Catcher In The Rye: Coming Of Age

Losing someone that is very close to you can cause many problems down the road that people do not realize. In the book The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden lost his brother Allie, he lost his best friend. This caused Holden to become very depressed and effects his life without his brother. When Holden’s brother died, this was the start of Holden’s falling out. Allie’s death is the cause for him feeling angry at the world, him not being able to stay at a school and causes him to feel alienated from society.

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

Every human actions meets in nature and they find their own characteristic feature in a good or bad way. Not everyone can say it is a pleasant experiment, but no one can deny that it happened. This single event is ‘growing up’. The transition between childhood innocence and adulthood is long and confusing, often uncovering questions that cannot be answered. During this time the adult world seems inviting and free, but only when we become members of a cruel, society can the happy ignorance of childhood be appreciated and missed. The novel Catcher in the Rye examines how adult life appears complex and incomprehensible to teenagers on the brink of entering it. Through the main protagonist Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger captures the confusion of a teenager when faced with the challenge of adapting to an adult society.

​Holden considers himself an outcast in comparison to those around him. Maturing at a young age, he struggles to find his purpose in the world and refuses to accept the beginning of adulthood. Still grieving from the death of his younger brother, Allie, Holden believes that his childhood was taken away from him tragically and unfairly. This mindset doesn’t allow him to grow

The Catcher and the Rye and the Perks of being a Wallflower are two separate stories both involving a teenage boy going through their first taste of freedom. They both have similar challenges and issues ahead of themselves but their personality differ greatly but both remain awkward in character. Holden considers himself a loner who doesn’t avidly try in school. While Charlie is the opposite of Holden, he has a small group of friends and he viewed upon as the teacher’s pet. Although both the Catcher and the Rye and the Perks of being a Wallflower take place during different time periods they both go through the untimely struggles of growing

Throughout the book Catcher In The Rye Holden learns how to make decisions that are mature but will also make him happy. In the beginning of the book, Holden's saw maturity as acting like most adults do. He thought that if he did things like losing his virginity, having a family, etc. he would be mature. For example during Holden's date with Sally he realized that he didn't like the way his life is going, Holden decides the best thing to do is run away, he says to Sally, “I could get a job somewhere and we could live somewhere with a brook...we could get married or something...

Salinger’s method of implementing the story’s progression based on Holden’s mental state while showing Holden’s irrational and unpredictable response to the world really makes the readers curious about what’s going to happen next; thus, making the book very interesting to read. In Chapter 7, Holden had his first emotional breakdown in the book: “When I was all ready to go, when I had my bags and all, I stood for a while next to the stairs and took a last look down the damn corridor. I was sort of crying.” (Salinger, 52). Holden left his dormitory because of his emotional state of mind. Before his departure, in Chapter 6, Holden got beaten up by his roommate, Stradlater. Stradlater had avoided telling Holden whether he had sexual intercourse with the girl Holden liked. Holden tackled Stradlater first, and then he got punched down to the ground by Stradlater twice with his nose bleeding. Holden messed up his relationship with his roommate, so he went to his Ackley’s dorm to get comfort. However, when Ackley fell asleep, Holden suddenly woke him up, and he basically insulted Ackley’s religion; Holden was being very sarcastic. Ackley was very offended and mad. They both were, so Holden left Ackley’s room in anger. The constant worsening of Holden’s emotional state of mind is what drove him crying and yelling in the dorm’s corridor before leaving Pency Prep. There are many other examples of the author using Holden’s crumbling mental state to unfold his story like when Carl Luce ditched Holden in Chapter 19, leaving Holden to get drunk and depressed in the bar by himself in Chapter 20. Salinger’s intention is for readers to be able to understand Holden’s behavior, or even consider his behavior normal because they know what happened before and the inner thoughts that drive Holden’s

This character is going to tell it like it is, and he does. The most powerful emotional standpoint in the story is when Holden goes to his sister’s elementary school to deliver her a note. While he is there, he discovers two words scribbled on the wall. “Fuck you.” Most people would look at that and think nothing of it. Some would bow their heads in shame at the person who thought it was funny. Others might laugh. Not Holden. He did not think about the normal persons response to the note. He thought about the child’s response. About how a little kid is going to see that seemingly meaningless phrase and wonder what it means; about how some dirty kid would explain what it meant; and about the person who wrote it and how they are destroying the childhood of everyone who reads the ‘harmless’ graffiti. This section takes the reader to the door of Holden’s mind. It is at this point that one truly understands his emotions.

