How Does Holden Mature In Catcher In The Rye

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.

Throughout the story Holden emphasizes his love for childhood innocence. In a passage he says “The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the golden ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything.” (Salinger 211) This immediately points to his affinity for innocence and not having the limits of being and adult. The

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I

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.

A concept Holden had observed from the start of the novel was the materialism and egotism of people around him. There are numerous situations where this is displayed and he detests these ideas. For instance, Holden exclaims that almost everyone he encounters

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,

            Holden is quite skilled at citing exactly what is wrong with other people.  However he never acknowledges his own faults.  He was sure the entire world was out of step with him.  As Alan Stewart explains, ?Holden seemed to divide the world into two groups.  He was in one group, along with a few other people such as his little sister, Phoebe, and

There is another lesson Holden had to learn. He needed to learn how to be satisfied with his company. He was always looking for someone to call or someone to talk to. When he finally did have some company, he did nothing but criticize them. For example, Sally Hayes went out with Holden, and throughout the entire time he complained and criticized her. He

Since Holden’s is trying savor his moments with the innocence of his childhood he doesn’t really pay attention to what’s around him. Holden isn’t really an adult yet, but he’s acting like one. He drinks and smokes, but he finally

Although the protagonist in The Catcher in The Rye moves constantly from school to school, Holden’s ability for writing is showcased as he writes an essay for Stradlater about his dead brother's baseball mitt, which has poems written on it in green ink. The green ink has an association with renewal, growth, and hope, but in this situation the green stands for both a lack of experience and need for growth. This significance links to how inexperienced Holden actually is which is contrasted with how he portrays himself; physically fighting with a member of staff in the hotel, at which he is staying. The baseball mitt allows Holden to digress from the physical object to the memory of his brother Allie and the impact his death had on Holden, who broke

Lastly, Holden shows avoidance in his measures. Holden is afraid to grow up, because he feels that when someone is rushed into maturity, bad things happen. Holden was forced to grow up when he lost Allie, and this makes his believe that “ignorance is bliss”, and that it is better to lie to yourself and to be a child forever than to grow up and experience pain. “It is only in Holden Caulfield’s unique world that ducks brave the winter or are hauled in trucks to zoos. It should strike the most casual observer that Holden Caulfield frequently exhibits naiveté” (Foran 977). Holden likes to believe that a perfect, idealistic life can be achieved. He is scarred psychiatrically by his traumatic childhood, and he just wants to be normal. “You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?” I realized it was only one chance in a million” (Salinger 60). In this prominent passage, Holden is asking the strange taxi driver about the ducks in

The Catcher in the Rye follows the adventures of a teenage boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden has changed schools several times over the past years — because he either failed all his classes or harbored strong feelings of hate and disgust towards his school. Holden, during the book’s events, is 16 years old, quite tall, and already has some gray hair.

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.

Haas and his friend Stradlater for being unscrupulous while comparably, Holden isn't any different. For instance after agreeing with Old Spencer regarding life as a game, internally Holden admitted that this idea was idiotic and Holden had no problem divulging this to the reader and the reader might find this insignificant but quite coincidentally, these occurrences happen whenever reality is too much for Holden to handle. A great example of this was when Old Spencer asked Holden if his future was significant to him, to which Holden divulges to the reader that this subject is quite depressing for him but in order for a simple concept such as the future to be so depressing, one may infer that Holden has gone through a series of unhealthy events in his life that have made him feel as if life is

Holden expects himself to be more than successful at his private school he attended and move on to a higher education level. Holden can't and doesn't see that. But the plans Holden has are fantasies that won't work at all. Wanting to go off with Sally(one of his friends)at first and to eventually get married is not exactly what will happen, but Sally is more interested in her social life than she is in Holden. Later in the book, Holden decides to go out to California where he thinks he can be a good deaf mute because he doesn't have to talk with people at all which he hates indefinitely.