The poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay once said, “Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age. The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies” (Goodreads.com). Indeed, childhood is considered by many people to be the period of greatest joy in a person’s lifetime, as they are without care or need, nor are they burdened by the effects of stress, work, and pain. However, this state of bliss does not last, and eventually ceases to exist through the dreaded process of “growing up.” In J.D. Salinger’s acclaimed novel The Catcher in the Rye, the concept of growing up and what it means to grow up plays a prominent role in the life of the novel’s narrator, Holden Caulfield, …show more content…
Late in the novel, Holden takes his little sister Phoebe to the zoo, and convinces her to ride the zoo’s carousel. Whilst on it, Phoebe, who is only ten years old and somewhat small, attempts to reach for the gold rings at the edges of the carousel. Holden, afraid that she might fall off, begins to say something, but takes it back and decides not to, explaining, “I didn’t say or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it, and not say anything.If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (Salinger 211). Gathering from his personal experiences of growing up and maturing through pain and the loss of innocence, Holden has a moment of “awakening,” in which he completes his process of maturing by looking at not only his own life in an adult manner, but at the lives of others as well. Holden shows the beginning stages of the development of his parental skills, as while he loves Phoebe and hopes that she does not fall off and hurt herself, he finally recognizes the value in letting her do so. As a child, his mindset, like that of countless others, was determined to stop that from happening, to avoid failure at all …show more content…
Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye reveals to the reader that growing up requires a loss of innocence during childhood as well as an occasional reality check, as displayed through the events of Holden’s meeting with a prostitute, Allie Caulfield’s death, and riding the carousel at the zoo. Throughout the course of the novel, the main character experiences many sudden and unexpected events, which subsequently cause him to undergo a long and painful change of character and of thought, and which force him to lose whatever innocence he had retained from childhood. It is though these actions and events that the novel conveys the harsh reality of growing up, and showcases the amount of sorrow, mystery, and pain that is usually required for it to occur, as well as the fact that it is inevitable, no matter how hard an individual tries to prevent it. Just as many people in today’s world undergo a dramatic metamorphosis from child to adult, so to does Holden, and it is only after which that he realizes the necessity of growing up, and truly realizes its value, just as people in modern society do today. Like Holden, most people come to appreciate their newfound intelligence and maturity, and yet, they seem to desire to return to their prior states, as they can never again be in the state of bliss and care-freeness that they were as children. While most books and novels try to sugarcoat growing up, and display it as an incredible journey of exclusively wonder and excitement, The
In the modern world, everyone must make the transition, no matter how scary or daunting it may be, into adulthood at some point in their lives. Most individuals are gradually exposed to more mature concepts, and over time, they begin to accept that they can no longer posses the blissful ignorance that they once had as a child. Others, however, are violently thrown from their otherwise pure and uncorrupted adolescent lives through a traumatic event that hurls them into adulthood before they are ready. The novel The Catcher on the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, explores the struggle children face to adapt to adult society through the main character Holden Caulfield, a teen that lost his innocence, and is still attempting to cope with the fact that everyone grows up.
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.
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.
Growing up is not easy. The desire to slow down or stop the process is not unusual for adolescents. Resisting adulthood causes those who try to run away from it to eventually come to terms with the reality of life: everyone has to grow up, and fighting against it makes it much harder to accept in the end. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield often tries to resist the process of maturity in an effort to avoid the complicated life he might face as an adult, making him an unusual protagonist for a bildungsroman; this struggle, however, opens Holden’s eyes to the reality and inevitability of growing up, helping him realize that innocence does not last forever. Holden’s preference of a simplistic lifestyle is evident throughout the novel, but stands out especially when he visits the Museum of Natural History.
In his novel Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger portrays childhood and adolescence as times graced by innocence when his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, is faced with the reality of becoming an adult. Holden’s desperation to maintain his innocence and the manner in which he critiques those he deems to have lost theirs, emphasizes his immaturity and ignorance while highlighting the importance the author places on childhood.
