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How Is Holden Caulfield A Modern Teenager

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Unlike past generations teens today find it hard to relate to someone who is the same age as them. The Catcher in the Rye is a book written by J. D. Salinger with a boy named Holden as the main character. Holden is a 17 year old who got kicked out of Pencey. Holden through the book becomes more depressing and doesn’t take care of himself, he goes days without sleeping and eating and get’s suicidal thoughts. Holden has a little sister named Phoebe, Holden loves Phoebe, Holden wants to protect Phoebe's innocence and every child’s innocence. Holden was rich and white, it made teens think that he had no real problems at all and it made it hard for them to see themselves in Holden and to feel empathy for him, therefore, Holden does not represent a modern teenager. Holden does not represent a modern teenager because they think he had no real problems at all. In Dana Czapnik’s article, From everyteen to annoying: are today's young readers turning on The Catcher in the Rye? She talks about how some teenagers see Holden and how the way they used to see Holden is not the same anymore. Back then teenagers used to relate to Holden but now they think “If you’re a white, relatively affluent, permanently grouchy young man with no real problems at all” (Czapnik 3). Many teens today go through many problems, school problems, family problems, financial problems, or …show more content…

Back then there was not a teenager phase because many would get married right after they would get out of high school so they turned from kids to adults there were no teenagers, Jennifer Schuessley explains it by saying, “There’s really not that sense of teen culture that there is now” (Schuessler 2). Since Holden wasn’t in the teen phase he didn’t have the type of problems teens have and he had more problems than adults had. Since there wasn’t a teen phase back then teens don’t feel represented by Holden because he wasn’t in the teens

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When he was expelled from Pencey, a high school he was formerly going to, instead of facing his parents, he attempted to run away and survive on his own in the “phony” adult world. Throughout all his adventures, Holden maintained three characteristics: being cynical, being metaphorically blind, and being defiant. Holden never

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The Great Mahele was a land division that happened in 1848 due to mounting pressure from foreigners for Kauikeaouli to let them buy land. According to Lâm, Maivân Clech of, “The Kuleana Act Revisited: The Survival of Traditional Hawaiian Commoner Rights in Land.,” he states that due to the Great Mahele, and the confusing rules and high costs of it, it caused foreigners to own most of the land. The splitting up disrupted Hawaiians’ understanding and concept of land ownership and favored foreigners, who had pushed for private land ownership in Hawaii. Before the division happened, the Hawaiians believed that they all had a right to take care of the land, and the land was owned by a higher power than humans. Two impacts that the Great Mahele had on the Hawaiians were the economic impact of Hawaiians not able to make any money due to them not having any land to grow crops to sell and the social impact of

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How Is Holden Caulfield A Normal Teenager

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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.

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Holden Caulfield Setting

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Catcher in the Rye is the recounting of the weekend after the main character gets expelled for the umpteenth time from another uppity private school. The name of the main character, "Holden Caulfield," can be broken down in such a way that it reveals the character in question's tendency to hold onto and protect happier memories and childhood innocence from this big, unfair, scary game we call life, without realizing that he would be stunting the growth of those whom he is protecting. The character's first name, "Holden", can be interpreted as a pun for how he wants to "hold on" to better times. Throughout the story, Holden speaks fondly about his childhood summer memories, talking about when he used to play checkers with Jane Gallagher (p.17), or when he, his younger siblings, Phoebe and Allie, went to the park every Sunday (p. 37) to play, and often brushes the more serious moments he has experienced off, instead of going on a tangent like he usually does (p.21).

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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.

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Holden goes through many different changes throughout the novel and becomes very different from how he was at the start. Although many would argue that he does not change and that by the end of the novel, there is no development. There is a lot of development as he continues to change throughout the novel and has many different ways of perceiving his surroundings in the end. The main reason he changes is that by the end he thinks that everyone should grow up out of their childhood, he has also gained a deeper understanding of himself, and he is finally prepared and able to fight the real world as an adult. One of the biggest things that Holden realizes towards the end of the book and throughout it is that everyone should grow up out of their childhood.

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Which leads to the question is Holden Caulfield still an authentic teen character? I think that Holden is an authentic teenage character because he goes through real teen experiences, has to deal with dark times, and he has to face the emotional truths. Holden

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He is mentally ill and does not want to talk to either of his parents or anyone his age. He only wants to talk to his little sister who is 11 years old. This is because she is still young yet she is mature for her age. The Catcher in the Rye can be read as a ‘coming of age’ story. Holden’s character changes or matures during the course of the novel by seeing who he likes to be around, how he handles his mental health and how he looks at family and how he treats them.

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The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger in 1951, is the story of an angst-ridden sixteen year old Holden Caulfield as he learns to deal with growing up. The story follows Holden through his three day experience through New York as he learns about the truth about innocence, sex, and mortality, making The Catcher in the Rye one of America’s most notable coming-of-age stories. One of the largest influences on Holden’s life was his younger brother Allie who died from leukemia at age eleven when Holden was thirteen. The death of Holden’s brother had a profound effect on Holden emotional state, which eventually caused his complete mental breakdown by the end of the novel.

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London, England practiced mainly Anglican, Anglican is a kind of Protestantism created in England after 1534. Henry VIII created the church. So he could divorce from his first wife. The church became more of a Protestant church after Henry's death. Wittenberg, Germany was mainly Lutheran, the Lutheran church is the oldest protestant Christian tradition.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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To add on, Holden is not one to follow society’s rules. Holden is not the person to be engaged in what society calls “normal” because he is not necessarily a “normal” kid. Meaning, society believes kids around his age are interested in football games(3), going on dates (26), or just going to school (35). Society believes teenagers should attend school, and in Holden’s case, High School.

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