Holden Caulfield Character Analysis

True Character “Do not judge a book by its cover.” Everybody has heard this phrase at one time or another. People use it as a reminder to refrain from initial judgments based simply on outward appearance. Quick judgments on a person’s character based on only the most easily noticeable aspects of their language or actions often miss the point. The condition of one’s heart can tell a lot more than just outward persona. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, although Holden Caulfield’s outward persona makes him seem as though he doesn’t care about innocence, in actuality, the innermost intentions of his heart prove that he deeply values and holds sacred the idea of innocence.
On the surface, Holden’s defiance and engagement in adult-
He hints at the idea of preserving innocence when he is at a museum and loves the glass cases because inside “everything always stay[s] right where it [is] and nobody move[s]” (121). Holden does not want things to change or mature. Furthermore, this parallels with his desire for people to stay young and never grow up. When Holden’s roommate Stradlater goes on a date with Holden’s childhood friend, Jane, Holden “[keeps] thinking about” them and it makes him very “nervous” because he knows what a “sexy bastard Stradlater [is]” (34). Holden does not want Stradlater to strip away Jane’s innocence. He values the Jane he once knew who “liked the way her [kings] looked [on a checker board] when they were all in the back row” (32). So the thought of a guy like Stradlater, who only cares about sex, going on a date with Jane scares him because he wants Jane to be protected from fake people who do not truly appreciate her. Holden likes innocent things and is troubled at the thought of them changing or being stripped of their innocence. This leads him to try and protect and preserve the purity in others as best he