Teenage Years

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger depicts a narration of Holden Caulfield’s encounters. Holden is portrayed as a high school student that is judgmental towards adults while kinder to the youth. Holden does not want to grow up and he thinks that if one is approaching adulthood, one will turn into a phony. Holden’s leniency towards younger people, such as his sister, is because of his dilemma of growing up or not, his distaste for adult phonies, and his own childhood.

For those of us that are parents, we know that raising a child to adulthood is not an easy task but one which we do lovingly (hopefully) and responsibly. I’ll go out on a limb to say here that everyone agrees that the teenage years are the most challenging. The general consensus is that teenagers are unruly, aggressive, careless, spoiled and dependent on technology. On the other hand, I believe along with a small group of other parents that teenagers are also brilliant and in the process of becoming and reaching their potential and that they deserve much more respect than what they are given.

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

Holden is an altruistic, but confused character who despises his social class. This is illustrated in his encounter with his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, who is trying to convince Holden to take his education seriously, after being expelled from the prestigious school Pencey Prep. Holden says that he is not concerned about his future, to which the tutor answers with assurance: “You will /…/ when it’s too late” (12). The word “will” written in italics emphasizes the teacher’s qualm, which unfortunately fails to change Holden’s mind. Mr. Spencer symbolizes the conventional idea of becoming successful through education, as does Holden’s parents. The misadjusted boy condemns this norm, and therefore he ignores the teacher’s advice and leaves as an escape. Similarly to Tambu, Holden hates the expectations that society, including his parents and the history teacher, has on him. However, the difference between the two protagonists is that in Nervous Conditions the expectations are pushing Tambu to pursue her dreams, whereas in The Catcher in the Rye the norms are hindering Holden from developing. The opposite attitudes towards education also emphasize the characters outlook on respective social class.

In comparisonthere is another novel The Catcher in the Rye where there is a character named Holden Caulfield. Holden is a sixteen year old boy who has had a different life growing up. He has parents who he barely ever sees and feels completely unattached to, a brother who prostitutes his writing talents for movies in Hollywood, and a younger sister named Phoebe who is the only person he is somewhat caring towards. Holden is a pessimistic teenager. Holden has been kicked out of many of his private schools, he does not try at all in school, and he has no friends. Holden feels the constant pressure to do well, and he hates it, he believes everyone else is phony for wanting to become something they don’t want to become, which is why he tries to rebel by getting kicked out of all of his schools. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different

Going through adolescence can be a difficult time. At some times it may feel like everyone is against you. This is similar to what Holden experienced in Catcher in the Rye. He continuously tried to alienate himself from society; he suffers from a self-imposed delusion that he is different. Throughout the story, Holden realizes that growing up indicates that he should assume responsibility in a world where he thinks only superficial and insignificant issues occur (Abdulatif, 2010). Holden is caught in the transition of his life- from the state of childhood into adulthood. According to the article “Alienation in Adolescence in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye,” alienation is a feeling that inflicts adolescents due to certain reasons. As they grow up, adolescents tend to face certain psychological disturbances. They somehow feel indifferent to their

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the leading character, Holden Caulfield, emerges as an adolescence lost in his own private world of pain and suffering, yet ostensibly he was able to provide himself with all the luxuries and splendors of American society. Holden is presented as a failure who struggles to stay in at least one of the four schools he's been kicked out of. This can reflect that Holden can't manage to get by in life. Throughout the book, it is obvious that Holden is running from so many things such as growing up, reality and people who are phonies. It seems that Holden is confused and trapped in memories from moments past, that he is dealing with loneliness and isolates himself as a form of protection. Not only that but he

Holden Caulfield is a very, very troubled young boy in a grown up filled world. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher In The Rye, 16 year old Holden Caulfield is stuck in a rut. He has been expelled from numerous schools, including his current one, Pencey Prep. Holden has been a troubled kid since the death of his older brother, Allie. Allie has played a big role in Holden’s life, and was completely traumatized by his death. Along with those family struggles relating to Allie’s death, Holden has a hard time accepting his adulthood. He wrestles with mental illness and growing up with all of those “phonies”. Even more so, he struggles with the idea of the person he is going to grow into. The environment of The

