“Characters and how they interrelate is the main focus of the novel.”
To what extent do you agree with this view?
To a significant extent I agree with the viewpoint that in “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger “characters
and how they interrelate is the main focus of the novel”. This relates with the fact that the protagonist of
the story, Holden Caulfield’s perceptions of life and of society and the main themes and motifs are all
derived off of and presented through character interrelation. If this is not the case and this expressed
viewpoint in not intended as the sole focus of the novel then it may well be one of them. Reasons that
influence the significance of the viewpoint are apparent in the way Holden interacts with many
characters over the short space of the novel, the fact that the plot of the novel is not ‘action packed’ and
nothing extremely coherent happens, exempting interrelations with various characters, and because the
narrative style is in first person and so therefore the focal point of character associations is magnified.
I agree to some extent that this the main focus of the novel simply because Holden relates with a lot of
characters over the text and they all bring about alternative ideas, postulations and perceptions we can
analyse. When Holden meets someone new we can distinguish recurring different themes in the novel,
primarily those of alienation, the desire to stay immutable and the ‘phoniness’ of the adult world, by the
way he reacts. The character interrelations bring together the main points of the novel. This is
highlighted through collaborations which characters such as Mr. Spencer, Holden’s history teacher
whom is the first individual we are physically introduced to. When Holden goes to visit Spencer he is
soon feeling alienated and uncomfortable around him. Spencer is the first representative of the ‘stolid’
adult that Holden repudiates and we are only aware of his rebellion through his internal dialogue to
himself, the silent ridicule of the old man which he deftly hides behind a compliant façade. Salinger uses
Holden’s reaction to Spencer to illustrate the theme of alienation and ‘phoniness’, which is demonstrated
through character interrelations; though Holden rants against the ‘phoniness’ of the adult world –“Grand.
There’s a word I really hate. That’s a phony…” – he appears to have completely adopted it himself even
admitting to the readers that he is a “terrific liar” and that he lies to Spencer to get out of a vexatious
situation instead of confronting him, something he would deem a display of ‘phoniness’ that he himself,
ironically, exerts. Salinger uses this character reciprocation to enable us to gain some insight into
Holden’s ambivalent view of the world as it is suggested to us through his fastidious narration. Though
he blames the world and authority figures for their lack of credibility he readily reveals to his readers
aspects of insincerity in himself, though he seems oblivious that he is displaying them in the first place.
Inability to confront his failure to cope with life as an adolescent is seen when Spencer confronts Holden
about his inadequacy in school and it continues to manifest itself throughout the story. It is through
character interaction that we get a hint about Holden’s personality and again the main themes of
alienation and the ‘phoniness’ of the adult world seen in features of humanity. Alienation is further
illustrated in this scene as Holden says in internal dialogue in retort to something Spencer has said:
“game, my ass. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game alright…if you get on
the other side where there aren’t any hot-shots then what’s the game about? Nothing.” This pessimistic
remark proves that he feels alone and victimized reinforcing the theme of alienation and the
presentation of themes through character interrelation.
Subsequently we are introduced to certain other characters in the novel that Holden interacts with such
as Robert Ackley, Ward Stradlater, Sunny, Maurice, Sally Hayes, Carl Luce, Mr. Antolini and finally
Phoebe. All of these character interrelations hold significance in the novel because they all highlight
main themes and iconology. Another example of a substantial character interrelation is Holden’s
encounter with a young prostitute, Sunny, which is a pivotal moment in the novel. First of all she is
young, a quality Holden likes in his peers and she refuses the cigarette he offers her which gives Holden
an illusion of her innocence, another attribute that is provocative to him. In fact in an internal response to
something she says Holden states “that sounded real kid”, directly relating her to youth. He romanticizes
about someone like Jane Gallagher who is the personification of cordiality and innocence whereas he is
presented with Sunny, where there is no emotional connection whatsoever. This is also contradictory to
what Holden previously expresses about the sexual act; he believes it should be consequential and
intimate. Since Holden is unwilling to consummate sex with Sunny the readers get a clear perception of
its role in fuelling his internal conflict, his need for companionship and his desire to alienate himself from
people, primarily as a form of protection. Another internal conflict highlighted in this point of the novel is
Holden’s wish to stay the same, unchanging and innocent as a part of youth where everything is
simplified. By engaging in sex with Sunny he will conflict this desire, as sex is a part of growing up and is
seen as an act of maturity inherent to becoming an adult. Subconsciously Holden compares this action
to stepping over the precipice and into the world of ‘phoniness’ and confusion he so abhors. Sunny
concretizes this conflict, highlighting Holden’s wants which are in consistent contention with his critical
opinions. Through this significant character interrelation Salinger presents to us the anxiety and fragility
of Holden’s emotions and unsatisfactory experiences with people like Sunny are a result of the demands
of Holden’s solitude which compel him to engage with the pressures of society; he truly only desires to
exist in the world of youth. Here we can also see he eludes the adult world and rejects forms of intimacy
to protect himself, he is too scared to sleep with Sunny, or perhaps to immature, and eventually takes
refuge in isolation; something that is both a comfort and a source of his melancholy. These examples
work in favour of the viewpoint of character interrelations being a main focus in the novel because in
“Catcher in the Rye” Holden meets with many people, through these abundant schemes of character
interaction we can see dimensions of Holden’s character and are presented with numerable important
themes.
