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In Need of a Catcher

His life is spiraling downward. He is drowning in his own self pity. He has no motivation or reason to live and he is slowing slipping away from existence. Such is the existence of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. However, should one analyze Holden’s many problems, it becomes clear that all of his problems were brought on by himself. Holden’s tendency to put himself in destructive situations, his inability to survive in social scenarios, and his inability to understand human behavior all add up to the fact that Holden is responsible for all of the problems he is faced with.
Many of Holden’s problems stem from his habit of placing himself under disadvantageous circumstances. If Holden were to avoid this type of situation many of his problems wouldn’t exist. For example, in the middle of the novel Holden decides to go to Ernie’s, a nightclub he used to visit with his brother. However, despite Holden’s decision to go to the club, he still goes on to say the following: “[Ernie is] a terrific snob and he won’t hardly even talk to you unless you’re a big shot or a celebrity or something…” (Salinger, 80). Holden sees Ernie as a phony, in his mind the worst type of person. As Holden goes on to explain upon his entrance to the nightclub, “Even though it was so late, old Ernie’s was jampacked. Mostly with prep school jerks and college jerks” (83). However, despite this, Holden goes to the club all the same. If Ernie is such a snob and all of the people in the club are such jerks, then why does Holden go to Ernie’s instead of going to a different club or simply staying in his hotel? It is because of Holden’s tendency to put himself in bad situations. To drive the point deeper, Holden meets up with an old friend of his brother. She asks him how D.B. is doing and starts talking to her boyfriend. This puts Holden in an exceedingly awkward and painful situation, one he solves by...