The deeply troubled adolescent Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye displays signs of fear and rejection towards the adult world, into which he is strongly resisting the transition. Caulfield is disgusted at the world and in particular the adults that surround him which ultimately drives Caulfield to the point of expelling the idea of maturity and rather preserving the childlike innocence in the youth. Caulfield labels adults as arrogant and superficial who are believed to be the carriers of vice and phoniness and are blind to their wrong doings. On the contrary, Caulfield believes that children are the carriers of virtue and innocence, who are sucked into the complex and superficial adult world.
The consequences that Caulfield faces
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The notion of Caulfield’s desire to live as a “poor deaf-mute bastard”(Salinger 1994:179) where “they’d leave me alone”(Salinger 1994: 179) is a prime example of Caulfield’s wish to become detached and alienated from those around him. Through alienation and detachment from those around him, he avoids confrontation and interaction with people which he believes will be the saviour of his own self falling victim to phoniness. However, as Caulfield acts quickly to criticize and label others as, “that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 1994:12), he does not realise that he is actually guilty of the phoniness that he so easily labels others with.
Holden Caulfield exhibits a clear dislike for the idea of change, where he shows visible signs of fear towards this idea, “Certain things they should stay the way they are” (Salinger 1994:110). Caulfield finds safety and security in The Museum of Natural History, “I loved that damn museum” (Salinger 1994:108) as it an example of the ideal stagnant and predictable world that Caulfield longs for, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (Salinger 1994: 109). Caulfield’s
Noah Pedrazzoli Mr. Krajca English 9 HR 30 March 2017 “The Catcher in the Rye” essay Why Can’t Holden pass as an Adult Have you ever felt the pressure of Adulthood closing in and felt that you would never fit in as one? Did you ever feel Childish or immature? In J.D Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye” Holden Caulfield is in the midst of a mental break down because of the pressure of Adulthood. After being expelled from yet another school, Holden Caulfield goes to New York City to experience the “Adult life”, but he just can’t fit in.
No one wants to grow up. The transitions from innocent childhood, to fearless adolescence, to sudden real and terrifying adulthood is enough to scare anyone. So, because of this, people have a natural desire to want to protect innocence, or perhaps to even stop time and live young and free forever. J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye portrays this dilemma of becoming an adult and the protection of innocence through the story of Holden Caulfield. Holden’s story is essentially that of a teenage boy bumming around New York City for a few days in search of someone to listen to him about his fears of becoming an adult.
Holden Caulfield, captures the American reality of teens through anxiety and mental health in the book The Catcher In The Rye. Caufield is afraid of adulthood and the responsibilities that come with growing up. He suffers from depression and anxiety. These mental health issues were likely a cause from the death of his little brother, his witnessing the death of his classmate, and the violence and unhealthy environment in the all boys boarding school. Holden Caufield’s mental health challenges reflect a reality in America that most teens are dealing with some level of stress and anxiety and how those shape their behavior as they become young adults.
Adulthood is when we mature into a person that continues to live life in reality as we let our childhood and adolescence become a faint memory. The memories, however, taught us lessons of acceptance as we cannot always shape the future. Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye takes a journey through the rite of passage by experiencing the innocence of youth and the phoniness of adulthood.
All throughout life, acceptance and rejection is a common incidence. It is common in human nature to seek recognition and approval from society. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, described the emergence of a wild, rebellious young boy, Holden Caulfield, and how he had to overcome the difficulties of pursuing acceptance and managing rejection. He was continually proactive in his journey for acceptance.
J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye tells the heart-wrenching story of a young teenager’s battle to fit in with the world around him. Although Holden Caufield’s privileged life at home and at Pency Prep, is seemingly ideal, he struggles to find meaning. He travels throughout New York City, witnessing human behavior that depresses him. Some of the issues that most trouble Holden are adult phoniness, religion’s phoniness, and school’s phoniness. Because of Holden’s brother’s death, and his own acute intelligence, Holden is better able to see societal flaws.
The idea that Caulfield has this trouble lead us to the theme of the story. The theme of the story that The Catcher in the Rye is Caulfield and he protects the innocence of children. Inside your novel it is clearly portrayed that Caulfield gradually begins to lose his childhood innocence to adulthood. The thing Caulfield experiences throughout the book is something we can both agree would definitely rid us of any innocence. For example, the time Caulfield found a woman to spend some “quality time” with.
In The Catcher in the Rye J.D.Salinger depicts a vivid picture of a teenager standing at a crossroads of childhood and adulthood. The story is an overlapping of ideas when truth get mixed with lie,alienation absorbes a solitary teenager,insomnia veils reality with reminiscences and in the middle of it all stands Holden Caulfield,the main character of the book. He shares his perspective of things during few days while he roams the city of New York and looks for a person who would be able to get into his shoes at least for a second. This alienation leads Holden to sleep deprivation,panick attacks and constant state of depression.
“Adolescence is society’s permission slip for combining physical maturity with psychological irresponsibility.” (Terri Apter) In the fictional novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden is making a journey through adolescence. Throughout this book, Holden is making a trip from immaturity to maturity and finding his way through adolescence. In the story, Salinger uses symbolism to show how Holden changes in the story.
In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is a peculiar character portrayed as a skeptic living in “a world of phonies” in circa 1950. These personality traits can be seen through his doubts of society as well as his way of thinking and acting toward others. He also demonstrates a lack of responsibility adding to his role as a slacker. Holden flunks out of school repeatedly and has no desire to confront his parents. He mopes around the city for days, delaying the inevitable punishments he’s sure to get.
In the paradoxical personality of Holden we discover something much deeper. As Holden makes himself out to be tougher than what he actually is, Salinger introduces stubbornness. Holden’s true nature of gentleness and sensitivity offered throughout the book often brings bedlam into his life, though Salinger brings into
The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.
In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden demonstrates the struggle of transitioning between childhood and adulthood by revealing his hassle to grow up. Maturity comes through being an adult and growing up is all about becoming more mature. Throughout the book, Holden goes through numerous conflicts and problems. In the beginning of the book, Holden is gives information about himself.
Rationale The catcher in the rye Title: What if the story ended different? Type of text: Alternative ending to the text
He lies intensely throughout the course of the novel, starting from lying to Ackley at the very beginning of the book. From his sarcastic tone in his conversation with other people, readers can denote his own cynical view on the world. Holden views adulthood as phony, hypocritical and fake while childhood in his mind is a world of innocence, honesty, and joy. That is the main reason why he wants to be a “catcher in the rye” to protect and save all the children from falling into the phony adult world. Holden Caulfield’s despise of fakeness causes his resistance of growing into a more mature person, with the lack of ability to interact with other people, make him a