Holden Caulfield, The Womanizer

Womanizing for the sake of self-exploration is a no-no. Once a figment of my girly imagination, protagonist Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye now really pisses my feminist side off.

The Catcher in the Rye has always been one of my absolute favourite novels. Holden Caulfield was always so adorably opinionated and angry at the world, I found myself wishing that he actually existed. But, upon re-reading the novel for the sake of this review, I found myself surprisingly saddened by how sexist Holden truly is. His confused adventure through Manhattan was actually one full of using women for his own ends.

Upon being expelled from the elite Pencey Prep in Pennsylvania, Holden ventures back to his hometown of New York City. His next three days are full of drunkenness, sexual exploration, and unassuming sexist attitudes. Upon his arrival, he meets three young women in a bar and attempts to sweep them off their feet. After that fails, he orders a prostitute to take care of his boyhood needs. Once she arrives, he sees that she is young like he is and cannot find it within himself to have sex with her. He wishes to just talk instead. But why?

The deeper theme of the novel is one of innocence. Holden is downright terrified to grow up and wishes to help children maintain their innocence for as long as possible. While he may feel as though calling a prostitute to get rid of his boyhood sexual dilemma is a manly thing to do, he is obviously just a confused young man. But, still, he sucks women all around him into his journey of self exploration.

Next, Holden calls up an old girlfriend, Sally Hayes, to see a musical with him. She is more than excited to attend and they get to talking. Holden tries to convince her to go away with him, but she refuses. He is angered by her refusal and calls her a “royal pain in the ass.” Naturally, he tries to get her to forgive him, but then she is gone.

Finally, we meet Holden’s much younger sister Phoebe. Phoebe represents the innocence that Holden wishes to maintain. While watching Phoebe ride the carousel in Central Park, happily in her childhood, Holden realizes that he is in need of help. He cannot be “the catcher in the rye” trying to save children from crossing over to the “dark” side of adulthood.

By attempting to “try out” being an adult and playing out his confusion between being a child and an adolescent, Holden may not realize it, but he was a womanizer through and through. Throwing women into his self exploration and taking his anger out on them, only to try and apologize, is unfair.

Some may argue that he was just confused and he was actually kind to the women he encountered, but the novel as a whole shows the idea that men see women only as a way out. They wish for women to make them happy and make it all go away, whether through sex or by running away with them.

Even though Holden may not be blatantly abusing women and his confusion may be the reason for his actions, he is still the definition of a womanizer. Sorry, Holden, but you are kind of a “phony” yourself.

Contact the author here: crazycolleen@morningquickie.com