How Does Holden Change Throughout The Catcher In The Rye

The carousel and gold ring finally allow Holden to accept change as a natural part of life and that it is necessary for one to grow as a person. Holden buys a ticket for Phoebe, his kid sister, to ride the carousel but refuses her offer to go on as well. Instead, he sits and watches: “ I went over and sat down on this bench and she went and got on the carousel” (211). By doing this, Holden chooses to no longer be a child. He starts to accept that he needs to start maturing and watches Pheobe, like the other adults are watching their children. This is a step in the right direction for Holden as up until this point in the novel, he has refused to change because of his fear. While Holden watches Phoebe ride the carousel, he watches her reach for the gold ring. As she reaches, Holden thinks to

Many readers will agree that The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age, but some may disagree that it is not because of Holden’s personal view of children. The disagreement may have resulted from Holden’s childish acts, such as, being

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

“The Catcher in the Rye” is about a sixteen year old teenager talking about the story of his mental break down. It is really impressive because J.D. Salinger’s writing style is very direct as if Holden is talking exclusively to me and telling me about his struggles between childhood and adulthood. “The Catcher in the Rye” illustrates Holden’s hope to protect childhood innocence from adult phoniness.

The Catcher in the Rye was about Holden, who admires in children attributes that he struggles to find in adults to talk to him and he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital. Holden Caulfield,who is 16 year old teenager went to three schools, but fails four of his five subjects only passed English he also struggles with the fact that everyone has to grow up. In the novel, Holden tells the reader through a few days of his life, in which he flaunts his hostile environments. Throughout the book,

were they feel like they’re alienated. In a lot of ways, Holden also literally wants

Holden is very fond of Phoebe and also very protective of her, when Holden goes to her school his protective attribute is very relevant. When Holden gets into Phoebe’s school Holden is surprised with extreme profanity on the walls in the school, during his time in the school he sees the words “Fuck You” written on the walls thought the school. The first time Holden saw the words he instantly began to think of how Phoebe and the other kids would feel if they were to see it. It upset Holden so much that he thought, “I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it… I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddamn dead and bloody. (p.201)” His obsession with innocence was so strong that Holden felt compelled to kill the “perverty bum (p.201)” Though he could never act on his feelings he decided to make an effort to clean the graffiti off the walls, once again protecting and preserving innocence. A more personal and compelling occasion where Holden was the protector of Phoebe’s innocence is when they went to the carrousel near the zoo. While approaching the carrousel Holden thought of his past when D.B, Allie, Phoebe and himself use to go to the carrousel all the time and how Phoebe couldn’t get enough of it. After remembering how happy it made her Holden told her she should go on, Phoebe declined claiming she was too big to ride even though she really wanted to but after insisting, she got on. Holden then watched her go around in circles while he sat on one of the benches. “[Holden thought to himself] I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn

    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.

This symbolizes him holding on to his past, not wanting things to change. As Holden meets with all of his old friends, he claims many of them to have become phonies. All of his friends have grown up, and Holden is left behind, and still acts like a child. "[Holden's] central dilemma is that he wants to retain a child's innocence" (Bloom 22). As everyone around changes he just wants to stay the same, young and sheltered.

Phoebe gave Holden a feeling of love that he thought was gone when his brother Allie died. Holden made decisions based upon what he thought was best for the life with his sister, and he always thought about what was best for her. Phoebe is the one who in the end made Holden realize that he had to let some things go. “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab to the gold ring you have to let them do it and not say anything. If the fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them.”

(Salinger 122) Part of Holden’s idealization of childhood is that he wants people to never change. The museum reminds him of how he simply cannot stop Phoebe from growing up, and reminds him that he is being forced to grow up. Although Holden tries his best to preserve the innocence of the children around him, this only reminds him of the inevitability of becoming an

Holden says,” You'd like her. I mean if you tell old Phoebe something, she knows exactly what the hell you're talking about. I mean you can even take her anywhere with you. If you take her to a lousy movie, for instance, she knows it's a lousy movie. If you take her to a pretty good movie, she knows it's a pretty good movie”. Holden considered his little sister smart, even though she was so young. At ten years old, skinny Phoebe was one of the few people Holden felt a connection with. Holden basically tried to find Allie in Phoebe and thus tried to protect and love her in every way possible. Holden’s obsession with Phoebe is an example of his isolation and extreme loneliness. The one person he wanted to connect with on several occasions was much younger, and was out of reach. Regarding Phoebe as a living copy of all that he loved in Allie, he was comforted by Phoebe’s jauntiness and vitality; he yearned to protect her from the ugliness he perceived in the world around them. Phoebe is perhaps the only reminder that Holden still had the capacity to

Holden's child-like state of mind still overtakes his mature part of the brain inforced by his quick decisions and impulsive thoughts. To avoid a stir up with another human being Holden tells them he is glad to meet them, even if he isn't which is most of the time because he always finds flaws in someone and end up calls them phonies. This shows his progression to growing up learning how to deal with things maturely. Experiences and new emotions can change a person's priorities, but he still is resisting

The continuity and circular motion of the carrousel show Holden’s reluctance, while Holden’s refusal to go on the carrousel shows Holden’s acceptance of adulthood. Firstly, the carrousel is circular in shape. Circles are often seen as never-ending and infinite, similar to Holden’s idea of living. As Timothy Aubry said, "Holden 's urge to shield children from danger and allow them to play endlessly exemplifies his desire to suspend time, to inhabit a space of youth preserved indefinitely" (Aubry). Holden believes the safest way to live is to not change, to stay true to who you are at that same time so you cannot become a phony. He wants everything to stay the same and takes comfort in this thought. He wants children to play in the field forever, making sure they do not fall or leave by catching them. This is the reason Holden brings Phoebe to the carrousel in the

Throughout the novel, Salinger regularly connects the innocence that he believes childhood possesses with Holden’s erratic behavior. For example, Salinger writes, “The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that exactly. You'd just be different, that's all” (Salinger 135). In this quote, Holden has returned to a museum that he frequently visited as a kid. Salinger confirms that Holden appreciates when situations that remind him of his youth are still the same. He explains that although Holden is very different as his brother has passed and he has made some controversial choices, the museum is the same. This helps