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Untitled
Tony Minnick
8/29/08
Theology D
The idea of faith as believing what cannot be proven does not apply for Holden Caulfield, but the faith he allows himself to give to his peers, family, and strangers, is present throughout Catcher in the Rye, and it is taken advantage of. Whenever Holden gives his trust to and believes in someone, the person lets him down and breaks his faith in them. How can Holden be a man of faith if he constantly feels like society is letting him down?
When Holden is expelled from his third school, he decides to go to New York City for the weekend, where he tries to communicate with many people that let him down. All of the people he interacts with build up a cynicism in Holden, to the point where he cannot trust anyone. Holden invites Sally Hayes to go on an ice skating date at Rockefeller Center. They get to the end of the date, with things going well, and Holden puts his faith in Sally out on a limb. He asks Sally to move away to Massachusetts or Vermont with him and start a new life there. Although I can admit that this is a ridiculous idea for a teenager to take action on, Holden is serious and has faith that Sally will agree to his very personal idea. Sally responds by treating him like he is crazy. Holden is alone in New York City without anyone he can put his faith in.
Holden already had family problems with faith when his favorite person and brother, Allie, died as a child. I am sure that this time of his life made it hard to trust life at all. Holden truly connects with childhood and Phoebe is the only sibling left for Holden to believe in. His other brother D.B. already took advantage of Holdens trust when he moved to Hollywood and prostituted his literary talent for cheap work instead of serious works. With Phoebe growing up, Holden wants her to remain a child forever. He feels betrayed when Phoebe tells him to grow up and to start accepting the world as it is. The only person he knows he can trust is not even seeing eye to eye with him anymore. Holdens family hinders his ability to believe in anything at all.
As Holden reaches his lowest moral near the end of the weekend, he makes a late call to the only person he still has faith in, Mr. Antolini. Even though Holden wakes Mr. Antolini and his wife up, Holdens trustworthy English teacher offers help and a bed for the night. He gives Holden the speech necessary to turn Holdens misguided faith around. However, when Holden is fast asleep and reassured about his safety, he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini awkwardly rubbing his head. Holden leaves the house immediately, positive that Mr. Antolini is a pervert like everyone else. Although his teacher was doing something harmless and gentle, Holden reacts worriedly and loses his faith in the last person helping him.
Even though Holden is foolish when he judges the responses of the people he trusts, he feels let down and taken advantage of. Holden is a person of faith, but his faith is dwindling due to the steady rejections of his trust and belief.