Literature Essay Example on The Catcher in the Rye: Holden Caulfield as a Hero

In the last scene of the movie, Saving Private Ryan, the main hero runs onto a bridge to grab a detonator and blow it up.  As the hero does this he is shot repeatedly in the chest by German soldiers.  The hero dies in a blaze of glory, protecting his squad and leaving an everlasting imprint on the sole- surviving Private Ryan.  In action movies, a common theme that appears is that the hero always manages to make it through any obstacle in their way; this then ultimately leads to their last sacrifice in battle.  That same idea is shown through the novel: the Catcher in the Rye.  Written by J.D.Salinger, the Catcher in the Rye follows a teenager named Holden Caulfield who avoids his personal problems by physically portraying what an adult would do regardless of his feelings.  Holden believes that adult males should constantly drink, flirt with women and avoid the feelings they actually feel, but these activities do not fix the pain that he feels on the inside. The symbol of the "bullet wound" is Holden's physical interpretation of his declining mental health because he views the manly "bullet wound" as an acceptable outlet to express  his depression. 

In Chapter 14, Holden has just encountered the unpleasant and promiscuous Sunny and Maurice; where, in an attempt to get the other five dollars from Sunny's time with Holden,  Maurice punches him in the stomach, sending him to the floor, wallowing in pain, making him feel as though there was nothing to live for.  "Then he smacked me… I wasn't knocked out or anything… Then I stayed on the floor a fairly long time, sort of the way I did with Stradlater. Only, this time I felt like I was dying.  I really did. I thought I was drowning or something… I felt like jumping out the window," (Salinger 115 and 117).  In this quote, Holden tells us what a punch does to him, but more importantly, his comments about the punch say more than he lets on about what he feels emotionally.  He recognizes that the punch from Maurice had felt like it had the same power as Stradlater's punch earlier in the novel, but this time he feels as if he were going to die; perhaps from something within.  From the interactions with people from the previous chapters, it is accurate to assume that the punch from Maurice was a culmination of all the emotions he had bottled up inside him from all of the moments when people had hurt him.   Holden adds all of these emotions up into one feeling; something more acceptable than expressing his mental torment: the bullet wound.  

Again in chapter 14, Holden has just been punched in the stomach and is now doubled over, but he manages to reach his bathroom in search of comfort.   "About halfway to my bathroom, I sort of started pretending I had a bullet wound in my guts… I pictured myself coming out of the goddamn bathroom, dressed and all, with my automatic in my pocket, and staggering around a little bit. I’d walk down a few floors-holding onto my guts, blood leaking all over the place-then I’d ring the elevator bell… I’d plug Maurice anyway. Six shots right through his fat hairy belly… I’d call up Jane and have her come over and bandage my guts,” (Salinger 116).  Holden holds onto this idea that he is the hero of his own movie.  The injury of the “bullet wound” makes him feel as if he is the strong and intimidating man that he sees on the big screen in action movies. He is the man that no one can stop. He is the man that takes matters into his own hands, defeating the enemy that wrongs him.  He is the man in control.  This idea that he is suffering a hero’s struggle comforts him because he wants to feel like a hero, rather than a teenage boy suffering from his own self-inflicted mental anguish.   Holden continues to use the “bullet wound” as an excuse for his emotional pain later in the novel, but now it seems as though he accepts that he is not the hero; but rather, living his current life with a "wound." 

In chapter 20, Holden is drinking in a bar after a short and eye-opening conversation with a distant acquaintance. “I was really drunk, I started that stupid business with the bullet  in my guts again. I didn't want anybody to even know I was wounded. I was concealing the fact that I was a wounded sonuvabitch… I kept keeping my hand under my jacket to keep the blood from dripping," (Salinger 166).   In this passage, Holden yearns to be the hero of his own story, but in reliving that thought he reveals to himself that he is not a hero suffering from a wound.  Holden can find no love, no comfort, no fullness in himself.  He is constantly "bleeding out" or "dying" with every second that he holds all of his emotions, "guts," but to him it is worth the anguish if nobody knows his unkempt wounds.  Holden's "bullet wound" is his way to describe his emotional instability by physical representation. 

The "bullet wound" is Holden's physical interpretation of his declining mental health because he views the manly concept of the "bullet wound" as the only acceptable outlet to express his depression.  Holden's concept of the "bullet wound" is usually used after his moments of complete vulnerability in front of another person.  He feels like he is rejected for feeling depressed, so he holds onto his "guts" and tries to move on with the idea that he has just been shot like a hero.   Holden holding onto his "guts" after being shot was acceptable to him because it kept him safe from the harsh reality he has experienced, but holding onto his "guts" was the reason that Holden was so depressed.