Examples Of Growing Up In Catcher In The Rye

Yet another demon that Holden avoids is the process of having to grow up. Throughout the book, he seems hesitant to develop any real ambitions or goals. He is a perpetual failure at school. He refuses to associate himself with mature ways of living, and so isolates himself from anyone his own age or older. This is all directly connected to Holden's picture-perfect image of his childhood. He sees this particular period of his life as his own personal paradise. He does not want to finalize the fact that he has to concede it's innocence in the end. Towards the end of the book, Holden shows his desire for life to remain as it was by saying, "...certain things 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." Holden does not want to join a world of phonies and greed, a world lacking in carelessness and irresponsibility. He won't, whether consciously or not, accept the fact that he has no choice.

Holden has matured in many ways throughout the novel. He had grown from an immature child who only cared about himself to a mature adult who wanted to make something of his life. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to

The irony of Holden detesting phoniness and adulthood is that he acts so much like an adult with his curiosity and experience with alcohol and sex that he misses his own opposition. Holden hates the responsibility, morality, and accountability of being an adult and embraces childhood. This contradicts everything that he desires and to want to take part in. This causes his own corruption and enables a failure to relate to himself.

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I

Holden is constantly using crude phrases that would have shocked the original readers of the book. This is to represent the fact that Holden is trying to merge with the adult world and he assumes that by using more ‘adult’ language he can achieve this. The present day Holden refers to most of the people he met during the time he was in New York as ‘’Old.’’ This helps him to disassociate himself with the past and shows that he feels it is a different part of his life. So although during his ‘journey of discovery’ Holden appears not to have emotionally progressed towards adulthood, clearly he has now evolved and grown up, be it just a

Holden is attracted to the privileges that adulthood offers. Drinking, Sex, Independence and Smoking represent aspects of adulthood that Holden is not averse to and is genuinely excited by. After arriving in New York, Holden attempts to act as an adult, but his attempts fail miserably. He tries to order a scotch and soda but is carded and must settle for a coke instead. Holden is content with childhood right up until it forfeits him an opportunity to get a drink. He wants to be an adult, but also wants to be a kid. He seems excited with the freedom but fears the loss of innocence and responsibility that

It is very clear that Holden is immature. One of the most obvious times that this is shown is when Holden is talking with Luce. Luce says, “ Same old Caulfield. When are you gonna grow up?” (Salinger 144).

Ironically enough he’s always trying to be older. For a person who is obsessed with childhood, Holden is very eager to seem older. Holden also does not know his true characteristics. This is demonstrated when Holden calls himself a pacifist “I’m a pacifist” (46). The definition of a pacifist is “someone opposed to violence as a means to resolve disputes”.

Holden states the adulthood as, “phony”, since he sees it as the “danger zone”. “I don’t give a damn, except that I get bored sometimes when people tell me to act my age.” He likes acting the way he is and doesn’t like it when people tell him that he needs to act his age. He hates acting mature because he is concerned and probably even scared of adulthood. Some teens may also feel like Holden because being an adult takes a lot of responsibility and

Contradictory displays of maturity and immaturity take effect back-to-back throughout the novel. For instance, one minute Holden will “start doing this tap dance, just for the hell of it” (29) and then light a cigarette the next. When crossing paths with Jane’s “booze hound” of a stepfather, he recognizes Jane’s distress and tries to comfort her, yet misreads the situation and ends up taking advantage of her. Holden’s mature motive, in this case, is negated by his lack of his ability to read deeper into a situation. Therefore, Holden is left stranded where adulthood and childhood seem to mesh and create his unpredictable

Holden seems to want to be an adult but fails miserably, then claims that adulthood is idiotic.

Even though he doesn’t really talk about his parents too much you can see they do send Holden to a nice school. So Holden should be a happy teenager instead of dealing with all types of problems I know I would. Holden wants company within people with handling his dilemma. The alternative is Holden always finds a way by bypassing it all.

The novel The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D Salinger is filled with multitudes of hidden meanings and symbolism. Throughout the entire novel the main character, Holden Caulfield is faced with the constant internal battle of entering adulthood and accepting it. In the novel Holden faces three events where he has to force himself into being an adult, those being his encounter with the prostitute, his phone call with Salley Hayes, and the small encounters with older women.

Children are seen as people who are immature and irresponsible, while adults are all grown up, and have a lot of responsibilities. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, there is a main protagonist named Holden, who struggles with the concept of being a child and an adult. Holden is a 17 year old boy, who just got expelled from his school, and is traveling on his own until he has to go back home. During his travels, he faces and does many things that makes him seem as an adult, but on the contrary he does and acts in a way of a child. These two obstacles causes Holden to be confused in himself, and he is unable to fully what is future has for him. Even though Holden tries to be perceived as an adult his mindset still shows

Adulthood forces Holden to begin gaining responsibility for everything that he does and what his actions lead to. After realizing that he was getting cut from his