The role that females play in The Catcher in the Ryeis twofold: first, to show Holden's own hypocrisy; and second, to display his desperate need for acceptance. If Holden respects a girl or woman, for example, he treats her with kindness and compassion. On the other hand, if Holden feels rejected by a woman, or thinks she isn't very intelligent, he either lies to her or criticizes her in his mind. The women Holden...
The role that females play in The Catcher in the Rye is twofold: first, to show Holden's own hypocrisy; and second, to display his desperate need for acceptance. If Holden respects a girl or woman, for example, he treats her with kindness and compassion. On the other hand, if Holden feels rejected by a woman, or thinks she isn't very intelligent, he either lies to her or criticizes her in his mind. The women Holden respects are Mrs. Morrow, the nuns, Jane Gallagher, and his sister Phoebe. These women are authentic. They speak to Holden with respect and make him feel safe. It is interesting, too, that once Holden realizes how genuine a woman is, he feels indebted to her, or he feels like saving her from some grief in life. For example, Holden tells Mrs. Morrow lies about how wonderful her son is to make her feel good about how well he's doing in school; he gives the nuns ten dollars and wishes that he could give them more; he feels the need to defend Jane's honor with Stradlater; and finally, Holden doesn't run away for good to appease his little sister and to avoid hurting her. For these women, Holden would like to be a hero.
The women Holden does not respect, however, are any of the girls that brush him off in New York City, his mother, Sunny, Sally Hayes, and Lillian (D.B.'s ex-girlfriend). All of these women except for Lillian make Holden feel rejected and disappointed. He feels that Lillian is simply brainless, and her only good quality is that she has big "knockers." As for Holden's mother, it seems as if she wasn't there for him when his brother Allie died, and she just sends him to boarding school to get him out of her way. Then, Holden realizes just how weak and vulnerable he is when Sunny, a prostitute, takes advantage of his innocence and swindles him out of $10.00. Next, he discovers on his date with Sally that she's very worldly and social, which he is not. He becomes upset with Sally when she rejects his proposal to run away together, but he is also not too badly hurt overall. It's as if he only asked her to run away with him to see if she would reject him or not.
In summary, Holden's relationship with women is superficial, but he does seek true acceptance and love. Unfortunately, when he doesn't find it, he hypocritically and unfairly criticizes them. The only female with whom he finds acceptance, loyalty, and love is from his little sister Phoebe. This realization helps him to decide not to run away. It also helps him to seek the professional help that he truly needs. Without this young female, Holden may have gone across the country and really gotten in trouble. And despite all of the women Holden feels inclined to save, it is a female who actually saves him.
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