Student Question
In The Catcher in the Rye, how old is Holden's brother, D.B.?
Quick answer:
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield's older brother, D.B., is not explicitly stated to be a specific age. However, he is portrayed as an adult, having served in World War II and now working as a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. Holden admires D.B.'s past as a writer of short stories but criticizes him for "selling out" to Hollywood. D.B.'s age is inferred to be significantly older than Holden, who is 16.
What was Holden's brother D.B. doing in The Catcher in the Rye?
D.B. Caulfield is Holden Caulfield's older brother in The Catcher in the Rye. Holden considers D.B. to be his favorite writer due to the fact that he used to write fantastic short stories, but believes that D.B. is a "phony" for "selling out" and becoming a very successful screenwriter in Hollywood rather than a "real" writer.
It is also worth noting that D.B. served in the Army for four years and fought in World War II before becoming a screenwriter. He despised this experience, especially because he was so young when he enlisted, stating that "the Army was practically as full of bastards as the Nazis were." Although Allie (the boys' brother who later died of cancer at the age of eleven) wonders if D.B.'s participation in the war made him into a better writer and provided him with more material to write about, D.B. knows that this...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
experience ultimately didn't serve his artistry and instead traumatized him.
What do we learn about Holden's brother D.B. in The Catcher in the Rye?
At the beginning of the story, Holden is in California retelling the story that landed him in a mental hospital. His older brother D.B. also lives in California working as a successful screenwriter. Like a good big brother, he visits Holden every weekend and says he will drive him home to New York in his Jaguar when the time comes. Before D.B. could afford Jags, he wrote a short story called The Secret Goldfish which Holden really likes (1). He's so upset that D.B. went to Hollywood to write for movies because Holden hates movies; so, he calls his brother a prostitute for selling himself short rather than becoming a real author.
Holden isn't the only one to think that D.B. is selling his talent out to the wrong industry. One of Holden's former English teachers from Elkton Hills also disagrees with D.B.'s choice to move to California and called him up to tell him so before he left. Holden says, "Mr. Antolini said that anybody that could write like D.B. had no business going out to Hollywood. That's exactly what I said, practically" (181).
At one point, Holden dreams of living in a cabin and inviting his family over for visits. He would have the following rules, though:
"I'd let old Phoebe come out to visit me in the summertime and on Christmas vacation and Easter vacation. And I'd let D.B. come out and visit me for a while if he wanted a nice, quiet place for his writing, but he couldn't write any movies in my cabin, only stories and books. I'd have this rule that nobody could do anything phone when they visited me. If anybody tried to do anything phony, they couldn't stay" (205).
Here again we see Holden mention D.B. being in his life, but not if he's doing anything with movies. It's a bit funny, actually. Holden isn't as close with D.B. obviously, as he was with his little brother Allie who died of Leukemia, but he doesn't completely forget about him, either.
One more thing that Holden tells in a flashback was the fact that D.B. was drafted or enlisted in the Army, and went to war.
Seemingly, it caused post-traumatic syndrome on D.B. because, according to Holden, all he would do is come back to the house just to "stare at the ceiling", and maintain a persistent sadness and nostalgia.
Holden holds his negative views on the Army "a place full of bastards" precisely on how it affected D.B., whose Army experience, according to Holden also, "doesn't do a damn thing for his writing"= Perhaps this is the reason why D.B. resorted to move onto the movie science.