Catcher In The Rye Childhood Vs Adulthood

Teenage years are considered some of the most tumultuous times in a person’s life. Teens exist in a limbo between childhood and adulthood which can be a very challenging situation to deal with. Sometimes, teens are told that they are too old to do one thing, yet too young to do another. It is almost like a teenager lacks a concrete identity, but exists as a chaotic, torn, Frankenstein-like being, just a mish mosh of body parts that are not uniform. In Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, the main character, Holden Caulfield, faces the crossroad where childhood and adulthood meet, yet he does not know which path to take and embody. James Bryan perfectly described Holden’s situation, by saying that, “[Holden] is poised between two worlds, one

As James Bryan said, childhood is undesirable because you cannot stay a child forever, yet adulthood presents new challenges and new situations that can be terrifying. In general, Holden tends to act like a child in involuntary ways while he intentionally tries to act like an adult. Therefore, throughout the novel, Holden exists at—and struggles with—that limbo between childhood and adulthood, embodying both phases of life. No matter how much Holden tries in his attempt to be an adult, he still sometimes acts like a child. This can be seen in many of the things that he does, thinks, and says, usually when they are impromptu and he does not have the opportunity to “filter” his actions so that he seems like an adult. For example, on pages 44 and 45, when Holden gets into an argument with Stradlater, fueled by Holden’s anger at Stradlater’s endeavors with Jane, Holden immaturely eggs Stradlater on, just like a

By using his somewhat mature physical characteristics, Holden tries to convince others that he is older than he is, and with that, tries to do adult things, such as buying alcohol. One of Holden’s most notable physical attributes is his gray hair, which he only has on one side of his head. Regardless, he still attempts to use his gray hair make himself seem older. One notable example is when he is on the train with Mrs. Morrow and he offers to buy her a drink. When she questions whether he is allowed to buy drinks or not, Holden replies, “‘Well, no, not exactly, but I can usually get them on account of my heighth,’ [He] said. ‘And I have quite a bit of gray hair.’ [He] turned sideways and showed her [his] gray hair.” (Page 57). This is a perfect example of how Holden attempts to utilizes his gray hair (as well as his height) to achieve what isn’t possible for someone his age. While he admits to Mrs. Morrow that he isn’t technically allowed to buy alcohol, he is still usually able to achieve the task. This was an “outward” attempt at portraying himself as an adult, meaning that he was trying to act more mature for the explicit reason of being seen as an adult by others and somewhat flaunting his ability to do so. However, there are also things that Holden does that aren’t necessarily for the purpose of flaunting