Growing up is Tough Some people are in a rush to grow up, but others never want to grow up. In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger addresses the theme of growing up and childhood for the main character Holden Caulfield, a 16 year old boy that goes to Pencey preparatory school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. Salinger asserts that Holden refuses to grow up because he cannot deal with the complex issues of the adult world such as intimacy and facing death, so he just labels it as ‘phony’ and riddled with flaws as a way to hide from it. However, throughout the novel Holden is caught being ‘phony’ himself by telling lies to people and not saying what he truly thinks. His goal in life is to be the“Catcher in the Rye”, saving children from …show more content…
falling into the abyss of adulthood. In contrast to the adult world, Holden sees children as pure, gentle, and innocent. In summary what Salinger conveys is that the refusal of Holden growing up leads him on a path of self-destruction. First of all, Holden is terrified of growing up.
Some reasons why we can infer this is because throughout the novel he leaves clues that signify he is uncomfortable with changes and that he can not handle adult situations such as facing death, like that of his brother Allie. When his brother passed away of leukemia he quoted, “I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist...”. (Salinger 22/23) As a result of Holden’s actions, his parents thought that he needed to be psychoanalyzed. This supports the idea that Holden’s has not accepted his brother’s death and refuses to, just like adulthood. …show more content…
(Kestler) Another reason why we can infer Holden fears growing up is because in Chapter 25, he is walking down Fifth Avenue in a severely depressed state and as he crosses streets he has panic attacks of “falling” off the curb which is a reference to his Catcher in the Rye fantasy. (Kestler) As he crosses each street he pretends he is talking with his brother Allie and begs him to not let him “disappear”which he is referring the abyss of adulthood. This also supports the idea that Holden refuses accept the death of his brother which is an issue of the adult world. These are the reasons why we can infer Holden is afraid of growing up. One final reason why Holden fears growing up is because he does not want intimate relationships with anybody that might end up causing awkwardness, rejection, or the emotional pain he felt when his brother Allie died. (Kestler) This is why he isolates himself from people. Some examples in the novel that show Holden’s avoidance of intimacy is when he talks about calling his old friend Jane Gallagher - who he knows and likes - and saying hi but then shortly after saying that he is not in the mood. “I started toying with the idea, while I kept standing there, of giving old Jane a buzz...The only reason I didn’t do it was because I wasn’t in the mood.”(Salinger 38) He uses an excuse of not being “in the mood” to avoid calling Jane Gallagher more than once throughout the novel.“I thought of giving old Jane a buzz, to see if she was home yet and all, but I wasn’t in the mood.” (Salinger 61) Holden even claims to have had intimate relationship with Jane in the past, but that was before he experienced the pain of losing his brother Allie recently. So after Allie’s death, Holden feared growing up because of the intimate relationships that he would have to face and the possibility of them ending and causing him pain. Those are the reasons why he refuses to grow up and face adulthood. Holden’s refusal to grow up is highly self-destructive because it causes him to become very lonely and depressed.
Since he does not want any intimate relationships with anybody, he isolates himself which causes him to become lonely. His loneliness contributes to bad decisions. One example is when he flunks all of his classes except English and gets expelled. His actions indicate to us that he is intentionally trying to get kicked out because he fails everything but English. His reason in failing his classes is because he does not want to grow up successfully into the adult world.(Kestler) This long term decision to fail his classes ultimately leads him to flee Pencey and go to New York for a few days while his parents cool down after they find out he has been expelled from
Pencey. While in New York, Holden makes bad decisions that have to do with him pretending to be more mature than he actually is. He even acts “phony” because that is how he thinks adult world is like. One example is when he goes to the nightclub in his hotel called the Lavender Room and orders a drink but the waiter tells him he needs an ID. He then starts flirting with these 3 women that appear to be 30 years old and asks them to dance one at a time. When he thinks he has tricked the women into liking him, he ends up thinking that the women are stupid for falling for the trick. This is a vicious cycle that keeps him from finding a girlfriend and keeping him alone. (Kestler) Soon after, Holden becomes depressed with their obsession with movie stars and tells them lies by saying he had just seen a celebrity pass by or he had met a certain one before. His actions contradict his beliefs because he thinks that adults are all phony but he himself being phony by telling lies. This inevitably destroys him because he is becoming something he hates. That is how Holden’s refusal of growing up leads him to self-destruct by becoming depressed because of his contradictions and lonely because of his avoidance of intimacy. Some people who try to help Holden with his fears of growing up are Phoebe, his little sister, Mr. Antolini, his