Analysis Of Growing Up In The Catcher In The Rye

Holden has matured in many ways throughout the novel. He had grown from an immature child who only cared about himself to a mature adult who wanted to make something of his life. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to

Holden losing his virginity is another way for him to grow up, and not being able to lose it is an example of Holden resisting change and growth, While in New York, Holden visits the Natural History Museum and mentions how he wishes everything would stay the same, just like the exhibits in the museum, in which “nobody’d move” and “you could go there a hundred thousand times” and everything would still be the same (pg. 135). Since Ally’s death, Holden does not want anything else in his life to change, so no one else can leave him. Holden's inability to come to terms with Ally's death results in him not wanting to grow up and his being scared of change. In addition to

him some type of emotional security. Holden is not comfortable showing a vulnerable side to others and sometimes goes to extreme measures, like alienating himself, to avoid becoming hurt. This idea becomes apparent when Holden decides to hire a prostitute. When Sunny first arrives, Holden lies to her about his name and age, building up Holden’s disguise that he creates with his , sex. In “the scene with sunny [it] reveals that Holden is not ready for sexual relationships-- he is a “sex maniac” only in his head…” (Miller).

Because of this, Holden doesn’t attain a strong, healthy relationship with his parents, causing him to go on a path of self-destruction. He has little control over his actions, which has caused him to get expelled from his school, and is now roaming the New York streets by his

Holden’s relationship to his sister Phoebe and his outlived relationship with his brother Allie both exercise as means of preserving his own adolescence and innocence. Holden analyzes the traits of his younger siblings and longs to keep those aspects of their individuality alive within himself. Sustaining ties to his childhood is one of Holden’s compulsions; which is balanced with his second compulsions which is to ward off ones advancement into adulthood. We can see these qualities of Holden through his lack of motivation to excel in school. Another example of this tendency is when he is reluctant to have sex with Sunny the prostitute, although a part of him was eager to take a step towards adulthood, he was too timid and scared of losing his own innocence. Phoebe immediately realizes Holden’s obsession with preserving the innocence within people; especially her, and she calls him out "You don't like anything that's happening. . .

Holden is very immature and cannot act his age for anything. In the beginning of the story, Holden was very immature and self-centered and he often did very immature things, but he wanted to be an adult. This is very contradicting considering that he is very immature. In the novel, Holden states, “Boy! I said. I also say Boy! quite a lot. Partly because I have a lousy vocabulary and partly because I act quite young for my age sometimes. I was sixteen then, and I'm seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I'm about thirteen.” (Salinger 16). This shows how Holden is very immature and needs to start acting his age and this could be dangerous to society. This is why he needs to stay inside the mental facility. In the mental facility, he will be safe and he will not cause any harm to anyone or to himself

Another thing that makes him adult like is his way with money. Holden is able to carry and spend money pretty responsibly. He is aware that he needs money for food and shelter. He did waste a little bit of his money on alcohol and the prostitute, but he didn’t go over board. He also choose to walk a lot of the time, instead of using a cab, to try and some what money he had

Holden’s attitude toward life in general is perplexed. He pretends to be an adult by drinking heavily, yet he complains like a child. Holden's thoughts aren't what an average sixteen year old boy would think about. He describes death in a peculiar way and he pretends to be injured often yet he hasn’t been in that position before. He is a bit violent and sexual for a kid his age. He lies about his age to certain people he meets. He tries to lose his virginity to a prostitute but he doesn’t go through with it. Holden isn’t a straightforward guy because he shys away with his lies. In other words, Holden tries to act like an adult at times, but he is actually extremely terrified of the adult life.

Holden himself doesn't want to grow up. He thinks that adults are phonies and there is no trust in the grown up world. Holden is nervous to grow up and wants to protect his own innocence. He is still a virgin. Towards the end of the novel, he realizes that since he is the only one in his life saving peoples' innocence, then there is nobody to save his.

It is very clear that Holden is immature. One of the most obvious times that this is shown is when Holden is talking with Luce. Luce says, “ Same old Caulfield. When are you gonna grow up?” (Salinger 144).

Adult’s play a big role in why Holden viewed the world as such a bad place because he loathed that they were always trying to impress someone. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory played a big role in the development of Holden as a character due to

Holden is detached from responsibilities, and life in general. Holden does not apply himself in school and shows that in his note to his teacher in an essay, “It is all right with me if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything else except English anyway, Respectfully yours, Holden Caulfield (12).” The reason Holden does not care about school is because he does not care about his future, “Oh, I feel some concern for my future, all right. Sure. Sure, I do...But not too much, I guess. Not too much, I guess (14).” Holden is also detached from his family, specifically his father, and not having a loving father figure can affect a person, “You can hit my father over the head with a chair and he won't take up, but my mother, all you have to do to my mother is cough somewhere in Siberia and she'll hear you. She's nervous as hell (158).” The only meaningful relationship Holden has is with Phoebe. Holden can not confide with anybody except for Phoebe and even if there was someone else to confide with Holden doesn’t have the will to explain the problems that are occurring, “I can’t explain what I mean. And even if I could, I’m not sure I’d feel like it (122).” Part of the treatment will be to help Holden to trust again. This trust will allow him to open up and not keep all of his problems to

Holden experiences extreme difficulty accepting his current realities and one of the main factors causing this is the lasting negative impact his brother Allies death had on his life. Firstly, when Holden decides to leave his school, he tells readers , “I don’t care if it’s a sad goodbye or a bad goodbye, but when I leave a place, I like to know I’m leaving it. If you don’t, you feel even worse” (Salinger, 4). Holden’s need for closure is evident in this quote. When Allie died, it was very unexpected and he was not prepared to let him go, resulting in his denial that his brother is actually

Holden, a young adult has trouble accepting the fact that he is growing up, and time cannot wait for him to accept that. He constantly struggles to realize that actions come with consequences, and that one cannot remain a kid and an adult at the same time. One must make decisions and determine what kind of future they want to have based on those decisions

Holden’s immaturity causes him many problems throughout the story. Although he is physically mature, he acts more like a child. “All of a sudden I