Maturity In Holden Caulfield's The Catcher In The Rye

In a world so said to be steeped in immorality and despair, the idea of purity and children, the vessels that embody said characteristic, are idealized above all. Those said to be adults gravitate towards their blinding light as if moths to a flame, and constantly try to recapture the feelings of naivety, honesty, and joy, as if by revisiting old memories they may be able to be closer to the happiness they felt as a child. However, the unyielding passage of time locks the adult in their place, entombing them with the inevitable truth that all things come to an end, and forcing them to abandon the childhood vision for what they are now. For centuries, the simple madness for accepting things as they are is what has been, and always should be,

as shown in the classic childhood tale of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and the titular character’s transition to adulthood. However, as with all things, there are the renegade desperates that strain to fight against the status quo, against fate, including Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, featuring the hapless adult-child Laura Wingfield, as well as the teenager on the cusp of adulthood, Holden Caulfield, in J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye--and their fates in turn are well documented by the adults that immortalize the tragedy of refusing to grow up, and the despairing madness that utterly cripples them in all aspects of their lives. In some aspects, the analysis of childhood and growing up can be as simple as the passing of time, but the 3 authors, by using their three respective characters, aim to reveal the deeper implications of the ascension, or descension, to the road of maturity. By analyzing the three books, the topics will be focused on self-identity and its relation to social interaction, as well as illusion versus reality in regards to the world of adulthood, all in order to decipher the intricate relationship of fate and choice in maturation.
So called the classical literature of children, Alice has been said to have ushered in the Victorian’s “golden age” of children’s literature, with it not only providing entertainment to both children and adults, but also instilling it with genuine childhood playfulness. The title is not invalid, as the Alice books offer a fair depiction of the child psyche in relation to situations, interactions, and environments that a child may encounter in the face of growing up--but Lewis Carroll goes above and beyond a simple depiction. Rather, he uses his titular character and the worlds she wanders in to unveil the process of attaining true maturity, and the difference between growing in numbers compared to growing in understanding, making Alice the one character out of the three literary works being compared the most successful and assured in her future, despite her diminutive status as a still-relatively impressionable child. But what is key about her status is that she has an upward trajectory in growth, shifting between a 7-year old and an adolescent, that gives her higher success than her other counterparts.
The question of this essay is “‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” (Carroll 16), to which the answer, in regard to Alice, would be “a typical 7-year old”. Indeed, everybody, from the omniscient narrator to the violent Queen of Hearts cement Alice’s status as a young child, despite her constant confusion about her own identity that stems and grows in parallel with her physical bodily changes in a world seemingly devoid of logic and reason. Not only does the book demonstrate her youth, but Alice’s behaviour throughout the story logically establish her as a growing child; as per Jean Piaget’s child development theory, Alice is stuck between the preoperational and concrete operational stage, characterized by egocentrism and with a shift to social capability that, despite her label of a simple child, is actual proof of her dynamic growth and stronger belief in the formation of her identity, with the struggle between shifting sizes dramatically mirroring that transition stage. As mentioned, egocentrism is the child’s inability to separate their own perceptions as their own, assuming that everyone experiences the environment in the same way that they do (Piaget 39), which is an integral part of Alice’s thought process, and additionally tinges her personality that is demonstrated by her interactions with the animals and adults of Wonderland. This sense of egocentrism is heightened by her background as a Victorian-English child, “a product of a strict code of decorum”. For example, despite the Mouse’s logical explanations about its hatred for dogs and cats, and the Caucus Party’s bird population, Alice kept on bringing up her love for her cat, assuming that everyone else would appreciate her hunting skills. (Carroll 20, 27-28) Her egocentrism also manifests into her self-righteous attitude and general irritation in regards to adults, such as when she angrily declares multiple times that “he’s perfectly idiotic” to the logic of “The Footman” and the members of the Mad Tea Party, (Carroll 50) and constant judgement of the Queen, laughing at her rules and problem-solving (Carroll 71). This is to the point that her adverse reactions seem to demonstrate her unwillingness to approve of any adults and in turn be like them, such as when she tells herself that if she was a Duchess, another adult of Wonderland, she would do things differently (Carroll 77). Interestingly enough, most of her bouts of egocentrism manifest as she is small, as if she is unable to contain her feelings in parallel to her inability to regulate her size, fully demonstrating throughout the book her immaturity and lack of control that is characteristic of a young child.