Character+analysis

** Write your own details about each character and include links and references to good descriptions that others have written about them. Can you find any pictures that would perfectly show them? **
 * __ Character analysis __ **
 * Create a page describing most of the characters in the novel. You should definitely include information about Phoebe, Stradlater, Allie, Ackley, Mr Antolini, DB, Jane and Sally. You can (and would get higher praise) include Maurice, Sunny, Old Spencer, Carl Luce and Holden’s parents. **

[] **Stradlater ** - Holden’s roommate at Pencey Prep. Stradlater is handsome, self-satisfied, and popular, but Holden calls him a “secret slob,” because he appears well groomed, but his toiletries, such as his razor, are disgustingly unclean. Stradlater is sexually active and quite experienced for a prep school student, which is why Holden also calls him a “sexy bastard.” **Jane Gallagher **- A girl with whom Holden spent a lot of time one summer, when their families stayed in neighboring summer houses in Maine. Jane never actually appears in //The Catcher in the Rye,// but she is extremely important to Holden, because she is one of the few girls whom he both respects and finds attractive. **Phoebe Caulfield ** - Phoebe is Holden’s ten-year-old sister, whom he loves dearly. Although she is six years younger than Holden, she listens to what he says and understands him more than most other people do. Phoebe is intelligent, neat, and a wonderful dancer, and her childish innocence is one of Holden’s only consistent sources of happiness throughout the novel. At times, she exhibits great maturity and even chastises Holden for his immaturity. Like Mr. Antolini, Phoebe seems to recognize that Holden is his own worst enemy. **Allie Caulfield ** - Holden’s younger brother. Allie dies of leukemia three years before the start of the novel. Allie was a brilliant, friendly, red-headed boy—according to Holden, he was the smartest of the Caulfields. Holden is tormented by Allie’s death and carries around a baseball glove on which Allie used to write poems in green ink. **D. B. Caulfield ** - Holden’s older brother. D. B. wrote a volume of short stories that Holden admires very much, but Holden feels that D. B. prostitutes his talents by writing for Hollywood movies. **Sally Hayes **- A very attractive girl whom Holden has known and dated for a long time. Though Sally is well read, Holden claims that she is “stupid,” although it is difficult to tell whether this judgment is based in reality or merely in Holden’s ambivalence about being sexually attracted to her. She is certainly more conventional than Holden in her tastes and manners. **Mr. Spencer ** - Holden’s history teacher at Pencey Prep, who unsuccessfully tries to shake Holden out of his academic apathy. **Carl Luce ** - A student at Columbia who was Holden’s student advisor at the Whooton School. Luce is three years older than Holden and has a great deal of sexual experience. At Whooton, he was a source of knowledge about sex for the younger boys, and Holden tries to get him to talk about sex at their meeting. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Mr. Antolini **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">- Holden’s former English teacher at the Elkton Hills School. Mr. Antolini now teaches at New York University. He is young, clever, sympathetic, and likable, and Holden respects him. Holden sometimes finds him a bit too clever, but he looks to him for guidance. Like many characters in the novel, he drinks heavily. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Sunny **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> - The prostitute whom Holden hires through Maurice. She is one of a number of women in the book with whom Holden clumsily attempts to connect.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;">Ackley **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-NZ;"> - Holden’s next-door neighbor in his dorm at Pencey Prep. Ackley is a pimply, insecure boy with terrible dental hygiene. He often barges into Holden’s room and acts completely oblivious to Holden’s hints that he should leave. Holden believes that Ackley makes up elaborate lies about his sexual experience.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Maurice **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> - The elevator operator at the Edmont Hotel, who procures a prostitute for Holden.

