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Character development in catcher in the rye
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Although he doesn’t feed into any more than just stating his feelings usually there still is deeper emotional meaning to it. In some spots in the book it is merely Holden saying he was feeling depressed, but in other spots you see him try to connect to anyone in order to just talk to someone or try to cover his feelings with alcohol and random conversations. At one point Holden is in a cab and he starts asking questions such as: “by any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over” and this might be an actual concern of his but I see it more as a way to reach out to somebody who’s older and might something more figured out than Holden does at seventeen (60)?. Sometimes as a teenager when you don’t have someone to talk to you lose sight of what is really happening because you can’t vent to sort it out and Holden finally starts to vent to his sister Phoebe and he says, “I kept talking about Pencey” and he probably couldn’t stop at this point (168).
Holden had to cope with big changes without the support of anyone. Adjusting to a new way of life is difficult on its own, but without anybody being there to teach and support him, it becomes increasingly more problematic. As he is reflecting on his life he states, "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me," (3). He felt like he couldn’t talk about his life to anyone and open up because the people who are supposed to be there to love and support you were absent for him. Holden thought that he did not belong, he says, “how my parents were occupied”, they were never able to give him support so he considered himself to be all alone.
Keeping these things in mind, Holden Caulfield is presented much like the author. Caulfield has a very immature attitude that fall under the category of Ego-Defensive. The Ego-Defensive category has four subcategories within itself called; denial, repression, projective, and rationalization, that are labeled as defense mechanisms through psychological lenses. According to McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of Modern Medicine, denial is the “primitive–ego defense–mechanism by which a person unconsciously negates the existence of a disease or other stress-producing reality in his environment, by disavowing thoughts, feelings, wishes, needs, or external reality factors that are consciously intolerable.” Holden presents his state of denial in the way he tries to maintain his relationship with his deceased brother, Allie.
During the novel, it comes across many themes. Such as the fear of growing up. We see that Holden doesn’t want to mature, he scared of change and the world being so complex. Although we see the fear in him, he tries not to admit it. Through his eyes, we see that adulthood scares him, where he thinks negatively about.
Throughout The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield sways between maturity and immaturity. While Holden is extremely observant and often has thoughtful views on the world around him, he continues to act rashly and immaturely at times, letting his emotions get the best of him. As critic James Bryan puts it, Holden “is poised between two worlds, one he cannot return to and one he fears to enter.” Holden Caulfield embodies the limbo between the worlds of childhood and adulthood by play-acting at both adulthood and childhood, never fully embracing either.
Innocence is fragile, precious and worth protecting and preserving in a world tainted by falsehood and disillusionment. Holden’s childhood experiences and present interactions with children highlight the struggles and complexities of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, which inspires Holden to be a protector of innocence as he navigates his own transition. Holden’s interactions with various characters, particularly children like his sister Phoebe and his deceased brother Allie, serve as reminders of the purity and authenticity he believes exists in
At the beginning of Chapter 18 in the novel, Holden Caulfield faced an indecisive direction whether he should contact a girl named Jane Gallagher. However, before Chapter 18, Holden had been manifesting his idea to contact her, whereas this moment plays a role to Holden Caulfield’s sexual views. Jane Gallagher plays an absent role throughout the story; despite the fact that Jane Gallagher has been mentioned to be one of the most important female characters to Holden Caulfield, with his younger sister Phoebe being the other. Holden Caulfield tried contacting her home telephone but no one picked up. As a result, Holden tried to consult one of his childhood friends Carl Luce suddenly, in order to discuss sexual experiences that Carl Luce have had out of “random interests”.
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.
This relates back to the poem because Holden is immature but is still trying to grow up faster than he should, he also does not understand why adults can not see him as someone who is
The only motivator that Holden has to continue living is his younger sister, Phoebe, who is extraordinarily intelligent for her age. After he gets kicked out of Pencey, Holden is lost in life. He speaks to many people, seeking advice and comfort, but they are not able to help him find a human connection. Holden’s depression increases throughout the novel, almost to the point of suicide. He criticizes many people and ideas, labeling them as ‘phony’.
Throughout the novel Holden deals with mortality, isolation, sexuality and sexual identity, sadness, wisdom, lies and deceit, madness, and religion. When he is so determined to become an adult, he does not know what he is doing. He is losing his innocence, which is ironic because he wants to be the catcher in the rye which protects the innocence of children. During the novel, you can see that the people Holden look up to are the people who protect the innocence of others. The death of his brother, something he could not control definitely takes away from his innocence.
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.
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
Holden begins trying to be older than he actually is, still scared to lose innocence he grasps so hard to be a different person. He is a teenage boy in a grown up’s world. Trying to be an adult isn 't as easy as it seems and Holden is starting to learn that. “She had a terrifically nice smile. She really did.
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.