Secondly the observation that character interrelations are the main focus of the novel is emphasized
through the plotline. The allegory follows a very short space of time, merely three days in the holidays,
and because there is nothing exceedingly ‘action packed’ in the novel we can draw the conclusion that
Salinger is focusing on events that expedite Holden’s mental collapse. Primarily the main events
developing up to this is the interrelations with various characters, principally the ones that result in
meandering thought processes from Holden which give away his mental fragility. In fact the purpose of
the plot basically is to give a detailed account of the events that end in Holden’s mental breakdown and
his need to be facilitated. The plotline also illustrates populous character interrelations that in turn
reinforce the main themes in the novel, making it important to the text on a whole as Holden’s mental
breakdown is contracted from his inability to subjugate the prospects of the adult world that overwhelm
him. To comprehend this it is necessary to look at character interactions especially the ones that leave
him feeling hurt and alone because these play a huge role in his deteriorating mentality. An example of
this is his affiliation with his boarding school roommate, Ward Stradlater. Holden’s animosity for
Stradlater begins when he takes an old friend of Holden’s, Jane Gallagher, on a date. Jane is someone
Holden is very infatuated with and he is uncomfortable with her going out with Stradlater as he prizes
her for her purity and virginity and Stradlater is known to be “unscrupulous” with women. The same night,
as a result of this character interaction, Holden divulges to the audience that his younger brother, Allie,
died of leukaemia. This event is at the root of most of Holden’s issues with society and the people in it.
Here Holden also discusses a baseball mitt of Allie’s that is covered in poems. The baseball mitt is the
perfect motif for the traits of innocence, intelligence and sincerity that Allie possessed and Holden
therefore idealizes. This makes it extremely personal to Holden when Stradlater criticizes this and
combined with Holden’s annoyance at Stradlater for conceivably “giving Jane the time” and his
nonchalance towards Holden’s immature questions causes Holden to get so agitated that he attacks
Stradlater. Due to Holden’s inability to deal with social conventions he abruptly decides to leave the
school yelling as he goes in a bout of callowness “sleep tight, ya morons!” Salinger uses this event to
highlight Holden’s withdrawal from society and his habitual ways of isolating himself when a fallacious
situation arises. This is an important part of the novel as we can see Holden’s reception to the character
interrelations he participates in, particularly bad ones, and how they affect his mental dissension. With
each negative interrelation following Holden is seen to alienate himself more and more which is a major
factor leading to the culmination of the novel and his inevitable mental failure.
Another imperative example of a character interrelation that leaves Holden feeling confused and
unstable is his encounter with Mr. Antolini. Mr. Antolini is an ex-teacher of Holden’s and is the adult who
comes closest to instigating a change in Holden. He doesn’t behave in the typical predominant manner
of the time and so avoids being judged as ‘phony’. He also does not adopt the disposition of an
assertive figure like Mr. Spencer does on the onset of the novel thus leaving Holden feeling estranged.
He does not dissent to Holden being drunk, furthermore he shows no qualms about exposing aspects of
his private life, which would not be prudent with social normality at the time, to Holden as he opens the
door on a whim; displaying his aged wife, untidy apartment and his own proclivity towards alcohol.
Regrettably when Holden awakes to find his head being stroked by Mr. Antolini he hastily leaves in
consternation. The pressure of sexuality, we see it constantly throughout the novel, and the uneasy
homophobia that appears earlier in the novel makes itself present and Holden sees the gesture to be
more complicated than it really is. It is feasible this could be a sexual advance but it is more realistic to
assume that it was a fatherly gesture of affection for an adolescent who is in a lot of obvious emotional
turmoil. However Holden is obstinate in many of his interpretations of people and this causes all of his
reliance in Mr. Antolini to vanish, as he leave the apartment in a more bemused state than when he
arrived. Holden’s security is now entirely sustained by his uncomplicated view of society and his ability
to camouflage reality. Ambiguous motives are intolerable to him. Salinger uses Holden’s correlation with
Mr. Antolini to portray how bad Holden’s mental state has now become. An example of this is when Mr.
