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Catcher In The Rye Maturation Analysis

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Maturation is the journey from childhood to adulthood, where time represents everyone’s unavoidable passageway to adulthood. An awakening in life can help one become aware of the world around him. In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, traces the process of maturation through the protagonist Holden Caulfield. Firstly, Holden commits many wrong doings and hurts others through his actions. Secondly, he encounters pain and anguish and thirdly, he is healed. The three stages of Holden’s process of maturation are: sin, suffering, and redemption. The first stage of Holden’s process of maturation is sin. This is primarily seen when Holden insults the Bible. Holden gets in bed and feels like praying. Yet, he cannot pray because he is “sort of an atheist” (Salinger 99). Holden admires Jesus, but the Disciples annoy him (Salinger 99). Holden admires Jesus because of his leadership, yet dislikes the Disciples because they were followers. His parents disagree when it comes to religion, therefore none of his siblings attended church. Holden did not have a belief system when he …show more content…

The first stage is sin; Holden insults and critizes the Bible and takes pleasure in the suffering of others. The second stage is suffering; Holden alienates and isolates himself from the world and thinks about committing suicide. The third stage is redemption; Holden realizes that Phoebe is worth living for and accepts the world because he understands that he cannot change it. In the beginning, Holden is a naïve and innocent person in an adult world. Throughout the novel, he goes through many changes that change is perception of the world and the people around him. By the end, Holden has compassion and is matured. As one can see, maturity is an important process in a person’s life. Growing up is inevitable because life is full of eye-opening experiences and life lessons that helps one

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He faces many problems throughout the book, and is always trying to save kids innocence. Holden also wants to stay a kid and not grow up, however he finds out that he can’t do this by the end of the novel. Some people may think that Holden wasn't successful throughout his journey, however, one could also see how he was successful in his journey. By the end of the novel, Holden was able to find out that he couldn't save kids innocence, he couldn’t be a kid forever, and he sees that even though the world is filled with evil, he can accept it, or at least live with it.

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The beginning of Holden’s journey starts with the innocence and naivety of childhood. Childhood is the stage that ignorance is bliss with no care in the world. Holden goes to a prestigious boarding school for boys and he believes that everyone in that school is a phony in some way. Holden is an observant character as he stays in the background, but he can also cause the most trouble. Like a child, he asks many questions and he is very curious to the point that he can be annoying.

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“If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off. And then your not as good anymore.” (Salinger 140) Holden hates how phony adults are, and how they are all acting a part. He will always take a dislike to his own childhood experiences, but he does everything he can to protect others from experiencing bad moments. Holden never had the childhood he dreamed of, and he holds onto the hope that he can provide innocence for Phoebe.

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Furthermore, Holden starts to hate all the adults or loses faith in them, calls them phony. Holden has a second thought of becoming an adult he loses hope in his future and it seems to him nothing in the world matters to him anymore. We can see that throughout the book. He smokes, gets drunk, and does daring acts like getting a prostitute in his room. He also tries to escape all this guilt and grief by wasting time with unnecessary people he calls phony.

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Holden 's life issue is his need to be, “The Catcher in the Rye”, his life lesson is how he overcomes it. At the end of the novel Holden comes to the understanding that everyone grows up. At the end of the book Holden accepts that he doesn 't need to be little kids protectors and that Phoebe wants to grow up and be an adult. Even though he didn 't grow to his full potential at the end of the novel his progression is made apparent by the quote “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 214).

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Catcher In The Rye Adolescence Analysis

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