The daunting face of adulthood is one that is inevitably encountered and must be confronted. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger depicts the disheartening journey from adolescence to adulthood that Holden Caulfield endures. Although holden seeks the freedoms that mark adulthood, he has yet to take up the role of a truly mature citizen as he is disgusted by the society conforming nature of those adults, leading him to his gradual mental decline. J. D. Salinger uses the immature character of Holden Caulfield as a means of revealing the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood and the psychological effects that has on a person. Salinger portrays Holden Caulfield as immature, and as a result, he does not accept and is unaccepted by his general surroundings. The depiction of Holden’s irresponsible character demonstrates the disadvantage of immaturity when trying to function in society. Holden recalls an instance when he leaves the whole fencing team’s equipment on the subway and how they then “ostracized” him for it (Salinger …show more content…
Research in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2111500072/MSIC?u=avlr&sid=MSIC&xid=96b08510. Accessed 4 Dec. 2017. Irving, Joanne. “The Catcher in the Rye: An Alderian Interpretation.” EBSCOhost, EBSCO Publishing , 1 May 1976, web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=905b3b50-73e4-400c-9834-3fd3f3 8e3e1a%40sessionmgr4009. "J. D. Salinger." Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale, 1998. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=avlr&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CK1631005792&asid=9d7e04ba37c8259de38b906c482330b4. Accessed 5 Nov. 2017. Salinger, J.D. The catcher in the rye: a novel. Little, Brown and Company, 2014. “The Catcher in the Rye: The Voice of Alienation.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 14 Aug. 2012,
J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, uses the behaviour of protagonist Holden Caulfield to shape his personality in the way he alienates himself from the rest of the world. Holden alienates himself from the society he lives in, his relationships with others and also the relationships he has with himself. Holden struggles to cope with the fact that eventually he will have to grow up, and so will everyone around him. Holden see’s the world not being perfect as a huge problem that he alone has to fix because everyone else is too much of a ‘phony’ to do it. The novel explores Holden’s weekend after he got kicked out of his fourth school, Pency Prep, and the struggles he faces with alienating himself.
It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is seen by some critics a a drop out student destined for failure in life, but I see him as a symbol of an adolescent who struggles to adapt to the reality of adulthood.
J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye provides a provocative inquiry into the crude life of a depressed adolescent, Holden Caulfield. Without intensive analysis and study, Holden appears to be a clearly heterosexual, vulgar yet virtuous, typical youth who chastises phoniness and decries adult evils. However, this is a fallacy. The finest manner to judge and analyze Holden is by his statements and actions, which can be irrefutably presented. Holden Caulfield condemns adult corruption and phoniness but consistently misrepresents himself and is a phony as well as a hypocrite.
Salinger, J. D.. The Catcher in the Rye. [1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 19511945. Print.
Aristotle once said, “Young people are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing.” This “condition,” as Aristotle says, is adolescence. Adolescence is much like jumping in a lake. One must walk out to the dock and once he or she is at the end, one cannot turn back. If one is to turn back they will be ridiculed as a coward, like a child. The water is ice cold, a freezing ice bath, so one does not want to jump in, but he or she can’t turn back for fear of jeer from friends. Therefore one is in a dilemma of confusion and tension between “chickening out” and braving the polar water of the lake. The land is childhood, safe and comfortable, but gone forever; and the artic water is unknown, unpleasant, and threatening like adulthood. Just like the awkward stage of being in between jumping in and abandonment, adolescence contains the strains and tension between childhood and adulthood. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield, experiences these tensions of adolescence. Holden’s quandary is he is deadlocked in adolescence, unable to go return to childhood but unwilling to progress forward to adulthood. Because Holden is consumed with the impossible task of preserving the innocence of childhood, so he delays the inevitability of becoming an adult. This leaves Holden stranded on the dock, stuck in adolescence; the center of Holden’s problems.
Salinger, J. D.. The Catcher in the Rye. [1st ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 19511945. Print.