He is afraid of his adulthood, and has no one to discuss the matter. He reaches out to people, but pushes them away. For example, Sally Hayes is a friend of Holden’s whom Holden takes out on a date. Holden purposes the idea of running away to an area where he doesn’t have to grow up. Sally refuses and tries to talk some sense into Holden, but Holden doesn’t listen because what she is saying scares him. He is scared because she is ready to taking on the next step in her life, but he is not. Holden’s time in New York is a constant cycle of this type of interaction. He calls many people and tries to talk to them but there are some that he can not call, like Jane Gallagher, or Phoebe his younger sister. Holden does not call them because they are symbols of innocents and his childhood. He is so afraid of his future, that he so desperately holds onto his

Holden is unable to accept realities of life because of his negative personality. He claims that many people are phony and that they try to do things to make them look better than they are. Holden also thinks of many things as depressing. “It was really nice sightseeing, if you know what I mean. In a way, it was sort of depressing, too, because you kept wondering what the hell would happen to all of them” (p. 123). Holden always finds a down side to a situation. He fails to recognize the good sides of life, and this prevents him from seeing advantages in adulthood that are not present in his life.

At the beginning, Charlie is without friends and is rather alone. He is very gifted and quite an overthinker which expels him from the usual teenage social groups. This changes, however, when he meets Sam and Patrick at a football game. They expose him to all new experiences. Resulting from his new friendships, is his relationship with Mary Elizabeth, his experimentations with drugs, and new knowledge of being a person. During this time, he is increasingly happy because Charlie was finally living.

The goal that that Holden has to try so hard to fulfil is symbolic of his need to differentiate himself from the "phonies" around him. Holden’s image of people is pretty bad because he believes no one acts how they truly feel. Growing up scares Holden because it leads to adulthood. In his eyes once he hits adulthood, it'll eventually lead into the same phoniness as the rest of the adults. His constant avoidance and dodging of people and situations causes him to become more and more distant from normal society and social stability.

Holden is attracted to the privileges that adulthood offers. Drinking, Sex, Independence and Smoking represent aspects of adulthood that Holden is not averse to and is genuinely excited by. After arriving in New York, Holden attempts to act as an adult, but his attempts fail miserably. He tries to order a scotch and soda but is carded and must settle for a coke instead. Holden is content with childhood right up until it forfeits him an opportunity to get a drink. He wants to be an adult, but also wants to be a kid. He seems excited with the freedom but fears the loss of innocence and responsibility that

It takes many experiences in order for an immature child to become a responsible, well-rounded adult. In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s main character Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel. In the beginning of the novel, Holden is a juvenile young man. However, through his experiences, Holden is able to learn, and is finally able to become somewhat mature by the end of the novel. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield’s story represents a coming of age for all young adults.

The self-narration of Holden’s life is what gives the reader an insight into the way he thinks and feels. It helps you understand why Holden is the way he is. Without this explanation from him, you wouldn’t empathise with him, or like him very much at all. It’s the little stories he tells, like the story about Allies baseball mitt, “…Allie had this left-handed fielders mitt… he had poems written all over the fingers and the pocket and everywhere. In green ink.” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.33) or about how he knows Jane Gallagher, “You were never even worried, with Jane, whether your hand was sweaty or not. All you knew was, you were happy. You really were” (Salinger, 1945-6, p.72) that make you see the softer side to him.