Catcher In The Rye Teenager Essay

Life is seen in a peculiar way through the eyes of teenagers. Often, teens are scared to enter the adult world because it means facing greater challenges that they might not yet be prepared for.The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a perfect example of a book that portrays the adult world through the eyes of a troubled but intelligent teenager. Holden Caulfield, the main character of the book has his own twisted views of the adult world and constantly criticizes it.

Another quote that shows that Holden is a victim of society is ¨I'd pretend I was one of those deaf mutes¨. ¨That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless conversations with anybody¨ [Salinger] page 198. This quote demonstrates that Holden

Holden is unable to accept realities of life because of his negative personality. He claims that many people are phony and that they try to do things to make them look better than they are. Holden also thinks of many things as depressing. “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what I mean. In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them” (p. 123). Holden always finds a down side to a situation. He fails to recognize the good sides of life, and this prevents him from seeing advantages in adulthood that are not present in his life.

There is no character that stands out against the society’s ideals and best represent for teenagers like Holden Caulfield. Like some teens, Holden does not do well in school and eventually gets kick out from one of the most prestigious schools in Agerstown, Pennsylvania: Pencey Prep. He gets so feed up with the school that he decides to leave earlier and travels to New York to have some lone times. During this period, the interactions that he has with the people he meets change his behavior and mind set, especially with Phoebe. In “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden indeed is still a relatable character through his actions, feelings, and concerns to his family members, especially Phoebe.

Teenagers lives their life differently. However, when the time of being a adolescent arrives, they all have the same confusion and mindsets. J. D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, is about a seventeen year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who lives his life with complexes and problems of his owns. Holden lives his life according to his favor and commit unreasonable actions. Holden has a difficult time trying to understand what being a teenager is. Holden Caulfield is a typical teenager because he expresses the problems of being a teenager.

Many readers will agree that The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age, but some may disagree that it is not because of Holden’s personal view of children. The disagreement may have resulted from Holden’s childish acts, such as, being

He is not intensely preoccupied with academic achievement like many more modern teenagers, having failed out of several prestigious preparatory schools, but he is clearly intelligent and tends to dwell on“heavy” topics like death and loss of innocence. His cynicism and sensitivity, in addition to the trauma he experiences from losing his brother Allie, suggest that he has depression or another untreated mental illness, an interpretation which is common among readers and supported by Holden’s visit with a psychotherapist at the end of the novel. Despite the risks he faces through having an untreated mental illness, shown when he is warned that he is “riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall” through self-destructive behavior, the conformist culture and social niceties of the 1950s prevented him from being able to discuss his thoughts for a large portion of the novel. (186) This culture, specifically the “phony” prep schools, is clearly toxic for Holden and likely contributed heavily towards his negative mental state, and therefore the negative image he often has of

The resistance of maturity and adulthood is greatly expressed throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye. J.D. Salinger describes the events of an adolescent and his inability to escape the difficulties of his past causing a delay in maturity. Both fear and trauma created during past events caused a delay or rejection in maturity. Holden is unable to move on from his past and is constantly trying to live in a memory. This causes him to want to stay with his childhood and resist transitioning into adulthood. Holden’s fear of adulthood causes him isolate himself from society in order to preserve and protect his childhood innocence. Lastly, Holden’s inability step out of his immaturity

In J.D. Salinger’s attempt to demonstrate the hardships of a teenager through Holden, he highlights actions that further advocates the argument that teenagers are careless. Moments within the novel that are supposed to bring the reader's attention to Holden’s mental illness instead make him seem irresponsible: ”I didn’t even know where I was going to sleep yet-so I went”(Salinger 153).Holden’s decision to go to the park rather than finding a place to sleep is evidence of his mental instability but is perceived as a teenagers’ reckless attitude. The lack of support in Holden’s life leads him to express his emotions through violence which in turn makes it seem as though he has no respect for property,”I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it” (Salinger 39).Since Holden is not provided support by his parents he chose to deal with Allies’ death by breaking his garage windows. Although it is a difficult situation to deal with his actions demonstrate a lack of control

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a story about growing up. It explores the obstacles we all face during our transition from child to adulthood. The tragedies and triumphs, the breakthroughs and setbacks, the happiness and heartache. As you follow the book's protagonist, Holden, through his journey into adulthood, you learn about his life, but more importantly, you learn about your own. You grow to sympathize with the young rebel, and you begin to see traces of yourself in him.

Throughout the novel Holden is rejected and exploited by the society around him. As he is conflicted with himself to find a purpose in life he constantly tries to connect with a superficial society. The ongoing failure and fake personas he meets adds to his depression and cynicism. But instead of facing the problems by growing up and to move on Holden uses this negativity and isolation to protect him. Holden tries show that he is better than everybody else as this is the little stability he has left. When in reality Holden is just scared of the interaction of people because they just submerge him with complications he doesn 't know not yet how to deal with. Holden not being be able to cope with the idea of growing up adds to his loneliness which is the core of his pain. When his encounters first interaction in the novel, Holden Caulfield is an uncaring outcast who sees no motivation in life. As he says to Mr. Spencer, he feels trapped on “the other side of life” (Salinger). Holden constant attempt to fit into society is hidden because of his detachment to people. His only stability right now is to search for his own individuality and to face adulthood himself. That is why

Holden Caulfield plays a timeless character in the sense that his way of life is common for the American teenager, in his time as well as now. Today parents dread the terrible and confusing adolescent years of their child's life. In J.D. Salinger's book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is in this terrible and confusing point of his life. At this point in his life, as well as in modern teenager's lives, a transition occurs, from child to adult. Holden takes this change particularly rough and develops a typical mentality that prevents him from allowing himself to see or understand his purpose in life.

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger Holden shows that he is still acting like a child when he is supposed to be an adult. Holden fights through his teenage life because he cannot accept the duties of growing up. He always uses the word phony to show his depression and uncaring. Holden thinks his two younger siblings as if they were perfect. Holden is into childhood because he chooses to be stuck between a world of still being a child or moving on to adulthood.

Holden’s Psychological Problems Throughout His Everyday Life Many people including teenagers have and go through behavior problems throughout the course of life. It is usually something in the brain that causes these problems and sometimes one may not even realize it's a problem. Whether it is anger or suicidal feelings they all can have a huge affect on one’s life and impact them in a bad way. Behavior problems can distract one from the real meaning and value of life and can cause one to live a bad and short life.

Teens also have a lot of problems with teachers, as well as some parents, who they perceive as too strict, “annoying” and “old school”. Throughout the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield represents a teenager with many of the same views and issues that are mentioned above. Holden is one of those ‘typical’ teenagers who believe that no one else in the world can understand their feelings or are going through the same thing. He does not have any real friends because he does not like anyone and his family doesn’t seem to understand him or know how to help him. Holden is a high-school student and he does not believe that school is going to help him in his life; he thinks that it’s phony and useless and therefore, he has no motivation to do well with his studies. Despite being a sharp guy, he was expelled from one school and is going to be expelled from another one because he is failing in all his subjects. Holden’s general idea towards his teachers is that most of them all just “act like teachers” and this reflects the way a lot of teens today think. Due to Holden’s anger and ‘hatred’ towards everything and everyone around him leads to isolation from the rest of the world.