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Overcoming obstacles in life essay
Essay about overcoming obstacles in life
Obstacles in life and overcome Essay
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As a kid we dream about how our lives will be when we grow up, then when we grow up all we want is to be young again, whether we like it or not growing is inevitable . The novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is about Holden, a junior in high school that values innocence and staying young but has to accept that one day he has to become an adult. Holden gets kicked out of his current high school and decides to get away and venture on his own to clear his mind from everything happening. During this time Holden faces situations that test his maturity and he is confronted with adulthood, when he feels that he is not ready for it. As James Bryan mentions, Holden is not able to return to childhood but is afraid of what reality has to offer. …show more content…
Although Holden is ultimately stuck in between adulthood and childhood, he has to deal with growing up one way or another because there is no way he is able to avoid it. Throughout the book Holden deals with the inevitable of growing up but feels he is not ready to go out into the world.
Holden is afraid of change and believes that everything should stay the same. He explains how he wants to preserve everything when he states, "Certain things they should stay the way they are. You ought to be able to stick them in one of those big glass cases and just leave them alone. I know that's impossible, but it's too bad anyway" (122). Holden is stuck in the mindset that everything is good the way it is and the thought of anything changing to him seems unworldly and that he should just preserve everything so nothing ever changes. He is also frozen and stuck in transitioning to adulthood, when all of the people around his age are accepting adulthood he still has the mindset that he will stay young. Holden asks a cab driver about the duck in the pond and says, “You know those ducks in the lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know by any chance?”(60). Holden is a representation of the pond, while the ducks go and fly away while the weather changes Holden is stuck there. He favors childhood over adulthood most of the time and finds that the innocence of youth should be …show more content…
protected. Holden enshrines the purity and freeness of children and wants them to stay that way for as long as possible. When a child asks him where the mummy exhibit is Holden notices the child’s pants weren’t buttoned and the child fixes in public with no shame. Holden then states, “The one little kid, the one that asked me, had his pants open. I told him about it. so he buttoned them up right where he was standing talking to me-he didn’t even bother to go behind a post or anything. He killed me”(202). Holden admires how a child is carefree to fix his pants in public and not think of people judging because the child is not yet bombarded with the world’s rules and regulations of life. He also almost feels as if he is obligated to save children and preserve their innocence that he cherishes so much. When he talks to Phoebe about a poem he misinterprets it and thinks it says catch a body, he tells Phoebe, “What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I know it’s crazy”(173). His misinterpretation of the poem represents how he wants to shield the innocence from what they don’t know. Since Holden feels so strongly about innocence he doesn’t really see the point in growing up until the end of the novel where he starts to realize that growing up is part of life. By the end of the novel Holden is finally caught up with the thought that growing up is something he will deal with whether he wants to or not, he still isn’t entirely for the idea of adulthood but by then end of the novel he understands it more that he will have to enter adulthood one day.
Holden knows that people will grow and change but still isn’t contempt with the idea, this happens especially when he visits the museum and thinks to himself, “The best thing though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move….Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you”(121). Holden over thinks about how the museum will always be the same and then remembers that you’d change and he feels uncomfortable with that, ultimately he decides not to enter the museum because he knows he has changed and does not want to deal with it. Throughout the book Holden holds on to the idea that a childhood must be saved from growing up, but when he sees Phoebe on the carousel he then realizes that maybe it’s best for children to grow up and he then states, “The thing is with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddamn horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them”(211). Holden is finally realizing and understanding how children will grow up and yes it will be sad but Holden isn’t
able to stop it no matter how hard he wants it to. He learns to deal with growing up. Holden is too caught up in sanctifying childhood and is stuck between two worlds, as James Bryan notes but he has to be able to live with it because growing up is just a part of life. The idea of youth and innocence is embedded in Holden’s mind and in the beginning of the book he is stuck in between wanting to be a child but knowing he has to enter adulthood one day. Even when Holden tries to feel childlike and free, he always has to face the fact that he has to grow up one way or another. By the end of the story a noticeable change is made in Holden, he accepts the fact that he has to grow up but he still feels uneasy about being an adult. As humans we age get old and die, it’s life. If we decide to keep trying and trying to stay in the past and not accept that we have to get old then when we look back at our lives all we’ll see is how we tried to avoid growing up instead of accepting the fact and enjoying every moment. Holden is an example of how being stuck in the past will tire someone out and cause them to not enjoy life to the fullest.
I guess you can say he is trying to transition from adult hood but he can’t. He believes childhood is a beautiful and innocent thing where as adulthood is evil and corrupted. In the text Holden says “That's the whole trouble. You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write "Fuck you" right under your nose” Pg. 204 Another reason why Holden is stuck between adult hood and childhood is because he doesn’t understand the concept of sex. He doesn’t get how two adults can have sex without loving each other. Holden tells Luce "You know what the trouble with me is? I can never get really sexy—I mean really sexy with a girl I don’t like a lot. I mean I have to like her a lot. If I don’t, I sort of lose my goddam desire for her and all.”Pg148 Luce then later says “When are you going to grow up?"Pg. 144. This is another example how Holden can’t really grow up. Mr. Antolini brings up an examples that goes “this fall I think you’re riding for – it’s a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn’t permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling."Pg. 187. This quote is illustrating that Holden doesn’t know where to go, he’s lost and confused from the transition from childhood to
Holden wants to be independent but he wonders if it is really the best thing to do. He is too emotionally unstable to address his own issues so he projects them onto the ducks, do they take care of themselves and fly away? Or do they allow themselves to be saved by the truck? The cab driver answers his question by bringing up the fish in the lagoon. He says that the fish do not go anywhere and that they just open their pores so nature can provide for them.
