Character Development through Interaction

"What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them."

Here I go on one of my rants again. Contrary to how it is often taught, The Catcher in the Rye is not a coming-of-age novel, a bildungsroman for all you English majors. Holden Caulfield’s internal conflict is NOT that he doesn’t want to grow up. He’s not some angsty Peter Pan. Rather, his conflict is that he doesn’t like change, and more importantly, he is too insecure to admit his vulnerabilities.

Does he really hate the movies because they’re “phony,” or does he hate them for taking his brother so far away from home? He’s scared to miss anyone from his school, and his favorite place in New York is the Museum of Natural History. Why does he care about where the all the ducks go when the pond freezes? Because it’s change.

Of course, the leading culprit for misinterpretation is the scene in which the novel gains its title. Holden pictures himself as the “catcher in the rye,” at the edge of a cliff, catching children from falling over as they play. Many see this act as a protection of youth. I prefer to see it as the protection of happiness and innocence. Not the naïve innocence of youth, but the blissful innocence of a world without surprises or conflict. Holden himself is not happy—clearly depressed, in fact—most likely due to a distant family, as hinted at throughout the book, so he creates a duty for himself to save others.

Here’s my point though: how does Salinger create character development in a protagonist so resistant to change? What can Salinger do except let Holden attempt suicide? And make no mistake, the end of the novel is a suicide attempt. Is he really saying that death is the only way to cope with change?

No, Holden develops through interactions with other characters. In particular, his sister Phoebe rejects his red hunting hat, a symbol of his insular protectionism, and she can only ride the carousel in circles for so long. More importantly, his brother comes to pick him up at the hospital. It’s the thought of seeing his brother—the ability to miss someone emotionally and look forward to seeing them again—that saves Holden. By the end of the novel, Holden is not just an individual. He’s a character in a community. And that’s my point. Character development comes through interaction.