I think that Holden Caulfield is not a person of faith because he is afraid to trust people and instead calls them all “phonies,” rejects the advice given to him by people who care about him, and wants to put he people he cares about into glass cases, believing that the choices they make will make them into “phonies.”
Holden, throughout all of Catcher in the Rye, calls just about everyone he meets “phonies” because he believes that they only care about making money and worldly possessions. This causes him not have any trust or faith in anyone, and he decides that his philosophy in life, to just ignore the rules and to keep the people he loves in glass cases, is the only view in life. Several people seem to care about Holden, but Holden instead thinks that those people do not really care about him. For example, his history teacher gives Holden a big lecture about how to get back on track in life, but Holden instead believes that this teacher only wants to make him feel miserable and he ignores. Mr. Antolini also gives Holden great advice, but Holden never really follows through and believes in the authenticity of the advice.
Finally, Holden wants to take the people he loves and put them into glass cases to preserve their innocence. Holden wants to put Phoebe in a glass case to save her because he does not trust that the decisions she will make later in life will be good decisions. Holden would only end up killing Phoebe by putting her in the glass case. Holden also keeps Allie in a glass case in his mind by not talking about him to anyone and not expressing his sorrow over his loss. Holden only shows that he can have faith at the end of the book when he sees Phoebe riding the carousel.
