Holden's Childhood In Catcher In The Rye

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Throughout this novel, Holden tries to battle through the pressures of adulthood and growing up. Holden longs to stay in his childish frame of mind, and ultimately, wants to stay a child forever. The references he makes throughout the book to his childhood make it seem like a time when he was happiest. Jane Gallagher, a central character that is never actually introduced in the book, is one of the main representations of Holden’s childhood. Whenever he mentions her and retells an anecdote of his childhood, he always portrays being with Jane as a happy time, “all you knew was that you were happy”. This shows Holden wants to preserve his childhood exactly as it is and doesn’t want to enter adulthood. Salinger uses several encounters with …show more content…

The bond between Holden and Phoebe are different from those of Holden and any other characters that we have met. Phoebe seems to understand Holden and is a character that doesn’t want anything from Holden. Phoebe begins to question Holden’s future after bringing him down to the realization that he doesn’t “like anything that’s happening.” When questioned what he wants to be, he replies that he wants to be the ‘catcher in the rye’ (inspired by the poem he misheard’, and wants to save children from running over the edge of a cliff. The symbolism of this is the idea that Holden sees adulthood as something very negative and ‘phony’, yet children, like Phoebe, see it as a positive, natural thing that comes to …show more content…

As Phoebe rides the carousel, Holden narrates to the reader “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. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.” Holden has acknowledged the fact he has to become an adult, and that he can’t stop anyone from doing the same, not even Phoebe. He realizes that children have to grow up by themselves, and Salinger uses the gold ring as a metaphor for growing up, saying if a child wants to ‘grab for the gold ring’ you have to let them, and ‘if they fall off, they fall off’. Holden knows he has to grow up and realizes where he fits in, and can no longer be a

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