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289Holden Caulfield is a lonely misanthrope who craves compassion He's afraid of change wants to preserve the innocence of children and searches for an escape He also displays critical point of views and deceives those around him This 16 year old boy perceives the world as a harsh and evil place However he slowly comes to a conclusion that he cannot change the world to his own liking In J D Salinger s novel the protagonist Holden Caulfield goes through issues like coping with his brother s death growing up and having a competition with himself and his depression Most of the novel displays Holden s critical and pessimistic views on the world and desires to contain the innocence that s left It becomes clear in the final chapters of the novel that Holden is a dynamic character that becomes accepting of the real world While he had a cynical outlook on the world he transformed as a character and came to understand that he cannot preserve innocence adulthood and change are inevitable and that he cannot escape but rather be strong enough to live with his struggles Holden Caulfield s evolution of a dynamic character begins when he realizes he cannot be the Catcher in the Rye When Holden goes up the stairs in Phoebe s school he finds that someone has scrawled a curse word on the wall Seeing this makes Holden angry and thought how Phoebe and all the other kids would see it and how they d wonder what the hell it meant and then finally some dirty kid would tell them 260 He cannot stand to see kids getting corrupted because he wants to save children from losing their innocence
Holden was fond of his thoughts about living in his own cabin and being isolated from people and pretend to be a deaf mute so he wouldn t have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody 257 He wrote Phoebe a letter that he d be leaving soon However when Phoebe pleads to go along with him he changes his mind and thinks realistically for Phoebe s protection When Phoebe comes back from her carousel ride she put on the red hunting hat on Holden as a shield and Holden agrees he would go home afterward instead of his plan to travel West when his sister asks Holden meant it too and wasn t lying to her because he really did go home afterward 274 From the beginning to the end of the book Holden went through a major change as a character which dubs him as a dynamic character Before he was pessimistic about the ways of the world and wanted to be the savior of innocence and wanted to save children from going through the emerging world of adulthood Towards the end he changed and came to understand that he cannot preserve innocence adulthood and change are inevitable and that he cannot escape Holden as a character reflects the human world that people can change their outlook on life Holden demonstrates that people aren t perfect and brings about issues that people didn't want to bring about before He's an imperfect character that was worth bringing to life because he's a relatable character that some teenagers perceive as a friend