Joe Beaty

Jr. Theology/Faith

April 24, 2006

 

            With my reading of sophmore year combined with my beliefs in Jounior year, I believe that Holden Caulfield is a man of faith by the end of W. C. Field’s Catcher in the Rye.

In the beginnig of the book Holden has a negative outlook on life. His schoolmates depress him, as does most of the actions of the world. Other people’s selfish and dirty deeds put Holden into an anti-social state of depression. Caulfield loathes the company of others, unless he is fully entertained. Holden complains that his roommate forces him to do his homework for him, he will not stop whining about how annoying his neighbor is, but he still falls victim to their company.

After Holden runs away from school he is still a bad kid, but his natural thoughts lead him to a better life. His compulsive lying only hurts himself while it entertains his aquaintances. He gives in to temptations like drinking and smoking, but is able to stop himself from having sex with the prostitute in the green dress. Holden’s meeting with the nuns in the diner is the earliest sign of faith and belief. He supports their mission for starting a school in the city, and donates some of his last money to help children he does not know.

Other little things throughout the novel show that Holden Caulfield struggles internally to keep happy. He does not enter the Museum of Natural history because he does not want to see that his childhood memories have changed. He knows that the museum is not the same, but afraid of change, Holden likes to stick to things he knows, such as tightening up a roller skate for a little girl. The tightening key is familiar to his touch, and reminds him of how he used to skate through Central Park as a kid. Central Park also has the lake. This lake brings up questions of his own faith, and what he knows of the world. The question of where ducks go during winter brings along more answers than Holden can handle. A cab driver tells him that the ducks fly south, but the fish freeze in the water and live off nutrients that were also frozen in the water. Towards the end of the novel, Holden slips near the lake, almost falls in, and discovers that it is not frozen all the way through, as the cab driver had said. He then questions all that he has learned, and all that he believes.

In the end, Holden gives up his dream of isolation on a western farm and realizes that things change. His family will not always be alive, his old girl friends will not be the same childhood sweetheart, and of course the exhibits change at museums. By accepting that he cannot control everything in the world, Holden accepts his real future, returns to his parents and sister, and stops running from what might come.