The Catcher in the Rye Characters (in order of appearance)

There are a lot of characters in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (I counted almost sixty). It figures, as the main character, Holden, has attended three different preparatory schools (and made acquaintances at each). All the same, it can be difficult to remember which girl keeps her checker kings in a row (Jane Gallagher) and which boy farts during Ossenburger’s speech (Edgar Marsalla). Without further ado, here are all the characters in The Catcher in the Rye.     

All the quotes are from the 2019 Penguin U.K. edition of The Catcher in the Rye. 

The Catcher in the Rye Characters (in order of appearance)

Holden Caulfield: The narrator of the book, Holden speaks to us from some sort of psychiatric facility close to Hollywood. When the story starts, Holden is a 16-year-old junior who’s been expelled from Pencey Preparatory. Previously, Holden has been expelled from the Whooton School and Elkton Hills. The book is his retelling of  “the madman stuff that happened to [him] last Christmas” (1).     

D.B. Caulfield: Holden’s older brother, D.B., is a writer who’s gone to Hollywood to write for the movies. Before he went, he wrote a book of short stories that Holden adores called The Secret Goldfish. Holden’s favorite story in the collection is “The Secret Goldfish,” about a kid who won’t let anyone see his goldfish because he bought it with his own money. As Holden explains at the beginning of the book, D.B. comes to visit him every week. 

Dr. Thurmer: The headmaster at Pencey Prep. He’s the one who officially expels Holden. 

Selma Thurmer: Daughter of the headmaster of Pencey Prep, Selma is a “pretty nice girl,” though not “the type that drove you mad with desire” (3). Holden connects with her on the bus and likes the fact that she “probably knew what kind of phony slob [her dad] was” (3). 

Robert Tichener and Paul Campbell: Two of Holden’s acquaintances at Pency. Holden has fond memories of them throwing the football around until it gets dark.

Mr Zambesi: Holden’s biology teacher at Pencey. He tells Holden, Tichener, and Campbell to stop throwing the football around and head inside for dinner. 

Mrs Spencer: Mr Spencer’s wife. She greets Holden when he comes over to say goodbye to Mr Spencer.  

Mr Spencer: Holden’s history teacher, Mr. Spencer, asks Holden to come visit him before he leaves Pency. When Holden arrives, Mr. Spencer has the flu. He lectures Holden about the quality of his writing and how disappointed he is in him. Before Holden leaves, Mr Spencer yells “Good luck!” 

Mr Haas: The headmaster at Elkton Hills, one of Holden’s previous schools. Holden thinks he’s a phoney because he treats students’ parents differently if they look shabby.  

Ossenburger: The person after whom Holden’s dormitory is named. A successful mortician, “he gave Pencey a pile of dough” (17). When he comes to give a speech at Pencey, one of the boys farts loudly. 

Edgar Marsalla: The class clown who farts in the middle of Ossenburger’s speech. 

Robert Ackely: Robert lives in the room connected to Holden’s. A senior at Pencey, Ackley constantly comes into Holden’s room and picks things up. Though annoying, Holden feels bad for him. 

Herb Gale: Ackely’s roommate. 

Mr Hartzell: Holden’s English teacher at Pencey. 

Ward Stradlater: Holden’s roommate at Pencey. At the start of the book, Stradlater is on a date with one of Holden’s old friends, Jane Gallagher. Stradlater asks Holden to write an essay for him while he’s gone. When Stradlater returns from the date, Holden attacks him. 

Howie Coyle: A basketball player at Pencey. 

Phyllis Smith: A girl Stradlater had been dating.

Jane Gallagher: One of Holden’s childhood best friends who he used to play checkers with. When they’d play, Jane “wouldn’t move any of her kings” (33). It’s also implied that her stepfather has abused her in some way. 

Mal Brossard: One of Holden’s friends at Pencey. Mal is on the wrestling team and goes with Holden and Ackley to see a movie in Agerstown. According to Holden, Mal is a “bridge fiend” (39). 

