Holden Caulfield's Immaturity in The Catcher in the Rye

Holden has the choice to either act like an adult or play like a child when he comes across a problem. But not surprisingly, he can’t choose which path to follow, so he stays stuck in the middle. This middle grey area of transitioning from childhood to adulthood for Holden is what is causing his problems and what is making his choices and decisions a lot harder. Holden 's past experiences have taken a toll on him and are starting to cause present issues for him. Holden was only thirteen when his younger brother passed away and it hit him hard.

Where was he right now? Jeremiah felt a lack of distance from his dad. He found out that Lois Ann and his father had a thing going on. On page 99 it says “He didn’t know that Lois Ann and his father had a thing going on, a heavy thing that would eventually break the family apart”. This shows that Jeremiah is not happy with his family and is very distant from them.

Doodle’s disabilities affected him from birth so he was not treated equal and his brother wanted him to learn the things he should already know. What prompted Doodle’s brother to help him was embarrassment which over came all of his feelings. Being different was hard for Doodle but at times it was harder for his brother to put up with because, as the narrator states, “Doodle was my brother and he was going to cling to me forever, no matter what I did. ”(Hurts 159). Unfortunately Doodle was told he would never live and because of that he was never taught anything as a child.

If he did follow everything his parents wanted him to do, he would become a non-independent thinker. Crabbe was becoming depressed for he was not enjoying life. Crabbe was depressed because when his parents planed out his whole life, he did not want to do those things and wanted to portray that he is independent. Also, if Crabbe did follow the plans, they would have high

In the beginning of the novel, Perry was an uncertain teen who didn’t know where his place in life was “The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam” (69). By the middle of the book, Perry started to become doubtful of himself and started to say Jenkins and Carroll died because of him “In a way i felt real bad just for being alive to write it” (110). And by the last few chapters he really starts to lose his way and lose his judgement from right and wrong “Maybe when we all got back to the world and everybody thought we were heroes for winning it, then it would seem right from there” (229). During my reading of Fallen Angels, I began to notice the theme, and I think the theme is that War is devastating to people because it can totally mess you up psychologically and physically.

In his work, Sullivan discusses his own growth as an adolescent growing into his homosexual identity. He uses the depression and angst that coincides with the struggles of youth, an age that is an uncouth time for all. Speaking of how youth have to hid in order to “pass” among heterosexual peers. The hopes of marriage and a family that young people aspire to is out of the reach of these budding youth. In order to pass, these youth develop a structured life, centered around a career or academics, but this can lead to an overwhelming depression, as Sullivan presented in his description of a man who, while living his structured life, woke up one morning to find himself paralyzed.

Being with this if Chris was to be still alive he would mostly like think of his foolish young adult ways and childhood that caused him to upbring traits that were no good for his travels and life around the people who loved him the most. His ignorance was lead to by his upbringing of family drama, how his death came upon him, and the people who cared for him in which he had no intention of listening to before he stepped into the

Actions of the judge early in the novel blatantly show prominent hypocrisy. Huck’s father is an uneducated alcoholic, who abuses his son frequently. Pap does not appear in Huck’s life again until he discovers news of Huck’s newfound fortune, exhibiting the irony of only showing up in his child’s life when the kid has something he wants, which is the reverse ideal of a father. “‘That’s why I come. You git me that money to-morrow - I want it,’” (30) explains patently that he is an inadequate father, from his poor morals.

He’d successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well,” every time someone tried to become close to him, he pushed him or her away. When Ronald Franz asked to adopt him, Chris told him that they would talk about it when he returns from Alaska. Chris’ problems with his father affected his ability to form new, close relationships, and ultimately sent him to his death.

These are symptoms associated with Childhood Traumatic Grief (CTG). CTG is defined as a traumatic reaction that takes place after a sudden, unexpected, or anticipated death (NCTSN, 2014). Following Christopher’s death, Turing immersed himself in his studies, but his professors systematically complained about his lack of appropriate English grammar and untidiness, rather than encourage his genius and foster his strengths. As he grew older, Turing became more socially withdrawn, but actively sought much greater intimacy of expression. Although Alan Turing did not seek to be a rebel, conflict between his free-ranging scientific mind and literature based training was just the beginning of his constant cultural clashing.

In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger through the character Holden show the readers that at one point, everyone has to go through the journey of innocence. Holden is a seventeen year old teenager who loses his innocence along with the death of his endearing brother and draws a conclusion that losing innocence is harmful. His own journey of innocence consists of him losing innocence, then trying to protect others from losing innocence, and finally realizing that losing innocence is not damaging as he imagined it to be. Therefore, through his journey, J. D. Salinger proves that although losing innocence is damaging and can break a person, it is not as damaging as trying to protect one’s innocence because it is unrealistic.

They do not believe in good things in life, but they only can see the pains and helplessness. Everything can be repaired in life except humans’ minds. Both protagonists get into perplexity, they lose directions of their lives. At the end of two stories, Kreb finally realizes the epiphany and he determines to start his new life in a new town while Seymour decides to rescue himself from sorrow by ending his life with a gun. As a matter of fact, returning veterans are fragile, they are alienated from their families and have to bear the isolation.

Often, a main character’s apparent madness and irrational behavior plays a crucial role in the development of the plot. In J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the rye, central character Holden Caulfield reasonably exhibits eccentric, impulsive and erratic behavior as a reaction to the “phoniness” of everyone around him, the self-alienation he faces and, as a standard coping mechanism for the changes in his life. Holden acts almost solely on impulse. He is often knowingly riling up other characters in the story just because he feels justified in doing so.

In J.D Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist Holden Caulfield portrays the role of a teenage boy that struggles to come in terms with the reality of growing up. As he goes around New York searching for the answers to his problems, he encounters various people that either add to his struggles or help him. It is seen, though, that most of those he encounters add to his complexity with the adult world. This aids him in alienating himself to protect what childhood innocence he has left. Out of those he meets, the ones that had him distance himself most are Sally Hayes, a girl that Holden dates from time to time, and Mr. Antolini, one of Holden’s former teachers.

Sickness comes in many forms, but perhaps the most misunderstood form happens mentally. All of the events that happen to the main character in The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, are caused in some way or another by his mental illness. Holden Caulfield is a boy who drops out of school and travels to New York City. Holden makes irresponsible decisions like when he travels to New York City by himself without permission which affects him mentally. Holden’s mental illnesses affects his decision making,specifically his decision to stay in school and his inability to connect with people.