05/16/15

English 11H

Holden Caulfield: An Unreliable Narrator

Holden Caulfield is the first-person narrator in J.D. Salingers novel, Catcher in the Rye.
Holden is often classified as being an unreliable narrator. An unreliable narrator is a character
whose telling of the story is not completely accurate or credible due to problems with the
character's mental state or maturity. In the novel, Caulfields immaturity and pessimistic attitude
towards the world prevents him from giving accurate details.
Many of Holdens viewpoints contradict themselves because of his own confusion. After
Stradlater hits Holden he admits, All that blood and all sort of made me look tough. I'd only
been in about two fights in my life, and I lost both of them. I'm not too tough. I'm a pacifist, if
you want to know the truth"(45). Even though Holden characterizes himself as a pacifist, he
contradicts himself because he enjoys getting beat up. The author uses these contradictions to
show how unreliable Holden is.
Holden is characterized as being an unstable character who can not control his emotions.
On one hand, he is very open about his emotional instability by admitting he broke the windows,
but other times the reader can infer that hes not being truthful. "Why not? Why the hell not?
Stop screaming at me, please," she said. Which was crap, because I wasn't even screaming at
her(132). Sometimes when Holden speaks he becomes zealous, and starts to lose control of his
emotions. Holden is unable to comprehend the effect he has on others when he loses control.
This is one of the many examples of Holden being an unreliable narrator.
Holden wants to hear the truth from others, but always lies. Holden has admitted
countless times that he is a liar. He lies about being kicked out of school, and even hides the truth

from his sister, Phoebe. Another reason, Holden is classified as an unreliable narrator, not only
because he lies to others but to himself, too. Holden goes around calling everyone a phony, but
throughout the entire novel he goes around trying to be something else. The lies he tells himself
are far more damaging than the lies he tells others. Holden has a habit of distancing himself from
people. He doesnt even bother to get to know someone, instead he looks at their outward
appearance and personality to make assumptions about them.
Holden Caulfield is one of the most known unreliable narrators in literature. Hes
judgemental, emotional, he isolates himself, especially those who are close to him, his tone is
cynical, pessimistic, and is apathetic about most things. The death of his brother has left Holden
emotionally unstable, making him blind and confused to certain things. The reader is unable to
figure out what hes fabricating, exaggerating, or just not seeing correctly.