Holden Caulfield Changes

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.

J.D. Salinger illustrates how one reacts to adult challenges with efforts to maintain innocence. As humans our main initial instincts are either to engage or run away when given a challenge. Holden’s initial response to adulthood approaching him was to fight it. The museum is an example of an important place to Holden as it is one of the few places he can rely on to stay the same. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (121). To Holden the museum is serves as like an escape from the complicated adult life of reality. This idea gives the reader the

Antolini was trying to hinder him from going down the wrong path. Holden focuses on the little details like the gasoline rainbows in the puddles on the street and which suitcase is nicer. He overlooks the obvious, “big picture” which could better help him adjust and focuses instead on little, often-insignificant things he can handle. Moreover, Holden only pays attention to the things he’s interested in and doesn’t pay attention to the teachers or work given at school. This lack of interest has caused him to drop out of four schools and, therefore missing out on knowledge necessary for his well-being and self-discipline. Holden does not like change. Holden needs change, he needs to grow up. He needs to change his thoughts and behavior. Holden says “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 (122).”

JD. Salinger’s 1951 book, The Catcher in the Rye, shows us how society treated their confused and changing teenagers during their transition into adulthood. The book’s main character Holden Caulfield is being pressured into growing up even though he doesn’t feel ready, to lead an adult life. He is still struggling socially and mourning for his deceased brother whose death turned Holden upside down and into a negative, hopeless person from a young age, which causes him to be distracted, indifferent and to flunk every school he goes to.

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

Society today continues to grow towards the glorification of unique objects, that become very important to a person. These objects obtain strong power, that can become very influential in a person's life, whether it be good or bad. J.D Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye, uses Allie and the ducks from the pond in Central Park, to portray the theme that change is a very difficult transition for many people.

Holden’s parents as it seemed in the book they didn't necessarily fill the large role of parenthood. holden from a young age wasn't given all the attention he needed as a young child . his parents loved him but just weren't present in his life because of the working obligations they had. We can see this when Holden says “ and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me and all..” (Salinger 1). We can see a clear absence of his parent's figures when he gets kicked out of boarding school and they didn't find out until he had the mental break down. At this point, it is clear that Holden Caulfield has an underlying mental condition. He failed out of four schools;

George Bernard Shaw once said that, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher and The Rye, Holden’s fear of change shows us that change, although difficult, is inevitable as one matures from a child to an adult. We see how Holden is overwhelmed with change which makes him enjoy things that stay the same. When Holden is able to look back at this experiences, he matures and is able to grow.

However, Holden does not know how to handle many situations and obsessed with phonies. On the one hand, despises his room mates and headmaster of Elton Hills prep school ,but does have a favorite teacher. Holden is upset with the

As most teenagers and young adults would agree, growing up is a difficult task to which no alternative is present. Every person must grow up and lose much of the innocence they had as youth, no matter how badly one may want to hold on to it. Holden Caulfield, an expert “catcher in the rye”, seems to think he can thwart time and the natural progression to adulthood by keeping as boyish and innocent as he possibly can. He tries to find acceptance among his peers and his teachers, only to be met with rejection after rejection of his refusal to adulthood. He is, every so often, met with acceptance of his insistence on staying in high school. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is met with rejections from his peers, such as Robert Ackley, and his teachers, such as Mr. Spencer; despite this, he succeeds in receiving acceptance from

That is his major failure because that causes him to push his friends and loved ones away. Holden has such a passion to be true to himself that he doesn’t care what people think about him, as long as everybody agrees with him they are no longer a phony, a sore, or a bastard. But throughout the book the reader can tell that his mental state and confidence starts to decrease. Not only that but one can tell that he does not only dislike society because they don’t agree with them but he can’t do what society does best. His failure is acting like an adult and not his true age, which just causes him to embarrass himself; in the end he’s just an innocent immature teen trying to be a kid forever.

figure out how to help Holden to understand that he has to apply himself and

Holden has a mouth full of cure word, not willing to study. He also smokes and drinks as well. It seems to a normal people that he is weird, while actually to Salinger, he is the idealized person who is real common and natural. The childish characteristic of Holden always makes him notice others’ state of mind and difficulty. He is thus willing to help people around him.

Kipling advices his son to look at the big picture and that will make him a man. Holden shirks to think about what would happen if he got kicked out of Pencey Prep. Holden relates, “They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself-especially around midterms, when my parents came up for a conference with old-Thurmer—but I didn’t do it. So I got the ax”, (Salinger 4). The tone of voice that Holden relates the story shows a lackadaisical attitude towards school and his parents.

Holden starts off the story by telling the reader what happened before he was admitted to the current mental institute. He has just been kicked out of his current school, Pencey Prep, for poor academic performance. Holden goes to meet Mr. Spencer, his old history teacher and upon meeting him Mr. Spencer discusses Holden's future. Holden is told by Spencer that .“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules” (Salinger 8). After having Holden as a student Mr. Spencer is aware of the fact that Holden is directionless and lost. Although Mr. Spencer tries to help Holden by offering him wisdom for the boy’s own benefit,