Conflicts In JD Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye

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The idea of having a character that has to struggle to find themselves is quite common idea in many books. This is seen in the Catcher in the Rye where JD Salinger put Holden the main character through many different struggles throughout the book to finally realise what his purpose is and what he aim to do. There are many different situations that Holden is put through but they all aim to the same purpose, being a catcher in the rye. Two of the main struggles he is put through is his journey into adulthood and the journey to retain his innocence as Holden calls it. The second is how he almost alienates himself from others and very rarely opens up to anybody, and his relationships with people are not the best he thinks of many of the people …show more content…

You can see the differences between a conversation between his roommate or a date compared to a conversation between himself and his little sister Phoebe. Because Holden thinks kids are real and not phony Holden allows himself to open up and not hide his true self. He starts to close himself off from the rest of society because there are many expectations that Holden cannot live up to. Since he comes from a high middle class family there is an expectation of him to go to university, and how teenageres are supposed to act. Holden is very different when it comes to these expectations and he wants nothing to do with all this. He just wants to know how to deal with adulthood and no one is prepared to listen to him, other than children since they are real they listen to Holden and he can understand the kids. Kids are real to Holden so they will say what they think and not pretend. “Then the carousel started, and I watched her go round and round...All the kids tried to grap for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she's fall off the goddam horse, but 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 is bad to say anything to them.” This shows Holden’s affection for kids he doesn’t talk about anyone this way in the entire book, so you can see that Holden does alienate himself from everybody but

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