Name
date
Was Holden Caulfield a Person of Faith?
Caulfield is not a person of faith because he never trusts anyone
completely. He never trusts people because he always thinks the worst of
everything. Whenever a situation in his adventure is open to
interpretation and thought, he believes the worst possible scenario has
happened or will happen. His lack of trust in people manifests itself in
various moments throughout his adventure.
One such moment occurs when Holden sleeps at Mr. Antolini’s house in the
city. Holden wakes up to find Mr. Antolini stroking his head and watching
him sleep. Instead of trusting that Antolini is just caring for him like a
father, Holden jumps away from him and leaves his home. He suspects that
his former teacher attempted to assault him instead of taking his actions
as a father-like gesture.
Another moment where he shows his aversion to adults is when he talks to
Stradlater after his date with Holden’s old friend Jane. Stradlater tells
Holden that he borrowed the basketball coach’s car for their date. Holden
automatically thinks that Stradlater tried “to give her the time”. He has
no faith that Stradlater just took her out and had an innocent time with
her even though Stradlater, who is known to brag about things, never
mentions any kind of sexual encounter.
One other incident that shows
Holden’s lack of faith in people is the story he tells about the boy he
used to room with at another school. He says that the boy had his luggage
up on the rack in their room when Holden came. Holden says that the boy
let him put his bags, which were much nicer than the other boy’s bags, on
the rack a few days later and put his own bags under his bed. Holden
immediately believes that the boy put them there only so he could act as
if they were his own. Holden never asks him, but continues to believe that
the
boy wanted to look rich in front of the other boys. He never thinks that
the boy could have just been trying to make friends and did it as a nice
gesture.
Holden cannot be called a person of faith when he always thinks the worst
of people. He even mentions wanting to go live alone in a house in the
woods, somewhere no one can find unless he tells them. Having faith in
people involves interacting with them and learning about them. Holden can
never do these things because he chooses only to see people in an unsavory
light.