Jr. Theology/ Faith
August 22, 2007
Why Holden Caulfield was not a Person of Faith
Although it appeared as if Holden Caulfield desired to be a person of faith throughout J.D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in The Rye, he finds himself slowly becoming unfaithful, through his thoughts and actions, to himself, God, and those around him.
In this novel, Holden shows that he possesses ambitions to be a loving person and to be loyal to his friends and family, but many times these intentions become marred by unfaithful thoughts and actions. One such incident was when he was sad to say goodbye to Mr. Spencer, and he was very respectful at the beginning of this encounter. But throughout his visit he kept getting distracted and ignoring his teacher, and it was soon evident that all he wanted to do was escape from the friendship of his caring advisor. So he eventually lied to Mr. Spencer about needing to leave to go to the gym and quickly left the man who was trying to get Holden on a path toward a healthy lifestyle. Another time he showed compassion and faith was when Holden played with his brother Allie and shared great memories with him. But after Allie died, Holden punched out the garage windows, and, in those moments after his brother’s death, he lost his faith in God and turned away from the Lord’s love and towards violence. We also see his love for his sister Phoebe because he wants to protect her from the wrongs of society, but even around her he still smokes and sets a bad example. After losing faith completely, he is prepared to give up on himself, leave his family behind, and not trust in God to help him through these disheartening times. So even in the moments that he does feel God in his life through others around him, he turns away from God and fails both those he loves and himself.
Holden also turned away from God by losing faith in his morals, and gaining faith in sexuality and harmful substances. At one point he tells us that he “made a rule that I [he] was going to quit horsing around with girls”(63), but that he “broke it… [on] the same night” (63) that he made it. Another time he calls up a prostitute late at night when he is feeling “horny” (63), and then on a separate occasion, he has a prostitute come to his room. Holden also has a drinking problem, and he relies on alcohol to get him through the tough moments of life instead of God’s love. He lies about his age to get drunk and then brags about how easy it is for him to get alcohol, making it clear that he has no intention to change from these ways. Through Holden’s actions we see that, though at times he may want to, he is not able to live a fully faithful life.
We can tell throughout the novel that Holden doesn’t have a faith life in God at all, but instead he does whatever he wants in order to gain the greatest happiness he thinks he can achieve in life. Through these missions of greed, he only causes himself more sorrow and regret and doesn’t realize that true happiness is found in God. Some may believe that Holden does have a sense of faith because he has reasons behind his actions. And I would agree that Holden has faith, but this is not a moral faith. He has faith in sex, alcohol, and disloyalty towards others for his own personal gain, which is not the faith that is desired when living a life with Christ. Because Holden doesn’t let God help him through the tough times in life, he only finds emptiness and a longing for true love, which can only be achieved through faith and love in the Lord.