Making mistakes is a completely normal part of life. Learning from your mistakes is a necessity because it’s the only way to progress. Beatrice Wood, an artist and sculptor speaks one solution for dealing with mistakes. “Life is full of mistakes. They’re like pebbles that make you a good road.” These “pebbles” (mistakes), which come in all different shapes and sizes create structure for us to go anywhere in life. By contrast, Holden’s resistance towards his school work creates too many pebbles, and he is stuck spinning his tires in rocks. In The Catcher in Rye, J.D. Salinger displays through Holden that making mistakes and learning from them is a vital part of growing up, because running
Holden Caulfield a timeless figure configured by Salinger is put on a journey were he is trying to transition into the world by unlocking the door to adulthood .He is not yet ready to open that door because he still having trouble finding his identity and is filled with self doubt such as believing he is disappearing from the world , and deeming himself incapable of accepting change" He views himself as a liar, but he refuses to acknowledge that this means that he is phony, too"(CLC). But like many other adolescences he is native and faces the challenging road of finding himself and overcoming the trials and tribulations that life throws at him. Unlike most adolescences though Holden purposely puts himself in situations where he cannot connect with others in his everyday life and in turn becomes hopelessly lonely and alienated in society. This causes him to struggles in him communication with others in a mature and sophisticated manor.
In J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, the main character Holden Caufield believes that innocence is corrupted by society. He exposes his self-inflicted emotional struggles as he is reminiscing the past. For Holden, teenage adolescence is a complicated time for him, his teenage mentality in allows him to transition from the teenage era to the reality of an adult in the real world. As he is struggling to find his own meaning of life, he cares less about others and worries about how he can be a hero not only to himself but also to the innocent youth. As Holden is grasping the idea of growing up, he sets his priorities of where he belongs and how to establish it. As he talks about how ‘phony’ the outside world is, he has specific recollections that signify importance to his life and he uses these time and time again because these memories are ones that he wont ever let go of. The death of his younger brother Allie has had a major impact on him emotionally and mentally. The freedom of the ducks in Central Park symbolize his ‘get away’ from reality into his own world. His ideology of letting kids grow up and breaking the chain loose to discover for themselves portrays the carrousel and the gold ring. These are three major moments that will be explored to understand the life of Holden Caufield and his significant personal encounters as he transitions from adolescence into manhood.
In the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger we see life through the 16-year-old teenage boy Holden Caulfield’s eyes and we learn about what he wants to pursue in life as well as what troubles have made him the way he is. Holden Caulfield views his surroundings with negativity and contempt with the purpose to avoid the corruption of adulthood. He is stuck between the bridge of childhood and adulthood and he fears the responsibility he must take to fully cross the bridge. Holden isolates himself from all adults and places himself in a separate crowd, one that will avoid corruption and will save the innocence of the young. Holden believes all adults possess traits of that of a "phony” and when he encounters people they strike him as
There is a singular event that unites every single human being on the planet, growing up. Not everyone can say it was pleasant, but no one can deny that it took place. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing; often forcing one to seek out the answers to questions that likely have no definitive answer. During the process, the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we are on the brink of entering this cruel, unjust society can the ignorant bliss of childhood be truly recognized. Catcher in the Rye explores the intimidating complexities associated with adulthood and how baffling it seems to the naïve teenage mind. Through the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society.
The Catcher in the Rye gives the reader a window into the hidden paranoia of the 1950's. On the first page Holden tells the reader "my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them." (p.1) This demonstrates the standoffish demeanor of the 50's. Holden observers this paranoia but does not attribute it to the nature of his society. During the 1950's people became much less open about their lives mainly because of the Domestic Cold War and McCarthyism. People became nervous that they would become the latest targets of a HUAC investigation. In 1951, when Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye the nation was transfixed with the Rosenberg Trial and could still easily remember the Alg...
Jerome David Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is based on the life events shaping main character, Holden Caulfield, into the troubled teen that is telling the story in 1950. The theme of the story is one of emotional disconnection felt by the alienated teenagers of this time period. The quote, “ I didn’t know anyone there that was splendid and clear thinking and all” (Salinger 4) sets the tone that Holden cannot find a connection with anyone around him and that he is on a lonely endeavor in pursuit of identity, acceptance and legitimacy. The trials and failures that Holden faces on his journey to find himself in total shed light on Holden’s archenemy, himself.
Even though “The Catcher in the Rye” was written and set in the 1950s, Salinger's story about an observative, conscious teen who is struggling to find his own identity, maintains much interest and is suitable to readers today. Many teenagers can relate to Holden Caulfield's opinionated and sentimental personality, as well as the problems he faces. These problems include sexually related rendezvouses and eagerness for independence. Holden goes against the adult world around him, which to Holden is loaded with "phonies", searching for righteousness and truth, even though several of his actions would depict him as a "phony" himself. Towards the end of the book, Holden finds it harder to deal with living in the society he is in, while dealing with his worsening depression.