Holden's Immaturity

Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, presented a young, naïve, and intelligent male teenager named Holden Caulfield whose independent lifestyle and philosophical anxieties mirrored that of our nation’s unworldly ways. First off, Holden was a mere 16-year-old at the time. His youthfulness was bounded by a reign of vulnerability and confusion, leaving him with a sense of being out of place in society. “When I finally got down off the radiator and went out to the hat-check room, I was crying and all. I don’t know why, but I was. I guess it was because I was feeling so damn depressed and lonesome” (Salinger 153). These subtle traces of teenage angst and disarray shown in Holden’s character provided precise evidence towards the fact that a person’s age was a critical contribution to his/her power to gather wisdom.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is a novel built on contradictory statements. This is partly because Holden, the angsty, teenage narrator, is still finding himself through the course of the book meaning that these contradictions show both positive and negative change in himself. The biggest contradictions shown thus far are both contradictory of Holden’s actions which is showing a lack of awareness of his true self. The first example of the Holden’s contradictions is in the beginning paragraph of the novel when he states that he is not going to recount his “whole goddam autobiography or anything” (3) and then proceeds to do that very thing by telling the “madmen stuff” (3) that happened to him a year ago. A second example of Holden’s

J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, highlights key symbols and thoughts as well as personality traits of the narrator, Holden, throughout the book. Many of Holden’s thoughts connect back to his immaturity and lack of adult behavior; however, he does become slightly more mature and realistic at the very end of the novel. Holden wants to preserve innocence in a world of corruption. While some believe that Holden regresses in the novel, he actually remains static for the majority because of his thoughts of running away, lying constantly, and desperation for innocence, but he matures at the very end by coming to terms with the fact that children must grow and lose their innocence along the way.

In J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," the protagonist Holden Caulfield struggles with his own perception of maturity and innocence. Holden's journey can be seen as a struggle between his impulsive, idealistic desires and the sobering realities of the adult world. His hate for the phoniness of adulthood and his idealization of childhood innocence are at odds with his deep yearning to find a purpose worth living for. Holden tries to pave a path toward maturity, as he navigates the complexities of a world that seems at once too corrupt and too innocent. In "The Catcher in the Rye," Holden Caulfield is really caught up in how he sees being grown-up versus staying young.

In the novel “the Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield exhibits an unwillingness and a repugnant attitude to the notion of adulthood. The death of Holden’s brother, Allie, is a deeply traumatic and jarring moment in his life. Holden’s Recollection of Allie is not just as “...the most intelligent member of the family,” Allie is also revered by Holden as “the nicest.” Holden refuses to accept the death of his beloved brother and move on, this reluctance to move forward strengthens his hostility towards the inevitable undertaking of adulthood. Moreover, Caulfield’s objection to growing up manifests itself in his schoolwork, or lack thereof. He “[flunks] four subjects” and “[knows] absolutely nothing.” He doesn’t apply himself

Teenagers lives their life differently. However, when the time of being a adolescent arrives, they all have the same confusion and mindsets. J. D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, is about a seventeen year old boy named Holden Caulfield, who lives his life with complexes and problems of his owns. Holden lives his life according to his favor and commit unreasonable actions. Holden has a difficult time trying to understand what being a teenager is. Holden Caulfield is a typical teenager because he expresses the problems of being a teenager.

The final symptom Holden experiences is his irrational behavior which is displayed several times throughout the novel. "You're a dirty...and you'll be-" (Salinger 103). Holden angrily backfires at Maurice, a man who began attacking Holden, clearly stronger than the teenager, thus only adding fuel to the fire. Holden's careless attitude results in him making ruthless decisions, such as agreeing to have a prostitute such as Sunny or willing to run away with Sally Hayes. "If you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you're probably aware of the strong connection between your condition and impulsive behaviors. Most of the time, you do something impulsively as a way of finding relief from a stressful feeling--for example, a painful emotion"

“Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization” (Bennent). In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher In The Rye, a sixteen year old boy named Holden Caulfield has to go through a plethora of different turbulent obstacles that no other normal kid his age would ever have to go through. He has flunked out of five schools, has had to cope with his younger brother Allie’s death and just never ever gets along with anyone. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Holden has the fear of losing innocence. This is shown through the curse on the wall, the Little Shirley Beans record and finally the incident

Holden Caulfield is the protagonist in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. In the book Holden hears a quote “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he want to live humbly for one” (Salinger 188) which he embraces as he matures throughout the story. Holden’s opinions of childhood and adulthood change as he grows through experience.

