Recommendation Letter for Holden Caulfield Paper Example

It is my pleasure to recommend Holden Caulfield at your institution. I was his principal at Pencey Prep school. Holden distinguished himself by being an exceptionally and highly endowed teenager with a great intelligence, who shows up very often in his observation skills. He has a gift in that, which implies that he distinguishes himself from that. He is also a very sensitive teenager, who shows how the hypocritical acts that some people perform daily affect him. He has an incredible capacity to realize when a person is false, to realize the personality of a person and has a sensitive personality. He is a person with an absolute sincerity and is a very innocent boy. He says, "One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. That's all" (pg. 44).

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Overall, Holden is a highly intelligent and excellent person. He also has great analytical skills and he has always shown an ability to understand ethical practices and he shows sensitivity and detachment in such matters. He is idealistic, has autonomous thoughts, his ideas are disseminated and he is firm in front of these ideas. He does not depend on dogmas that prevent him from forming his own thought. For that reason, he is a very independent person, that not only is demonstrated in his thoughts, but also in how he is habitually managed. As a normal teenager, he is a bit rebellious but always seeks to change the world with his own ideas for the better.

Holden has excellent communication skills and he is an icon of youth. His way of thinking makes me and surely other people, identify with their ideas. "The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." (pg. 88). They are ideas that often identify a young person. Ideas not to conform, to fight for a less hypocritical world and to triumph for a better world. Holden has always demonstrated an oral articulateness and he is proficient in analyzing problems. He explains his views concisely and his arguments are clear and persuasive.

At a persona level, Holden is well disciplined and hardworking. However, Holden is extremely critical of others, especially those he considers "false," or those who pretend to be a different personality from others. He mocks the hypocrisy and malice in the adult world and uses teasing to protect himself from the disenchantment of adults "I am always saying "Glad to have met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though (pg. 77)" Caulfield believes that he is the only decent character in a world of fake adults. Holden's fixation on people who look and feel and their inability to understand how the social order works make it seem naive. He has the ability to identify falsehood and self-centered behavior in society, but he tends to deny them. As a result, he has difficulty socializing in a fallible world. In addition, Holden believes that society can change positively without any effort "Certain things, they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone (pg. 99)". Holden's perfectionism makes him feel uncomfortable since it is his own weakness. Although he shows himself evil, superficial and false, like all the others he criticizes and judges. Another thing to be noted is that Holden is a bit presumptuous, and childish. When he does not get what he wants, his temper explodes.

It should also be noted that Holden is a lonely person, but often tries to get close to people (such as when he invites Ackley to the movies, does his homework to Stradlater or when he invites the three hotel girls to a drink; but because of his personality, he always spoils it. Holden is as fake as in his opinion are all other people). A clear example of this is when she calls Sally to stay, and while they are talking her thoughts are: "What aunt is wrong!" And "Lovely. If there is a word that I hate is that one. It sounds most hypocritical. It crossed my mind to tell her to forget about it, but we kept talking a little (pg. 105) "A sensible person does not invite someone who does not like to hang out with him. Holden suffers from a serious personality disorder: he can move from a state of mind to the opposite in a matter of seconds, but in short, he is a person who is not able to find his place in the world. His pessimistic view of society and the world, in general, makes him think that everything is negative, that there is nothing good in this world.

Despite his attempts, his innocence and immaturity are still there, and that is why many times people take advantage of him. For example, when he arrives at the hotel and decides to hire a prostitute. He does not have sex with her but Holden says he will pay anyway, although the price the girl says is greater than what he had agreed with the elevator operator. Other characteristic features of Holden are his indecision and impulsiveness, which, because they are terms with a completely opposite meaning, reveal his bipolarity. Many times he makes decisions without thinking, following his instinct and doing what he most desires at every moment. But after a while, he gets tired and realizes that he has been a bad decision.

All in all, Holden is undoubtedly an exceptional student. He is an excellent student and he would greatly benefit from the opportunities of intellectual development provided by a sustained period of graduate study is your school. Holden has shown that he has all the tools to succeed in your school. I therefore highly recommend Holden Caulfield. He will be a positive and important asset to your institution and will make meaningful contributions. If I can be of any assistance to you, or if you require any additional information, kindly contact me.

Yours Sincerely,

Principal, Pencey Prep

Works Cited

Salinger, Jerome David. The Catcher in the Rye. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2010. Print.