Allie Caulfield: Holden’s younger brother, Allie, died of leukemia on July 18, 1946, at the age of ten. The night he died, Holden, then thirteen, punched out all the windows in the garage (and broke his hand in the process). Holden has Allie’s old baseball mitt, which is covered with poems written in green pen. Allie had covered his mitt in poems so he’d have something to read while he stood in left field. 

Ed Banky: The basketball coach at Pencey, Ed lets Stradlater borrow his car (which is against the rules). As Holden says, “all the athletic bastards stick together” (45). 

Mrs Schmidt: The wife of Pencey’s janitor.

Ely (no last name): Ackley’s roommate. 

Leahy and Hoffman: Two boys who live in Holden’s hall at Pencey. 

Ernest Morrow’s Mother: Holden meets Ernest’s mother on the train to New York. While Ernest is, in reality, “the biggest bastard that ever went to Pencey,” Holden lies and tells Mrs Morrow that he’s “shy and modest (61). Holden also lies and tells her his own name is Rudolf Schmidt, that he’s having a brain operation, and that he’s going to South America for the summer. 

Phoebe Caulfield: Holden’s younger sister (4th-grade), she wants to go with him when Holden decides to hitchhike out west. She also gives him all her Christmas money when he asks for a loan. The last image of the book is of Phoebe on a merry-go-round and Holden crying in the rain. 

Sally Hayes: The girl Holden has dated on and off for a few years, she goes to a show with him when Holden comes home early from Pencey. Holden is unkind to her and she tells him to leave. Later, when Holden gets drunk, he calls her again. 

Anne Louise Sherman: A girl Holden once made out with. 

Faith Cavendish: Holden describes her as not “exactly a whore…but didn’t mind doing it once in a while” (69). When Holden gets to his hotel in New York, he calls her up and tries to get her to come out for a drink. She declines. 

Bernice, Marty, and Laverne: The three women Holden talks to (and dances with) at the Lavender Room. 

Mr Cudahy: Jane Gallagher’s boozer of a step-dad. The text implies that he’s abused Jane in some way. 

Horowitz: The cabbie who drives Holden to Ernie’s. Holden asks him about the ducks and Horowitz gets sore. 

Ernie: The eponymous pianist at Ernie’s. Unsurprisingly, Holden thinks he’s a big phony. 

Lillian Simmons: A girl D.B. used to date, Holden runs into her at Ernie’s. She invites Holden to have a drink with her and her date, but Holden declines. 

Raymond Goldfarb: One of Holden’s old school friends from Whooton School. He and Holden once drank a pint of scotch in the chapel. 

Maurice: Though Maurice works the elevator at the hotel at the Edmont Hotel (where Holden is staying in New York), he’s also a pimp. When Holden comes back from Ernie’s, Maurice asks him if he’d like him to send a girl up. Holden surprises himself by saying yes. Though Holden decides not to have sex with the prostitute (Sunny), he pays her anyway. A while later, Maurice comes back to Holden’s room with Sunny in tow and demands another five dollars. Holden refuses to pay, so Maurice roughs him up a bit. (They eventually take the five bucks from Holden’s wallet.)

Monsieur Blanchard: A fictional character in a book Holden once read while at Whooton. Holden thinks about him while he’s waiting for Sunny. Monsieur Blanchard claims you can play a woman’s body like a violin, which is why Holden wants to get some practice in with Sunny. 

Sunny: The prostitute that Maurice sends up to Holden. Before she leaves Holden’s room, Holden says that she “was a really spooky kid” (106). 

Bobby Fallon: A kid who used to live near Holden’s family in Maine. 

Arthur Childs: One of Holden’s classmates at Whootton, Childs is a Quaker who reads the bible all the time. Holden has a disagreement with him about Jesus’ disciples. Unsurprisingly, Holden isn’t a fan. 

