I believe that, even though Holden Claufield is very doubtful of himself and everyone around him throughout 
Catcher in the Rye, in the end his decision to stay in society and give it another chance shows that he is actually a man 
of faith.  Near the end of the book, he seems to lose all faith in society and wants to run as far as he can away from the 
"morons" that are around him.  He hates everyone else so much that he forms a plan to live in a cabin in the woods and 
pretend that he is a deaf-mute so that no one will ever talk to him.  Even though these thoughts may make it seem like he 
has lost all faith, his actions show that he still believes in a few people.  One of these people that he runs to before his 
final decision to run away is his old English teacher.  Holden has always believed that he was different from the rest of 
the “liars” and “phonies” in the world around him.  Because of this faith, he is able to receive some insight into his own 
life and encouragement to give society another chance.
        Another person that he strongly believes in is his sister.  He believes that she has a chance to achieve a life that 
is different from his.  He believes in her so much that he begins to yell at her when she starts talking about her idea to 
run away with him.  He doesn’t want her to throw away what she might have later in her life, because he thinks that she has 
the potential to resist the vices of society and lead a good life.  He also shows faith in her by following her advice. 
He listens to what she has to say when he tells her about his own plan to run away.  In the end, this, along with many other 
reasons, lead him to make the correct decision and attempt living in the world around him.
        The third person that he has faith in is himself.  Even though some of the people around him do help with his 
decision to stay in society, I think that the main reason he stays is because he has faith that it is possible for him to 
live in the real world.  He begins to learn that not everyone is like Stradlater, his most recent roommate.  People aren’t 
always walking around with fake sincerity. Some people truly want what is best for him and he learns to accept the advice 
of those people, but since he usually can’t tell who is truly sincere, he needs to have faith in himself that he is 
following the right people and making the right choices.
        To make the choice that he made he would have also needed to have faith in society.  He had to believe that things 
won’t always be horrible in his life. Because he had faith that things will eventually be better, it gave him the incentive 
to try again. He believed that if he kept trying, things would have to have eventually turned better. This faith led him 
back into society and gave him the potential to do something good with his life that he was going to throw away.