Brad Helton

Jr. Theology – Faith

August 22, 2007

 

“Was Holden Caulfield a person of faith?”

Holden Caulfield was a person of faith in the way that anybody could put their faith into his hands, but not in the way where he would put his faith in the things and people around him.  Even though it was not always noticeable Holden just wanted to keep Phoebe and other innocent kids around him from the outrages and disrespectful things in life.  In almost everything he does or says there is something related to Phoebe.  She is always on his mind and this just shows that he cares for her with all his heart.  Phoebe either could tell or had the impression that Holden was someone she could trust and put all her faith in, if she could easily decide to leave with Holden and even leave a great necessity behind, her suitcase full of clothes.  Holden shows that he is a trustworthy, loyal, and committed person when we see the moments of disgust in his character as he finds the “Fuck you’s” in the world.  He wants to keep Phoebe and other innocent children from seeing these horrible writings and gestures.  He wants to devote himself to “catching” people, mostly innocent kids, from falling in the wrong direction early on in life.  He imagines himself “standing on the edge of some crazy cliff” (173) and having “to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff.”  Falling from the cliff is not the direction people would want to go and just as he is catching people from falling off the cliff he is catching people from falling in the wrong direction in the world.

            Even though people are able to put their faith into Holden it is not as easy for Holden to put his faith into the people and world around him.  Holden loses the faith he had in one of his long-known friends, Mr. Antolini, because of the “perverty” (193) experience that happened with him.  This will hurt Holden in the way that it will be hard for him to put his trust and faith in anyone that he has had a long, or even short, relationship with.  It is even harder for Holden to put his faith into the world around him because it is always changing and he likes things better when they stay the same, which is the reason he likes the museum so much.  Holden reveals the thought that “the best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121) in one of his personal encounters.  He knows that times are changing once he sees the “Fuck you’s” written all over the place, and he will not put his faith into something he cannot trust to always be there for him.  The world can be a rough and rowdy place sometimes but it can also be peaceful at times.  Holden refuses to show his faith for the world, though, and in his mind the museum is “the only nice, dry, cozy place in the world.”

While Holden does not have faith in the outside world to be a suitable place to shelter children, without corruption, he does open himself up for others to be able to put their faith in him, even though it is not always noticeable through his actions but rather through his personal thoughts and reflections.