Like a curator who preserves the artifacts in his museum, Holden Caulfield enshrines and embalms his relics -- memories -- and is none too fond of adding to his collection. If I had to come up with a broad definition to prescribe him, it’d be something in the vicinity of “cynical idealist”, because no matter how highly you are regarded by Holden, his distrust of the capriciousness that is so integral to human nature prevents you from ever completely gratifying his ideal. By far the most enduring semblance he allows himself to keep is that of his younger brother Allie. In fact, Holden mentions that he often finds himself acting 13, the age he was when his brother died, as if along with Allie, a part of him had died as well. It’s almost undeniable that Holden’s proclivity to lying compulsively is symptomatic of the PTSD triggered by his brother’s death because by lying he can gauge and manipulate his audience’s emotional responses to reflect what he wants them to feel; lying gives him control, the one thing he did not have over his brother’s fate.
I think it’s also valuable to consider that as much as Holden extols his brother’s purity and singularity, Allie may not have been so perfect after all. I’m thinking of the passage on page 206 in particular when Holden mentions that although at times he hated and complained about Stradlater and Ackley, once they were gone, he found himself missing them. This is all relative to how we prefer to remember people; when all that remains of someone are fragmented memories, the slightest courtesy we can provide is preservation of their good name.
In spite of and despite of his lying, Holden repeatedly proves his natural altruism, which is as much tied to his brother’s death than anything else. Holden is by nature distrusting and judgmental but ultimately everything he does is with good intention -- from his sympathy for the nuns to his reference to the catcher in the rye, I think what he really wants is to be for someone else what Allie was to him. Above all we can forgive Holden for his impulsiveness and dishonesty because we know that when he says he doesn't concern himself with losing things, it’s because he already suffered the worst loss possible.
It seems to me that Allie has almost become a Christ figure in Holden's eyes in that Holden holds him so far above everybody because of his total purity, kindness, and generosity. It's almost like Holden thinks Allie died for his own "sins," his being a depressed, angry, dropout and misanthrope. This is especially clear at the very end of the book, when Allie becomes Holden's guiding presence when he fears death looming every time he steps off a curb.
ReplyDeleteI like the phrase "cynical idealist" to describe Holden's particular combination of negativity and starry-eyed idealism. Cynicism is maybe closer to idealism than we're accustomed to think. One becomes cynical because one's high expectations are constantly disappointed. The "risk" that Antolini articulates is that the cynicism might start to overtake the idealism, as life becomes increasingly unable to accommodate the ideals.
ReplyDeleteI really like your point about how he misses Stradlater and Ackley even though he didn't particularly like them, because I had not thought about that in the context of his relationship with Allie. It definitely seems relevant, and he probably has idealized Allie after his death. I think that it is hard not to either idealize or demonize people, especially people who have had a huge impact on you or the world. This is even more true after they are gone, and I guess Holden chooses to idealize Allie because he sure as hell isn't going to demonize him.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a lot of interesting points in this post! I'd add that Holden puts Allie on a pedestal because he want to believe that "good" people can still exist. Even though Holden seems to view the world in a generally negative light, he still clings to the belief that a class of non-phony, valuable people have not been quashed by the crumbiness of society. He even seems to project his own wishful thinking onto those he loves. For example, in the bedroom scene with Phoebe, Holden's rosy image of his sister begins to waver when she questions his actions. Nevertheless, he still scrambles for ways to present her in a positive light, even if the traits he assigns her may no longer be as valid (now that she's older than he remembers).
ReplyDeleteHolden also does this with Phoebe as well. I remember when Holden was about to enter Phoebe's room and I was so curious to see how she would act. While Holden has some annoying traits, I agree that losing his brother really made him suffer, and may have manifested some of his traits. Holden doesn't really get close to many people, so when he does, the feeling of loss must be immense.
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