Holden's Attitude To Adulthood

In J. D Salinger 's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist, Holden, goes through many hardships in his journey to self-knowledge. In the beginning, Holden has to deal with being kicked out of school and not having any place to call home. He is also struggling with the unfortunate tragedy of the death of his beloved younger brother Allie. At the same time, Holden is trying to deal with growing up and accepting the adult world. Throughout the novel Salinger addresses the conflicts faced by a young man struggling with the trials and tribulations of growing up while also confronting personal loss and loneliness along the way.

While some people may be eager to get out in the world, they are still all the same afraid of leaving behind something. In the instance in the Catcher in the Rye, Holden is afraid of changing. Notably, Holden reveals fear of change when he goes to the museum and comments that “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move” (121). Holden is afraid of change because he specifically states that the best thing about a museum is that “nothing moved”. Holden's preference on nothing moving is significant because it implies that he is afraid of things changing on him. This is relatable because it is sad when something that you hold dear suddenly changes. It is tough to face the fact that things always change, and that you will have to let go of things that you used to hold dear. While the times have changed the strong emotions we feel hasn’t, teens are and will always be afraid of change thus, making this novel very relevant today. Another example, which is probably the most momentous line in the whole book, particularly because it is in the title of the book. Holden refers to himself as the catcher in the rye saying that, “Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they're

In Catcher in the Rye Holden’s fear of change is symbolized by the Museum of Natural History. The museum’s interests Holden because it never changes. For example, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything stayed right there where it was” (135). This is a prime example of Holden’s fear of change because he knows that the museum will not change and the things will stay where they are, that is why he likes the museum. Holden says, “I knew that whole museum routine like a book.” (133). Holden says that he knows the museum like a book which shows that he went there frequently, and hopes when he goes in there that it is all the same. Holden does not like things that change. It also shows that Holden wishes that everything would

In the book Holden is constantly fighting with himself. The ducks in the pond signify a fight within him. The fight to be young again; go back to his innocent years, when everything was just a game and there was no consequences. When he asks the cab driver about the ducks he most likely knows where they go but is curious. In the books entirety Holden contradicts himself fully. He tells the reader the he does not like lying, but is always telling lies about big and little tings. Such as when he lies to Ernest’s mother on the train about having to have an operation done. He also lies to the girls in the Lavender

One of the greatest American Literature writers, J.D. Salinger, was familiar with a rough childhood by experience. He was able to parallel his experiences to the experiences of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in Rye. In this novel, Holden experiences conflicts that most youth are not familiar with. The conflicts in Holden Caulfield’s life are caused by various forces and circumstances.

The falling off the cliff is a symbol of loss of innocence and Holden wants to protect the children from their loss of innocence. The Ironic part about this is that he misinterpreted the meaning of the song that he received the message that was completely opposite of the true meaning of the song. He sees it as a protector of children but it is really describing that if two individuals are out of sight, is it okay to have seexual intercoorse when its kept quiet from the public and they are not going to be committed to each other.

    J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is the chronicle of a young man's metamorphosis from immaturity to unsure manhood. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, is a sixteen-year old boy who leaves the prep school he has been expelled from to escape the frightening reality of dealing with his parents. However, during his visit to New York City he is faced with the harsh reality that he cannot continue to hold onto his childhood. Holden is an extremely complex character and it is only by examining each layer of him that the reader is able to understand his painful metamorphosis.

The novel catcher in the rye is set in the 1950’s and is narrated by a

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.

Holden is overwhelmed by change, and it leads him to prefer things that stay the same or do not change. We see that when Holden goes to the museum that he realizes that the only thing that ever changes is the people. At the museum the exhibits never

As the story proceeds, we see Holden accept the fact that children will “fall off the cliff” and there’s nothing anyone can do, this represents the struggle of preserving the innocence of children versus letting them experience the way of life on their own. The next day, after seeing his little sister, Phoebe, he decides that he wasn’t going to wait until wednesday to leave for the woods, but he was going to leave that day. Phoebe was at school and he wanted to tell her about this new plan and to say goodbye to her. He walked to her school and wrote a note to give to the principle to give to her, before walking into the school, Holden sits down on the steps “While [he] was sitting down, [he] saw something that drove [him] crazy. Somebody’d written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. It drove [him] damn near crazy” (Salinger 221). Holden discloses that he was so angry with someone writing this absurd word on the wall, that he was ready to bash whoever it was and even kill them. This shows a whole new side of Holden, he behaves irrationally and violent over the cause of someone defiling school property and subjecting children to “jump over the cliff” of innocence and adolescence. Children grow up and lose their innocence at all different ages and there is no way to preserve it in ways like how Holden wants to. Our society manipulates ways of contorting children’s innocence in ways exhibited like this.

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.

Change is an essential component in the continued success of the human race and thus important in the development of society. As such, society expects people to constantly change and adapt. Readers typically expect to see the development of characters throughout novels, or other pieces of literature. In the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, J. D. Salinger deviates from the normal progression followed by most novels by characterizing the protagonist as an individual undergoing temperamental changes and uncertainty throughout the novel. This novel is known to have attracted criticism from numerous reviewers from all time periods, who tend to make the argument that the novel 's main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, does not develop at all throughout the course of the book. However, this is not the case as Holden grows and develops through the book, recognizing specific ideals from the environment that is around him and responding to them. These reactions towards change are seen through Holden 's discovery of himself, relationships with other characters and the actions that he decides to take in given circumstances throughout the book.

Change is inevitable and is a constant phase that Holden cannot conceptualize. Holden's fear of change can be exemplified by the Museum of Natural History. Like the museum, he wants everything to be unchanging and as simple as possible. He talks about the immutable statues by saying, "Certain things they should stay the way they are... I know it's impossible, but it's too bad anyway" (Salinger 122). By admitting his fear of change, Holden also reveals another important aspect of his life: his loss of childhood innocence. The only thing he can talk about without contempt is kids. Allie, his deceased brother, is continuously mentioned in the book, as well as the many interactions Holden has with Phoebe. Although he is continuously deriding others around him, he humbly admits to his sister that the only thing he could envision doing is saving kids, "What I have to do - I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff [...] I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd like to be" (Salinger 173). Holden's love for kids is the only

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.