Holden Caufield as Untrustworthy Narrator in The Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

Holden Caufield as Untrustworthy Narrator in The Catcher in the Rye     The riddle with most first person narratives is that there is only one put of view. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caufield shares his past experiences as a distressed teenager. The entire story is told through his own troubled mind, which a lot distorts the experiences. Salinger portrays the reason behind Holdens immaturity by demonstrating his untrustworthy qualities.   Most of Holdens views defend themselves because of Holdens own confusion. This confusion blinds him from being able to realize that most of his upbraiding is against himself. Salinger clearly presents this afterwards Stradlader hits Holden. All that blood and all sort of do me look tough. Id only been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. Im not too tough. Im a pacifist, if you want to roll in the hay the truth(46). Even though Holden enjoys to see himself beaten up, he co ntradicts himself by proclaiming he is a peaceful person. Salinger utilizes these contradictions to reveal how unreliable Holdens observations are.   Salinger also depicts Holdens immaturity through the judgment of his peers and elders. Holdens disillusionment of good people alters the true temperament of each person he meets. Holden even criticizes his new classmates, whom he has not even meet yet. Its full of phonies/.../and you have to keep making rely you keep back a damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all day(131). average because Holden is uncomfortable in his school, he feels the need to disapprove of everyone. Salinger exploits this immaturity to beautify the reason for Holdens loneliness and confusion.   Throughout the story Salinger introduces characters that actually appeal to Holden, which give him guidance and make him feel better about himself. Mr. Antolini is one of these people. Holden seems heartsick in his quest for happiness, but Mr. Antolini guides him in the right direction. Even after all the help, he still finds a way to scrutinize Mr. Antolini. What he was doing was, he was sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the infernal head(192).