August 26th, 2008
Theology

The Faith of Holden Caulfield

My vision of faith is to have trust and belief in certain aspects of life. Holden Caulfied in The Catcher in the Rye shows faith to a certain part of his life though denies faith to the inhabitants of the corrupt world. Holden’s faith lies in people such as his sister Phoebe. One of the worst fears Holden shows throughout the book is that Phoebe will enter the corrupt world. Holden realizes that no matter what he does he can never stop Phoebe from ending up there. Holden has faith in Phoebe because of her purity of childhood. Another figure in Holden’s life that he trusts and believes in is James Castle. James Castle shows himself as a Christ like figure dying for what he believed in. Holden respects James’ priorities and honors them with his faith.

Though there are people in Holden’s life that he truly has faith in, there are also those who he completely denies faith. One of these people is Stradlater. Stradlater, Holden’s roommate, believed in sexual desires which Holden does not approve of. Holden thinks of sex as an entrance into the corrupt world. Holden however has little faith even for himself. We see him hiring a prostitute which shows himself in the corrupt world. By the end of the book Holden has no faith for becoming the catcher and the rye he set out to be. A time when we see Holden lose faith in many is when he witnesses all the vulgar words written all around Phoebe’s school. He begins trying to scratch it all out, but ends up realizing that no matter how many words he scratches out, there will always be more. After reading the Catcher in the Rye, it seems that Holden does not have very much faith by the end of the book. Holden’s faith is directed towards those who are still free of the corrupt world and those who realize and have to courage to stand up to it.