The Catcher in the Rye is a book that not only grabs a hold of your emotions, but also transforms you into the life of Holden Caulfield. In 1951, J.D. Salinger published what is still being taught in schools all around the United States. Todays adolescents can still relate to the emotions displayed by Holden throughout the entire novel, much like the adolescents in the 1960's could. For instance, Holden is trying to find his way around life at such a young age. At the time, the age group "teenagers" did not yet exist. Holden was still a child, trying to be an adult. Today's children can also relate to this because, as teenagers, we jump into an age where we don't have our bearings yet. We begin to take on more responsibilities, but we still

A disparate situation is presented to readers in The Catcher in the Rye. Early in the novel, Holden expresses the reason for his difficulties in school as his being: “always surrounded by phonies.”(Salinger 13) Holden is correct; he is completely incapable of relating to his peers. However he takes no time to consider potential solutions to his problem. During his conversation with Mr. Spencer, Holden communicates that he deals with his troubles by simply quitting; putting minimal effort into academics and socialization. Since Holden never addresses his emotions directly, he fails to realize

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel of teenage angst. The main character and narrator of the novel Holden Caulfield describes his last few days before his parents receive a letter informing them that Holden has been kicked out of Pencey Prep for flunking every class but English. Holden discusses the real world around him as he sees it and talks about how phony the people around him are due to his own insecurities and phoniness. Holden’s biggest flaw is that he is afraid to change and grow up.

Some might say it’s the teen’s fault for not trying hard enough or not caring, but in fact it can be the teacher’s fault. “The poorest teacher I had was algebra teacher from (name of school removed) High School. She never helped students that needed the extra help. She would just point and laugh at us if we didn’t know the answer. Sometimes she would throw rocks at me cause I used to comb my hair funny and because of that my feelings were hurt. I start listening to depeche mode music by myself in they dark (student drew an unhappy face at the end of the story)” (Gibson). This is an example of teachers not doing their job correctly. They should be encouraging kids to do well and not demoralizing them. Holden was also looked down upon. As from his teacher’s point of view, “ ..letter from your headmaster, to the effect that you were making absolutely no effort at all” (Salinger 205). He should’ve told Holden ways he could do better instead of expressing his opinion. His teacher believes he does not care about school, since he is a teenager and it is his nature to have other priorities. Contradictory, students in Holden’s time and now blame it on the teachers not being well behaved, not because they are involved with other activities. They both rebel because they’re not giving clear help and guidance. Students go through a time in their life where they explore new realms and want to become adults. They care

Teenage adolescence is one the toughest transitions for a human to go through. It's the moment in our lives where we experience change both physically and mentally and emotionally. It is the transition between childhood and adulthood, the period where teens struggle to find their identify in life. It's also the point in which our minds have developed, eyes wide open to all the negative things that surround the world – and in the world Holden Caulfield lives in, he has expressed himself they only way he feels comfortable and the only way he knows how – rebelliously. Respectfully, Holden Caulfield differs from what a normal teenage boy appears to be but he does show emotions and characteristics that categorizes him as an “average teenager.” He’s portrayed as an adolescent teenage boy who is constantly struggling to find is identity in a world that he doesn't seem to fit in with. Holden actions and the way he expresses himself is very relatable to the modern day teenager. Whether it's through his sexually related encounters or his strive for independence.

Schuessler’s opinion about the relevance of the Catcher in the Rye to today's teens is true to me and my fellow's teenagers. Schussler points out that teenagers do not like Holden, the main character, because of his immaturity, attitude, irrelevant language to today's teenagers. Holden's immaturity in the Catcher in the Rye is childish because, in the book, Holden acts like a child, Holden doesn't want to accept life. In the passage, Holden tries to be an adult when he goes to Antolini house. In today's society, many teenagers try and they accept life but in the book, Holden does the opposite.

Throughout J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, teenagers are represented within every aspect of the text. The representation of such is quite accurate in portraying an adolescent. To start off with, Holden’s problems and troubles are not a result of his own actions. Also, His issues are often exaggerating, and are not as serious as he makes them out to be. Finally, Holden’s actions and mannerisms are reflective of a teenager. In short, Catcher in the Rye is accurate in portraying teenagers.