Why Does Holden Caufield Keep Getting Himself Into These Messes?
Through out the book Holden repeatedly gets himself into messes and disasters of a social interaction, but why? I would say it's because the next thing he does after a disastrous social interaction is to go find another one. Checking back at my notes he considered calling someone a minimum of 4 times, and at least 4 times did call someone. He considered calling Phoebe and Jane Gallagher multiple times, and will either call no one or someone else. Some examples include, "I damn near gave my kid sister Phoebe a buzz," (Salinger 87) or "I started toying with the idea, while I kept standing there, of giving old Jane a buzz —" (Salinger 82). But the two main reasons he goes from disastrous interaction to disastrous interaction is that he hasn't grown up and doesn't want to have nor know how to have a grown up conversation. And the second reason is because he does not want to be alone so he keeps trying to seek out a connection and someone who 'gets it' in this world of phonies.
When it comes to Holden Caulfield refusing to grow up and bungling conversations perhaps the best example is his time with Old Luce where even from his narration, it looks like he is an immature child trying to have an immature conversation with an adult who just wants to have a normal conversation.
'Hey, I got a flit for you," I told him. 'At the end of the bar. Don't look. I've been saving him for ya.'
'Very funny,' he said. 'Same old Caulfield. When are you going to grow up?'
I bored him a lot. I really did. He amused me, though. He was one of those guys that amuse me a lot
'How's your sex life?' I asked him. He hated when you ask him stuff like that.
'Relax,' he said. 'Just sit back and relax, for Chrissake.' (Salinger 187)
Holden keeps doing things like this with the similar end results, disaster. And it primarily stems from this unwillingness to grow up or just read the room.
But as for why he keeps putting himself in these situations I think it is because Holden is lonely and would rather talk to someone, anyone, than be by himself with his own thoughts. Its a similar reason as to why he goes to the movies in between his disastrous date with sally and his disastrous conversation between Luce, and then a drunk Holden Caufield calls Sally and starts shouting at Sally's grandmother. And only then, does he sit alone by himself at the frozen lake, contemplating with his own thoughts (Salinger 160-203). Because when he's alone, things often get real dark, he contemplates suicide, like right after he had the $10 forcefully taken from him (Salinger 136).
All things considered, I think these are the main two reasons why Holden keeps getting into disastrous conversations is because he doesn't know how to have have a conversation like an adult, and that he would rather be having these conversations than be alone.
You're exactly right with Holden's loneliness. He would indeed rather have an awkward or even depressing social interaction than no interaction at all. This can be well referenced with him even missing Maurice at the end of the book; why else would someone miss a pimp? Perhaps this is just another layer with Holden not growing up that you also recognized. Great blog, David!
ReplyDeleteI like how you connect Holden's disastrous social interactions to both his immaturity and his loneliness. It makes sense that he keeps reaching out to people even when conversations go badly, because being alone forces him to face his own thoughts ( which are most often dark ones). Your examples with Luce and Sally really show how he struggles to "read the room" and act like an adult, which makes his repeated mistakes feel consistent rather than random.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a part of why Holden is so awkward is because he doesn't want to grow up. Him seeking out people in order to find out whether there are more people who aren't "phonies" seems to really limit how he builds connections with people. I also very much agree that Holden is a pretty lonely guy, partly, I think, due to self-inflicted loneliness. Pushing everyone around you away because of their "phoniness" turns out to not be the best friend-making method. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with the reasons that you described. It's nice that we can look back and find so many situations where Holden is trying to be the "better than everyone else" type of adult but it always ends up awkward. The conversation between Carl Luce and Holden really showcases how lonely he must have felt that he had to almost interrogate Luce's love life. I think Holden grew up really quickly at the end of the book where he returned to Phoebe and caught a glimpse of reality again. Great blog post David!
ReplyDeleteHi David! I think it's really interesting how you described Holden as refusing to grow up. Considering Catcher in the Rye is often regarded a "coming of age" novel, it's interesting to consider that maybe the story of him growing up is that he refused to. While I do think his mental health crisis definitely affected his social abilities, I also agree with you that he simply didn't want to have mature conversations. Though he repeatedly sought out attention and social interactions, he desired a level of superficiality, shielding his true emotions from the conversations.
ReplyDeleteHey, David! I pretty much agree with your take that Holden's immaturity and loneliness cause his disastrous social interactions. I think it's also telling that the thing that fianlly pulls himback from the brink is Phoebe, who he still has the responsibility to take care of and generally act the bigger person towards. It takes Phoebe also threatening to run away to make hiim realize how much he's hurting her, but he does realize it, and he tries to make amends. In this lens we can read the final scene with the carousel as Holden observing and valuing a childhood he can no longer take part in, without exactly mourning it.
ReplyDeletebtw I like your background picture. Is the cat bread?
Hi David! I could not agree more with your idea that Holden just does not want to have grown up conversations and how he wants to have some form of genuine human connection. Though there are more small details which form Holden, you do a great job at hitting the two main points and substantiating them with textual evidence. Overall, amazing blog David!
ReplyDeleteHi David, I really enjoyed reading your blog! I thought your analysis of Holden's horrible social interactions are especially insightful. I agree with your point that because Holden is in such a terrible mental state, he is doing everything he can to form a connection with anyone in the book. I thought your comment on his reason for doing so (because he feels that if he is alone, he will commit suicide) is particularly interesting.
ReplyDeleteIt's a classic Caulfield Paradox that he is desperate for "good conversation" but believes he can only find it in an idealized Jane Gallagher or his ten-year-old sister. I agree that we see this pattern throughout the downward-spiral New York chapters wherein Holden is desperate for conversation, comes "damn near" calling either of these two, but then swerves and calls someone random, or starts a conversation with a cab driver. We can read the novel as him deflecting these more "real" but also difficult conversations all the way through the very disappointing interaction with Luce (the "bottom of the barrel," literally the last name he finds in his address book)--after which he finally goes home and talks to Phoebe.
ReplyDeleteWhen he talks to Phoebe, though, we get a sense of why he'd maybe been hesitant to actually make that call: she pushes back on him and his harebrained plans in ways he clearly is not anticipating, and even good old Phoebe is starting to get tired of Holden's routine ("another school!").
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your reasoning for Holden's messy situations and I definitely agree with both his loneliness and refusal to grow up being the two main causes. Holden tends to get himself into these messes one after another without learning from the last, which stems from his lack of immaturity. However, the decisions that he almost chose to make, like when he wanted to jump out of the window after his encounter with Maurice, just shows that he struggles most when he is alone. Both of these things are crucial when it comes to understanding why Holden is the way he is and why he continues to get caught up in these messes.