Summary: Holden's Troubled Adolescence

The whole book is set as a flashback of Holden's past year. When he starts narrating the story, he mentions that he got "pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy". This says that Holden has had a tough year, with a breakdown, he is in some kind of place where he's taking it easy. His previous diction/word choice gives us hints that he might actually be in a mental hospital(words like madman). He describes the place as 'crumby' and also says that his brother, D.B., visits him every weekend. And, at the very end of the book, last chapter (26), Holden says, "...this one psychoanalyst guy they have here, keeps asking me if I'm going to apply myself when I go back to school next September." 'Psychoanalysis' is, according to FreeDictionary, " The method of

Holden then realizes that he wants to help preserve children’s innocence before they go out in to a corrupt world. He wants to become a catcher in the rye, and catch children before they go off the “cliff”, as he did. “ What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them.”(P173) Holden can be compared to peter pan in the

Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. In the book Holden hears a quote “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he want to live humbly for one” (Salinger 188) which he embraces as he matures throughout the story. Holden’s opinions of childhood and adulthood change as he grows through experience.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

Holden is the biggest hater of phonies, and at the same time, he is the biggest phony in the novel. In this novel, being phony is somewhat equivalent to being an adult. Holden wants to be seen like an adult. For this reason, he smokes and drinks heavily, and goes as far as being involved with prostitution. For people like Stradlater and adults, these are rather normal from their perspective. However, for Holden, they become paradoxes, as he absolutely loathes phoniness. Nearly all aspects of society, including movies, matinees, people’s behaviors, and even simple social interactions like conversations, are criticized by Holden for being phony. For example, during his date with Sally, Sally’s conversation with a guy they met at the matinee “killed [Holden]…it was the phoniest conversation you ever heard in your life” (Salinger 127). In a hope to make Sally understand his views on phonies, Holden says, “‘Take cars,’… ‘I don’t even like old cars. I mean they don’t even interest me. I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake’” (Salinger 130). Then again, Holden becomes the phoniest person shortly after. He asks Carl Luce,

Many Americans think that people who are different than them in some way or another are inferior. Holden embodies this need for judgement with his feeling that all adults or other adult-like students are “phonies.” He thinks that because they are different than him, they are less than him. Holden rarely sees an adult that he does not think of as a phony, “It was very phony- I mean him being such a big snob and all” (Ch.12 pg. 110). Even though Holden admits that this piano player is very talented and humble he thinks that he is still a phony. This gives good insight into how Holden sees people around him. Like many people in America, Holden jumps to conclusions and judges people who are different than

For example, in chapter 10, when Holden is staying at a New York City hotel, he goes to the Lavender Room and encounters three girls, Bernice, whom he is attracted to, Marty, and Laverne. A rare moment in the story as Holden steps up to interact with the opposite gender, asking them for a dance and a good time. To Holden’s misfortune, the girls don’t seem interested in him as they find his actions amusing. Phoniness is also present when Marty says she saw Gary Cooper, a movie star, in efforts to lie and impress others based off something that never happened. Holden thinks that the girls are coarse and rude, as they are looking out for celebrities instead of engaging in conversation. Holden is offended by their ‘phoniness’ and finds them pathetic. Although Holden has such a low opinion of these girls, he continues to seek for their company, in the end, dancing with the three of them. This example shows the extent to which others excluding Holden can truly be phony and not usually just exaggerated by Holden. But Holden, himself, also shows phony traits, that gives the reader a hypocritical, but true form of himself. Holden is able to

Holden compare his imagination to a poem by Robert Burns called “If a body meet a body coming though the rye”. Holden Picturing all these kids playing on a field of rye and Holden is standing near the edge of the cliff to catch them from falling. In fact, Holden said, “Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game on the field of rye and all. I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.” In reality, he wants to stop kids from entering into the adult world losing his innocence, which Holden is afraid of because according to him kids are “real” meaning that they will always speak their mind.

The goal that that Holden has to try so hard to fulfil is symbolic of his need to differentiate himself from the "phonies" around him. Holden’s image of people is pretty bad because he believes no one acts how they truly feel. Growing up scares Holden because it leads to adulthood. In his eyes once he hits adulthood, it'll eventually lead into the same phoniness as the rest of the adults. His constant avoidance and dodging of people and situations causes him to become more and more distant from normal society and social stability.

The relationship between Holden and the "phonies" shows how Holden despise the society at first. Whenever he meets people he thinks they are "phony" he would criticize them. For instance during the intermission of the play, the conversation between Sally and George

Holden himself doesn't want to grow up. He thinks that adults are phonies and there is no trust in the grown up world. Holden is nervous to grow up and wants to protect his own innocence. He is still a virgin. Towards the end of the novel, he realizes that since he is the only one in his life saving peoples' innocence, then there is nobody to save his.

Holden Caulfield is the main character and narrator in J. D Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Moreover, Holden is a strong character because, as he tells his story, he is not afraid to speak his mind. For instance, Holden’s views of the world are thoroughly and passionately expressed throughout the novel. One of the views he expresses is the way he views childhood and adulthood oppositely. Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caufield views childhood positively and adulthood negatively.

     Throughout “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden Caufield longs for intimacy with other human beings. One of Holden’s main problems is that he sees childhood as the ideal state of being. He thinks that all adults are phonies.

Holden's phony addiction gets him into trouble at school. Holden looks for the flaws in everyone and tries to eliminate that person he sees as a threat, such as when Holden decides to face off against the phony Stradlater after Stradlater's date with Jane. Holden also thinks every teacher is a phony who pretends to be helpful to students. If Holden has trouble in school he does not seek help from his peers because he believes that they are phonies. Hence this point is tied into one of the reasons he is kicked out of Pencey, failing four out of five courses. Holden's avoidance of things phony is very strong and he has a one-track mind. It is either his way or the highway, this is another example of how Holden's phony problem hinders his chance at full maturity. Holden is so scared

In a particular moment in the novel, when Holden is talking to Phoebe about what he wishes to do in the future, it becomes clearer to the readers, Holdens view towards the overall transition to adulthood. Holden vocalizes how he wishes to: “catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff- I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going…” (173). By talking about this “cliff’ Holden is comparing, the change required to becoming an adult, to death. He talks about how he hopes to save those who are about to fall over the “cliff’ but never discusses how he would go about things if he found himself at one point falling off the cliff as well. Holden is unable to confront his issue with change and why he feels a particular way towards those in society that have been impacted by change. Holden wants a world where everything is simple, but he eventually has to realize that life can not always stay the same