How Does Holden Mature In Catcher In The Rye

Holden Caulfield is a teenager filled with many irregular thoughts and ideas for his age. He is dissimilar in the way that his actions and reactions to different situations happen to be so controversial that it is difficult to relate to him. However, he just happens to be the protagonist of our novel. The Catcher In The Rye, by J.D. Salinger, revolves around the mysterious world Holden sees. He is introduced in a mental ward, and he begins to tell his story. After Holden was done with his story, it becomes clear that he was looking for something. His actions towards his acquaintances justified that his desired “something” was one of the strongest human drives everyone has: love and acceptance in this world. On the other hand, a fence was blocking him from reaching his goal. His separation from

Allie, his deceased brother, and Phoebe, his younger sister, allowed him to build up his alienation and denied any practices using communication skills. As a result, he could not adapt well to the crowd. Due to his unfamiliarity with the world and his necessitate for human interaction, Salinger’s Holden Caulfield struggles to find the true expressions of grace and love in the world he sees.
Holden Caulfield’s desire for human interaction lead him to have an awkward sex drive. He called both Faith Cavendish, a burlesque stripper, through a phone while he was feeling horny. Likewise he paid for a prostitute named Sunny to go to his hotel room because of the same feeling. On the contrary, he never got to fulfill his sexual desire from neither of them. He only wanted to talk, yet he could not communicate and relate well to either of them because of his isolation. For this reason, he quickly made the conversation awkward and made the other conversationalists quick to end the dialogue. In spite of the irregular conversations by Holden Caulfield, it made Holden extremely happy that he got a fraction of his desire human interaction. He tried his hardest to keep the conversation going by spitting out lies. He even paid Sunny money after he did nothing with her. Holden told her, “I said that I’d pay you for coming and all. I really will. I have plenty of dough. It’s just that I’m practically recovering from a very serious-“ (97). He was scared of losing their tempo in the conversation and so he was desperate to keep a moderate conversation going. He just wants to get accepted by someone who can relate to him, yet he has difficulty finding someone. This separates him from the rest of the populace thus making him distinctive and strange to others. This can contribute to the reason why he was set inside a mental ward.
However, Holden does not seem to have any problems introducing himself to others. On one hand, he likes to make the first move - he calls his acquaintances so he can meet up with one of them and chat. On the other hand, he acts too quickly to get his wanted acceptance. This is demonstrated well on his date with Sally. Sally is Holden’s friend. They both went to an ice-skating rink and they talked about generic things like school life and cars. All of the sudden, Holden talks about running away with Sunny without any transitions. Holden elaborated on his idea, saying, “’Look,’ I said. “Here’s my idea. How would you like to get the hell out of here? Here’s my idea . . . we could have a terrific time! Wuddya say? C’mon! Wuddaya say? Will you do it with me? Please’” (132)! Holden jumped to conclusions that were too quick for comfort. He lose the tempo of the conversation himself and loses the capability to support to dialogue. He made Sally leave him at the rink because he created this awkward atmosphere. Holden is really desperate for acceptance from others, but nevertheless his types of actions and reactions are not enough for him to get attention. He led himself incorrectly which in result trailed him to be the outcast of the story
It seems like a major factor on why Holden Caulfield cannot get any acceptance from anyone is due to the way he acts.

Holden liked to act as a mature adult, thinking deeply into the background of the ducks of lagoon, and he probably thinks it makes him look like a self-sufficient individual. Nevertheless other people still view him as a child – one acting silly and annoying. This can be demonstrated on his cab rides. When Holden was in a cab with a driver named Horowitz, Holden asked about the ducks in the lagoon. Horowitz thought he was acting dumb, and he responded saying, “’How the hell should I know?’ he said. ‘How the hell should I know’ . . . with him, if he was going to get so damn touchy about it” (Salinger 82). In addition to his false mindset, he also seems to criticize the ones who are against him. When Holden disagrees with another person, he acts as if the whole world is against him. When a bus driver told Holden to throw away snowball, he said to himself, “I told him I wasn’t going to chuck . . . People never believe you” (37). His immaturity led him to deceive his perception of others which forced himself to separate himself and lose a chance of

acceptance.
In conclusion, Holden Caulfield had literally no chance to gain the wanted acceptance and love he needed. He could not talk to others fluently; moreover he made the conversation awkward by jumping into conclusions. However, his extreme desperation for human interaction made him happy that he could somewhat start a conversation. But Holden Caulfield was clearly not ready for the real world. He simply had no experiences to run on. These are the reasons why Holden struggles to grasp a sense of grace and love in the world.