Character Analysis

Holden Caulfield: Sixteen years old. Six feet two with a shock of gray hair. Very immature but can act older than his age. (But no one notices.) Our narrator. Loves children. Hates phonys.


Phoebe Caulfield: Holden's ten-year-old sister. Very smart and perceptive girl. Roller-skate skinny with red hair. She likes to write girl books that she never finishes. Affectionate and emotional.


Walt Stradlater: Holden's roomate at Pency. Handsome and shallow. Asks Holden to write his composition for him and goes on a date with Jane Gallagher. Holden and Stradlater have a fist-fight. He was a friendly guy but "it was partly a phony kind of friendly.


Allie Caulfield: Holden's younger brother who died three years earlier of leukemia. Bright, sensitive, and exceptional. Wrote poetry on his baseball mitt. "You'd have liked him."


Robert Ackley:Ackley kid. Roomed next to Holden at Pency. No one liked him. Nosey and dirty. Holden took him along into town to be nice. Bad skin and bad teeth that "always looked mossy and awful."

SunnyYoung:prostitute sent to Holden's room. Shallow, uneducated, and all-business. Holden and Sunny only talk. This is five. It costs ten. Holden assumes the alias of Jim Steele with Sunny. She calls him "crum-bum."


Mr. Antolini:Former English teacher at Elkton Hills. He was the one who finally picked up the body of James Castle. Holden retreats to his house and recieves a long lecture. Plans to stay there until Tuesday, but while Holden is sleeping Mr. Antolini begins to pet him. Flitty. Likes to drink.


Maurice Edmont: elevator operator/pimp. Sends "a girl" up to Holden's room for "a good time". After agreeing upon a price, Maurice wants more. Holden has a fist-fight with him but he doesn't stand a chance.


Mr. Spencer: Holden's History teacher at Pency. Holden visits him before leaving school. He flunks Holden and reads his essay on "the Egyptians" aloud as an explanation. He smells like Vicks Nose Drops and is a bad throw. "Life is a game, boy."


D.B. Caulfield: Holden's older brother. Served in the army. A writer. Author of "the Secret Goldfish". Now a Hollywood prostitute.


Mr. & Mrs. Caulfield: Holden's parents. Mr. Caulfield is a businessman. Mrs. Caulfield doesn't sleep well. She's still traumatized over Allie. "They're grand people."

Works Cited:
http://www.geocities.com/deadcaulfields/Characters.html