Holden Caulfield Is a Dynamic Character Essay Example
Holden Caulfield is a dynamic character.
In the beginning of the story, Holden has the heroic archetype of the seeker. The seeker is unsatisfied with life and has a desperate wish to feel fulfilled, yet this search causes them to overlook the things they already have. This definitely embodies Holden in the start of the book, “…then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, ‘sleep tight, ya morons!’... then I got the hell out”. This shows how he simply despises life in his current situation. He dislikes Pency and is looking for something that will make him feel complete. This thirst for fulfillment is what causes him to leave Pency, where he feels there isn’t anything left for him.
Holden begins his transformation from seeker to destroyer when he walks back from Ernie’s bar, “The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did. I wasn’t sleepy or anything but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead”. This shows that he feels he has found himself and is disappointed in what he’s discovered. It’s a vital moment because before a destroyer becomes a destroyer, one who uses desperate measures to change themselves and find balance, they must first become unsatisfied with who they are. Holden completes the transition into destroyer when he is in his hotel room thinking about Allie, “What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie… I keep saying to him, ‘Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby’s house. Hurry up.’ It wasn’t that I didn’t used to take him with me when I went somewhere. I did. But that one day, I didn’t”. He feels extreme guilt over things he has done in the past. After this event, it is clear that Holden has developed a pattern of self loathing. He has become the destroyer.
As the middle section of the book continues, Holden continues on the path of the destroyer, “’You’re a dirty moron,’ I said. ‘You’re a stupid chiseling moron’… then he smacked me. I
In the beginning of the story, Holden has the heroic archetype of the seeker. The seeker is unsatisfied with life and has a desperate wish to feel fulfilled, yet this search causes them to overlook the things they already have. This definitely embodies Holden in the start of the book, “…then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, ‘sleep tight, ya morons!’... then I got the hell out”. This shows how he simply despises life in his current situation. He dislikes Pency and is looking for something that will make him feel complete. This thirst for fulfillment is what causes him to leave Pency, where he feels there isn’t anything left for him.
Holden begins his transformation from seeker to destroyer when he walks back from Ernie’s bar, “The whole lobby was empty. It smelled like fifty million dead cigars. It really did. I wasn’t sleepy or anything but I was feeling sort of lousy. Depressed and all. I almost wished I was dead”. This shows that he feels he has found himself and is disappointed in what he’s discovered. It’s a vital moment because before a destroyer becomes a destroyer, one who uses desperate measures to change themselves and find balance, they must first become unsatisfied with who they are. Holden completes the transition into destroyer when he is in his hotel room thinking about Allie, “What I did, I started talking, sort of out loud, to Allie… I keep saying to him, ‘Okay. Go home and get your bike and meet me in front of Bobby’s house. Hurry up.’ It wasn’t that I didn’t used to take him with me when I went somewhere. I did. But that one day, I didn’t”. He feels extreme guilt over things he has done in the past. After this event, it is clear that Holden has developed a pattern of self loathing. He has become the destroyer.
As the middle section of the book continues, Holden continues on the path of the destroyer, “’You’re a dirty moron,’ I said. ‘You’re a stupid chiseling moron’… then he smacked me. I