How Does Holden Mature

The tone or attitude in which Holden speaks is based on sarcasm and rudeness which shapes him as a character. He uses sarcasm throughout the book such as on page 71. He says, “I told her, ‘you’re really lucky. You know that?’ She was a real moron. But what a dancer” (71). Here, Holden is being very sarcastic and rude with this girl which forms Holden into his character. His tone towards the world and to the people in it is just careless because he doesn’t care about being nice to anyone. He continues to act this way, even to people that matter, such as on page 13, he says, “You mean about my flunking out of Pencey and all? ‘ I said. I sort of wished he’d cover up his bumpy chest. It wasn’t such a beautiful view” (13). Mr. Spencer is one of Holden’s teachers at Pencey and he doesn’t appreciate that at all. When Mr. Spencer is being sincere towards him, all Holden can think about is the fact that Mr. Spencer’s chest is “bumpy”. This truly defines Holden as a character and what kind of person he is; a sarcastic and cynical individual, all shown through his tone of voice.

From the beginning of the book the reader can interpret that Holden is a person who seemingly likes to be detached from society. He isolates himself from the football game and instead decides to stand in solitude upon a hill, looking down at all those below him. As he strives to find a goodbye to Pencey Academy, one can see that this is not a new experience for him, as he divulges the details of his mobile past, jumping from one school to the next.

Spencer directed towards Holden and is said when Holden goes to Mr. Spencer's office to say goodbye because he's getting kicked out of Pencey. This quote is said because it tells us a lot about Holden since he disagrees with it in his narration directly after. It shows that Holden doesn't want to play by the rules and wants to get out of that lifestyle and move away from it. The style writing is that of a metaphor. The metaphor being that in order to succeed in life, you need to play the game otherwise you'd fail. If you follow the rules, you'd surely be able to keep on climbing. The significance of the quote is that it revealed things about Holden right away when he was introduced. It revealed that Holden didn't want to live a "normal" life and wanted to live his life away from the norm. It helps us characterize Holden as someone who thinks people are fake and morons and that he tries to stay away from this life but in reality, he becomes the same thing he dislikes so much. This shows that Holden himself is a fake and a phony

According to the quote, stated by Stekel, the difference between a mature man and an immature man is that the mature man looks humbly for a solution and faces the problem in order to benefit others, while the immature man looks for a way to make himself look good or find a way to benefit himself by giving up or running away from his problems. When a challenge comes in Holden’s way, Holden gives up or runs away, instead of being strong and facing it. Holden usually distracts himself by drinking a lot, smoking, going to bars, and even hiring a prostitute. However, these distractions only make him more depressed later on. Like after Allie's death, Holden stopped applying himself to almost everything. He switched many schools, thinking that he

After Phoebe tries getting Holden to figure out the movie that she saw with one of her friends, Holden says, ” I don’t know-Listen. Didn’t they say what time they’d--”. This quote shows that Holden does not care about what Phoebe has to say about the movie that she saw. Also, in Chapter 3, page 21, Holden says, “What I did was, I pulled the old peak of my hunting hat around to the front, then pulled it way down over my eyes.” This shows Holden is a different and playful person when his hat is involved. Holden switches his whole mood and begins joking around with Ackley, even though he just said a lot of bad things about him. Holden says in Chapter 3, that he and Ackley are the only two guys not at the football game. This shows that Holden and Ackley are similar, because the both are not liked very much because of their horrible personality, lack of communication, and their dislike in being around other people. In Ackley especially, readers can see how people treat him and how he treats himself, by not taking care of his

On one of Holden's papers he had to write about the Egyptians. However, Holden writes one paragraph about the Egyptians, and he leaves a note to Mr. Spencer which says "It is all right if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything else except English anyways. (pg 12). " This quote shows that Holden was empathetic towards Mr. Spencer because he cared about his feelings when he would fail Holden. However, when Holden goes to talk with Mr. Spencer, Mr. Spencer just wants to know what Holden thinks of flunking out of Pencey and what he's going to do in the future, instead of asking how he felt about the situation.

This shows that holden never take things seriously being stubborn and never focuses to what people says that he can use to do well in life. Another example is when Holden is on a date with sally, Holden is very happy getting along with sally causes him to think of an idea. ”I was getting excited as hell, the more I thought of it, and sort of reached over and took old Sally’s goddam hand. What a goddam fool i was. ”No kidding,” I said.

Holden's poor relationships with his classmates and teachers, or people in general, was evident before he went to Pencey Prep as well as during his stay at Pencey Prep. When Holden thinks back to his previous school,

When we grow up we’re raised to do our best and to be mature. People know their right from wrongs. Throughout the novel The Catcher in the Rye by, J.D. Salinger the main character goes through a difficult life and time growing up. Growing up too fast is not the answer for everything. The main character Holden Caulfield is a misfit because he is very dramatic, he avoids facing things, and he shows reckless behavior.

The resistance of maturity and adulthood is greatly expressed throughout the novel. “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. Both fear and trauma created during past events can cause a delay or rejection in maturity. Holden is unable to let go of his past and is constantly trying to live in a memory, this causes him to want to stay with his childhood and never transition into adulthood Holden’s fear of adulthood causes him isolate himself from society in order to preserve his inner child innocence. Furthermore, Holden’s resistance of maturity, also leads him to constantly wanting to protect innocence. Lastly, Holden’s inability step out of his immaturity leads him to act impulsively and self-deceive. All these actions and thoughts are signs of immaturity and are the outcome of a fear and trauma that occurred in the past.

Resulting from his lack of social maturity, Holden refers to himself as a child, “I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen” (11) this immaturity is seen throughout the novel. A prominent example is in the way Holden deals with money, “What I don't spend, I lose. Half the time I sort of even forget to pick up my change, at restaurants and night clubs” (119). Like a child Holden is impulsive, in a teenager this is characteristic of a lack of development. Lacking any form of financial liability one clearly understands that Holden has cast away the responsibilities he faces. Literally, this carelessness with money signifies a lack of awareness for his future. As Holden feels lost and lacks guidance, his mind avoid the troubling

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden strives to be a "typical" teenager. But what is a "typical teenager"? In the Catcher in the Rye, of the teens we met, many of them either smoke or have sex. Because so many teens seem to smoke and have sex, Holden wants to do the same in order to fit in as a normal teen. Another "teenage activity" is cursing or using offensive terms constantly. And the final aspect of a typical teenager is trying to fit in. Those who don't fit in are treated as outcasts. Holden hopes to gain more friends by bonding with other teens through common activities. J. D. Salinger illustrates that while Holden has no trouble smoking and cussing like a typical teen, he seems to not have enough willpower to have sex or to make genuine connections.

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

In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield scours the streets of New York Society looking for someone to talk to so that he can understand what it means to be an adult. Admittedly feeling incredibly depressed and lonesome, Holden is eager for someone he can empathize with. Being in his late teenage years, Holden is beginning his transition from child to adulthood only he seems confused about his feelings on this change. Firstly, Holden seems to fear adulthood because he sees it as the death of innocence. Holden labels much of the other characters in the book as phonies for sucking up to others to get what they want. He seems to identify this with adulthood as he labels his young adult classmates and his grown teachers as phonies. In contrast,

Teenagers often struggles with school due to the difficulty to get good grades and interact with teachers and other students. Holden is at Mr. Spencer’s house because Mr. Spencer wants to