Holden's Maturity In 'Catcher In The Rye'

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from his classmates: “I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill. You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place. You could hear them all yelling” (Salinger 5). He isolates himself from everyone down in the stands after the episode on the subway when he forgot the fencing equipment. Holden thinks that all the boys on the team will strongly dislike Holden which is why he watches the game from Thomsen Hill, above the stadium. The concept of purity is expressed as Holden believes his fencing teammates are not pure because they do not directly resemble Allie’s emotions and behavior towards others. Also, Holden’s isolation from society and the people around him is evidenced after he leaves the bus station and goes to make a phone call. …show more content…

was in Hollywood…Phoebe was out…thought of giving Jane Gallagher...ended up not calling anybody. I came out of the booth, after about twenty minutes” (Salinger 66). Holden spends his time contemplating who to call because he is desperate to socialize with someone. He has long list of people to call, but ends up ringing no one because he is scared to get rejected. Holden’s fear contributes to his depression because he would not be able to cope with rejection. Holden is more focused on getting rejected than risk reaching out to others to schedule plans. Bryan James highlights on Holden’s fear of rejection, “More than anything else Holden fears the biological imperatives of adulthood” (Bryan 33). Holden is at his adolescent stage dreads his next stages of adulthood. He is scared to be with a girl with the fear she would not like

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