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Bad Decisions In The Catcher In The Rye

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Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden makes very bad decisions. He is struggling with many things, and he has lots of complications in his life. Holden is growing up alone, his parents at home, far away. From boarding school to boarding school, he has nobody to support him. Throughout his teenage years, he has nobody to tell him how to handle the changes that are happening. On top of all this, he is sad. His wonderful childhood is gone, and so is his brother. His brother died a while back, and Holden has no idea how to cope with this. To deal with his sadness, Holden makes choices which prevent him from growing up. Every time his parents send him to a new school, Holden finds a way to get kicked out. He makes all the wrong choices - he decides not to study, not to try to attend class, not to care at all if he succeeds in life or not. “...I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself...” (Salinger, 6). If he continues on this path, he won’t ever grow up. His teachers continue to be supportive of him because they know he has the potential. We can see this when he does Stradlater’s homework. He is smart, he just doesn’t show it. If he can show it, he will have less of a struggle …show more content…

He wants to socialize with other people, yet he doesn’t want to look like he is trying too hard. This, in turn, pushes people away, and they no longer want to talk to him. To grow up, he needs a supportive group of family and friends around him who have gone through or are going through the process of becoming an adult just like he is. Holden needs that, but he pushes everyone he tries to talk to away. Take Sally, for example. (Insert Quote). He really wanted to talk to her, but he thought he was trying too hard, so he began pushing her away her. Of course, she took this as an offense, which anyone would - and left him alone. Just getting people to not leave him, that will lessen his struggle to grow

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Prompt 1: Bubbles Holden hasn't had such a great experience when it came to school, he got kicked out multiple times and it seemed to never work out for him. “They gave guys the axe quite frequently at Pencey.” Which was stated in the CATCHER in the RYE on page six, paragraph three. He also never applied himself and got many warnings about his grades, but he didn’t care. School doesn't always work out for everyone and holden is a good example, he wasn't a school kind of guy.

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In the novel “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden acts very immature. He shows this through running away from home as well as Pency Prep, his school, in which he failed most of his classes. Holden changes his mind very quickly, and is incredibly fast to judge. He also shows immaturity by acting like a blind woman on the street. When people come to contact with problems, they face them head-on.

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His parents sent him to three different prep schools, all of which he had been kicked out of. Without a solid environment, Holden has been unable to make many friends in which he can find sympathy and comfort. This makes him become an introvert. “…I was standing way the hell up on top of Thompsen Hill…” (Salinger, Page 2). He finds it hard to relate to people because they don’t understand him or his circumstances.

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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 novel “The Catcher in the Rye” was about the journey of a adolescent boy finding his way to adulthood. In the book Holden Caulfield was unsuccessful in finding his way to adulthood. Holden’s attitude in the novel throughout his journey was very immature. He also can't accept the fact that innocence can’t be forever protected. Lastly, Holden calls everyone a phony when in reality he is the real phony.

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Holden Caulfield’s Inability to Heal Holden Caulfield, by the end of the novel, hesitates when it comes to accepting his imperfections and refuses to accept the idea of maturity which inevitably hinders his growth. Due to Holden’s fixation on the purity of childhood innocence, he is unable to accept the responsibilities of adulthood. Ultimately, he remains stalled due to his reluctance to accept change and confront uncomfortable emotions, preventing him from moving forward by the end of the novel, "The Catcher in the Rye." Holden is incapable of healing due to his hesitation to confront his own imperfection. Holden is quick to criticize others, but at the same time reluctant to accept responsibility for his own actions.

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In Holden’s mind becoming “the catcher in the rye “means that he can still catch Allie from falling off the cliff. This is relevant to Holden’s depression because everything around him is telling him to grow up but instead he runs away from it in fear that is will pull him farther apart from his relationship with his brother Allie. Holden is on the edge of becoming an adult which creates more pressure and leads him to

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Purpose: To show how a small change in choice could affect holden’s life The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old boy from New York. The novel starts with Holden, writing in his book, hinting that he is in some sort of mental facility .Even though he comes from a wealthy family,because of his loss of interest in studies,and low grades, he gets expelled from all schools he has studied in .Holden leaves his final school, Pency Prep and decides that he will stay in New York City until his parents learn of his expulsion and “cool down” .Most of the novel is dedicated to Holden’s time in the city, Holden lives in a hotel room for a few days during his stay .Holden then starts meeting with people that he used know, some strangers and goes to places with. From his conversations, he

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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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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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In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden demonstrates the struggle of transitioning between childhood and adulthood by revealing his hassle to grow up. Maturity comes through being an adult and growing up is all about becoming more mature. Throughout the book, Holden goes through numerous conflicts and problems. In the beginning of the book, Holden is gives information about himself.

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He has trouble growing up and accepting life as it is. Holden thinks adults are "phony" which makes him hate the fact of growing up and staying innocent as much as he can while he is old enough to become an adult. He is frustrated with the world and people which makes him act with anger. His innocent childish dream is to be the Catcher in the Rye, to catch the kids before they become phonies like Holden says about adults. The moment he realizes that he cannot keep kids from falling or in other words, from growing up and becoming adults, he, reaches adulthood, and takes a big step towards it at the end of the novel.

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How Holden matured People go through rough stuff in their lives, such as losing a close sibling. It seems impossible to pull yourself out of the pain and guilt of your loss. It appeared Holden was in the same predicament, but through his experiences in the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger he learns to grow up. Aside from being very immature, holden refuses to grow up and dislikes people who have grown up.

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