Dick Slagle: Holden’s old roommate at Elkton Hills, who hides his inexpensive suitcases underneath his bed. Here’s the story – Holden’s been keeping his (very expensive) suitcases on the rack in their room, but feels self-conscious, so he starts putting his under the bed like Slagle does. Strangely, Slagle keeps taking Holden’s suitcases out from under the bed. Holden finally realizes that Slagle wants the other students to think that they’re his bags. Slagle constantly calls Holden bourgeois. Ultimately, the class difference becomes very tense. 

The Two Nuns in the Diner: Though they’re not named, Holden meets them in a diner and has an extensive conversation with one of them about Romeo and Juliet. Before they part, Holden tries to pay for their meal, but they won’t let him. 

Louis Shaney: A Catholic boy, Louis is the first boy Holden met at the Whooton School. While they had a nice conversation about tennis, Holden gets the feeling that Louis “would have enjoyed it more if [he] was a Catholic and all” (122). 

Estelle Fletcher: Fictional singer of the song “Little Shirley Beans.”

Gertrude Levine: One of Holden’s classmates when he was in elementary school. She always wanted to hold hands when they went to the museum, but her hand “was always sticky or sweaty or something” (130). 

Miss Aigletinger: One of Holden’s elementary school teachers. She used to take Holden’s class to the museum almost every Saturday. 

Harris Macklin: One of Holden’s old roommates from Elkton Hills. Though “one of the biggest bores [Holden] ever met,” the “sonuvabitch could whistle better than anybody” (133-34).    

Al Pike: A boy Jane Gallagher dated for a while. Holden thinks Al is a “show-off bastard,” but Jane excused him, claiming he has “an inferiority complex” (146). 

Mr. Antolini: Holden’s old English teacher at Elkton Hills, he invites Holden to spend the night at his house when Holden runs out of money. Though Mr. Antolini is initially friendly, Holden wakes up to find him stroking his [Holden’s] hair. Mr. Antolini tries to calm Holden down, but Holden still leaves Mr. Antolini’s house in a hurry.

Carl Luce: Though three years ahead of him at Whooton (and now at Columbia), Holden calls Carl and asks if he’d like to have a drink with him. While at Whooton, Carl was obsessed with “flits and Lesbians” (154). They have a few drinks at the Wicker Bar, but Carl doesn’t have patience for Holden. Though Carl claims to be dating a much older Chinese sculptress, the text implies that he might be gay. 

Curtis Weintraub: One of Phoebe’s classmates, he pushed her while she was going down the stairs in the park. 

Selma Atterbury: Another one of Phoebe’s classmates, she and Phoebe put ink all over Curtis’ windbreaker. 

James Castle: One of Holden’s old classmates at Elkton Hills. According to Holden, James called one of the other boys, Phil Stabile, conceited. When this got back to Phil, he and six other guys went to James’ room and did something “repulsive” to him (183). James still won’t take back his comment, and jumps out the window to his death.      

Mr and Mrs. Caulfield: Defined by their absence, Holden’s parents appear only once in the book, when Holden has snuck back into the house to visit Phoebe. 

Mrs Antolini: Mr. Antolini’s wife, she is “about sixty years older than Mr Antolini” (195).. She welcomes Holden to their home and makes coffee.

Richard Kinsella: One of Holden’s classmates at Pencey, he gets a D+ in Oral Expression because he can’t keep his speeches focused. 

Mr. Vinson: Holden’s Oral Expression teacher at Pencey. 

The Catcher in the Rye Characters – Final Thoughts

As I write in my summary, Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is an adolescent coming-of-age novel that only makes sense when you’re on the far side of adolescent drama. For me, every character that comes in and out of Holden’s story are tiny nodes of possible lives and choices not taken. 

If you’ve found this article useful or interesting, you can also check out my summaries and analyses of 1984, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, Beloved, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Macbeth, Jane Eyre, Of Mice and Men, and Romeo and Juliet.