ipl-logo

Holden Caulfield's Maturity In The Catcher In The Rye

790 Words4 Pages

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. An indicator of Holden’s facade is his constant attempts to be seen as mature. Throughout the novel, Holden tries and fails to act older than he is. One of the most common examples of his masquerade as an adult is when he lies to get alcohol. He continuously uses alcohol as a tool to make him seem older than he is. Holden even comments on how he acts older than he is, saying, “I ordered a Scotch and soda, and told him not to mix it- I said it fast as hell, because if you hem and haw, they think you’re under twenty-one and won’t sell …show more content…

One example of this is with sex. Holden claims that, “Sex is something I just don’t understand” (Salinger 71), yet he appears to be very mature about it compared to his peers. The fact that he is aware enough to claim he knows nothing shows how observant he is about the subject. He also stands up for Jane to prevent her being used for her body and respects women’s consent. Holden says, “The thing is, most of the time when you're coming pretty close to doing it with a girl… she keeps telling you to stop. The trouble with me is, I stop” (Salinger 103). While he views the act of stopping as childish and silly, it is the mature thing to do. This reveals that, like when he masquerades as an adult, he still retains a part of the other world in him that he cannot seem to

Show More
Related
796 Words | 4 Pages

Another way that Holden is a typical teen is that he feels all these emotions that he can't hide because he’s a kid. Holden has felt depressed, hopeless, and stressed by having to grow up too fast, like most teens. Holden desires good connections with his siblings, proving that he feels love and compassion, even a bit of romance; he is just a teen that has grown up too fast. " About all I know is that I sort of miss everybody" (214). Holden in the book shows emotions and can't hold them back because he is like everyone else.

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

Holden walks this tight rope throughout the novel of whether he should grow up and act mature, much like society wants him to or if he should go against force of society and hold on to his innocence. At one point in the novel, Holden tries to get rid of his innocence at a bar when he tries to act mature and order a drink containing alcohol, this is not a very innocent act after he gets denied because he doesn’t look over 21 he gets aggravated and really tries to sell himself as an adult. In the novel Holden states… “I gave him this very cold stare, like he’d insulted the hell out of me and asked him “Do I look like I'm under twenty-one?” (Salinger 69) Holden feels the need to get rid of his innocence because of societies influence. Society glamourizes the idea of drinking and makes it look appealing, Holden picks up on this.

Read More
917 Words | 4 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger brings us to Holden Caulfield, a young boy going through the transition of childhood to adulthood. Throughout the novel we get to see the journey that Holden is taking and the little symbols that are tied in the novel representing him. Holden has a very interesting perspective about how he preserves the world. He hates change and has this idea that changing into an adult ultimately leads you to becoming a phony and Holden despises phonies. In the novel there are many symbols that expose Holden in ways that he doesn’t want himself to be revealed.

Read More
1482 Words | 6 Pages

In the novel by J.D Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield tries to battle through the burdens of becoming an adult and growing up in a bone chilling world. Through his journey he comes across five central themes that are psychological paths to cross. Predominantly, alienation is an accent that Holden can’t contradict. Next, Caulfield shows self-protection by isolating himself. Then, losses of innocence, his mental capacity to understand the nature of acts start to become incomprehensible.

Read More
131 Words | 1 Pages

Holden is conflicted with maturity is by demonstrating immaturity and maturity at times in the same setting. Once Holden returned to his dorm when Ackley was around, Holden was acting blind when he pulled his hat down to cover his eyes (25). Holden returned to his dorm and read a book called Out of Africa (22-23). When he was acting blind, it demonstrated immaturity because he wasn’t blind. The reason he couldn’t see was he had his hat covering his eyes.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, the protagonist Holden Caulfield demonstrates his unusual behaviour. The narrator introduces the story of an emotionally damaged teenager whose suspicions and personal issues prevent him from being “normal” in a society full of phonies that he does not seem to get along with. It becomes clear that Holden has clouded judgement as he rides an emotional rollercoaster of mood swings with the people he likes, and dislikes. Therefore, it becomes obvious that some of his personal flaws include his distrust, depression, and unreasonable attitudes and thoughts are based on his underlying emotional problems. Holden Caulfield has a variety psychological problems, such as his skepticism, depressive behaviour, and

Read More
776 Words | 4 Pages

Holden Caulfield dreams of being a “catcher in the rye”. This job would entail preventing small children from accidentally skipping, running, or hopping off a cliff. We are led to believe that the edge of this cliff is adolescence, with adulthood waiting below, claiming the innocence and joy of those who fall victim to it. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden frequently expresses his thoughts, including thoughts on politics, Lillian Simmon’s “knockers”, phonies, and the loss of innocence. He seems almost fascinated with innocence, whether he recognizes it or not.

