How Jane's character is used to show Holden's motivation in Catcher in the Rye
Jane is an important character in understanding they psyche of Holden. While we never actually meet her in the story, Holden is constantly mentioning her, saying, "maybe I'll give old Jane a buzz." throughout the story. Holden never actually does, and all we end up learning about her is through Holden's flashbacks. Because of this, we never actually learn if Jane is actually like what Holden describes her as. Holden describes her as a sweet and intelligent girl and admires her (perceived) innocence and simplicity. He admires the unique and peculiar traits she has, like not using the kings in checkers once she promotes to them. Using these descriptions, we can paint a picture of what Holden values in a person, and in turn his actions to protect these people give us an understanding of what motivates Holden. We first learn about Jane through Stradlater, who explains that he has a date with her. This both excites and frustrates Holden. He is happy to reflect on his time