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of Alice’s identity as a child, Lewis Carroll continues to develop the young child within the story by moving on to address the next step of her behavioral development, or the concrete operational stage. This stage is characterized by a higher social awareness, as well as the mindsight of “playing while reasoning” (Piaget 36), and a markedly mature way of thinking. As mentioned in the past, Alice had no consideration for the Wonderland inhabitants’ culture and morals, thinking that her way would be universal, especially as a Victorian child from the 1860s, where rules and decorum regulated her life. However, her way of thinking is altered in that she takes others’ feelings into consideration, despite their opposing views to hers, such as when she refrains from talking about eating lobsters at the mention of being introduced to one (Carroll 86) Physically, Alice also overcomes her inability to control her height and her confusion and fear about her identity; where she had once meekly stated that she had known who she had in the morning, but had probably changed several times (Carroll 39), she transitions into being able to accept her inevitable growth physically, and becomes more confident about who she is. Near the climax of the book, she refuses to acquiesce and be controlled by the King’s absurd rules about her naturally growing height, and at the height of her growth (both physically and mentally), refuses to be cowed down by the Queen’s scream of “Off with her head”, and is justified in her rebellious scream of “You’re nothing but a pack of cards”. (Carroll 103-107).
Hereinafter, Alice’s growth is continued in Through the Looking Glass, the second part of the Alice series, where Alice maintains her maturity by a greater assuredness in who she is, coupled by a higher tolerance for the antics of the Looking Glass folks. In fact, Alice cooperates with the Looking Glass characters to fulfill her goal of becoming a queen, which is a vast improvement from the arrogant and culturally-insensitive young child critical of the adults’ actions who tried to force her opinions on others. To further emphasize Alice’s growth, the author uses the fantastical yet rule-bound worlds of Wonderland and the Looking-Glass in comparison to shape up her identity. Wonderland can be seen as a reflection of Alice’s perception of the world run by adults, where it is normal for animals to talk, her body is liable to unpredictable changes, and illogical reasonings and stories are accepted as truths. As a result of her inability to comprehend Wonderland in terms of her own identity, which is in itself unstable, Alice’s egocentrism and lack of respect for adults is emphasized, and the book ends at an unfulfilled, wistful note that ends abruptly at her awakening from Wonderland. On the other hand, the Looking-Glass world looks very much like a chessboard, which Carroll uses as a metaphor for a land of logic and reasoning. Here, Alice is more better able to understand the rules and the code of conduct, as it is more of a mirror to her original world: the rules may be reversed, but still make sense. This can allude to Alice more easily understanding the twisted logic of adults as she grows older, which also includes the absence of irrational physical and emotional changes, as she is more mellow and willing to first graciously accept faults and learn, as in the case of Humpty Dumpty and his pontifications on the meaning of words (Carroll 182), as well as empathize and help out other hapless characters, such as the White Queen, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and the clumsy Knight (Carroll 210). Despite the return of her identity crisis when she can’t remember her name (Carroll 152), Alice overcomes her previous social ineptitude to cooperate and finally achieve her goal as a Queen of Looking-Glass world. From her initial countenance at the beginning, Alice succeeds in growing up gracefully, on the road to better understanding and adjusting herself towards the next world--the adult world.
Despite the satisfying arc of Alice ascendance into maturity, there are those of the opposite end of the spectrum: namely, those who, because of the clash between the outer world and the trappings of their inner self, struggle against something inevitable and only become vulnerable to suffering.

If Alice was forced to wander into a distortion of the adult world, Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye is entombed into his own ideal world, starkly separated between purity and impurity, and battling against the encroachment of anything adult-related into his life--a pointless battle, because as he ages, he is forced to confront the inevitable in becoming an adult himself. In comparison to Alice’s general acceptance of growing up, Holden is strongly implied to fear growing up, which is something he hides under layers of fabrication, masks of aloof attitude, and rejection of the majority of his peers, who have no qualms about growing up themselves. His fear of impurity in turn manifests in his social ineptitude, as he also has a form of egocentrism as a 17-year old; he knows that there exists people with different viewpoints but alienates them, and seeks for people who he idealizes as good into his personal world, as a result making them the only people he knows--thus where the egocentrism comes from, as he can safely assume that they all think the same way he does. Although Holden’s redeeming point is that he actively tries to seek out the human connection that he desires, he relies on social interaction to stabilize his identity; when the people don’t exist, or aren’t around anymore, such as Allie, Holden’s deceased brother, Holden breaks down and becomes unstable. (Salinger, 50) This is also demonstrated in his various encounters with other people, as he increasingly becomes disheartened from trying to save and be saved from his

loneliness;