Holden Caulfield - Is he a Dynamic or Static Character

For this blog, A dynamic character is a character that changes over time and a static character is one that does not change from the beginning to the end.

   It is normal for people to change over time. They change from what they have learned with the experiences that they have had. Holden, is a rare being that I feel is constantly stuck in the middle of the lake, wondering if the ducks fly south for winter or if someone takes them away for the winter. While Holden is frozen, time around him keeps moving. He's trying to see new things, but he can't move because of the ice.  What Holden doesn't realize is the fact that he is the reason why he's stuck in the ice. He refuses to go home, but he also refuses to try in school, so he literally has nowhere to go.

   Once Holden finally decided to get over his little complex and goes home, he said that he felt good. He finally felt happy again.  This is how I expected Holden to feel, but he peeved me when he kept putting it off. He could have stepped out of the ice and onto the grass a lot earlier in the book, but Salinger didn't allow Holden to feel that way until it was almost too late. Holden had a lot of suicidal thoughts that were lightly put into the the text and none them really made sense until Holden mentioned the name James Castle in one of the final chapters. Since names have a meaning, I was trying to figure out what James Castle's purpose was. Then I was thinking, a Castle is heavily guarded and protected. James was a quiet guy, probably to keep all of his thoughts to himself. Then, he killed himself once he called this other kid annoying or something of that sort (I'll look it up later). Since Castle wouldn't take back what he said, this kid and his friends locked themselves, and James Castle, in James's room to try to scare and maybe beat it out of him. Since James wouldn't talk, he jumped out of the window and killed himself. If you can't read on Mr. Scalia's caliber, then you may have no idea why I thought that this part was so important. Well, when Holden puts his secret suicidal thoughts out there, he always mentions jumping out of the window. Holden might feel connected to James Castle because of that, I mean James was a good kid, just like his brother and James was wearing Holden's turtle neck when he killed himself, so Holden probably felt worse, knowing that information.

   Why is this important for what kind of character Holden is?? It shows us that tragic events do take a toll on Holden whether he blatantly says it or not. He changes his mindset slightly, but it only shows his growth and slight coming of age. Overall, I believe that Holden is a static character. 
This decision wasn't the easiest to make, but throughout the book, Holden doesn't really drastically change from the beginning of the book to the end. The major thing that changed was the fact that on the first page, Holden says, "...I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." He also says it on almost every other page in the book until the very last line, "If you do, you start missing everybody." Holden goes through the book acting like he doesn't really care about anyone because they're all "phonies" but then he turns around on the very last line in the book saying that he'll miss the people in his life if he talks about them, phony or not. Holden is a people person, he needs human interaction or else he'll get lonely and depressed. But, if he's with a phony, he'll say that he's annoyed and try to get out of there, then get depressed again. Holden needs the interaction, whether he likes it or not; that's his nature. He wants someone to be real with him, but those people are his dead brother, Allie, and his kid sister, Phoebe. Holden's attitude doesn't really change, either. Throughout the book, Holden opens up more and more. At first, he was the kid hiding his goldfish, then as the story goes on, he shows more and more of the fish bowl, then he takes off the red hat, covering the top of the bowl and the checkered paper covering the bottom of the bowl to reveal a goldfish full of hidden emotions.

 

Happy Halloween Everybody!! Stay safe!!