Change is an intimidating situation. No matter how hard people try to avoid it, there is one transition that every human will go through: growing up. During adolescence, one must leave behind his or her past and begin a new phase in life where they will mature and experience new situations. For many teens, this is difficult to cope with as they are stepping out of their comfort zones and into unfamiliar territory. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye captures this theme as it portrays an aimless teenage boy, Holden Caulfield, roaming the streets of New York during a pivotal point in his life. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, utilizes symbols and details to illustrate the difficulties of growing up and dealing with a transition.
Firstly, the incorporation of details helps exemplify the concept of the growing up. As an adolescent, Holden is unable to keep a steady girlfriend or partner. Holden is in the phase in his life where he is uncomfortable
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Holden believes that he should preserve children’s innocence, but as he changes in adolescence it becomes apparent to him now that this is near hopeless. Although Holden uses moderate profanity such “goddam” and “hell” when he is angry or talking about adults, he never utters the f-word. However, when he visits Phoebe's school, he sees “somebody'd written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall [which drives] me [him] damn near crazy” (Salinger 221). Holden wants to shield the children from profanity by erasing all the “fuck yous” off the wall to keep the children innocent. Yet, he soon realizes that it is impossible to protect the children from everything, as even “if you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the ‘fuck you’ signs in the world.” (Salinger 202). Holden’s change during adolescence causes this revelation, and open his eyes to the reality of innocence; it cannot be maintained