The Catcher in the Rye When do you think people mature? In the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger’s, the main character Holden Caulfield goes through a series of emotional events but remains as immature as he was at the beginning of the novel. Majority of teenagers become responsible and more mature people. Holden goes through many events that cause stress and burdens and instead of coming out more mature and grown up, he still has the same childish views on life. Throughout the whole novel, Holden fantasizes about killing people, he views on sex remain confused, and he does not think out his actions. Holden thinking about killing people several times throughout the novel displays how he acts violent. He wanted to kill his …show more content…
roommate Stradlater for dating his old friend Jane Gallagher. Holden was afraid for Jane because he already had his opinion set out on Stradlater. Holden does end up fighting Stradlater but he ends up losing and getting hurt pretty bad. Holden again thinks about killing people, when Holden gets his money stolen by Maurice. Holden pretends as if he got shot and he is coming down the stairs with an imaginary gun to shoot Maurice to get pay back. Holden pretending to do this shows how he is immature and violent. While Holden is visiting his sister Phoebe’s school, he notices on the wall the words “fuck” written by someone. Seeing this makes him have violent thoughts. Holden does not know how to deal with it showing he has not grown up. Holden is also confused and throughout the novel never figures out his view on sex and girls. Holden makes it known that he would never just have sex with a girl without getting to know who she really is. He disregards what he said because when Holden goes to New York he calls Faith Cavendish, who he thinks is a stripper. He does not know her at all and has never talked to her a day in his life but he wants to have sex with her. After arriving at the hotel Holden is offered a hooker at accepts it, but when he is given the hooker he does not do anything with her or even try because he is nervous and it does not seem right to him. Sex remains foreign to Holden leaving him still very confused Holden never learns how to control how he feels both emotionally and physically about love and sex. Instead of taking the time to think about what he is doing Holden just acts.
From the start of the novel Holden makes several wrong choices. He runs away from Pencey without telling his parents not thinking of how much more trouble he will be in for not being honest with his parents. Holden is known for lying to people throughout the book, showing how he still is immature. Later in the novel Holden makes many more actions where he just acts without thinking. When he attends a date with Sally Hayes he scares her by telling her with a very stern voice that they should get married and move in together He urges her to do it which causes her to cry and call him crazy. Holden just thinking about his actions not only hurts him but others too, Holden also spends money very immaturely, He spends money on taxis, hotel rooms, food, dates, and the nuns. He does not think about managing his money which causes him to be broke and steal his sister Phoebe’s money that she had for Christmas gifts. Lastly, Holden tries and plans to run away but ends up getting stopped by Phoebe. Him running away is an example of him not thinking because he had no money for hotels or food to be able to run away. Holden never learns to think out his actions showing how he remains
immature. Holden comes out from an emotional series of events and does not grow any sense of maturity since the beginning of the novel. Holden thinks in a very violent way, he thinks about killing people throughout the novel over the littlest situations. Holden remains very confused on his view of sex and is never honest with himself throughout the novel. He thinks he knows his views on sex and what he would do put in certain situations, but when put in those situations does not know how to act. He also never learns how to think how his actions can affect himself or other people before he acts. Holden Caulfield did not come out that weekend as a more mature person.
Holden struggles with himself mightily and cannot fulfill his responsibilities. One of Holden’s struggles is that he has a bad attitude towards everyone. For example, at the school he goes to, he hates his roommates and his teachers. In addition to not liking anyone, Holden
Immaturity of Holden in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity.
The origins of Holden’s disillusionment and the reason that it all started is the death of his younger brother which he was very fond of and admired, Allie, three years ago. The death of Allie is very significant in Holden’s mind since it is an event which he remembers quite clearly at multiple occasions during the book. For example, when Holden is writing a descriptive composition for his roommate Stradlater, he decides to write about Allie’s baseball mitt since it is the only thing on his mind. “My brother Allie had this left-handed fielder’s mitt. He was
Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive.
Holden’s apparent desire to be separated from the majority of his family and friends appears to have been triggered by the death of his younger brother Allie. From Allie’s there has been a downward spiral in Holden’s relationships, as he begins to avoid contact with others and isolate himself more. The reason I believe this is because we can see how immense his anger is after Allie’s death, ‘I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist’. The death of Allie has become like an awakening to Holden, and has alerted him how precious childhood innocence is, when Holden comes to this realisation he convinces himself to do everything within his power to protect the innocence of himself and those around him, to protect them from what he sees as a false adult world. Although Holden clearly fails to protect himself, as he falls into all sorts of situations which hardly boasts of innocence and virt... ...
Childhood is an unusually hard thing to rid yourself of when it is time for you to pass into the intensified life of adults. Personally, I have yet to overcome that challenge. The Catcher in the Rye is a well developed story about a high school boy, Holden Caulfield, who is stuck between the stages of adolescence and adulthood, and is trying to discover his identity. All his life, Holden Caulfield has refused to grow up, and as the book progresses, he is on the fine line of leaving innocence and adolescence behind and passing into adulthood, but what gives him the needed shove into the realm of adulthood was getting over his brother, Allie’s death. To Holden, Allie is the main definition of innocence. Eventually Holden comes to the decision to be the catcher in the rye. After this decision he tries to follow through with his plan and ultimately decides that he can’t keep anyone from growing up. This seems to be his breaking point in the book where he finally overcomes all his negative emotions towards Allie’s death and accepts it for what it is, knowing that he has to move on.
