private school follow a Stradlater archetype and undeniably would not of stood up for themselves the way James Castle did. James Castle’s decision to defend himself, unintentionally opened Holden’s eyes all while embodying a lack of phoniness because he did resist conformity and spoke aloud what everyone was conjecturing deep down. However, this resistance to conformity resulted in unjust consequences for James Castle because “...instead of taking back what he said, he jumped out the window...and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all...he was dead…”(Salinger 188). This proceeds to display society’s unethical inclination to punish someone for speaking their mind, as a whole; Holden accounts for all the phonies in the adult world. Moreover, the backlash from the immoral and narcissistic bullies that steered Charles to his death for manifesting a genuine person, played a vital role in molding Holden to the person he now identifies with; “...one of these very yellow guys” (Salinger 99). Holden is now very shy and chooses to not to conform to society because of the constant reminder of James Castle’s death and quite possibly his own.
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the complexity and delude of Sally Hayes establishes Holden’s cynicism, thus allowing him to decipher between the realism and the fictitiousness of the adult world. The innovative archetype of an immoral teen that is embodied by
“James Castle called him [Phil Stabile] a very conceited guy…they [Phil’s friends] tried to make him take back what he said, but he wouldn’t do it,”(Salinger 188) which inarguably personifies a character that is very seldom to Holden. This character is very seldom because the majority of his encounters with the teens he meets at private school follow a Stradlater archetype and undeniably would not of stood up for themselves the way James Castle did. James Castle’s decision to defend himself, unintentionally opened Holden’s eyes all while embodying a lack of phoniness because he did resist conformity and spoke aloud what everyone was conjecturing deep down. However, this resistance to conformity resulted in unjust consequences for James Castle because “...instead of taking back what he said, he jumped out the window...and there was old James Castle laying right on the stone steps and all...he was dead…”(Salinger 188). This proceeds to display society’s unethical inclination to punish someone for speaking their mind, as a whole; Holden accounts for all the phonies in the adult world. Moreover, the backlash from the immoral and narcissistic bullies that steered Charles to his death for manifesting a genuine person, played a vital role in molding Holden to the person he now identifies with; “...one of these very yellow guys” (Salinger 99). Holden is now very shy and chooses to not to conform to society because of the constant reminder of James Castle’s death and quite possibly his own.
In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the complexity and delude of Sally Hayes establishes Holden’s cynicism, thus allowing him to decipher between the realism and the fictitiousness of the adult world. The innovative archetype of an immoral teen that is embodied by