Was Holden Caulfield a Person of Faith?


   Holden Caulfield tried but wasn’t a person of faith, though at times he did show glimpses of it. One good example of Holden trying to trust someone was the time he went to an old teacher of his, Mr. Antolini. Holden went to him to spend the night, as a sign of his effort in trusting him, but woke up in the middle of the night to him touching his head, and instantly lost it all and left right away.

   Holden also lacks all faith in adults and people that are turning into adults. All he can see is corruption and lies. When he thinks about Mr. Ossenburger, a mortician, he doesn’t believe that he actually cares for the people that died, and just takes the bodies, puts them in a sack, and throws them into the river. Holden also fails to have faith in Stradlater, who he thinks is just giving Jane “the time” and ends up getting into a fight with him, because he didn’t trust him. Anther thing that shows Holden has no faith are the “fuck you” signs he sees on the walls. He thinks that nothing can be completely good, therefore you can never completely believe in or trust something, and that someone or something will eventually screw things up. We can see this through is idea of being the catch in the rye, as he doesn’t trust the adults who he thinks are going to come along and corrupt them, who cant trust either because of their innocence and inability to know not to be corrupted.

   Lastly, Holden lacks faith in himself. Throughout the whole novel Holden talks about things that people do that show their corruption, especially things like drinking and sex. Holden however looses himself and does just as they do, and looses his belief in what he knows is right, as he hired a prostitute and went to many bars.

   Holden tries to have faith but ends up doing what he knows is wrong showing that he too has been corrupted quite a bit, and is unable to trust anyone because all he can see is corruption and lies.
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