Holden Caulfield
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Holden Caulfield is a fictional character, the teenage protagonist of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and other Salinger works.
Physically, Holden is gangly and tall. Holden is also described as having several grey hairs on the right side of his head. These two qualities contribute to Holden appearing to be older than he is, however, his mannerisms and behavior betray this fact. Holden has a powerful disgust for the abundance of narcissism, hypocrisy and superficiality (qualities that Holden describes as "phony") in the world and as a result he has become quite cynical and misanthropic. Despite Holden's strong disdain for people he sees as "phony," Holden frequently exhibits qualities which he himself abhors, making him somewhat of a tragic character.
Holden is the second of four children, with two brothers, D.B. and Allie, and one sister, Phoebe. Allie is deceased at the time of Catcher in the Rye. Holden's parents are unnamed.
Born into a life of wealth and privilege, Caulfield looks down upon the elite world he occupies. He questions the values of his class and society and sometimes appears to oppose conventions merely for the sake of opposition. He is widely considered to be the template for the "angry young man" archetype.
There is some speculation that Salinger chose the name "Holden Caulfield" for his protagonist as a reference to the "caul" or amniotic sac that covers a newborn mammal. In this interpretation, Caulfield's name is a modification of "hold on caul field", an expression of the character's resistance to transformation and distrust of adulthood.[link]
In The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield is the narrator and protagonist of Catcher in the Rye. The novel recounts the days following Caulfield's explusion from Pencey Prep, a university preparatory school based loosely on Valley Forge Military Academy, Salinger's alma mater. Caulfield tells his story in a cynical and jaded voice, often using defamatory language and occasional profanity. Yet the reader can see that, for Caulfield, this attitude is nothing more than a display of bravado to protect himself from the hypocrisy of the adult world. The story ends in Caulfield's emotional collapse/mental breakdown.In other works
The character, as Holden Morrisey Caulfield, also appears in Salinger's "Slight Rebellion Off Madison", published in the December 22, 1946 issue of The New Yorker. An earlier version of this story, titled "Are You Banging Your Head Against a Wall?" was accepted for publication by The New Yorker in October 1941, but was not published then because editors found the tone to be too disaffected for its readership. An edited version of this short story later became the basis of several chapters in the middle-late section of The Catcher in the Rye dealing with Holden's disastrous date with Sally Hayes during which he confesses his desire to run away with her, his meeting Carl Luce for drinks, and his drunken phone call to the Hayes home. In contrast to the novel, Holden is simply on Christmas break from school and the date is split into two dates in the story. Also, the meeting with Carl Luce is considerably more brief than in the novel.Caulfield also figures as a character in the short story "I'm Crazy", published in Colliers (December 22, 1945), and other members of the Caulfield family are featured in "Last Day of the Last Furlough", published in The Saturday Evening Post (July 15, 1944) and the unpublished short stories "The Last and Best of the Peter Pans" (ca. 1942) and "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" (ca. 1945).
"I'm Crazy" is closely related to what would become the first chapter of The Catcher in the Rye. It begins with Caulfield standing on a hill at "Pencey Prep" watching a football game being played down below, and then develops as Holden visits with his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, for a talk about his expulsion from school and his future. Several other details match the details found in the first chapter of Catcher, including a reference to a mother of one of Caulfield's schoolmates and his mother sending him a gift of ski boots, but the story ends with him returning home instead of running away from school. Once home, he is not shown confronting his parents who, according to the maid, are playing bridge. Instead, he goes to speak to Phoebe. Their dialogue is very similar to what appears in the later chapters of The Catcher in the Rye. Also notable is that another Caulfield child gets her first, and only, mention in the Caulfield saga, Viola.
Caulfield family in other works
"Last Day of the Last Furlough" relates the final day of Babe Gladwaller before he is shipped off to fight in World War II. Gladwaller spends part of the day with his little sister before Vincent Caulfield (later renamed D.B. in the novel), a fellow soldier about to leave for the war, arrives. Vincent announces that his brother, Holden, was declared missing in action. Gladwaller's relationship with his little sister can be seen as a parallel to Caulfield's relationship with Phoebe."The Last and Best of the Peter Pans" relates the story of Vincent's (D.B.) draft questionnaire being hidden by his mother. The events occur just after the death of Kenneth (later renamed Allie) and reveal the anxiety of Mary Moriarity, an actress and Caulfield's mother. The story is notable for the appearance of Phoebe and Vincent's statements about a child crawling off of a cliff.
