There are many things that one can control, unfortunately for many; time is not one of them. J.D. Salinger’s character Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye and J.M. Barrie’s protagonist Peter Pan in Peter Pan, are two of the most notorious examples of the fear of adulthood in literature. So much so that there has even been a disease named after Pan used to name people that are unable to let them selves grow up, this is known as the Peter Pan Syndrome. Although both Holden and Peter show characteristics of the Syndrome in their respective novels, Peter is unable to overcome childhood while Holden finds a way to move on.
In Peter Pan by J.M Barrie, the main character Peter Pan proves the fact that he would like to remain a young boy forever.
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By doing so, he proves to many that he had the Peter Pan Syndrome. As a child, Peter Pan was afraid of having to grow up and live the life of an adult, he was so afraid that he left his family and went to Neverland so that he may remain a young child forever. Peter explains that this is because “[He doesn’t] want to go to school and learn solemn things”. Like many people, Peter does not like having to go to school, that is not too uncommon; on the other hand, Peter also states that “[he doesn’t] want to be a man.”( Barrie 215). Peter chooses his youth over his own family that had wished nothing but the best for him. His actions and personality prove that Peter has the Peter Pan syndrome. Much like Peter, Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye” was also afraid of his inevitable adulthood. His willingness to remain as far away from adulthood as possible influenced his wishes of becoming “The Cather in the Rye”. While reflecting on what he would like to be when he grows up, Holden says to himself that “ [he] keeps picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all.” The rye field being their youth, “And [he’s] standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. “ which symbolizes their adulthood, ”What [he has] to do [is] to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff. That's all [he’ll] do all day. [he’d] just be the catcher in the rye and all” (Salinger). By using the rye as a symbol of youth, Holden proves his Peter Pan syndrome, as he is the only adult yet to fall off the cliff. Not only this, but by choosing to keep others from falling he becomes a prime example of the disease. Although both Peter Pan and Holden Caulfield have proven to have the Peter Pan Syndrome, Peter Pan is unwilling to move on in life.
One of Peter Pan’s most well known characteristics is his ability to fly. At the end of the novel, Wendy explains to her daughter her reasons for why she can no longer fly. Wendy says that she is no longer able to fly back to Neverland “Because [she is] grown up,” and “When people grow up they forget the way.” The main reason for this is “Because [when people grow up] they are no longer gay and innocent and heartless. It is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly” (Barrie). Being gay and innocent is a key trait of youth and the Peter Pan Syndrome. The fact that Peter is still able to fly proves that he is still gay and innocent even after all these years. In the story, Wendy is obviously able to move on in life and let herself grow up by leaving behind her “innocence and gayness”, but Peter would rather leave his friends and families and live alone just to escape …show more content…
adulthood. Much like his flying counterpart, J.D.
Salinger’s Holden Caulfield is afraid of growing up, not only for him, but for others as well. On the other hand, unlike Peter Pan, Holden looks to his future and realizes that there is nothing that he is able to do against the real world and having to, at a certain point, decide that it is time to grow up. This moment comes to Holden at the end of the novel when watching his little sister on the carousel at the zoo after making the attempt to run away from his family much like Peter Pan did. Yet, as opposed to Peter’s actions, Caulfield decides to stay because he sees that family is much more important than not growing up. In between rides, Phoebe asks her older brother if her “[meant] what [he] said”, if “[he] really [isn’t] going away anywhere” and if “[he is] really going home afterwards” (Salinger 210). And Holden says to himself that “[he] meant it […] [he] really did go home” (Salinger 210). By facing adulthood rather than run away and hide from it, Holden proves that he has indeed overcome the Peter Pan Syndrome and is ready to grow
up Peter Pan and Holden Caulfield find themselves trapped in youth by their fear of maturity. Them going out of their ways to escape manhood further incarcerate them in their own juvenility. By the time both of their stories are over, Peter Pan is unable to escape the chains if immaturity while Holden breaks free by seeing that there are greater thing to life than being a child. Not wanting to grow up is a struggle than many young people have to go through, but the only way to overcome any obstacle is by facing them and never backing down. Nobody ever makes it anywhere without taking risks.
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.
After many years of ideas coming and going, one that seems to stay the same is the thoughts of tennagers. In the book The Catcher In The Rye written by J.D Salinger many can still relate to Holden’s story even after a 76 year difference. While exploring the city around him Holden takes the time to try to find himself on a deeper level and try to grasp how growing up really makes him feel. Given the fact that everyone is unique in among themselves the need for self satisfaction is always current meaning many run from the true responsibilities that come with age.
...e of literary works. Foster dedicates an entire chapter of his book to how novels have common plots and themes to fairy tales. The fairy tale Peter Pan entails a young boy with magical powers, refusing to grow up. Collins at a younger age coincides with the fairy tale character Peter Pan.