Innocence lies within everyone in at least one point in their lives, but as reality consumes them, that purity begins to vanish slowly as they learn new experiences. In the coming of age novel set in the nineteen-forties, J.D Salinger writes about a sixteen-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who stands between a road that separates childhood from adulthood and is confused about which path to take. On a three-day trip in New York away from his family and fellow peers at school, Holden encounters many situations in which lead him to think twice about who he wants to become and how he wants to guide others who are in the same situation he is in. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger utilizes symbolism, vivid imagery, and slangy diction to expose Holden’s struggle to preserve the innocence of the people that he loves while alienating himself from the adult world he calls “phony.”
In a novel, the theme is the insight of real life. J.D. Salinger’s initiation novel, The Catcher In The Rye, describes the adventures of 16-year old Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and first person narrator, who refuses to grow up and enter manhood. The most important theme developed by Salinger is Holden’s problem of dealing with change; he has trouble dealing with death, he refuses to accept children’s loss of innocence as a necessary step in the growing-up process, and has difficulties with growing up.
The novel The Catcher in the Rye follows Holden Caulfield for a weekend. The story begins in Agerstown, PA at Pencey Prep school with Holden standing on top of the Thomson Hill on his way to Mr. Spencer’s, his history teacher, to say good bye because Holden was expelled for not following rules. On his way to Spencer’s, Holden “felt like [he] was sort of disappearing”. (Salinger 5) The sense of symbolism with the word “disappearing” is that he feels alone and almost invisible. When Mr. Spencer starts to read Holden’s failed paper, Holden starts to daydream about “wondering where ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over” (13) in Central Park in New York. The symbolic significance in this comment is that Holden is frozen in adolescence.
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.
Holden Caulfield sees childhood as the ideal state of being. He thinks adulthood is filled with corrupt people. The only way anyone can win in the adult world is if the cards are stacked in his favor. The characters in The Catcher in the Rye play a diverse set of roles in the war between childhood and adulthood.
While in the city, he encounters many people who he believes are “phony.” This is one of the main reasons why Holden is afraid of growing up, he realizes that adults are phony and fake. He decides to go back to his house to visit his younger sister, Phoebe, who seems to be the only one who understood him at the time. He realizes that he wanted to be a catcher in the rye, someone who catches innocent kids before they fall into the trap of adulthood. But when he takes Phoebe to ride a carousel in the park, he realizes that growing up is inevitable, and he cannot do or saying anything to prevent
J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye explores the ambiguity of the adult world Holden must eventually learn to accept. Throughout the novel, Holden resists the society grownups represent, coloring his childlike dreams with innocence and naivety. He only wants to protect those he loves, but he cannot do it the way he desires. As he watches Phoebe on the carousel, he begins to understand certain aspects of truth. He writes:
Holden and the Complexity of Adult Life What was wrong with Holden, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D.Salinger, was his moral revulsion against anything that was ugly, evil, cruel, or what he called "phoney" and his acute responsiveness to beauty and innocence, especially the innocence of the very young, in whom he saw reflected his own lost childhood. There is something wrong or lacking in the novels of despair and frustration of many writers. The sour note of bitterness and the recurring theme of sadism have become almost a convention, never thoroughly explained by the author's dependence on a psychoanalytical interpretation of a major character. The boys who are spoiled or turned into budding homosexuals by their mothers and a loveless home life are as familiar to us today as stalwart and dependable young heroes such as John Wayne were to an earlier generation. We have accepted this interpretation of the restlessness and bewilderment of our young men and boys because no one has anything better to offer.
Growing up poses challenges to most people at some point in their lives. 16-year-old Holden Caufield is no exception. He is an apathetic teenager who’s flunked out of many schools. Underneath the cynical exterior though, Holden is troubled. He has different methods for escaping his problems but in the end they just cause him more problems. J.D Salinger, in his novel The Catcher in the Rye shows that often times when an individual faces problems in their life they will try to find a means to escape, instead of solving them.
The first time that I saw the title of J.D Salinger’s book The Catcher in the Rye, I imagined the story in my head that it may be about child with nature. But after reading, that is not exactly what I have in my mind. This story is about the teenage boy, Holden Caulfield who fears the change from childhood into adulthood. He has bad attitude about growing up to be an adult. Holden would like to be the “Catcher in the Rye” because he wants to protect kids from falling off the cliff of childhood innocence into adulthood that he thinks it is the phony and depressing world.