Antolini states “I have a feeling you’re riding for some kind of terrible, terrible fall.” Not only does this
prove that Holden’s fragility has now become exceedingly obvious but it also shows that Mr. Antolini is
trying to warn Holden, even protect him from this ‘fall’ that is imminent an idea that is equivalent of
Holden’s fabrication of the ‘catcher in the rye’. The catcher Holden conceives is different from Mr.
Antolini however and while Holden’s fantasy is as the protector of innocence Mr. Anolini is predicting
almost the exact opposite, something that will occur if Holden constantly desists to mature. While
Holden naively maintains an idealized view of childhood life and falsifies adulthood as simply lacking
authenticity to justify his consistent withdrawals and inability to cope with society we are able to deduce
that relationships fail under Holden’s perception of life, something he chooses not to apprehend. The
interrelation with Mr. Antolini enables Holden to recognize his own problems and enter the complexity
and enigma of the adult world, he is also confronted with the painful loneliness and isolation he is in and
realises it’s a product of his own doing. This is a large step towards the climax of the novel and Holden’s
mental breakdown. These examples show that the main events in the story that influence Holden’s
mentality are largely based on and seen through character relationships and therefore, to an extent, this
proves that because there is little ‘action packed’ events to the plotline that character interrelation is a
main focus as it progresses the novel towards the final conclusion.
The following points are noteworthy but more theoretical and contradictory to my viewpoint. The extent,
to which they apply in my opinion, however, is very limited. It is disputable that the main focus is not on
character interrelation at all and because the narrative is in first person, with extended sections in a
stream of consciousness, the main focus is on Holden’s alienation from society and his own
interrelations with himself are more relevant to the text. Through Holden’s relation with himself we can
see many main themes and symbolism supporting this argument in his internal dialogue. An example of
one main theme supported through Holden’s internal dialogue is, again, that of alienation. Throughout
the novel Holden appears to be uncompromising in his superficial judgements of people as he simplifies
them to fit his view of the world. He states early on that he feels “trapped on the other side of life”, this is
literally the case and he tries to conform to an environment that is unsuitable for him. As the novel
progresses we begin to perceive that Holden’s way of segregating himself from things he does not
understand is his way of avoiding potentially unsettling situations and therefore protecting himself. At the
commencement of the novel he appears pretentious but in truth interactions with people leave him
feeling bewildered and overwhelmed and so he secludes himself through his criticisms of people to
prove that he is above interacting with them; this cynical show of truculence to a world of ambiguities
and ‘phoniness’ is a subconscious way of holding himself apart from society and his failure to effectively
communicate with those around him only serves to further alienate him. This can be identified through
Holden’s interrelation with himself as he refuses to address his emotions directly and does not attempt
to find out the source of his problems. An example of this is when he talks about the death of his brother,
Allie and remains silent about his emotional reaction to the event, he alludes to his behaviour
nonchalantly saying “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with
my fist, just for the hell of it.” Salinger uses this quote to show the audience that Allie’s death had a huge
impact on Holden and was presumably the most morbid experience of his life; the fact that he refuses to
acknowledge it, even to himself, proves that he is in a state of mental trauma. He even alienates himself
by not embracing his own emotions. Symbolism is also apparent in a big way through the main focus on
Holden’s red hunting hat. The red hat symbolises his individuality and uniqueness from the normal
social conformity, it shows that Holden desires to be different from everyone else which relates to the
theme of alienation, this is apparent through Holden’s narrative with himself. At the same time he is very
self conscious about his hat, he is always mentions when he is wearing it and when he removes it
saying “I had already taken off my hunting hat, so as not to look suspicious.” This pertains to the theme
of alienation as it highlights an internal conflict, his want for companionship and his want to be alone.
Another aspect the hat may symbolise is how Holden judges in others the same traits he himself exerts.
The reason for his alienation is not really the ‘phoniness’ of everybody around him but more that he is
unable to adjust to society as an adult and therefore justifies his alienation through this excuse. An
extension of this is that his hypocritical judgement is a way of pointing out features of himself he is
uncomfortable with because they relate with artificiality and are a weakness he sees in himself. An
example that reinforces this analysis is when Holden criticises Mr. Spencer for being the type of guy
who gets a bang out of buying a blanket when later Holden admits he “got a real bang out of that hat.” It
is also notable that the colour of the hat is red and so therefore relates directly with Allie and Phoebe’s
hair colour. It may be while wearing the hat he is able to identify with the traits of sincerity and innocence
these figures represent and helps him feel closer to them, too.