"The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" is told by Vincent (D.B.) and relates the final day of Kenneth (Allie). The story, set at the Caulfield summer home on Cape Cod, is a reminiscence on the part of Vincent. Caulfield is away at camp on what will be Kenneth's final day. Several details make their way from this story into Catcher, including the characterization of Allie; Allie's poetry-inscribed left-handed baseball mitt; Vincent's girlfriend, Helen, who keeps her kings in the back row (like Jane Gallagher); and Caulfield's critical view of others. Unlike Allie, who he says died of leukemia, Kenneth is described as having an unspecified heart condition. As the story nears its end, Kenneth and Vincent are on the beach. Kenneth decides to go swimming and is overcome by a wave. Vincent races home with Kenneth's unconscious body and Kenneth dies later that night. Caulfield is waiting on the porch with his suitcases when Vincent arrives with Kenneth's body. This story was reportedly sold to a magazine only to be taken back by Salinger before publication.
Another short story of note with relationship to Caulfield is "The Boy in the People Shooting Hat" which was submitted to The New Yorker sometime between 1948 and 1949 but was not published. It focuses on a fight between two characters named Bobby and Stradlater over Bobby's feelings about June Gallagher. This story likely forms the basis for several key scenes in the first several chapters of The Catcher in the Rye.
Cultural impact
Holden Caulfield is one of the most enduring characters in 20th century American fiction.- The Catcher in the Rye is required reading in many high school English courses today, although it has been banned from some school libraries by parent and teacher groups opposed its use of profanity and perceived glorification of rebellion.
- Caulfield's principles in the novel were influential in the lives of, among others, Mark David Chapman[Larry King Live Weekend: A Look Back at Mark David Chapman in His Own Words] Retrieved May 12, 2006, the former mental patient who murdered John Lennon. Chapman occasionally considered Lennon a "phony", akin to Caulfield's accusations, and had reenacted prominent events in the novel.
Quotations
"The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it." — Original jacket copy (Salinger?)[link]Popular culture references
- Holden Caulfield was mentioned in the song "Trinity" by Jedi Mind Tricks, "Get it Right" by The Offspring, "Save Yourself" by Aesop Rock, "SuperPowers" by Five Iron Frenzy, "Here's To Life" by Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution and Streetlight Manifesto, "Magna Cum Nada" by The Bloodhound Gang, and was the subject of "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Green Day, "I Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Screeching Weasel, and "Old Love" by Mike Posner. Too Much Joy combines the character's name with another symbol of disaffection, the actor William Holden, in the song "William Holden Caulfield". There was also an alternative-pop band called The Caulfields between 1992 and 1997.
- He is also a character in Family Guy who sees Peter Griffin playing a keyboard and proclaims him immensely talented, but upon realizing that the keyboard is playing itself, he proclaims Peter a "big fat phony" and hounds him for the remainder of the episode.
- Jake Gyllenhaal's character in the 2002 film The Good Girl lives his life by The Catcher in the Rye, to the point that he refers to himself as "Holden".
- In a third-season episode of the TV series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, entitled "Frat Aliens", the question "Are you Holden? Is Holden Caulfield here?" is used as a code phrase for finding out if anyone present is in possession of marijuana that can be used to "wake and bake."
- There is also a free verse poem in David Levithan's The Realm of Possibility entitled "My Girlfriend's in Love With Holden Caulfield."
- In the episode of the Dilbert TV series titled "The Return", a call-center operator gives the fake name "Holden Callfielder" (reading the word "Hold" from a button on his phone and referring to himself as a "call-fielder").
- In an episode of Hey Arnold!, the titular character has to deliver a book report on his favorite author, and the one he chooses to interview is one Agatha Caulfield. Her last name and angsty, taciturn nature is an apparent reference to Holden Caulfield.
References
External links
Salinger's uncollected short stories- [Slight Rebellion off Madison].
- In Japan, most of the short stories are already translated into Japanese (compiled in two volumes) and still commercially available with the approval of Salinger's agents (ISBN 4752100010 / ISBN 4752100029). Even Hapworth 16, 1924 is available (ISBN 4752100045).
- [Dead Caulfields], A fan site with information on Salinger's works, including details about the uncollected and/or unpublished shorts stories.
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