former English Teacher, and Mr. Spencer, his history teacher. This first character that tries to help Holden in the novel is Mr. Spencer. Holden shows up at Mr. Spencer’s house to say goodbye to him because he has been kicked out of Pencey. As he talks with Mr. Spencer in his house, he tries to tell Holden to take the advice of Dr. Thurmer - the headmaster of Pencey - that life is a game and it must be played by the rules. However, Holden privately comments that life is really only a game for people on the winning side. He also tells Holden to plan for the future, but the truth is Holden does not even want there to be a future because he will be an adult and he thinks adult are “phony”. (Kestler) Mr. Spencer’s attempt in helping Holden face adulthood fails. Another character who tried to help Holden face adulthood was Phoebe. In chapter 25, Phoebe asks why Holden had flunked out of Pencey, Holden then explains the phoniness of the people there. However, Phoebe states that Holden does not like anything and challenges him to name one thing he likes a lot. (Kestler) Holden struggles to name something which exposes him to the fact that his expectations of society are too high and that it is causing him to distance himself in an unhealthy way and become depressed. This causes him to think of suicide because he always tries to think of an escape when anyone questions him. In the end, Phoebe fails to see eye to eye with him and eventually ends up going to see Mr. Antolini. One final character who tries to help Holden face adulthood is Mr. Antolini, whom Holden contacts because he is looking for his “catcher” to save him from adulthood. Holden idealizes him as a catcher because he had been the only one to go near the body of James Castle, a student who committed suicide by jumping out of a window at his old school, Elkton Hills. Holden thinks that Mr. Antolini had been the only adult who tried to “catch” Castle from falling. When Holden visits Antolini at his house, Antolini tells him that he is worried that he is headed for a great “fall” because his alienation and his high expectations of society are making him depressed. (Kestler) As Holden is listening, he gets tired, yawns, and Mr. Antolini lets him fall asleep. When he wakes up, he finds Mr. Antolini brushing his head and then panics and thinks that it was some homosexual overture. He quickly makes up an excuse and gets out of Antolini’s house. Holden becomes depressed as he wonders if he was right about Antolini’s intentions. Mr. Antolini had failed in helping him face adulthood. In conclusion, Holden Caulfield’s fear of adulthood has to do with him facing intimacy, death, and the “phoniness” of adults. His fears of adulthood were most likely triggered by the recent loss of his brother Allie because he had been close to him and now that he has passed, he fears of making intimate relationships again that might cause him to feel the same emotional pain again. His avoidance of adulthood causes him to feel lonely and depressed because he distances himself from people that he believes are phony. At last, Holden’s refusal to grow up leads him to have a mental breakdown and self-destruct.
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.
Holden feels as if he is stuck in his 13 year old self. Although he is aging he isn’t necessarily maturing the way his classmates and other people are around him. This is due to the fact that he never received closure when Allie died. When he starts picturing his own funeral because he might get pneumonia and die, he remembers D.B. telling him about his brother's funeral. He stated, “I wasn’t there. I was still in the hospital. I had to go to the hospital and all after I hurt my hand” (Salinger 171). Since he never attended the funeral he never got to say his final goodbyes to the one person he truly loved. Holden feels as if he can’t connect with anyone else in the world like he did with Allie. If he did then he would most likely push them away, so he wouldn’t have to experience the trauma of loss again, because it greatly impacted his life the first time. The trauma Holden experienced when he was younger resulted in him not being able to form stronger relationships with people which made him more depressed and
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
At first glance, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye simply tells the story of Holden Caulfield, who is often characterized as annoying and whiny by the people around him. The anti-hero frequently speaks on impulse, making quick and often inaccurate observations of others. Holden’s immature and overly critical attitude turns off those he encounters, who are displeased with how callow he is. However, what these characters fail to understand is that there is actually a sort of sophistication behind Holden’s reasoning. In fact, throughout the novel, Holden disguises his maturity through outward displays of childishness.
Have you ever pondered about when growing up, where does our childlike innocence go and what happens to us to go through this process? It involves abandoning previous memories that are close to our hearts. As we can see in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, we listen to what the main character; Holden Caulfield has to say about it. Holden is an average teenager dealing with academic and life problems. He remains untouched over his expulsion from Pencey Prep; rather, he takes the opportunity to take a “vacation.” As he ventures off companionless in New York City, we are able to observe many things about him. We see that Holden habitually states that he is depressed and undoubtedly, wants to preserve the innocence of others.
