In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Holden Caulfield is a young man who has trouble fitting in with the crowd and is kicked out of prep school. On his journey back home he realizes the catastrophes that adults have to go through. Holden fears becoming an adult because adults always end up getting hurt. Salinger illustrates Holden’s fear by Holden’s qualms of becoming a phonie, facing pain and sorrow and having life change. J.D. Salinger uses Jane Gallagher to show Holden’s anxiety towards the changes in his life. Jane is one of Holden’s oldest and closest friends; the memories of their relationship is innocent and consisted of playing checkers, tennis and holding hands. When Holden describes his relationship with Jane he …show more content…
says that “... [He] used to play checkers with her all the time... She wouldn’t move any of her kings. What she’d do, when she get a king, she wouldn’t move it.” (Page 31) This childlike and simple flashback of Holden and Jane shows that this is a version of Jane that is innocent. When Stradlater is getting ready for his date with Jane, Holden isn’t ready to see a different version of her. Holden simply pleas Stradlater to “... give her [his] regards...” Page 33 This simple request shows that Holden decides not to meet Jane because he dreads the changes in her. These changes in Jane ultimately leads to changes in his life; and these variations bring Holden closer to the sorrow, pain and uncertainty in adulthood. Holden’s red hunting hat is the only thing that shields him from the pain after the death of his brother Allie. Holden describes Allie as being the only person in his family who treated him nicely. When Holden talks about Allie he says that ”it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest, in lots of ways.” Page 38 Holden description of Allie as a kind, smart and loyal person shows that Holden misses Allie dearly. When Holden writes Stradlater’s composition about Allie, Holden feels the need to wear his red hunting hat to face the pain of Allie’s death. Holden says that “... [he] put on [his] pajamas and bathing robe and [his] old hunting hat and started writing the composition.” (page 37) This preparation shows that Holden needs the hat for protection against painful memories. It proves that Holden is afraid of facing these memories and reflections which is why he fears adulthood. J.D.
Salinger uses Holden’s english teacher Mr. Antolini to represent Holden’s fear of becoming a phonie. Before the peculiar incident Mr Antolini is a hero in Holden’s mind; he is kind, respected and is always willing to go the extra mile for his students. Holden remembered that when James Castle commits suicide it is Mr. Antolini who “...finally picked up that boy that jumped out the window... Old Mr. Antolini felt his pulse and all, and then he took off his coat and put it over James Castle and carried him all the way over to the infirmary. He didn’t even give a damn if his coat got all bloody.” (Page 147) This brave action presents Mr. Antolini as a straightforward and genuinely kind and compassionate person. When Holden seeked refuge at Mr. Antolini’s house he noticed abnormal behaviors in Mr. Antolini. Mr. Antolini is “... sitting on the floor right next to the couch, in the dark and all, and he was sort of petting me or patting me on the goddamn head. Boy, I’ll bet I jumped about a thousand feet.” This strange incident shows that even though Holden thinks he knows Mr. Antolini as as an adult who Holden can trust; Mr. Antolini really turns out to be a phony. This incident proves that Holden feels very insecure about moving into adulthood because he is afraid of becoming a
phonie. Holden fears growing up and moving into adulthood because he is afraid of becoming a phony, having a lot in his life change and having to face the pain from Allie’s death. J.D. Salinger uses characters (such as Jane), symbols (such as the red hunting hat) and plot as techniques to display these elements. J.D. Salinger is showing us Holden’s fear of growing up because of the pain that comes with it. Catcher in the Rye is showing us the challenges of moving into adulthood, it makes a person feel insecure and lost; growing up is about finding oneself in the complex and painful world. We as people should not try to do the impossible and skip growing up; instead we should embrace it to prepare ourselves for the future.
Since Holden was isolated from his family, in order to not get hurt again he tries to find hypocrisy in people to stop himself from trusting others. Holden feels isolated after being sent to a boarding school that “was full of phonies” by his parents (Salinger 90). Salinger’s message to the audience with this quote is that when
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. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.