Throughout the whole novel Holden has always been in denial of everything. As stated by Freud, denial is the “Refusal to recognize a threatening impulse or desire” (Sigmund Freud). When he visited his ten year old sister Phoebe, she was trying to communicate with Holden but she was nervous that it would displease him. She stated “Because you don't. You don’t like schools. You don't like a million things. You don't…Why the hell do you have to say that?” I said. Boy was depressing me” (Salinger 169). Even though Holden is very fond of Phoebe he didn't bother to listen to what she had to say, this demonstrates that Holden is very in denial because he got very upset when Phoebe said that he dislikes everything. Which furthers shows how he is unable to recognize that what Phoebe is
Using Holden’s subtle evidence, you could conclude at the end of the book that Holden has a mental disorder and had a nervous breakdown. His insecurities, and confusion about childhood versus adulthood, and oddities help us reach this decision. Mental disorders and nervous breakdowns are often seen in teenagers today with their busy schedules and stressful lives. In Holden’s time, psychiatric treatments were frowned upon but today it is a common source of recovery. Adults and teenagers alike need to stay focused on their blessings and good fortune. In today’s world this is a monumental, if not difficult, action to take. Like the ducks, we must sometimes fly to a happier place.
Holden Caulfield can be analyzed through his thoughts, actions and circumstances which surround his everyday life. Holden acts like a careless teenager. Holden has been to several prep-schools, all of which he got kicked out of for failing classes. After being kicked out of the latest, Pency Prep, he went off to New York on his own. Holden seems to have a motivation problem which apparently affects his reasoning. The basis of his reasoning comes from his thoughts. Holden thinks the world is full of a bunch of phonies. All his toughs about people he meets are negative. The only good thoughts he has are about his sister Phoebe and his dead brother Alley. Holden, perhaps, wishes that everyone, including himself, should be like his brother and sister. That is to be intelligent, real and loving. Holden’s problem is with his heart. It was broken when his brother died. Now Holden goes around the world as his fake self, wearing his mask. Holden is looking for love, peace and understanding. He is scared to love because he is afraid he might lose it like he did with his brother. That is the reason for Holden's love of the museum, he feels safe because it never changes it always stays the same. Holden is troubled with the pain of death, it effects every aspect of his life causing him to not care about the future, himself or anyone, except Phoebe and Alley.
Why does Holden fear adulthood? The novel Catcher in the Rye is set in the 1950’s and is narrated by a.. young boy called Holden Caulfield, who is sixteen years old. He tells the story between the end of his school term and Christmas break. We know he is in a mental hospital and is telling the story of a few days he spent in New York City, he shares his feelings, emotions and opinions of the world surrounding him.
Holden, throughout the book, is fed up with the phony lifestyle many of those in adulthood live. He constantly talks about people he hates and rarely touches on those he likes. He gets in fights with his roommates and has a very pessimistic and bleak view of his future. “Name something you 'd like to be. Like a scientist.
But, there are lots of reasons why that is completely untrue, for example, Holden keeps making illogical and strange decisions like asking a stripper over just after talking about how he was in love with Jane and how he wanted to protect people’s youth and innocence, “…I kept walking around the room, waiting for this prostitute to show up. I kept hoping she’d be good looking. I didn’t care too much, though. I sort of just wanted to get it over with.”(104) People may claim that Holden has many strong beliefs, but how good are any of them if he doesn’t ever follow them. It shows how rather than being sincere with his rules, Holden would rather disappoint not only his schools and his parents, but himself as well.
First, Holden is mentally unstable because throughout the book he shown himself to be an extremely depressed and sad person on the verge of suicide. For example, "It made me so damn sad when I thought about it, their never going anywhere swanky for lunch or anything. I knew it wasn't too important but it made me sad anyway."(Pg. 114) Sadness comes so easily to Holden that something as joyful as two Nuns collecting money for a good cause that helps people depresses him. He is like a time bomb "tick" "tock" just waiting for the right situation to arise till he has a complete break down. In addition, "I thought probably I'd get pneumonia and die. I started picturing millions of jerks coming to my funeral and all."(Pg. 154) Thinking about death in general is a very hard thing to do for most people but thinking about your own death and funeral is quite bizarre. Holden lacks the emotional skill of controlling his feelings; instead he blows his emotions out of proportion and takes it to the extreme. Finally, " I'm glad the Atomic Bomb was invented. If there's another war, I'm going to sit right the hell on top of it. I'll volunteer for it, I swear to God I will."(Pg.141) Holden starts to think about this horrible idea because of his natural melancholy attitude about his own life. Even to the untrained eye this is an obvious sign of mental illness.
It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel.
They often make inappropriate comments,lack emotional control, or have unrealistic expectations for the future. Holden seems to struggle with all these issues. Holden shows his immaturity through him not being able to make decisions on his own. When Holden visits Mr. Spencer, he is told that ‘life is a game that one plays by the rules’. Mr. Spencer better understanding of how the world works because of his age. His message to Holden is to become socially intelligent and look at how his actions affect the world around him. Once again, Holden displays his lack of knowledge by ignoring this priceless advice. He is also unable to make clear, rational decisions. Holden is very impulsive and can only think within the moment. The way in which Holden makes snap decisions insinuates that he is very confused and unable to organise his thoughts in a mature fashion, exposing that his child-like state of mind still dominates the more logical and mature part of his brain. Many teens seem to struggle with romantic relationships as well as