The Guilt of Participating in System You Despise

It’s fair to say that Holden Caulfield hates private prep schools and the culture they create. He tells the reader so countless times throughout the novel. He himself is a bit of an outcast at the school, as he gets shunned by the fencing team when he leaves their equipment on the subway. He also chooses to avoid going to the football game at the very start of the novel. He is not nearly as “cool” as his roommate, Stradlater, who is part of the basketball team and actually gets a date, in Jane Gallagher, and uses his coach’s car for this date. Despite the ways in which Holden does not fit in, he is still not at the bottom of the social chain, and he feels guilt for both the ways in which he benefits from the system and the ways in which he is too cowardly to stand up to it.

When complaining to Phoebe about why he hated Pency, Holden says, “they had this goddam secret fraternity that I was too yellow not to join,” but they wouldn’t let Ackley join “just because he was boring and pimply” (Salinger 185). It’s important to note that Holden does not like Ackley, so he doesn’t regret joining the fraternity just because they excluded him specifically. Instead, it indicates that he disagrees with the frat’s system of people’s ability to join hinging on their “coolness,” which he would likely describe as quite phony. But by being part of this frat, he, too is being phony—as he is participating in the culture of phoniness while genuinely not believing in it. Where Ackley likely regretted that he didn’t have what it took to join the frat, Holden regrets not having what it took to not join the frat. Rather than sticking to his guns with his beliefs about the secret frat, he gave in to social pressure and joined it.

I think his admiration of James Castle is another manifestation of this guilt. While reading the novel, it can be easy to forget that Holden rarely ever voices his opinions on school and society at large. This is visible with Sally Hayes’ confusion when he begins to spew about everything he hates, as she sees this as a radical shift in his behavior. He rarely expresses his internal thoughts externally. Thus, James, who in Holden’s logic serves as a martyr for honesty, is an ideal of a person who does not succumb to the pressure of society the way that Holden does. James called Phil Stabile, who Holden describes as “a very conceited boy,” a “very conceited guy,” and refused to take his words back to the point of jumping out the window (Saligner 188). James was willing to speak the truth, in Holden’s eyes, and unlike Holden, who didn’t have the courage to refuse to join the secret fraternity, he had the courage to stick to his word through death. Holden does not think of James when thinking of what is wrong with school. Instead, he thinks of him when trying to think of what he likes, which I find very telling. He likes the fact that somebody could stand up for honesty and authenticity in a world full of phonies, which Holden himself was never able to bring himself to do. He wishes that he could be brave and stick to his ideals like James, but is instead straddled with the guilt of fitting in with the people he despises.