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Catcher In The Rye Holden's Journey Analysis

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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. Although others may say that Holden was successful on his journey, saying that he grew up he. Holden showed lots of immaturity throughout the novel and was the biggest phony of all..

Holden’s attitude throughout the novel was very immature and made constant poor decisions. While he was still at Pencey he put in no effort and had the attitude that nothing mattered. As he moves on from Pencey and goes to New York, he shows no care for anything as he blows lots of his money and doesn’t even take care of himself. He doesn’t clean himself up or get any sleep because of his attitude towards life. Someone with …show more content…

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. I tried to rub it off with my hand again, but this one was scratched on, with a knife or something. It wouldn't come off. It's hopeless, anyway. If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the "Fuck you" signs in the world. It's impossible.” This is a symbol of the fact that innocence can’t forever be protected. Holden is very upset over the fact that innocence is being taken away in a

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697 Words | 3 Pages

In Chapter 9-14 Holden Caulfield leaves Penecy Prep and heads to New York City. Where he will stay for a couple days before winter vacation starts and he will head home. Delaying breaking the news to his family he got kicked out of school for as long as possible. These chapters are where Holden’s loneliness becomes abundantly clear. The reader is subjected to many long rants by Holden about the company he wants, though he attempts to settle several times.

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481 Words | 2 Pages

In the beginning of the book soon after being told he couldn’t return the following semester he decides to simply leave the school and wander around New York City. In New York, Holden continues to get himself into trouble. For example, he hired a prostitute and did not give her the correct amount of money resulting in her pimp beating him up. At the end of the novel, he made a plan to run away again. Although, this time he decided he would go to a far away place and live on his own in the middle of nowhere.

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643 Words | 3 Pages

To Holden, children are the greatest symbol of purity, a purity that he wants to preserve before they “fall off the cliff” of adulthood. Holden is fixated on the idea of being a savior. This tendency has most likely developed after the death of his younger brother Allie who will be forever fixed in a state of childhood. It is no wonder Holden sees himself as a savior of children, or simply the catcher in the rye, “I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around-nobody big, I mean-except me.

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593 Words | 3 Pages

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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801 Words | 4 Pages

He wants to stop the little kids from growing up and from losing their innocence. He doesn’t realize the truth that everyone has to grow up including himself. It also shows that Holden is caring about the little kids and wants to be the one who cares for them. Holden doesn’t want to grow up, and he is afraid of gaining the responsibilities that come with it. He is also afraid that the children might go through the same trouble that he went through.

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462 Words | 2 Pages

He is incapable of moving forward and getting closure by clinging to this fantasy and avoiding facing the realities of growing up. It is further demonstrated in the way he interacts with other characters. To avoid confronting his own issues, Holden relies on superficial relationships in the novel to form meaningful connections. When Holden considers his own future he says he does not “feel like going into it” because he is reluctant to deal with his emotions and the challenges of adulthood (224). In avoiding these challenges, Holden remains stagnant and unable to move

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1032 Words | 5 Pages

If the book is read solely on its surface level, it just seems like a book about an annoying teenager who just complains about everything, but the messages it carries are actually profound. For example, near the end of the story Holden is upset by some profane graffiti on the wall at a museum that says “F*** you” (Salinger 224). He is upset by it because he is worried some little kids will see it and wonder what it means, and then be curious enough to find out adn have their innocence stolen. He finds the graffiti multiple times in the museum. The profane graffiti, if looked at beyond the surface level, symbolises the fact that Holden can not do anything to stop little kids from losing their innocence.

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851 Words | 4 Pages

Altogether, Holden wants to protect children to prevent them from dying at a young age because Allie’s death is already too much for him to handle. He is even going beyond the limits to do this, as he is willing to dedicate his life to it. Secondly, as Holden is walking through the school, he notices, “Somebody’d written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. It drove me damn near crazy. I thought how Phoebe and all the other little kids would se it…” (201)

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1142 Words | 5 Pages

He talks quite a bit about sex, but his virginity is the last existing innocence to him. Holden pays for a prostitute to have sex with, but he cannot go through with it. He is very hesitant about losing his innocence. Holden wants to be “the catcher in the rye” (191) and save all the innocence in the world. He believes that that is what he wants to do in the future as he tells his little sister, Phoebe.

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858 Words | 4 Pages

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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779 Words | 4 Pages

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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837 Words | 4 Pages

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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830 Words | 4 Pages

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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693 Words | 3 Pages

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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1268 Words | 6 Pages

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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