However the point that Holden’s own correlation with himself is contradicted by evidence in the novel,
the idea that Holden relates with no of consequence but himself is a falsity because the same themes
and symbols are seen through Holden’s interrelation with actual characters and even if none of Holden’s
‘antagonists’ are taken into account we still cannot overlook the fact that character interrelations
progress the novel. For example the importance of Holden’s younger sister Phoebe and what she
presents to the novel is magnanimous. Instead of feeling the empathy towards her brother that we
expect she becomes very indignant with him. Holden’s refusal to grow up is going against the human act
and the natural order of things. His declination of this reveals less about the outside world and more
about him. She highlights that Holden’s idealization of being the catcher in the rye is an immature,
fanciful story. You may even go so far as to say that the name Phoebe denotes from the ancient Greek
primordial goddess associated with the moon proposing that she is like an oracle for Holden’s
breakdown. She is, in fact, important to the novel as a catalyst to the culmination of the book directly
enforcing the statement that character interrelations develop the novel. While the main focus may not be
on character interrelations they still exist and are important to the story, it is not a correct analogy to say
that Holden’s interrelations with himself are of sole significance to the text on a whole.
Another reason that the viewpoint “characters and how they interrelate is the main focus of the novel”
may not be relevant to the book is that the main focus is not the interrelations of the characters but
instead on key components of society at the time. It can be reasoned that Salinger is giving his own
perspective of society spoken through the voice of the protagonist, Holden. The events in “The Catcher
in the Rye” took place only a year after World War Two. There is little evidence suggesting that the
American society had just been through a crippling war in the novel, excluding the oppressing mood.
This may represent Salinger’s criticism of society and the way people omit the unpleasant experience of
war like it didn’t happen. It seems ironic that the war that created so many casualties and deaths
launched the nation into an era of prosperity. Furthermore as people amassed more money in this time
they bought more and more material goods which could be seen as an expression of joviality that the
war was over. The celebration advocated propriety to a new sense of materialism and conservatism.
This is another reason for Salinger’s criticisms of society and humanity at the time. A huge theme in the
book is the ‘phoniness’ of the adult world, one of the smaller reasons Holden’s expresses adults as
superficial is because of their desire for material goods. Usually people want material things to impress
others becoming something they are not, which could be where the idea of ‘phoniness’ was derived from.
A paradigm of this is when Holden states “now he’s in Hollywood, D.B, being a prostitute. If there’s one
thing I hate it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.” Salinger succinctly illustrates key aspects
of society as Holden’s brother is not necessarily selling his body for money but is instead selling he mind,
as Holden views it. This can be seen as a trait of ‘phoniness’ seen in society, people will do anything for
money becoming ‘phony’ and corporate just so that they can buy more material things.
Traditional values also became orthodox to the time period, conformity was encouraged and
individualism was more often frowned upon. “The Catcher in the Rye” was considered very controversial
at the time of its release as it went against all social decorum. Salinger’s main focus of the novel might
not have been character interrelations but instead the story was used as a way to speak out against the
shallowness of society through Holden’s voice. In fact most of the things Holden opposes have peaked
when rigid morality and conservatism were at the highest precedence. Through “Catcher in the Rye” J.D
Salinger would have undermined the foundations of people’s beliefs and threatened to unsettle their
placid lifestyle while providing a book that all adolescents could identify with. This sustains the statement
that the main focus of the novel is looking at key components of society and character interrelations are
just a device in highlighting what Salinger saw as perfidious in the roles of society at the time. To an
extent this seems relatively feasible and an extension of this viewpoint is that it is noted Holden
interrelates with various characters, they do not relate with each other (with exception to Maurice and
Sunny and Stradlater and Ackely whose interrelations are existent yet minimal). Therefore the statement
that character interrelation is the main focus can be seen as inappropriate for the text.
In conclusion on a large extent I agree with the statement that in “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger
“characters and how they interrelate is the main focus of the novel” because this relates to the diverse
main themes of the novel as we really become aware of them as a result of Holden’s correlations with
specific characters and the thought processes they influence. Additionally the amount of characters
Holden interacts with over a three day period is astounding, and the simplicity of the plotline both
strongly magnifies the significance of the viewpoint. This is arguable, however, in the fact that Holden
interrelates with himself a lot in the book and Salinger seems to speak against aspects of society at the
time which tend to take the focus off of character interrelations. Whichever way you wish to view it the
focus of character interrelations is significant and even holds relevance to reality and modern society
today as in most aspects of life we are largely focused on other people and the way we relate to them.