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Phoebe Caulfield
Before we meet Phoebe, Holden’s side of the story is all we’ve been given. He implies that he is the only noble character in a world of superficial and phony adults, and we must take him at his word. There seems to be a simple dichotomy between the sweet world of childhood innocence, where Holden wants to stay, and the cruel world of shallow adult hypocrisy, where he’s afraid to go. But Phoebe complicates his narrative. Instead of sympathizing with Holden’s refusal to grow up, she becomes angry with him. Despite being six years younger than her brother, Phoebe understands that growing up is a necessary process; she also understands that Holden’s refusal to mature reveals less about the outside world than it does about himself. Next to Phoebe, Holden’s stunted emotional maturity and stubborn outlook seem less charming and more foolish. Phoebe, then, serves as a guide and surrogate for the audience. Because she knows her brother better than we do, we trust her judgments about him. Our allegiance to the narrator weakens slightly once we hear her side of the story. Phoebe makes Holden’s picture of childhood—of children romping through a field of rye—seem oversimplified, an idealized fantasy. Phoebe’s character challenges Holden’s view of the world: she is a child, but she does not fit into Holden’s romanticized vision of childlike innocence. Although she never explicitly states it, Phoebe seems to realize that Holden’s bitterness toward the rest of the world is really bitterness toward himself. She sees that he is a deeply sad, insecure young man who needs love and support. At the end of the book, when she shows up at the museum and demands to come with him, she seems not so much to need Holden as to understand that he needs her. 

Mr. Antolini
Mr. Antolini is the adult who comes closest to reaching Holden. He manages to avoid alienating Holden, and being labeled a “phony,” because he doesn’t behave conventionally. He doesn’t speak to Holden in the persona of a teacher or an authority figure, as Mr. Spencer does. He doesn’t object to Holden’s calling him in the middle of the night or to Holden’s being drunk or smoking. Moreover, by opening his door to Holden on the spur of the moment, he shows no reservations about exposing his private self, with his messy apartment, his older wife with her hair in curlers, and his own heavy drinking. Mr. Antolini’s advice to Holden about why he should apply himself to his studies is also unconventional. He recognizes that Holden is different from other students, and he validates Holden’s suffering and confusion by suggesting that one day they may be worth writing about. He represents education not as a path of conformity but as a means for Holden to develop his unique voice and to find the ideas that are most appropriate to him. When Mr. Antolini touches Holden’s forehead as he sleeps, he may overstep a boundary in his display of concern and affection. However, there is little evidence to suggest that he is making a sexual overture, as Holden thinks, and much evidence that Holden misinterprets his action. Holden indicates in Chapter 19 that he is extremely nervous around possible homosexuals and that he worries about suddenly becoming one. We also know that he has been thinking about sex constantly since leaving Pencey. Finally, this is not the only scene in which Holden recoils from a physical approach. He is made very uncomfortable when Sunny pulls off her dress and sits in his lap. Even when his beloved sister puts her arms around him, he remarks that she may be a little too affectionate sometimes. Holden regrets his hasty judgment of Mr. Antolini, but this mistake is very important to him, because he finally starts to question his own practice of making snap judgments about people. Holden realizes that even if Mr. Antolini is gay, he can’t simply be dismissed as a “flit,” since he has also been kind and generous. Holden begins to acknowledge that Mr. Antolini is complex and that he has feelings

[]

Sunny is supposed to be the first girl Holden ever has sex with. At least, he thinks so at first. It's not that he needs sex, he says, but he should really get some practice in case he's ever married. By the time the girl is on his bed and taking her dress off, Holden realizes he's not into this after all. But maybe they could just talk? This creates some problems. Sunny isn't really the world's greatest conversationalist, and soon just leaves.
 * Sunny**

This incident features more of the classic Caulfield passivity. He thinks he wants something, he sort of goes for it, and then he changes his mind. It's the phone booth scene all over again, it's just that his indecision is a little more expensive this time.

To be fair, part of the reason Holden hesitates to have sex with this girl is that she's just that – a girl. Not only physically (though he does note that she doesn't look much older than he) but also emotionally and mentally. She says "like fun you are," which he comments makes her sound like a little kid. She's got a "tiny little wheeny-whiny voice."

Because Holden sees Sunny as a person, not as a prostitute, it's difficult for him to treat her like a whore. We are reminded again of his compassion when he imagines her going into a store, buying a green dress, and leaving without anyone realizing she's a hooker. That he finds this depressing is just one more indication of Holden's emotional depth, and again, his ability to put himself in others' shoes.