Tim Potter
Jr. Theology/Faith
August 22nd, 2007
A Man Without Faith
I believe that Holden Caulfield was a man with very little or even no faith. Aside from the fact that he demonstrated no faith in God or any other type of religion, Caulfield also never had faith in himself. He would resort to underage drinking and partying with different girls when he was bored and would never think of the consequences. Holden was kicked out of multiple schools, most likely because he had given up hope or given up certain faith. In many circumstances, Holden is ready to call Jane and sometimes goes as far to dial her number, but doesnÕt have any faith or hope that she will be home or want to see him again. Holden lacks faith in himself as well as his parents when he does not want to come straight home after being kicked out of college. Holden does not trust that his parents will accept the situation as it is and accept their sun for who he is.
He wants to put off telling them about his expulsion and hope they take it alright when he chooses to do so. Caulfield wants to run away from his town and family but his younger sister tries to stop him. Obviously his younger sister has a lot of faith in him because she tells him that she wants to run away with him. Holden then tells her that she has a whole life ahead of her and believes that she is not corrupt like he is. Holden sees the innocence of childhood in his little sister and wants to preserve that innocence and put it in a glass box but cannot do that. He wishes to be the ÒCatcher in the RyeÓ for these children but gives up on that idea. Holden could choose to try and help his sister succeed in such a corrupt society but he just accepts the fact that she will one day turn out to be like him. Caulfield believes that he lives in a corrupt society so he does not have faith in himself to work hard in school or work towards anything in life. I do believe that Holden does not believe that anything can be good except the innocence of childhood, something he sees quickly disappearing. Caulfield feels as if he, himself is worthless and lacks faith when he gets beat up by the elevator man. Holden singles out the disgusts and horrible things in life and this is the way he views his world. He calls most people he meets ÒphoniesÓ and lacks trust and faith in almost everyone he meets. Holden does not have faith in other people being able to be a good person. He therefore judges them by their suitcases and other qualities that should not determine whether or not a person is good or not. Holden feels like he can trust no one and that no one is as good as him or as trustworthy as him even though he is not reliable at all. We do see a tender side of Holden when he visits his history teacher before he goes home after getting expelled.
Holden merely visits but talks about how the manÕs shirt needed to be buttoned because it exposed the contents of being old. Holden turned a sensitive situation into one where he internally insulted his professor who had always treated him with respect and always had faith in him not to fail out. Holden barely wrote anything for his research paper for this professor and he gave him an F but this demonstrates how Holden does not try in school at all, often missing class and almost all of his homework assignments. After being finished reading the book, it is obvious to see that Holden Caulfield is a very negative person and does not see much beauty or usefulness in the world. He values child innocence but that is one of the only things. A reader can easily see that Holden Caulfield has little or no faith at all in anything, including God, himself, his parents, his sister, and others he meets. Holden Caulfield projects his negative image on everything he comes across and this is why a reader would know that he has no faith in himself and also no faith in anything he does or comes across.