Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield is a fictional character, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel "The Catcher in the Rye".

In "The Catcher in the Rye"

Holden Caulfield is the narrator and main character of "The Catcher in the Rye". The novel recounts the days following Caulfield's expulsion from Pencey Prep, a university preparatory school based loosely on either Ursinus College or Valley Forge Military Academy, Salinger's alma mater. Caulfield tells his story in cynical and jaded language, frequently using disparaging language and profanity.

In other works

The character, as Holden Matthew Caulfield, also appears in Salinger's "Slight Rebellion off Madison". 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 desolate 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 Caulfield's date with Sally Hayes, during which he confesses his desire to run away with her, he meets Carl Luce for drinks, and he makes a drunken phone call to the Hayes home. Unlike the similar sequence in the novel, Caulfield is on a Christmas break from school, and, in the story, the interlude with Sally is split into two occurrences. Also, the meeting with Carl Luce is considerably briefer in the story 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are featured in "Last Day of the Last Furlough", published in "The Saturday Evening Post" (July 15, 1944) and the unpublished short stories "The Last and Best of the Peter Pans" (ca. 1942) and "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" (ca. 1945).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 below, and 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 those found in the first chapter of "Catcher", including a reference to the mother of one of Caulfield's schoolmates and to his own mother sending him a gift of ice skates, but the story ends with his 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 similar to what appears in the later chapters of "The Catcher in the Rye". Also notable is that sister Viola gets her first, and only, mention in the Caulfield saga.

Caulfield is also referenced as "one of history's most famous literary bullshitters" in the Death Note novel, . The narrator for the Death Note novel is Mello (Death Note).

Caulfield family in other works

"Last Day of the Last Furlough" relates the final day of Babe Gladwaller before he leaves 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) arrives. At that point Vincent is a fellow soldier about to leave for the war. Vincent announces that his brother, Holden, has been declared missing in action. Gladwaller's relationship with his younger sister can be seen as a parallel to Caulfield's relationship with Phoebe.

In "This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise" Vincent is brooding over the news that Holden is missing. He refuses to believe that it is true.

"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 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. Holden 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 Jane Gallagher. This story likely forms the basis for several key scenes in the first several chapters of "The Catcher in the Rye".

In popular culture

Quotations

quote|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 book jacket copy, possibly partially written by Salinger [cite web
url = http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/classes/eng/willbern/BestSellers/Catcher/cover.html
title = Original book jacket copy
publisher = University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
accessdate = 2007-12-19]

External links

Salinger's uncollected short stories
* [http://www.freeweb.hu/tchl/salinger/madison.html 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 4-7521-0001-0 / ISBN 4-7521-0002-9). Even "Hapworth 16, 1924" is available (ISBN 4-7521-0004-5).

Fan sites
* [http://www.geocities.com/deadcaulfields/DCHome.html Dead Caulfields] , A fan site with information on Salinger's works, including details about the uncollected and/or unpublished shorts stories.
* [http://www.wahlbrinck.de/catcherintherye/index.htm The Catcher in the Rye - and related matters]

Footnotes