In The Catcher and the Rye, Holden has a deep distaste for anything in his life. Whether it be his roommate Stradlater or random movies, he spends much of his inner monologue complaining. However, despite his negativity, there are a few people whom he truly cares deeply about, such as Jane Gallagher, Phoebe Caufield and the random nuns he meets in New York City.
Holden admires these people because they don’t care to conform to the status quo. When Jane plays checkers, she doesn’t try to win, but rather lines up all her kings in the back row because she likes how it looks. Phoebe is excited to play Benedict Arnold, the “villain” in her school’s theatre performance, when many other students would hope to get a “hero” role. He likes the nuns because instead of dressing up fancy and seeking validation for doing charity work like all mothers Holden knows, they simply hold up a basket. The actions from all three parties demonstrate a certain innocence, as they act and hold opinions in a way that seems unaffected from the expected norm.
Because of purity Holden senses from these people, he feels a need to protect and help them. In the past, Jane was sexually abused by her stepdad, so when Stradlater refuses to delve into the details of his date with Jane, Holden assumes he raped her and gets into a fight with him. When Holden meets the nuns, he insists on giving them a 10 dollar bill (121 dollars in today’s money). He buys Phoebe a record he thinks she’ll like, and even saves its pieces after it broke to give to her.
Holden’s need to help the innocent stems from Allie’s death. Allie is “immortalized” in Holden’s mind as an individual who never was corrupted by the world. Allie’s opinions and actions were of his own: though he played baseball, he would write poems in bright green ink on his mitt. Holden feels a need to “protect” those like Allie, unaffected by the world, as he still has unresolved grief about his death. I think this sentiment is evident in one of the most despairing Holden moments. In his dialogue with Phoebe, he remarks, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody [kids] if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.” (Salinger 93). The Catcher and the Rye is what Holden aspires to be: to protect the innocent kids who are at risk of falling into a conformist, draining and ultimately “phony” life.
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