How Is Holden Caulfield A Romantic Hero

19th-century Romanticism was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement characterized by its emphasis on emotion, individualism, and the love of life. The Romantic hero is a literary archetype that serves as a personification of these ideals. The protagonist of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, is a prime example of this archetype. Throughout the book Holden is strongly portrayed as an isolated individual, caring more for his own personal views than the paradigm.
First and foremost, the Romantic hero is an individual, focusing on their inner-self rather than the external world. Holden is presented to the audience as a distinctly withdrawn character. This is supported by numerous aspects of his life. From his parents apparent lack of care for him with them repeatedly sending him off to boarding schools, to him only having one reliable friend, that being his sister Phoebe. Holden’s own personality also helps solidify him as an outsider. His distaste for conventional views of the world and his reliance on his own subjective views. He also shows a strong dislike of the majority of people, or …show more content…
Despite naturally tending to be somewhat of a loner, Holden will attempt to interact with others around him almost every time the opportunity arises, possibly in an attempt to combat his feelings of loneliness. For the majority of the book Holden is physically and mentally restless, going out and trying to find things to do and people to do them with. This love for living is also accompanied with the Romantic awareness of the ever-present nature of death. Holden’s passion for life is entwined with a fairly depressive disposition towards the world, sometimes affecting him enough for him to dance with the idea of dying. Despite its significance in this regard, Holden himself isn’t the only thing working to present him as a Romantic