So he stays the night at his former teacher, Mr. Antolini’s place. While Holden for the most part thinks of everyone as a phony, Mr. Antolini is one of very few exceptions. He makes it clear that this teacher was one that he trusted and was close to. Since Holden’s views holds him back from having close relationships with his peers, his relationship with his former teacher becomes more important. While he was sleeping on Mr. Antolini’s couch, Holden says that something happens. “Boy, it really scared the hell out of me.” He says. He wakes up to find Mr. Antolini patting his head. “Boy, was I nervous!” He admits he felt very uncomfortable in the situation and quickly ran out. An adult he had managed to form a trusting relationship with, something that was very rare for Holden, had done something to make him very uncomfortable. While it is unclear, it is very possible that Holden is misinterpreting Mr. Antolini’s actions. In his eyes, it is a “flitty pass.” It is made clear, however, that Mr. Antolini had been drinking and most likely he was not in his right mind. Once again, Holden’s views and the reality of the situation aren’t the same and he sees it as a
Holden Caulfield, portrayed in the J.D. Salinger novel Catcher in the Rye as an adolescent struggling to find his own identity, possesses many characteristics that easily link him to the typical teenager living today. The fact that the book was written many years ago clearly exemplifies the timeless nature of this work. Holden's actions are those that any teenager can clearly relate with. The desire for independence, the sexually related encounters, and the questioning of ones religion are issues that almost all teens have had or will have to deal with in their adolescent years. The novel and its main character's experiences can easily be related to and will forever link Holden with every member of society, because everyone in the world was or will be a teen sometime in their life.
J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resists the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves, but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:
First, he goes to Mr. Spencer, his history teacher, who provides advice for his life and his future and even says “I’m trying to help you, if I can” (Salinger, 18). Because Mr. Spencer gives realistic advice to Holden to prepare him for his future even though it is not obligated, Mr. Spencer can be considered a mentor for Holden. Before Holden packs and leaves, he says “I was sort of crying” and “then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, ‘Sleep tight, ya morons!’” (Salinger, 59). Although he becomes emotional when he realizes the company he is going to miss by leaving Pencey, he still acts immaturely as a result of an adolescent pitfall called invulnerability, when adolescents makes decisions without proper regard for their consequences (Adolescent Pitfalls). Holden finally leaves to take a train and reveals his love for riding trains at night (Salinger, 60). He is setting out on an adult journey by leaving Pencey, but he is still grasping to child interests by usually becoming excited to ride trains. Concluding sentence
Growing up is not easy. The desire to slow down or stop the process is not unusual for adolescents. Resisting adulthood causes those who try to run away from it to eventually come to terms with the reality of life: everyone has to grow up, and fighting against it makes it much harder to accept in the end. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield often tries to resist the process of maturity in an effort to avoid the complicated life he might face as an adult, making him an unusual protagonist for a bildungsroman; this struggle, however, opens Holden’s eyes to the reality and inevitability of growing up, helping him realize that innocence does not last forever.
The transition from a teen to an adult is one of the major steps in life. This major transition can be really scary. Some people are so scared of becoming an adult, that they try to keep their inner child alive. One person in the book The Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, Holden is the main character in the novel written by J.D. Salinger. A prominent theme in his novel, The Catcher in the Rye is the painfulness of growing up. As this theme is going on through the novel, Salinger weaves in symbols that Holden happens to use and talk about throughout the novel.
The Theme of Hypocrisy in The Catcher In The Rye & nbsp; & nbsp; In the novel The Catcher In The Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield views his surroundings with hypocrisy and contempt in an attempt to avoid the corruption of adulthood. Holden places himself above the crowd because he believes everyone acts phony. In the process, Caulfield reveals his true problem: his refusal to change. & nbsp; Holden fears adulthood because it brings responsibilities and trouble. He believes all adults possess an aurora of "phoniness."
Mr. Antolini helps the reader better understand Holden’s hasty judgments about characters in the novel. He is one of the few people in the novel who Holden respects and does not consider a “phony.” Holden respects Mr. Antolini because he understands him and does not treat him like an inferior student like the rest of his teachers do. Mr. Antolini is very open with Holden and this is shown when he lets him stay the night in his apartment. Holden’s quick judgments of people are shown and better understood when Mr. Antolini touches his forehead while he sleeps in chapter 24. “I know more damn perverts, at schools and all, than anybody you ever met, and they’re always being perverty when I’m around.”(192) Holden jumps to conclusions right away when he wakes up to Mr. Antolini touching his forehead. Instead of thinking that his teacher was just showing affection and care for a student he is very quick to think that he is a pervert and homosexual. In the quote Holden says, “they’re always being perverty when I’m around,” this is more evidence that Holden jumps to conclusions and is quick with assumptions rather than to think about what it is to be a pervert. He thinks that he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time but it is more likely that he just assumes they are being “perverty” when they are truly not. Another example of Holden being quick with judgment is directly after the incident happens. Without letting the incident sink in, Holden changes into his clothes and runs out of the apartment. Mr. Antolini and the events that take place in his apartment help the reader fully understand Holden. Mr. Antolini is a compassionate person and his actions are out of care for his friend and student, Holden’s quick and hasty judgment is shown when he overlooks Mr. Antolini’s concern and affection for a homosexual advance.
