Writing Resources
Holden 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
