Are you growing up hard or hardly growing up? “Age is a necessary but insufficient requirement for growing up” – Henry Cloud. Henry Cloud explains how it is fate for everyone to get old but growing up is a choice. A person can be 97 and still have the mentality of an 8-year-old. Everyone gets old but you choose if you grow up or not. In J.D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden can't seem to grasp the idea of growing up even though he is aging. Throughout the book, we see his struggle with wanting to say a child but knowing he has to grow up. This is evident by his unwillingness to take responsibility for his actions and his struggle to act maturely in situations that require him to be so. Holden showcases his struggle with being …show more content…
It wasn't all my fault” (3). Just from what holden reveals he does not take responsibility for his mistake. Responsibility is a big part of growing up and yet holden throughout the book shows a lack of responsibility. When holden goes to old spencers house, spencers wife tells holden to go back to old spencers room and when holden sits down, old spencer and holden begin talking about school. Old spencer asks holden how many classes he carried this term. Holden replies saying “5”, then old spencer utters back "Five. And how many are you failing in?" to which holden replies "Four."... “I passed English all right," I said, "because I had all that Beowulf and Lord Randal My Son stuff when I was at the Whooton School. I mean I didn't have to do any work in English at all hardly, except write compositions once in a while”(Salinger 7) when holden reveals how many classes he failed he exhibits his unwillingness to succeed when things become tough. He says that he only passed English at whooton school because he “didn't have to do any work in English at all hardly”. Holden in this sentence show how unwilling he is to pass unless things are easy or just handed