Holden Caulfield Inferiority

There are no given rules on how you should live your life, the relationships you should build, or the way you should carry yourself. Oftentimes, people experience confusion in their life as they try and determine their spot in the world. Trying to find one's spot can bring up the realization of the inferiority and superiority roles within society. In In the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, faces this exact confusion. Some scholarly critics claim that Holden Caulfield feels inferior while others argue that he feels superior. But how is this possible?
To understand Holden as a character, it is important to first recognize the inferiorities that he faces. There are multiple types of inferiorities that people can experience. However, Holden’s organ inferiorities, or physical defects, are shown …show more content…
Holden will not stop moving locations until he is in a setting that he fits in, is comfortable in, and one that has the opportunity to reach superiority. In addition to this, Holden’s “strong temper and passion” (Irving 86) reflect his inferiorities because he is bottling his feelings and projecting his problems on other people. A person who feels inferior does not feel as if they can speak what they are feeling or that their words are worthy. Instead, they feel like the person above them will judge, dismiss, or not take seriously what they say. Because of this, they tend to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves until they reach a breaking point. This is exactly what Holden does. Irving points out that “By saying he doesn't care, Holden tries to cover up his feelings of inferiorities” (Irving 89). Despite Holden's attempt to cover up his feelings, anyone who has experienced a jumble of feelings at once knows that it is not easy to do so. The human brain, conscience, and heart can only handle so much at