How Does Holden Change Throughout The Catcher In The Rye

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D Salinger, focuses on a young man–Holden Caulfield–who fears growing up. Throughout the book, Holden struggles to accept that he is entering the “phony” world of adulthood. He has rebelled in various ways to prove that he has control over his life; however, the one thing Holden yearns to control is the inevitable change of growing older. J.D. Salinger uses symbolism and point of view to convey the theme of this book: fear of change and growing up. The fear of entering the adult world can lead somebody to protect themselves to avoid failure of fitting in. For instance, J.D. Salinger effectively uses symbolism to demonstrate Holden’s hidden fear of entering adulthood. For example, throughout the book, Holden questions

This symbolizes Holden’s fearfulness about what he will do when he is his own. Entering adulthood is a substantial change and is approaching Holden rapidly; however, Holden is not ready for this change. Additionally, Holden is troubled when he discovers that to survive the ducks have to alter their lives. Judging by his reaction, he is disturbed by the fact that--similar to the ducks-- Holden will have to change his life to survive. Furthermore, when Holden watches his sister Phoebe ride on a carousel, he feels “so damn happy all of a sudden” (Salinger 234). Holden is seen truly happy for the first time in the book, just by the sight of Phoebe enjoying her childhood. Holden appreciates the carousel moving in circles, but nothing about it changes. He wishes the same applied to him, even though that is not possible. Yet again, a repeated theme: fear of change. Another

He uses first-person narration to effectively show Holden’s thoughts and feelings. For instance, Holden[does] not feel like going into” any information from his past and is selective of the events he chooses to tell (Salinger 1). This indicates his fear of the judgment of others; therefore, he has formed a defense mechanism. His immediate response to revealing his past is to avoid the topic entirely. Furthermore, when Holden goes to the Lavender room–a club in his hotel–he sees three older women. Holden begins flirting with them “strictly from hunger” and immediately gets rejected (Salinger 77).In response to rejection, Holden quickly starts to degrade them by claiming the “three witches'' are “laughing like morons'' (Salinger 78). This illustrated another defense mechanism from Holden. His instantaneous response is to cheapen the value of these women, strictly due to his embarrassment from rejection. In addition, Holden associates himself with these women exclusively because he feels he does not have connections–with anyone–and is trying to force them to feel contempt. Another example of Holden’s point of view portraying the theme is when he challenges Maurice–a pimp who demands more money after Holden spends time with one of his prostitutes–to a physical fight. Holden can survive by living in his imaginative ideal world, but this conflict is unavoidable.