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Catcher In The Rye Growing Up Analysis

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The hardest part about growing up is letting go of the past and moving on to the unknown. For Holden he can’t let go for his childhood; he is stuck in his childhood not knowing how to let go of his past. The past was hard for him, but he keeps staying in the past and it is pulling him down. According to J.D. Salinger in “The Catcher in the rye”, growing up is an important issue in the real word, and he exemplifies this message through characterization.

The message of growing up is shown through Holden’s view of kids. When Holden was changing this clothes to get ready for the rest of his night he wanted so badly to reach out to Phoebe and give her a buzz. He was too afraid of his parents picking up so he just sat there thinking about her. …show more content…

While Holden was at the theater, he was criticizing a mother for not allowing her child to use the washroom: “The phonier it got, the more she cried. You’d have thought she did it because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasn’t. She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't take him” (Salinger 155). To Holden adults are just phonies. He believes that they are fake and they do all these phonies things. He couldn't believe that the mother wasn't going to take her child to the restroom. He thought that, that act was insensible and downright phony. The thing that Holden doesn't understand is that is a part of growing up.Growing up means you have to change and some people don’t want to accept the fact that it’s part of life. Adults say certain things to kids because they have a reason behind it. They know what is better for there kid. For example, if a kid asked why someone died they won’t come out straight forward what happened. They may just say “God was getting lonely up there so he needs some company.” This is because parents are trying to hide reality for there kids as long as they can so they can enjoy their childhood. Holden doesn't get the point that parents do thing because they know their kid and there

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“If you do something too good, then, after a while, if you don’t watch it, you start showing off. And then your not as good anymore.” (Salinger 140) Holden hates how phony adults are, and how they are all acting a part. He will always take a dislike to his own childhood experiences, but he does everything he can to protect others from experiencing bad moments. Holden never had the childhood he dreamed of, and he holds onto the hope that he can provide innocence for Phoebe.

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He thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he's a kid until he realizes it doesn't last forever. Another instance of this is when Holden explains to the reader where he says “You take a really smart girl, and half the time she's trying to lead you around the dance floor, or else she's such a lousy dancer, the best thing to do is stay at the table and just get drunk with her. ”(Salinger PDF 44). Holden messes around in things he shouldn't do or even care for but it affects him.

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Holden says that all he want to do is be the catcher in the rye protecting children from falling. The whole novel Holden makes observation around him that are taking away from children's innocence. This is what upsets him the most the fact that everyone will eventually have to grow up. While he is trying to go get Phoebe he is reminded this in the following quote. “I went down by a different staircase, and I saw another "Fuck you" on the wall.

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Throughout the first half of the book Holden is upset by people who do not have the same morals as him. When Holden perceives that someone has done something wrong, he resents that person. For example, Holden resented his previous headmaster and considered him a phony. Holden thought the headmaster was snubbing other parents, by acting charming to them, but only spending his time on the attractive parents. Holden states “I can’t stand that stuff.

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By the end, Holden has compassion and is matured. As one can see, maturity is an important process in a person’s life. Growing up is inevitable because life is full of eye-opening experiences and life lessons that helps one

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Holden wishes that people could keep their good qualities by “sticking them into glass cases and leaving them alone.” (Chapter16). While he realises that this is just a fantasy, it does not stop him from wanting to protect the children from falling into the emotional and mental distress of personality changes that occur in the journey from childhood to adulthood. This ties into the

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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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The Coming Of Age Many people struggle to grow up and, being adults, but many do grow up. Phoebe and Stradlater teach about coming of age to Holden. They teach him things like not being childish and growing up, and how it 's okay to grow up. In the book Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger, Stradlater, and Phoebe help develop the theme of coming of age by teaching Holden that he should himself and not be childish, accordingly how it 's okay to grow up. Holden struggles to grow up so Phoebe and Stradlater teach him some things about maturity and the coming of age.

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From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.

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These two struggles are what causes Holden to realise his purpose is being a catcher in the rye. His struggle to adulthood is quite evident. Holden states that the adult world is a nasty and horrible place, he thinks that the adult world is very phony, fake, and corrupt. These are words he uses quite often to describe the adult world, proving that he despises the thought of being an adult.

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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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Holden struggles with growing up and facing reality. There are many examples of Holden’s immaturity that are displayed in many forms such as facing responsibilities, his speech, his actions, and etc. Holden’s outlook on adult life is that it is superficial and brimming with phonies, but childhood was all about looking pleasing and innocent. He wants everything to stay the same and for time to stop. As Holden progresses in age, he will discover more about becoming mature in the

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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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Holden 's life issue is his need to be, “The Catcher in the Rye”, his life lesson is how he overcomes it. At the end of the novel Holden comes to the understanding that everyone grows up. At the end of the book Holden accepts that he doesn 't need to be little kids protectors and that Phoebe wants to grow up and be an adult. Even though he didn 't grow to his full potential at the end of the novel his progression is made apparent by the quote “Don’t tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger 214).

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