Holden Caulfield Becoming An Adult

Holden Caulfield faces a dilemma throughout “The Catcher in the Rye”. Holden wants to protect his innocence as a child. As he leaves Pencey Prep; venturing off into the vast city of new york, he tries to get somebody to listen to him and meaningfully respond to his fears about becoming an adult. Holden has grown six inches in the past year and one side of his head is full of grey hair, both symbols of the inevitability of the progression of time towards adulthood and its disappearance of innocence. He is so obsessed with protecting his innocence he can't even through a snowball at a car because, “it looks so nice and white.

Fear of growing up. Change. Innocence. These are all relatable traits that most people can understand as a teenager. Nineteen year old Holden Caulfield, the main character from J.D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, possess all of these traits. I think there's a little bit of Holden Caufield in all of us. People who are resentful and afraid of the ever growing world around us, but still all the same try to grow up a little bit too fast. As well as, people who try to retain any innocence they have. All of this and more is why J.D Salinger's novel Catcher in the Rye is still very relevant today.

When people grow up for some it is painless while for others it is difficult. J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is a book about a boy named Holden who is scared to grow up, he tries to hold on to his childhood for as long as he can. Growing up is something that Holden fears as seen throughout the story. Salinger revels Holden’s fear of change through The Museum of Natural History, Little Shirley Beans Record, and the ducks in Central Park.

John F Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, once said that, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” This quote means that change is unavoidable and that it is always happening. Change occurs whether we want it to or not and because of that, we must continue to look forward. Some of the changes that occur in a person’s life are minor and other changes are more significant.

No matter what time period they are in teenagers have struggled with the in between feeling of whether or not they are mature enough to make their own choices, and whether or not their parents and peers believe they are mature. In the Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger, demonstrates this feeling that many teenagers experience through Holden’s life and his maturity. Although just like with real life, readers have different opinions about Holden’s maturity and ability to make decisions. JD Salinger shows how Holden is too immature to make his own decisions because of his impetuous personality and his feeling of needing to act his age and be mature.

Stories always differ in how characters develop change. Characters usually change from their first encounter to their last. In The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, the main character does not experience change. Throughout the book, the main character, Holden Caulfield, simply is just a young adult strict about change. He is still his narcissistic-self, believing everyone is phony except himself, also focusing on the wrong aspects of life.

Most teens seem to believe that they are more prepared for drinking, drugs, and sex than they actually are. This mindset is no different for 16 year old Holden Caulfield in the book, The Catcher in the Rye. As the novel's main character, Holden attempts to participate in adult activities, although he is inexperienced, because his brother's death stole his childhood innocence. Holden felt as though he was responsible for protecting his sister and other young children by pushing himself to become an adult. Although Holden thought forcing himself to grow up would help himself and others, it only resulted in his mental relapse. Since Holden's failed attempts at adulthood resulted in his insanity, the challenges of change are consistently reiterated

Growing up can be scary for anyone. Some kids handle it better than others. Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D salinger’s book The Catcher in the Rye has a difficult time handling responsibilities and adult situations. Holden is afraid to grow up because he does not want to abandon his childish ways and start handling responsibilities as an adult. He is also a troubled 16 year old kid who tries to escape his problems instead of solving them.

Throughout the book The catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield takes a journey through his life. On the outside of this young teenage boy it may seem like he has it together, but the inside of him is a full-hearted child. Holden has troubles with his inability to not try and save every innocent life he passes all the while he’s trying to force childhood and his actions back on himself. The sudden death of his brother Allie makes him go through this transition where he needs to grow up and face reality, but he instead chooses to hide behind the thoughts of a child. Although some may think that Holden has grown up because of the change he shows from the beginning to the end of the novel and the fact that reality might have hit him, that is not the case.

Roberto Villalon Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who struggles growing up. Throughout the book Catcher in the rye by J.D. Sallinger, Holden Caulfield is a teenage boy who experience struggles growing up and facing the real world he is living in. Holden unable to accept growing because he is not mature enough to take responsibilities. Holden is a teeanger who refuses to grow up because of his sad childhood and he does not understand people around him.

The Catcher in the Rye fixates upon the fragile mental state of jaded sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Ever since the death of his brother Allie, Holden has been expelled from every school he’s ever attended and has become increasingly cynical of human nature, condemning everyone he meets for their phoniness. He lacks the ability to identify his own feelings and prefers the word “depressed” to describe every negative emotion, hoping to take away the word’s severity with his overuse of it. At sixteen, Holden is realizing that it is time for him to become an adult, and while he attempts to do adult activities once he is on his own, he ultimately resists the pull of adulthood and equates aging with losing one’s innocence; he wishes to preserve

Holden is a teenager who never wants to grow up. In the novel Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, Holden, as a central character, endured the pain of growing up. Holden wanted to keep his innocence, but he was slowly maturing. From the symbol of his red hunting hat, which shielded himself from the outside world, to the motif of his loneliness and alienation, and to the allegory of the catcher in the rye dream, Holden is suffering from the pain to grow up and the desire to keep his innocence.

Holden Caulfield, the narrator and the main character of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is a young adult, who, at first seems to simply describes his four day adventure in New York City after bring expelled from his forth school. However, at the same time he narrates more; through his many experiences, which he describes in the book, we can see the themes of the work. The theme that definitely stands out is the loss of innocence. Holden portrays himself as an individual, who does not want to grow up and change. From the beginning, it is obvious that Holden does not like anyone, except children. To Holden, the world around him, the adult world and all of its members, is phony. In other words, the innocent world of children is

In J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield wants to stop himself from maturing. Throughout the book, Holden acts younger than he is to make it feel like he is not entering adulthood. He feels as if he has been forced into facing adulthood too early, because of his brother, Allie, dying. He acts foolishly and immaturely when making adult decisions. He does this in order to avoid facing the difficult situations and decisions of adulthood.

J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, highlights key symbols and thoughts as well as personality traits of the narrator, Holden, throughout the book. Many of Holden’s thoughts connect back to his immaturity and lack of adult behavior; however, he does become slightly more mature and realistic at the very end of the novel. Holden wants to preserve innocence in a world of corruption. While some believe that Holden regresses in the novel, he actually remains static for the majority because of his thoughts of running away, lying constantly, and desperation for innocence, but he matures at the very end by coming to terms with the fact that children must grow and lose their innocence along the way.