Holden Caulfield is a sixteen-year-old who explores New York City after he is expelled from his prep school (Salinger). He cannot return back home because he is afraid of his parents’ response and takes no responsibility for his actions whatsoever. Holden hates the adult world, where he calls all adults “phonies.” In his world, one can’t go back to childhood, but one can’t grow up because that will make one a phony (Bloom, The Catcher in the Rye 124). Holden is stuck in between a world, where he doesn’t want to remain a child or grow up into the adult he is expected to become. According to Chen, Holden fears the “complexity, unpredictability, conflict, and change” of the adult world. He occasionally acts like an adult, when he hires a prostitute (Salinger 119), checks into a hotel room (Salinger 79), and takes care of his sister, Phoebe. As a result of Holden’s immense fear of growing up, he tends to partake in childish tendencies, such as wearing a bright red hunting hat. These actions are his way of isolating and protecting himself. Holden is stuck in his own little world. These actions are very immature; Holden does not accept the adult world for what it is. He needs human contact, care, and love, but he has built a barrier, preventing himself from these interactions (Chen). He also acts like a child by acting out “pretend” scenarios even when no one is
Corliss, Richard. “Peter Pan Grows Up, but Can He Still Fly?” Time Magazine. 19 May, 1997. 75-82.
Peter Pan fairy tail is the reminiscent of childhood, where you don’t bother to worry about gender. You can think of
This essay outlines how J.D. Salinger creates a unique person in Holden Caulfield as he strives to find his place in the world as he moves from childhood to adulthood.. Holden narrates this story from the first person in flashback recounting events that happened to him over a two day span the previous year around Christmas. He narrates this story from some sort of mental hospital or institution. This is a clue as to how this journey affected him. This essay discusses how Holden views himself as he is his growing up, affected by interaction with other characters and how he is affected by loss of innocence moving from childhood to adulthood.
Wendy Darling’s development of maturity is expressed through the realizations of the consequences of her decisions and actions, and the interpretation of that development from text to movie, and text to drama. The development of maturity’s interpretation is transferred differently in adaptations of Peter and Wendy; including the Disney animated movie Peter Pan and the Broadway production of Peter Pan.
Throughout the book Holden admits he doesn't like change. Holden fear of growing up , becoming an adult and thinking of of it disgust him. For example the museum, Holden like it because the exterior of it did not change and says the only thing that would change would be you.In the text Luce says “Same old Caulfield.When are you going to grow up already?”(144). Holden wants things to stay how they are and how his life is. Holden considers adults phonies and he doesn’t want to be consider phony as well. When he describes the museum he says the best part about it is that it never changes, only you do.Holden bonds with his sister taking her to the zoo, museum and the carousel.He wants to Phoebe to experience what he did and to get the memories alive. “What I have to do, I would have to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff- what I have to do, I mean if they are running and they don't look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That is all I have to do. I would just be the catcher in the rye”(173). This quote show how by holden is catching them from falling down the cliff which symbolizes stopping them from adulthood. “Thousand of little kids and nobody’s around- nobody big , I mean except me”(173). This quotes implies how young innocent kids won't be exerted by adults
Aristotle once said, “Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing.” This “condition,” as Aristotle says, is adolescence. Adolescence is much like jumping in a lake. One must walk out to the dock and once he or she is at the end, one cannot turn back. If one is to turn back they will be ridiculed as a coward, like a child. The water is ice cold, a freezing ice bath, so one does not want to jump in, but he or she can’t turn back for fear of jeer from friends. Therefore one is in a dilemma of confusion and tension between “chickening out” and braving the polar water of the lake. The land is childhood, safe and comfortable, but gone forever; and the artic water is unknown, unpleasant, and threatening like adulthood. Just like the awkward stage of being in between jumping in and abandonment, adolescence contains the strains and tension between childhood and adulthood. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield, experiences these tensions of adolescence. Holden’s quandary is he is deadlocked in adolescence, unable to go return to childhood but unwilling to progress forward to adulthood. Because Holden is consumed with the impossible task of preserving the innocence of childhood, so he delays the inevitability of becoming an adult. This leaves Holden stranded on the dock, stuck in adolescence; the center of Holden’s problems.
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.
Ann Wilson explains the anxieties expressed in Barrie's Peter Pan as a reaction to the changes occurring in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, and is resolved by Humphrey Carpenter who explains that this statement is linked to the desire to remain a child and avoid the real world.
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. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.
‘If you find your mothers,’ he said darkly, ‘I hope you will like them.” (135) Desperately in need of nurturing, Peter pursues Wendy for himself and the lost boys, aligning with the need to find a spouse to take care of you. At the end of the novel, Barrie describes Mr. Darling as “quite a simple man; indeed he might have passed for a boy again if he had been able to take his baldness off; but he had also a noble sense of justice and a lion courage to do what seemed right to him...” (184), which coincides with Peter’s immature and childish character traits. By playing a father figure to the lost boys, defeating Captain Hook and the pirates, serving as a strong leader, measuring hollow trees for hiding places, building Wendy a house, and saving Wendy, Peter fulfills his role as a dominant male figure in the novel.
Peter Pan has appeared in many adaptations, sequels, and prequels. Peter Pan first appeared in a section of The Little White Bird, a 1902 novel that was originally written for adults. In 1904, Peter Pan was turned into a play and since the play was so successful Barrie’s publishers, extracted chapters 13–18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under a different title. This story was adapted and changed into a novel, was published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy, later the name changed to Peter Pan and Wendy, and then changed to Peter Pan, as we know it today. The tale that we are familiar with was even expanded more. In 1953 Walt D...