Week 4 Character Analysis

The Catcher in The Rye Character Analysis

Each character in this story has his or her own story, qualities ,weaknesses and affect the stroy in many different ways. The story is almost as important as its characters. 

There are many characters in this book, Im gonna describe the main characters and the side-charcters that I think are truly important for the story. I may include some extra characters and describe their meaning in the story rather than their appearence or their thoughts.

1. Holden Caulfield: Holden is the main character of the story. He is 17 years old.He finds the hypocrisy and ugliness of the world around him almost unbearable, and through his cynicism he tries to protect himself from the pain and disappointment of the adult world. However, the criticisms that Holden aims at people around him are also aimed at himself. He is uncomfortable with his own weaknesses, and at times displays as much phoniness, meanness, and superficiality as anyone else in the book. As the novel opens, Holden stands poised on the cliff separating childhood from adulthood.

Holden Caulfield

• Allie Caulfield: He is Holdens little brother. he died from leukemia when he was 11. His dead affected Holden deeply, it traumatizes him. The loss triggers in Holden an obsession with purity and sincerity. physically he is redhaired, left handed and he has freckels.

Allie Caulfield

• Phoebe Caulfield: She is Holden´s little sister, she is 10 years old. Holden loves her dearly, for him she represents pureness and sincerity. She is also very smart, smart enough to understand Holden better than most of the people do. She is also very mature, at the point of nagging Holden for his disinterest on his future. She is also a wonderful dancer.

Phoebe Caulfield

• D.B. Caulfield: He is Holden’s older brother. D. B. wrote a volume of short stories that Holden admires very much, but Holden feels that D. B. prostitutes his talents by writing for Hollywood movies. We dont know barely anything of his appearence.

D.B. Caulfield

• Jane Gallagher: A girl with  whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer, when their families stayed in neighboring summer houses in Maine. Jane never actually appears in The Catcher in the Rye, bus she is extremely important to Holden, because she is extremely important to Holden, because she is one of the few girls that Holden respects and finds attractive.

Jane Gallagher

• Ackley:Holden’s next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Ackley is a pimply, insecure boy with terrible dental hygiene. He often barges into Holden’s room and acts completely oblivious to Holden’s hints that he should leave.

Ackley

• Stradlater:Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is handsome, self-satisfied, and popular, but Holden calls him a “secret slob,” because he appears well dressed and groomed, but his stuff, such as his razor, are disgustingly dirty.

Stradlater

• The taxi drivers, the nuns , the ladys in the lavender room and Ernest Morrow´s mother: I putted together this characters because they all represent Holden´s failed attempts to have human company. Holden tries to  talk to them in an attempt to fill the deep hole he feels in his heart for Allie.

Taxi Driver