What are Holden Caulfields thoughts about god, religions, and religious hypocrisy?
Lolalove’s answer is awesome and I’d run with that. I wanted to add that Holden is a very autobiographical character for Salinger who rejected Western religion and favors Eastern dogma found commonly in Buddhism or Hinduism. I’m not sure how he’d respond if asked for his religious preference. I doubt he’s an atheist, considering his focus on Eastern meditation and a desire to live a pure, simple life. It just seems like the lifestyle of a spiritual person to me. This is more focused on in his work “Franny and Zooey”. “Catcher” definitely focuses attention on the hypocrisy of Western religion, as Holden is out to spot hypocrisy in all aspects of society. I agree, the fact he mentions prayer, etc. despite claiming to be an atheist is symptomatic of your typical teenage wayward soul–looking for a place to fit in and something concrete to believe in. The jury’s still out, so to speak, on Holden’s true religious views as he explores his world. The attention paid to the nuns, to me, is done
