The Catcher in the Rye - Question 3

I will be honest, when I say “lol” to something, either in a text or an email, very rarely do I actually “laugh out loud”. With that said, I hope it states a lot when I say I did “lol” at The Catcher in the Rye. The main reason I was so highly entertained is because the novel addresses the universal theme of the struggle of growing up in a society that does not seem to understand you at all, which I myself can relate to. Author J.D. Salinger does a magnificent job of portraying Holden Caulfield as the novel’s lazy teenage male going through a change in his life that ultimately forces him to taste reality.

By the end of the novel, Holden’s personality and attitude change immensely. Salinger portrays the overall plot to be a walk in the life of a teenage boy, but the walk in which Holden goes through is actually his journey to adulthood. “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking out of that water hole, with their pretty antlers, and their pretty, skinny legs, and that squaw with the naked bosom would still be weaving the same blanket. Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you,” (Salinger 121). This quote from Holden sums up his entire attitude toward life. He wishes he could hide from adulthood a little bit longer. Through this quote, Holden reveals to readers that he is not ready to grow up, but would rather be like the displays in the museum, never changing, never moving.

To hide his emotions regarding change and growing up, Holden often refers to people he does not agree with as “phonies”. He has somewhat of a nervous breakdown when he tries to compile an idea as to what he will do with his life once he leaves to go out on his own. Even when looking ahead to the future, Holden makes it clear that he will not put up with “phonies”. “I’d have this rule that nobody could do anything phony when they visited me. If anybody tried to do anything phony, they couldn’t stay,” (Salinger 205). Salinger reveals his understanding of the human nature to protect one’s self from the unknown (in this case, Holden’s future is the unknown) at all costs. The main character’s compulsiveness to avoid “phonies” further reveals his struggle to deal with growing up.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1991. Print.