Holden and the Complexity of Adult Life What was wrong with Holden, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D.Salinger, was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "phoney" and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in whom he saw reflected his own lost childhood. There is something wrong or lacking in the novels of despair and frustration of many writers. The sour note of bitterness and the recurring theme of sadism have become almost a convention, never thoroughly explained by the author's dependence on a psychoanalytical interpretation of a major character. The boys who are spoiled or turned into budding homosexuals by their mothers and a loveless home life are as familiar to us today as stalwart and dependable young heroes such as John Wayne were to an earlier generation. We have accepted this interpretation of the restlessness and bewilderment of our young men and boys because no one has anything better to offer.
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
The world today is very deceptive and phony. J.D. Salinger’s well known novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey attack this fake and superficial society which is evident through the lives, ideas, actions, and words expressed by the characters in these literary pieces. The transition from childhood, through adolescence and into adulthood is inevitable. The protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield goes through this stage and finds himself in a crisis. He alienates himself from everyone who is around him and tries his best not to grow up. Holden often dwells upon his childhood and the life he had with his family. Franny in Franny and Zooey has already passed this stage but finds it difficult to live in a world where everyone she is surrounded by is only concerned with outward appearances. In these worlds, both characters, Holden and Franny, reveal their struggle of growing up and trying to live as an adult in a world full of deception and shallow-minded people who only care about appearances.
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.
Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caufield longs for intimacy with other human beings. One of Holden’s main problems is that he sees childhood as the ideal state of being. He thinks that all adults are phonies.
Holden Caulfield is a developing protagonist that changes his beliefs and outlook on life when he observes and converses with his sister, Phoebe. During this moment, he accepts himself as an adult as he understands he has to grow up. He also matures and realizes the flaw in his childish dream of being a catcher in the rye. This dream is, he imagines a field of rye located high on a cliff, full of children playing.
Have you ever been afraid to grow up as a child, wondering what would happen in the future? These are the thoughts that Holden Caulfield, a young protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s, “Catcher in the Rye,” focuses on. Unable to stay at Pencey Prep any longer after flunking most of his classes, he takes his special red hunting hat and suitcase, and leaves. He then wanders around New York City, trying to live his life in his childish ways, but everyone he encounters tells him he must grow up. After his little fiasco, he decides to return home and meets up with his sister, Phoebe, at the Museum of Natural History. They later end up at the carousel in Central Park, and there, he realizes that within the past three days, his experiences are signs of his dread for adulthood. J.D. Salinger presents Holden Caulfield’s fear of growing up through the events that he encountered with the red hunting hat, the museum, and the carousel.
Allie was someone he loved and cared for more than anyone, he glorified Allie to the point of worship as he recounts that “it wasn’t just that he was the most intelligent member in the family. He was also the nicest …. God, he was a nice kid”(43-44). When he dies Holden passes his breaking point and never has recovered. Holden keeps everything inside, yet when his brother dies, a different side of Holden that is deeply real is revealed. This is exemplified when he describes when he hears of Allies death in the garage “I slept in the garage the night he dies, and I broke all the goddamn windows in the garage...I even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon...but my hand was already broken...I hardly didn’t know I was doing it, and you didn’t know Allie”(44). This shows a key factor in how Holden deals with pain, he would rather deal with physical pain than emotional pain as it is
The works of J.D. Salinger's Catcher and the Rye has resonated inside society for generations. Throughout the novel, Holden–a teenager who is spiraling towards a mental breakdown–experiences difficulties growing up. After the loss of his brother and the expulsion from his school, he starts to form his own opinions on the adult world. Throughout Holden’s experiences, his mind becomes more and more tainted as he his innocence slowly leaves him. He idolizes other people who have not yet been through what he has. Salinger uses symbolism to demonstrate how Holden despises the loss of innocence in growing up.
Firstly, Holden fears the loss of those around him, whether by death or emotional abandonment. From a young age, Holden experiences what the feeling of loss is through the death of his younger brother, Allie. Allie died from Leukemia at only eleven years old and his death continues to affect Holden and he never gets over it. Through this tragedy, Holden not only loses Allie, but he also emotionally loses the rest of his family. His older brother, D.B., moves away to become an author and doesn’t keep in contact with Holden much, his father is always at work