Catcher In The Rye essay

The character Holden Caulfield in “Catcher in the Rye” is a sophisticated yet simple character. He can be represented in many ways. The photo of James Dean represents Holden accurately. The photo shows Holden’s external as well as internal characteristics. It represents Holden because: the photo portrays his tough guy attitude, suggests his outward toughness as well as his positive aspects, and the photo shows Holden’s internal sensitivity. Holden Caulfield is precisely represented by the photo of James Dean. Holden’s typical attitude is cynical, sarcastic and tough. The photo’s most prominent attitude is tough and mean, just like Holden. This represents Holden not just because they both have the same attitude, but because that is what defines Holden. An example of this is when Holden fought Stradlater. Stradlater says, “If I letcha up, will you keep your mouth shut?” and Holden replies with, “Yes” then says, “You’re a dirty stupid sonuvabitch of a moron.” (Salinger 44). Holden displays his toughness when even at a disadvantage and pinned down he still jabbers on. The photo of James Dean represents both Holden’s outward toughness and some of his positive aspects. Although it mainly represents his negative, sadistic outward toughness, the photo shows some of his positive aspects. Dean’s jacket represents Holden’s inflated ego and his hunter hat. The hunting hat is correlated to the jacket because the leather jacket makes Dean feel cool. Holden believes he is a big shot while wearing the hat but also admits it is a bit corny. Holden says, “The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way” (Salinger 18). This shows Holden’s outward toughness because even though the hat looks silly, he wears it anyway giving the impression that he doesn’t care about what people thing, like a tough guy would. A positive aspect about Holden is that since he cares about his appearance, he