Causes Of Failure In Catcher In The Rye

Everyone grows up at some point in their life, but the timeframe in which this happens is different for all. Maturing as a person takes a lot of patience as well as failure. But it is from those failures that one can mature correctly. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the tragic hero’s journey is spurred by his defiance of adulthood, and the yearning to stay naive forever, however, in his quest to defy adulthood, he loses his childhood innocence.
The protagonist Holden right away described as immature and irresponsible. His last day at Pencey he forgets the fencing team’s foils. Being the team manager his negligence makes him solely responsible, but shrugging off the blame, he counters saying, “It wasn’t all my fault.

I had to keep looking up to the map, so we’d know where to get off” (Salinger 3). Diffusing the blame onto the other members of the team shows his inadequacy of accepting responsibility. Even while the team is ostracizing him, he found, “That it was pretty funny, in a way” (Salinger 3). Not taking matters seriously, and foolishly not worrying about repercussions are major flaws in Holden’s character. His personality deflects any adult responsibility and difficulties.
In combination with Holden’s disrespect for others comes his misinterpretation that all adults are phony. He uses this word to represent a hypocritical aspect of all people he does not like. Whether it’s the words people use, or their actions, almost everyone Holden meets is a phony in some form. The only person truly not phony, in his eyes, is himself. However, it is an extremely naive and false idea because he is a pathological liar, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life” (Salinger 16). He doesn’t need to lie, but in many instances a lie comes to mind before the truth, like an instinct. Since he is so fixed on everyone being fake, he cannot mature as a person. His qualities only intensify his distrust for adulthood, reaffirming the idea that he does not want to become one.
His first test of adulthood occurs in the hotel elevator when the operator asks him if he is interested with a prostitute. In his state of intoxication and loneliness, Holden accepts the offer,” Okay, I said. It was against my principles and all, but I was feeling so depressed I didn’t even think” (Salinger 91). However, he can’t go through with having sex, instead he just wants companionship. His foolish decision leads to Maurice, the elevator operator, beating him up over five dollars. Instead of just giving the money to Maurice, Holden mouths off and takes a beating for it, he would get beat up before conceding to a phony. This same idea comes into play later when Mr. Antolini says, “I can clearly see you dying nobly, one way or another, for some highly unworthy cause” (Salinger 188). Holden is still very immature because he is willing to risk bodily harm to not become a so called phony. His mixed up convictions could eventually get himself killed if he does not change.
The reason why Holden is so alone on his journey is that he has no one to really connect to. Ever since his brother Allie died, he has not been the same mentally. His brother was one of the people he was comfortable with, when he died Holden went into a depression, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and broke all the goddamn windows with my fist” (Salinger 39). Although Allie was younger than Holden, he was more mature in every aspect. He was supposed to help Holden become a mature individual. Now that his brother is dead Holden feels if he grows up, he will just become another adult poser. In Holden’s drunk stroll around the city, he is afraid to walk over the curb saying, “Every time I’d get the end of the block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie. I’d say to him, Allie, don’t let me disappear. Allie, don’t let me disappear (Salinger 198). Holden is worried he will vanish into the crowd of un-individualistic people. This is also why Holden cherishes his bright red hunting hat so much, it reminds him of his brother. He puts on his hat whenever he is feeling vulnerable, and is able to feel like his own person.
Holden likes things to stay the same, so he can always avoid adulthood. He is afraid of any change because it would mean he is also changing. On his walk to the museum for the first time he remembers, “The best thing though, in that museum was everything always stayed right where it was...The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you’d be much older or anything. It wouldn’t be that exactly” (Salinger 121). He enjoys the idea that the displays in the museum always remain the same. But, because he is unwilling to become an adult, “When I got to the museum, all the sudden I wouldn’t have gone inside for a million bucks“ (Salinger 122). Holden feels that if he is to go into the museum now, he will have changed like all the other times he went. To avoid that he refuses to go in yet again running from problems. His defiance of growing up is causing him more trouble than before.
He continues to run away from difficulties when he goes home to see his sister Phoebe. Even as a young kid she knows something is not right with Holden. He has no real ambitions in life and she calls him out for it, “You don’t like any schools. You don’t like a million things. You don’t...Name one thing” (Salinger 169). The only thing Holden actually wants to do is be a catcher in the rye. He wants to catch kids from becoming adults. He wants to shield all children from the difficulties of adulthood. The biggest problem is that he actually believes he can save the kids. Holden is too naive to understand that all kids grow up, and is why he gets so upset over the words fuck you written in the school. He wants kids to be sheltered from any adulthood experience, and doesn’t want the children's innocence tainted, but what he does not understand is a child likely wrote it.
However, Holden cannot forever evade the simple fact that everyone grows up at some point. At the carousel, while watching Phoebe, he finally comes to this revelation. As she risks injury grabbing for the gold ring he understands he cannot save kids from maturing, because everyone will grow up no matter what. “I was sort of afraid she fall off the goddamn horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything” (Salinger 211). It is in this moment that he understands he cannot save the children because it is impossible. He breaks down seeing Phoebe enjoy the carousel, something he can no longer do now that his childhood innocence is gone. In his journey to save his innocence is what caused him to lose it. The drinking, lying, prostitution, swearing, all culminated in Holden becoming the thing he most despised, a phony.
In the end Holden did fall, hard.

He was driven to become unstable. Throughout the novel he gets increasingly wacky with the continued corruption of his innocence. The final revelation that he could not save himself or others caused him to snap. All of the depression, loneliness, and frustration bottled inside burst, causing an emotional breakdown, “I was damn near bawling...I don’t know why” (Salinger 213). The difficulty about being a tragic hero, however, is that Holden will never overcome his fault. So when he says in the end, “This one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I’m going to apply myself when I go back to school next September. It’s such a stupid question, in my opinion. I mean how do you know what you’re going to do till you do it?” (Salinger 213). Holden’s uncertainty about the future means he will continue his cycle of self defeating behavior until he either learns to accept adulthood, or dies rejecting it, like in Mr. Antolini

prophecy.
The entire story the reader understands that Holden’s quest is futile, best described by Arthur Miller as, “Where pathos rules, where pathos is finally derived, a character has fought a battle he could not possibly have won” (Miller).

Catcher and the Rye is a truly tragic story because “the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing--his sense of personal dignity” (Miller). Holden is willing to die for his own noble cause of defying adulthood, however foolish it seems to everyone else.
Originally the novel was for adults, but teenagers connected to the story as well because of Holden’s resistance to adulthood. It teaches both groups that people develop at a different time. Parents should not be forcing their kids to grow up, get a job, and move out; and kids need to understand growing up is a part of life. Sometimes it is easy to feel like you are alone, but everyone goes through periods of frustration pertaining to who they

are.