How Does Holden Mature In Catcher In The Rye

In the novel, The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield tells us his story of his life. Holden is an interesting person, who has many emotions throughout his story. Throughout most of the novel, Holden is very depressed and at times suicidal. Holden tends to reflect a lot on his brother, Allie’s death. Holden is very ungrateful and seems to complain about every incident he goes through. Holden is a troubled kid who has the problem of staying in one school, and meeting his parents standards. Holden takes us through his life from when he was at Pencey Prep, to when he got kicked out, to what he did after, and all the adventures he went on. Holden’s goal in life is to be “The Catcher in the Rye”

While Holden does not always directly tell us, he implies that he has not had the best childhood. The events that Holden has gone through, have caused him to act up and look at life in this way. As a child, Holden’s brother, Allie died resulting in Holden smashing the windows in the garage, and being put in a hospital and missing the funeral. Allie’s death really shook up Holden. While not directly telling us, Holden has dropped some hints that there has been some form of abuse in his childhood, “That kind of stuff’s happened to me about twenty times since I was a kid. I can’t stand it” (193). After sneaking in his house to see Phoebe, he leaves to go to an old teacher, Mr. Antolini’s house and stay there awhile. Holden has been there many times before so he felt welcomed. Or at least he used to, “I felt something on my head, some guy’s hand. Boy, it really scared hell out of me. What it was, it was Mr. Antolini’s hand. What he was doing was, he was sitting in the dark and all, and he was sort of patting me on the goddamn head” (191-192). Holden was very disturbed by these actions and immediately got up and left the house with Mr. Antolini following him slowly and wobbly because he was so drunk. This also influenced Holden wanting to be the catcher so that other children did not need to go through experiences like this