Read More
221 Words | 1 Pages

The Catcher in the Rye portrays Holden Caulfield’s struggle to accommodate the adult world. Caulfield, ashamed of his inadequacy, resorts to deception to alter others’ perceptions of him. Through lying, he creates an ideal persona, masking his ineptitude at school and intimacy. Although Caulfield’s deception inflicts others in addition to himself, it enables him to exploit others and rebel against his own shortcomings.

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

The notion of Caulfield’s desire to live as a “poor deaf-mute bastard”(Salinger 1994:179) where “they’d leave me alone”(Salinger 1994: 179) is a prime example of Caulfield’s wish to become detached and alienated from those around him. Through alienation and detachment from those around him, he avoids confrontation and interaction with people which he believes will be the saviour of his own self falling victim to phoniness. However, as Caulfield acts quickly to criticize and label others as, “that was the phoniest bastard I ever met in my life” (Salinger 1994:12), he does not realise that he is actually guilty of the phoniness that he so easily labels others with. Holden Caulfield exhibits a clear dislike for the idea of change, where he shows visible signs of fear towards this idea, “Certain things they should stay the way they are” (Salinger 1994:110). Caulfield finds safety and security in The Museum of Natural History, “I loved that damn museum” (Salinger 1994:108) as it an example of the ideal stagnant and predictable world that Caulfield longs for, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was” (Salinger 1994: 109).

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

“What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide.” (Salinger 136). The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger follows 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, who faces anxiety after getting kicked out of school. Whether it's his manner of speech or the way he responds to situations, it's clear his struggles include depression and suicidal ideation, rooted in his brother's death and his inability to cope with grief healthily. His three-day journey through New York reveals his inner struggles.

Read More
1418 Words | 6 Pages

He lies intensely throughout the course of the novel, starting from lying to Ackley at the very beginning of the book. From his sarcastic tone in his conversation with other people, readers can denote his own cynical view on the world. Holden views adulthood as phony, hypocritical and fake while childhood in his mind is a world of innocence, honesty, and joy. That is the main reason why he wants to be a “catcher in the rye” to protect and save all the children from falling into the phony adult world. Holden Caulfield’s despise of fakeness causes his resistance of growing into a more mature person, with the lack of ability to interact with other people, make him a

Read More
1365 Words | 6 Pages

However in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield, the main character in the book, criticizes almost everyone for things that they can’t control. In this book, Holden acts to be older than he is,by drinking, smoking, and even hiring a prostitute (which he doesn’t end up doing anything with). The reason that Holden does this because of his insecurity about where he fits in the world.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

In The Catcher in the Rye, the author J.D. Salinger, introduces the protagonist; Holden Caulfield. Holden feels the sense that he cannot choose between the two worlds. For example, he makes it seem as both of them are complete opposites from each other. In the book, Holden wants to keep his innocence, but he also wants to grow up and toss that innocence away. He still keeps his childhood personality by constantly obsessing over things that shouldn’t matter.

Read More
693 Words | 3 Pages

Although Holden is a very intelligent character he finds the hypocrisy and ugliness in the world around him and quickly associates it with the adult world. Holden is a very introverted character who hesitates throughout the book to share information about his life . J.D Salinger makes sure to portray Holden that way to

Read More
1268 Words | 6 Pages

Holden realizes she is going to grow up and he cannot affect that and he should not either because that would get in the way of her development, and that is not what mature person would do, and he does not therefore he has indeed matured by this point in the novel. Holden learned to accept loss of innocence and grew in maturity throughout the novel. At some point in people's lives everyone matures, and learns to accept that they are going to grow

Read More

More about Holden Caulfield's Maturity In The Catcher In The Rye

Related Topics

Open Document