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.
In J.D. Sallinger's Catcher in the Rye, is based on the sullen life of Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old teen-ager is trying to find his sense of direction. Holden, a growing adult, cannot accept the responsibilities of an adult. Eventually realizing that there is no way to avoid the adult life, he can only but accept this alternative lifestyle. What Holden describes the adult world as a sinful, corrupted life, he avoids it for three important reasons: His hatred towards phonies and liars, unable to accept adult responsibilities, and thirdly to enshrine his childhood youth.
Holden’s childhood was far from ideal, with Allie dying, his dysfunctional parents and the revelation that he had some “perverty” stuff happen to him when he was a kid. Due to this, he isn't ready to step into adulthood and leave his childhood behind. This is why Holden is mostly alienated from adults and connects more to the innocence of children like the girl at the park and his sister, Phoebe. However, Holden is disillusioned with both adulthood and childhood. He already knows how it feels to be an adult; drinking alcohol, being independent, living by himself and caring for Phoebe, but isn’t ready to immerse himself in it.
Throughout the book Holden admits he doesn't like change. Holden fear of growing up , becoming an adult and thinking of of it disgust him. For example the museum, Holden like it because the exterior of it did not change and says the only thing that would change would be you.In the text Luce says “Same old Caulfield.When are you going to grow up already?”(144). Holden wants things to stay how they are and how his life is. Holden considers adults phonies and he doesn’t want to be consider phony as well. When he describes the museum he says the best part about it is that it never changes, only you do.Holden bonds with his sister taking her to the zoo, museum and the carousel.He wants to Phoebe to experience what he did and to get the memories alive. “What I have to do, I would have to catch everyone if they start to go over the cliff- what I have to do, I mean if they are running and they don't look where they are going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That is all I have to do. I would just be the catcher in the rye”(173). This quote show how by holden is catching them from falling down the cliff which symbolizes stopping them from adulthood. “Thousand of little kids and nobody’s around- nobody big , I mean except me”(173). This quotes implies how young innocent kids won't be exerted by adults
We see during the novel that Holden wants to be able to protect innocence in the world, however by the end of the story he lets go of that desire. This is a point of growth for Holden. He finds that it is impossible and unnecessary to keep all the innocence in the world. While with Phoebe Holden says, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye...I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff...That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye” (173). In this moment Holden wants to be able to preserve all the youth and innocence in the world. He doesn’t accept that kids have to grow and change and that they can’t stay innocent forever. Later on in the story when Holden is with Phoebe at a carousel again he thinks, “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden 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.” At the end of the novel Holden realizes and comes to terms with the fact that kids grow and lose their innocence. He moves from his want to be the “catcher in the rye” to...
phonies and all he hates. By being in the stage where he is, he manages to avoid change, control his world with his own hands, yet. creates a paradox between what he is, and what he wants to be. Possibly the main reason why Holden doesn’t want to become an adult. is his perception of ”phoniness” and hypocrisy surrounding adult.
Holden tries to preserve his own innocence, and the innocence of others by not letting go of childhood memories and through his desire to suspend time. Holden views the adult world as corrupt and full of phonies. He admires childhood because of how it is free of corruption, and untouched by the adult world. IN order to preserve his own innocence Holden often attaches himself to childhood memories. The Museum of NAtural History is one of Holden’s favourite places . He mentions that his grade one teacher Miss. Aigletinger used to take his class there every saturday. While writing about the museum he says, “The best thing, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121). This shows how Holden wants to preserve his innocence because he expresses how he likes how everything stayed the
It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.
To begin with, Holden’s love for the innocence and purity of childhood makes him very hesitant to transition into an adult life. Generally, he finds children to be straightforward, easygoing, and simply pure in every way. This is because they always say what they mean, and never try to set a false façade for...
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.
First, many readers tend to agree that this book deals with Holden’s growth into maturity. Throughout the book it is obvious that Holden’s central goal is to resist maturing as much as possible, and readers tend to believe that Holden is afraid of change and the reality of the unknown. Holden believes that the adult world is a superficial world and that his childhood resembles a world of innocence, curiosity and honesty. The reader can assume that Holden often relates childhood to children playing in a field of rye where as adulthood is equivalent to death. However as the book progresses, Holden later discovers how wrong he was about adulthood.
The ducks in Central Park are first mentioned in the novel during Holden’s conversation with Old Spencer and they are used to teach the reader about Holden’s feelings regarding flunking out of Pencey and give the reader a status report on Holden. Throughout the conversation, Holden stays relatively on topic and the few tangents he goes on are very short and related to what he talks about. The only time in the whole conversation when Holden really blanks out is when he “[thinks] about the lagoon in Central Park” (16). Holden wonders if the lagoon will be frozen over when he arrives home and where did the ducks go if it was frozen. When Holden’s focus returns to his conversation with Old Spencer, the conversation turns in a different direction.
Walt Disney once said: “Growing up isn’t simply getting old… Growing up is when you don’t believe in yourself anymore.” In “The Catcher In The Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden experiences self-doubt as he grows up and prepares for adulthood. Holden is egotistical to realize the downfalls of adulthood, which he then avoids for himself. He doesn’t accept the fact that everyone must grow up into the person they want to be. Salinger’s depiction of Holden is that he is afraid of growing up which changes the way Holden views the world.