The Pure Trinity

The Pure Trinity

Mateo Hernandez

        J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is, by far, one of the most interesting books that I’ve ever read. Salinger’s novel follows Holden Caulfield, a young boy searching for meaning in a world that is seemingly “phony” all around. Told in the unique perspective of a conversation between you and Caulfield, he speaks about his crazy winter break, after he is kicked out of Pencey prep, and wanders around New York City. Throughout the novel, he appears to criticize nearly everything that he encounters. He especially likes to criticize the people around him. Nobody seems to get him, and from his perspective, he is always in the right. Although Caulfield does have respect for a few people. The 

‘Holy trinity’ in a sense. His mysterious childhood friend, Jane, never encounters Holden during his wild adventure. Phoebe, his bright younger sister. And Allie, his redheaded younger brother, who died years ago. Reading through the novel, we are positioned as a close friend of Holden’s, or at least someone with whom he is willing to share his story, and I constantly found myself asking, " What would he think of me? What does this holy trinity mean? Are these people the only pure ones in society?

To begin with, Holden's holy trinity is arguably the only set of people in the novel that he truly respects. Jane is first mentioned when Holden’s roommate, Stradlater, plans a date with his childhood friend. Later on, Holden begins to get extremely worried because Stradlater has a tendency to take advantage of the girls that he goes out with. Ultimately, he never contacts Jane for a combination of reasons. He’s too busy and worried about surviving and trying to figure out what his future is, but maybe out of fear? The idea of Jane as a child is the first time that Holden seems to suggest that being a child is being pure. The process of being molded by a corrupt society hasn’t gotten to you... yet. If Jane is hanging out with people like Stradlater, maybe she has fallen too, and he doesn’t want to ruin his image of her. As the novel progresses, the idea of inevitably falling victim to society is key. Which may be a reason why Holden will have panic attacks of sorts, drink and smoke, and escape to fantasy worlds. But what if staying pure is impossible? What if Holden is simply struggling with the idea that people will change? But do they have to change? One character who challenges that idea is Phoebe. 

Phoebe is highly spoken of throughout the novel, but Holden only interacts with her at the end of the novel. Out of this entire trinity, she is probably the most important person in the world to Holden because she is the one still getting shaped by society. The similarities between Holden and Phoebe are never-ending. Both can change moods in the blink of an eye, are very caring and generous, tend to see the glass as half empty (as in they seem to see the worst), and are good liars. Phoebe is also the only individual to challenge Holden's views and actions. After his incident at the bar, Holden wanders home because he wants to see Phoebe, of course, coming home early. After a little time, Phoebe figures out that Holden has failed school again, and maybe even believes that he is falling. She asks why he did it, and gets Holden to open up about his views of Pencey. Of course, he goes off about how everyone there is phony and that everything there is bogus, etc. Phoebe continues to push and says that he doesn’t seem to like anything. Phoebe is a good listener, and in the end, is someone whom Holden feels like he can trust, because she has this childhood purity. Later on, when she asks what Holden truly likes, one of the first people he thinks of is Allie. 

Allie is the most highly regarded but mysterious member of the trinity. He was an extremely bright brother of Holden’s who died of leukemia at an early age. Allie was the type of child who read poems during a baseball game because he was special. He didn’t conform to what other children liked, but valued knowledge. He always stood out, and when he died, Holden was heartbroken. Since he died, he will always be regarded as someone who never lost the purity of being a child. Although this, in a sense, gives Holden a false view that all children have this purity and lose it. One way to look at it is that people like Allie can stay the same. They can still be smart and caring, but also grow up into adults. Of course, there are always going to be foul people anywhere, but there are also good people. Holden's circumstances seem oddly against him, and he has seen a lot of messed-up things. Like the killing of James Castle, and just in general, not good views of women from his schoolmates. The time period plays a huge role in this story, right after WWII, and people didn’t have the same standards for mental health during that time. 

In the end, this trinity plays a major role in the novel, showing that childhood purity is something special, but maybe something that you don’t have to necessarily lose. So, do you have the qualities of someone that Holden would like? Do you value knowledge, kindness, and gratitude? Or do you fit right into society?  

Works Cited:

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little Brown and Company, 1945