Disadvantages of Holden Caulfield being the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye

In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the narrator of the story is the protagonist named Holden Caulfield. Holden is a troubled teenage boy that is very cynical. He thinks that the world is made up of phonies, and he attempts to distance himself from all of the phonies. He also has trouble applying himself to life, and has been kicked out of several boarding schools. While it is beneficial for the reader to know how Holden feels, there are several disadvantages to Holden being the narrator.

There are several disadvantages to Holden being the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye. One of these disadvantages is his tendency to lie. Holden can lie to almost anyone without remorse and just sees it as a bit of fun. An example of this in the story is when Holden is meets the mother of one of his classmates on the train. Holden starts "shooting the old crap" with this woman for a while telling her how wonderful her son (Salinger 71). He even makes up a story about how they nominated her son for class president, but that her son was far too modest to accept the nomination (Salinger 74). In reality Holden despises this woman's son (Salinger 71). This easy lie that Holden tells the boy's mother shows the reader that he is not entirely trustworthy. It makes the reader wonder if he lies here and there in the story, and embellishes certain things. Another disadvantage of Holden being the narrator is his tendency to not want to face what he is telling the reader about. This comes up several times when Holden struggles with internal conflicts. At the end of the novel, Holden is talking about how he got "sick" and had to take it easy for a while (Salinger 276). He refuses to elaborate further and says that he doesn't want to talk about it anymore (Salinger 276). This leaves the reader to wonder what truly happened to Holden at the end of the story.

Bibliography: Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.