Living Realistic Characters example essay topic

Creating living characters is one of the greatest challenges for novelists, often due to the extraordinary situations the characters themselves are placed in. However, Salinger is able to accomplish this feat in his novel Catcher in the Rye by giving the characters flaws, thus making them more human. The characters are also very human, in that they have reasonable reactions that we can understand. Salinger creates the characters with the intent that we can relate to them, allowing us to do just that and at the same time making them seem even more real and understandable to us.

This also makes Salinger's main character, Holden, seem a bit unreal, as most readers are unable to relate to some of the dire circumstances he is placed in, but through this, the other characters seem even more real. In all of this, we can truly relate to his characters, thereby making them more realistic. In every novel that seeks to create living characters, the characters have their flaws and traits. As no human being is perfect, we can often relate to these flaws and traits, making the characters in Catcher in the Rye understandable and more realistic. Each character has their own flaw in this novel; Holden has his overreactions and insensible nature (getting hyped up about Stradlater not caring if Jane still kept her kings in the back row, and also leaving his bloody nose alone, instead of cleaning it up a bit); Stradlater losing his cool (striking Holden because he gave into anger); and even Mr Spencer (being boring).

These flaws and traits allow us to relate to the characters by us either having them, or knowing people that do. As soon as we can envision somebody like the character in the book, Salinger has accomplished his goal in creating living characters. Giving characters flaws and traits is one way that Salinger is able to create living and realistic characters in his novel. Further to this, by making the characters realistic and understandable, Salinger can further on his efforts in creating living characters.

His characters have reasonable and understandable reactions that do not seem inhumane. When Maurice is about to attack Holden, Sunny tries to stop him, telling him not to (pages 92-93). This is an understandable reaction as she does not want to see violence, as most humans would not. In addition, on page 185, when Holden has told his little sister Phebe that he is running away from home, she insists on coming with him. This is an understandable reaction to her big brother leaving, as she is less than twelve and we all thought wildly like that when we were young. By giving his characters reasonable reactions, Salinger makes his characters more realistic.

In this same effort however, the character of Holden seems a bit unreal. He is unreasonable, and most of us cannot relate to him. He is in a permanent downturn, which does not happen to many people. Throughout the majority of the book (page 43 onwards) Holden does a variety of activities that none of us would undertake frequently, such as excessive drinking, hiring a prostitute, provoking people bigger and stronger than himself into a fight, ringing people up near two a. m. in the morning, etc. However, because the character of Holden seems a bit unreal to the reader, the other characters in the book suddenly become much more realistic upon direct comparison and sub-conscious comparison.

By making the character of Holden hard to relate to, Holden becomes a bit inhuman, but all the other characters in the book benefit from this in becoming more realistic and living themselves. It is not by creating legendary heroes or surreal entities that Salinger forges realistic and living characters into his novels. It is by making those characters realistic and giving them typical human traits and flaws, then using comparison that this is accomplished. As readers bear witness to these characters flaws, realism, and in essence their humanity, they are able to relate to them, understand them and accept them as the living realistic characters that they were modeled to portray..