Examples Of Acceptance In Catcher In The Rye

Acceptance is defined as “the action or process of being received as adequate or suitable”(). The Catcher in the Rye is about Holden Caulfield and his search for acceptance in a world full of fake people. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden reaches out for acceptance to many characters including Mr. Spencer, the nuns, and Phoebe. Although most of his outreaches were unsuccessful, the nuns and Phoebe accept him for who he is. The first time in the book that Holden searches for acceptance, is with his teacher Mr. Spencer. Before he leaves Pencey, Holden runs to Spencer’s house to say goodbye and to get a sense of acceptance from his teacher. That is not the result he gets though, and Mr. Spencer makes him feel worse about leaving Pencey. Once he went into Old Spencer’s house, he “was sort of sorry I’d come”(Salinger 9). Mr. Spencer is one of the many people in Holden’s life that does not accept him, and instead shuts him down.

He expects them to be only concerned about religion, but they surprise him and accept him for who he is. The two nuns genuinely cared for him, and did not only want to talk about religion like he expected them to. Along with his sister Phoebe, the nuns are some of the only people who accept him. After his encounter with them, Holden was happier than before, and said that he enjoyed talking to them.

At the end of the book, Holden goes to his little sister Phoebe for acceptance. She is one of the only people in his life that accepts him for who he is. Although he had been kicked out of school again, Phoebe just wants to spend time with her brother. Because she accepts him, he decides to stay in New York with his family, and the experience makes him act like an adult. Once he was with her he felt “so damn happy all of a sudden”(Salinger 233). Even though she is not a child anymore, she still has the innocence that Holden is searching