Complex character of Holden Caufield.
It is easy to write a book with cliché good and bad characters, but that would .
make for very predictable fiction. If an author really wants to make an audience feel for a .
character, he has to make that character human. Humans are never simply good or bad.
They have many sides. They are complex. This is exactly how one would describe the .
main character of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield. He is a complex character .
with unique personality.
.
Holden is an alien in the society he lives in because he can not comprehend the .
phoniness and ugliness of the world which other people have adapted to. He is disgusted .
with all the schools he went to because of the people there. Holden even mentions that .
there were only two students at Pencey Prep, if that many, whom he could call great .
people. Pencey Prep is advertised as one of the best schools that "mold- boys into .
brilliant men, while having crooks and mentally limited people like Ackley. The .
school's "secret fraternity- that would not let some guys join, just because they are .
"pimply and boring-, sickens Holden. It depresses him the way Elkton Hills' headmaster, .
Mr.Haas, only talks to students' parents if they are socially pleasing. The segregation .
society makes is repelling to Holden. He doesn't want to accept these things as normal .
the way other people accept them. Aside from the schools, Holden finds himself an alien .
in the every day world of New York City. The hypocrisy and vulgarity of city bars make .
his condition even worse. His attempts to find emotional support from his peers, Sally .
and Luce, are unsuccessful because they are well adjusted to society and can not .
understand what Holden is going through. Nobody, not even Mr.Antolini, whom Holden .
respects, can provide the emotional support that he needs so much. Holden is all alone. .
When at the Wicker bar, the piano player tells Holden to go home, he replies: "No home .
