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Peter Pan And Holden Comparison

Decent Essays

To avoid unwanted pressure of growing up, in J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” and P.J. Hogan’s “Peter Pan,” the main characters Holden Caulfield and Peter Pan identify and evade their main source of stress, their parents. In Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye,” Holden Caulfield struggles to move on with his life, he stops trying and drops out of the schooling that his parents put him in. His parents hoped for him to succeed and would be disappointed to find out that he had not met their expectations. Because of this, Holden avoids his parents and the unwanted pressure, he's not ready to grow up and decides to stay in New York City for a while, and to give his parents the chance to process the bad news. “I decided I'd take a room in a hotel in New York – some very inexpensive hotel and all – and just take it easy until Wednesday. Then, on Wednesday, I'd go home all rested up and feeling swell. I figured my parents probably wouldn't get old Thurmer’s letter saying I’d been given the ax till maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. I didn’t want to go home or anything till they got it and thoroughly digested it and all” (Salinger 51). Holden is not ready to face the pressure his parents will put on him after finding out he dropped out of school, he knows they will be disappointed and fed up with his behavior for it is not the first time he has done this. Holden respects his …show more content…

They are unable to be mature, stay away from unwanted pressure, and have small understanding of what the adult world really is. The transition into adulthood is rough, harder for some more than others, and is the biggest leap that you must take in life. Both Holden Caulfield and Peter Pan proved to be unready for the tasks in front of them, they are unprepared to take on responsibilities and become grown up

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