J.D. Salinger presents Holden Caulfield as a confused and distressed adolescent. Holden is a normal teenager who needs to find a sense of belonging. All though Holden’s obsession with “phonies” overpowers him. Dan Wakefield comments, “The things that Holden finds so deeply repulsive are things he calls “phony”- and the “phoniness” in every instance is the absence of love, and , often the substitution of pretense for love.” Holden was expelled from Pencey Prep School not because he is stupid, but because he just is not interested. His attitude toward Pencey is everyone there is a phony. Pencey makes Holden feel lonely and isolated because he had very few friends. Holden’s feeling of alienation is seen when he doesn’t attend the biggest football game of the year. His comments on the game: “It was the last game of the year and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn’t win” (2, Ch. 1). This also hints to Holden’s obsession with death. Holden can’t find a since of belonging in the school because of all the so-called phonies. Holden speaks of Pencey’s headmaster as being a phony. Holden says that on visitation day the headmaster will pay no attention to the corny-looking parents. Holden portrays his not being interested by saying, “all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to buy a goddam Cadillac someday, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses”(131, Ch. 17). Holden does not care for school or money. He just wants everyone to be sincere and honest.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
Growing up and becoming mature can be an intimidating experience; it is difficult to let go of one’s childhood and embrace the adult world. For some people, this transition from youthfulness to maturity can be much more difficult than for others. These people often try to hold on to their childhood as long as they can. Unfortunately, life is not so simple. One cannot spend their entire life running from the responsibilities and hardships of adulthood because they will eventually have to accept the fact that they have a role in society that they must fulfill as a responsible, mature individual. The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger follows the endeavours of Holden Caulfield, a sixteen-year-old teenage boy who faces a point in his life where he must make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In an attempt to retain his own childhood, he begins hoping to stop other young children from growing up and losing their innocence as well. As indicated by the title, “The Catcher in the Rye” is a book that explores a theme involving the preservation of innocence, especially of children. It is a story about a boy who is far too hesitant to grow up, and feels the need to ensure that no one else around him has to grow up either. His own fear of maturity and growing up is what leads to Holden’s desire to become a “catcher in the rye” so he can save innocent children from becoming part of the “phoniness” of the adult world.
He complains about his school, saying that it is just like any other school and uses language that makes him sound very obnoxious. Holden seems to focus on girls quite a bit, just like any other teenage boy. He seems to focus on one girl in particular, a girl named Jane. We soon learn that Holden’s personality is not your average personality. Holden does seem to have some friends but he does not fall into many peer groups with the type of personality he has. Holden isn’t able to read social cues like most teenagers learn to do. For this reason, he seems to play around a lot in the wrong situations. Even his friends have matured enough to recognise that Holden needs to ‘grow up’. Holden’s resistance to emerging adulthood is the cause of many of the problems he is faced with during the
Salinger’s personal life was very different from other author’s lives, in fact, his life was nearly identical to that of Holden. He belonged to a wealthy family, did not excel in school, did not have a healthy relationship with his parents, and his personality was different from others in society. Salinger’s early years as a child first sparked his conflicted personality. When Salinger was enrolled into a private school, he never had good grades. When he enrolled at New York University’s Washington Square College, he dropped out stating, “It was a waste of time” and this wasn’t the only college that he dropped out. “Choosing, for no apparent reason, Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. Again, he dropped out” (Lutz). Salinger’s school problems relates to Holden’s difficult time at Pencey prep. school. Holden did not excel in school, flunk, and didn’t seem very interested. He eventually dropped out of Pencey Prep. school as he made a dramatic exit, screaming , ¨sleep tight, ya morons!¨ (Salinger 59). This is of course not the only similarity to which the author shares with Holden. Salinger was a very different person as he had a mindset that was “unique.” That mindset shifted when Salinger was drafted into the United States Army when World War II erupted. The exposure of war left a scar on Salinger’s mental state. “Before the war, J.D. Salinger had been known as a loner. He was often thought of as being somewhat arrogant” (Wilson). Salinger’s arrogance gives a page of