There are many unexpected changes between childhood and becoming a teenager; one experiences bodily changes, along with the societal changes that occur around them. Hormones and emotions are uncontrollable; this lack of control over one’s body, adds to the stress and scariness associated with the development from being a child into a mature adolescent. The transition between childhood innocence and the brutality of adulthood is long and confusing, often resulting in a loss of self identity. Children always look towards the future with great anticipation; however, many adults reminisce about their childhoods. As a child, the thought is that growing up cannot come soon enough; one cannot appreciate the blissful innocence of childhood until it has passed. The novel The Catcher in the Rye explores the complex and often incomprehensible transition to adulthood through the experiences of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield. J.D. Salinger uses the character of Holden to express the challenges teenagers must overcome to adapt and succeed in an adult society. Holden demonstrates the challenges he is experiencing through this time of development by striving to preserve childhood innocence. He explores this preservation through his younger sister, Phoebe, his idealistic job of being the ‘Catcher in the Rye’, and his inner conflicts with and about the adult world.

The Coming of Age is explicitly conveyed through both Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, which not only enhances and shapes our knowledge of discovery through parallel plots, character’s and setting, but, yet further invite us to experience the process. 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 protagonist teenage Holden Caulfield matures throughout the course of the novel, thus the Coming of Age is extensively examined throughout the novel itself. By the end of the novel, Holden experiences an existential and intrapersonal-discovery through the coming of age and shows signs that he is ready to enter adulthood. Holden angrily tells us, “… I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody'd written 'Fuck you' on the wall... I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would see it, and how they’d wonder what the hell it meant…” Through Holden’s emotive and compassionate tone along with colloquial language, we are able to capture his brief and heartfelt moment; that he is finally coming to terms with adulthood. Consequently, he is becoming a somewhat protective and mature defender of innocence, especially of children. He also realises that he cannot protect children from seeing the profanity, as he cannot be The Catcher in the Rye for them.

In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the main character, Holden, cannot accept that he must move out of childhood and into adulthood. One of Holden’s most important major problems is his lack of maturity. Holden also has a negative perspective of life that makes things seem worse than they really are. In addition to Holden’s problems he is unable to accept the death of his brother at a young age. Holden’s immaturity, negative mentality, and inability to face reality hold him back from moving into adulthood.

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 Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger depicts how the innocence of the young is exploited into the destructive elements of the adult life. In the novel, the author illustrates his point of view through an insecure teenage boy named Holden Caulfield that has an inability to fully connect with the world around him. The author characterizes Holden as being incapable of connecting with the adults and peers around him often calling them “phonies”. Despite the lack of connections with people his own age he is able to make connecting with the young more fluidly.

The Catcher in the Rye is a classic American literature novel written by J.D Salinger. The book The Catcher in the Rye is J.D Salinger's most renown novel that appealed and affected to groups of people through every generation. This novel summarizes a couple days in an abnormal teenagers life named Holden Caulfield. He is seventeen years old, a junior in high school, and he just got expelled from a superior private boarding school, called Pencey Prep because of academic failure. He goes through life thinking that everyone is a “phony”. He only accepts people he likes and it’s a very small portion of the population. Growing up is not an easy task and requires a lot of time and patience, As being a teenager, accepting people is very challenging. Holden is a Picaresque, because most times he encounters another character in the book, he automatically deflects them or does not gain any notable knowledge, as most teenagers would. J.D Salinger shows us that being a teenager is not as easy as everyone thinks it is. Teenagers have a whole range of new emotions and problems that they don’t know how to face and are frustrated with the limitations of pre-adulthood.