How Does Holden Illustrate The Mass Confusion Of Adolescence

If there is one story that society loves, it’s a coming-of-age story. A tale that follow a young protagonist (usually a teenager), and chronicles life as he or she grows into a mature and advanced individual. One famous, and rather unconventional, story of this nature is J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye. In this book, the main character, Holden Caulfield, has a bit of an episode, and feels near hopeless at times as he struggles with his own adolescence. In order to tie Holden’s individual strife with the mayhem of every adolescent mind to form one central message, Salinger relies on a number of novel-based elements. Specifically, he illustrates the complexity and uncertainty associated with the transformation into an adult through

the details and symbols of Holden’s journey.
One way that the author conveys his message about the lives of teenagers is through details concerning Holden’s struggles with maturity. To begin, Holden feels that adult society reeks of falsehood. He commonly refers to the world and people surrounding him as “phony”, and has a particular quarrel with the movies in particular, “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies,” (Salinger 4). He feels as if the movies are the epitome of society’s phoniness, and especially hates the fact that his brother “prostitutes” his impressive writing skills to such a fake form of entertainment. Likewise, many budding youths have trouble coming to terms with realizations such as these. They face their own dilemmas when deciding whether or not to assimilate with something that seems so insincere, creating the base of adolescent confusion. In addition, many teens find their minds even more boggled by another aspect of society, sexuality. Holden has an extremely hard time trying to understand the role of sex in society, and how he plays into it. For example, he knows that he is supposed to desire sex, but the act of actually doing it scares and confuses him to the point where he refuses to participate in it, “I know you're supposed to feel pretty sexy when somebody gets up and pulls their dress over their head, but I didn't,” (106). This is a common fear for most adolescents. Society is incredibly sexualized, to the point where being constantly sexually active is the norm, and many teens don’t know how to go about it. They do not understand how it works, or how it properly coincides with relationships. The stigma behind sex and the changing emotions that most adolescents feel due to it continue to fog their views on the adult world. Maturing and joining the societal standard is something that almost every teenager has trouble with, and Salinger uses Holden to make that clear.
Another way that Salinger illustrates the mass confusion of adolescence is through detailing Holden’s many relationship issues.

First, Holden tries time and time again to form a meaningful connection with the people around him, but always fails at doing so. He came very close to it at one point in the story, while on a date with Sally Hayes. However, at the last minute he sabotaged any chance he had, “‘C'mon, let's get outa here,’ I said. ‘You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth,’” (148). This insult was Holden’s defense mechanism: he knew it would piss off Sally, and knew she would leave him after that. Similarly, many young adults go through experiences such as this, where they get scared of becoming too close to people, and break off their relations. On the other hand, sometimes the sheer awkwardness of the situation breaks off the relation for them. It is just more of the confusion that characterizes maturing. Furthermore, Holden’s distinct issues with relationships stem from a much darker place: the death of his young brother, Allie. He adored him, “He was two years younger than I was, but he was about fifty times as intelligent,” (43). This adoration was what led to the loss being so incredibly crushing. Consequently, Holden developed a deep-rooted fear of intimacy, just in case the ones he love “disappear”, just as Allie did. On a side note, Allie’s passing led to a plethora of insecurities for Holden, even tying into the cause for his

inability to stay in school (a problem uncommon with that of the average teen). Obviously, Holden’s problems are much more complicated than most 16 year olds, but the lack of clarity in his life rings true for all traversing the plains of adolescence. Everyone is fighting their own demons. In times of such uncertainty, this fight becomes harder and harder, and such is the reason for teen depression, something Holden may have faced. Salinger wants his audience to recognize this, and there is no better mix of psychological strife and teenage insecurity than Holden Caulfield.
The author relies heavily on the use of symbols to reveal his beliefs about the uncertainty associated with a person’s teenage years.

One strong recurring symbol are the ducks in central park. Holden constantly questions their actions, “I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over,” (16). These ducks represent disappearance, specifically of people, a concept that Holden wrestles with due to the sudden death of his brother. He doesn’t understand why people (and the ducks) vanish from his world, or where they go, and he wonders if they will ever come back to him, especially when thinking about Allie. Comparatively, most juveniles will face some sort of disappearance as they age, as people usually fade in and out of their lives. This is simply the way the world works, and most teens are not mature enough to accept it. Instead, the concept perturbs them. Also, the idea of change takes many symbols in Catcher. One of which is the Museum of Natural History, a beloved spot for Holden, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was,” (135). The museum is the one thing in Holden’s life that never really changes, and Holden despises change. Analogously, there is no time more inconsistent than adolescence. This is the bulk of confusion that a teenager faces, disoriented by their changing bodies and drastically changing view of society. On top of this, the way they are viewed by the world changes; they are

now expected to be more responsible, independent, and have a better understanding of the world around them. However, most are still incredibly insecure, and are simply not ready to deal with adult stresses. Holden has an especially hard time with this, due to past traumatic experiences, but his story still relates to the majority of the teen population. Through the use of symbols, Salinger really drives his point home, connecting his message to relatable aspects of everyone’s life.
By including various details and symbols into The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger expresses his opinions about the turbulence of the transformation from child to adult. He crafts details about Holden’s specific struggles with maturing, his troubles building lasting relationships, and develops symbols pertaining to Holden’s resistance to change. At some point in everyone’s lives, they’ve experienced troubles similar to Holden, or shared some of his concerns about taking the next step into adulthood, even if their experience wasn’t nearly as dramatic. It is because of this, that Holden truly represents the mind of the average teenage boy.