Catcher In The Rye Adolescence Essay

Holden can’t get over the loss of his brother’s death, Allie, and even blames himself partially for his death. Holen in the book says “Anyway, that’s what I wrote about Stradlater’s composition about. Old Allie's baseball mitt. ”(Salinger 39). These two quotes both explain how Holden feels on the inside and the outside.

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.

There is an only event that unites every single human being on the nature. Not everyone can say it is a pleasant experience, but no one can deny that it happened. This single event is labelled ‘growing up’. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing, often uncovering questions that cannot be answered. During this time the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we become members of a cruel, society can the happy ignorance of childhood be appreciated and missed. The novel Catcher in the Rye examines how adult life appears complex and incomprehensible to teenagers on the brink of entering it. Through the main protagonist Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced

Regardless of the time, place, or culture, every generation has unique challenges they must face in order to adapt to the environment around them. While specific situations may vary, the internal conflicts and negative thoughts that one may address during their transition to adulthood are universal. In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the story revolves around the difficulties of Holden Caulfield and his reactions as he navigates through New York City in the 1940s or 1950s. As the novel progresses, the author uses the personal struggles and uncertainty in the life of an adolescent boy to spread awareness about the dilemmas of humanity and the darker perspectives of the world. The consistent cynical outlook combined with the briefly

Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel in Manhattan, where he hired a young prostitute named Sunny, but didn’t sleep with her. The scene depicts Holden’s struggle of coming to adulthood. Holden thought that by sleeping with a prostitute would make him a man. However, when he was confronted in the burgeoning sexual situation, he yielded. After all he is still just a kid. “The trouble was, I just didn’t want to do it. I felt more depressed than

Later, Mal Brossard and Holden decide to go to Agerstown to see a movie, despite the fact that Holden hates seeing movies. Out of sympathy, he asks Mal if he can invite Ackley along. The three embark to Agerstown, but it becomes apparent that Brossard and Ackley had already seen the film, so the three end up eating hamburgers and playing pinball for a few hours instead. They return to the dorm, where Mal begins searching for a game of bridge and Ackley immediately begins picking his face. Holden begins to drop hints for Ackley to leave, but Ackley is too stupid to pick up on that. Eventually, Holden kicks Ackley out so he can begin to write Stradler’s composition. The composition was supposed to be based on describing a room or a house, but Holden decides to write a heartfelt composition about his dead brother’s baseball glove, which is covered in poems in green ink. Holden’s brother, Allie, died of leukemia. The composition idealizes Allie for his intelligence and sensitivity. It is evident that the loss of Allie was an extremely traumatic event for Holden and the pain is still very much real. The loss of Allie may attribute to Holden’s cynicism and bitter tones. Holden continues to discuss how on the night of Allie’s death, he slept in garage, where he broke all of the windows with his fist “just for the hell 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

him some type of emotional security. Holden is not comfortable showing a vulnerable side to others and sometimes goes to extreme measures, like alienating himself, to avoid becoming hurt. This idea becomes apparent when Holden decides to hire a prostitute. When Sunny first arrives, Holden lies to her about his name and age, building up Holden’s disguise that he creates with his , sex. In “the scene with sunny [it] reveals that Holden is not ready for sexual relationships-- he is a “sex maniac” only in his head…” (Miller).

“I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage. I don't blame them. I really don't. 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 50). This shows Holden’s immediate reaction to Allie’s death. Holden clearly didn’t care if he got hurt, since he broke the windows “for the hell of it”. Holden’s admiration for Allie is clearly shown because he would go as far as breaking “goddam windows with his fists” because of his brother’s death. This shows Holden’s character degrading when he experienced his brother’s death. Later on, Holden writes an essay for his roommate, Stradlater, about his brother’s baseball glove.”So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allie's baseball

Depression is a very common and detrimental mental illness that many teens and young adults in our society face. The illness can leave an individual feeling rejected and lead to an overwhelming of disappointment within the individual. These feelings can lead to Poor performance in school, Withdrawal from friends and activities, Poor self-esteem or guilt, Substance abuse, and/or Suicidal thoughts or actions (“Depression In Teens”). A novel that explores the effect of depression in teens is The catcher in the Rye. The author of the coming-of-age novel, J.D Salinger, chronicles the destructive effects of the mental illness by following the main character, Holden Caulfield. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden’s depression is evident due to his withdrawal

Initially with his actions, Holden displays, in a positive way, that he misses his younger brother, Allie. While sitting with (Stradlater) in the dorms, Holden’s decides to write Stradlater’s composition for him but while attempting to write, Holden was never able to leave the thought of his younger brother. Therefore, in his act of kindness, to write the composition, Holden decides to

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.

Adolescents often experience many personal changes as they transition towards being an adult. As teenagers are in this unstable phase of life, they may experience strong feelings of sorrow and hopelessness that they are unable to manage. Depression has become a common threat to the lives of these teenagers, because of the inability of themselves and others to help. Many cases of depression can lead to the adolescent facing life-threatening problems, and becoming an outcast from society. An example of a teenager experiencing depression is Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye, a novel about a teenager fighting the idea of becoming an adult by J.D. Salinger. Throughout the novel, Holden demonstrates numerous signs that indicate he is suffering from depression. Indications of his

The gap from childhood and adulthood is far apart. It is difficult for a person to transition from one to another because it is a long process of maturing and accepting that being a child is over. In The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield is struggling with his transition to adulthood, in fact he doesn’t want to mature because the adult life is something he is completely terrified of. JD Salinger cleverly writes an astonishingly novel with the theme of maturity and the struggles of a teenager by using many literary and rhetorical devices.

Q: How was the nature of adolescence, with the help of the protagonist, portrayed in this novel? Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age about a kid experiencing the shift from childhood to maturity. Holden enters as a young boy, struggling through his own existence in the world. Holden Caulfield is an arrogant, depressive, rebellious and troubled teenager whom has captured the attention and the respect of many.