Holden Caulfield Through The Places example essay topic

Holden Caulfield makes the transition from childhood to adulthood in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. He was able to resist his urge for sex, realizing that he was not yet responsible enough to handle it. Holden, who was not very fond of people in general, displayed a high toleration for young children. He was able to overcome his fear of the unpredictable challenges of the world through the places he visited and people he encountered. In a few short days, Holden was able to grow into a mature young adult. Growing up was harder than Holden had imagined.

His roommate, Stradlater, went on a date with Holden" '"s old friend, Jane. Not only was he jealous of Stradlater, it infuriated him to think of a girl he knew well having sex with a boy she didn't know well. Holden was a virgin, but was very interested in sex, and, in fact, he spent much of the novel trying to lose his virginity. He believed that he was ready for his first sexual encounter. He had invited a prostitute up to his hotel room, but while he was waiting for her to show up, he began to realize that he might have made a big mistake. ' "'I sort of just wanted to get it over with,' " ' (Salinger, 93) he said while waiting for her to arrive.

After meeting the girl, it became clear to him that he was unable to handle a sexual encounter with someone that doesn" '"t even share the same interests as him. He seemed to be confused by women and above all, sex. Holden proved he wasn" '"t mature enough when he added, ' "'sex is something I just don't understand. I swear to God I don't".

(63) He was finally beginning to understand and admit that. Holden also met many people he just didn" '"t understand. He criticized people who were boring, people who were insecure, and, above all, people who are "phony". He couldn" '"t figure out how they couldn" '"t see their own phoniness when it was plainly obvious to him. However, his kid sister, Phoebe, was an exception. She was the only one he felt he could talk to about his problems because according to him, she was intelligent.

He also detested the movies and theatre, proclaiming that all actors were fake and too over-exaggerated to be real. Holden believed that adulthood is a world of superficiality, phoniness and hypocrisy, while childhood is a world of innocence, curiosity, and honesty. Phoebe asks Holden what he wants to do with his life. Holden responds with this image, which reveals his view of a perfect childhood. ' "'...

I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff? I mean if they " re running and they don't look where they " re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day.

I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. ' " ' (173) He believes it was up to him to save their innocence from the evils the world brings. He wanted to erase the graffiti on the walls of his elementary school to erase the profanity from the eyes of the innocent young children. His desire was to protect them from reaching adulthood, where change was evident.

Holden, who often looked for protection in past childhood memories, visited several of the places he remembered going to as a child. He particularly liked visiting the Museum of Natural History. ' "'The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody'd move? Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you.

' " ' (155) Holden feared change, which was why he had an appreciation for the museum. He could think about and judge the Eskimo in the display case and the Eskimo would never judge him back. It troubled him that he had changed every time he returned, while the museum's displays remain completely the same. Everything was just as he remembered them years ago as a child. They were stationary, almost as if they were frozen in time. Frozen, like he had wanted to be frozen in his childhood.

His fear of the world was also evident when he thought, ' "'What I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I probably would" '"ve done it, too, if I" '"d been sure somebody" '"d cover me up as soon as I landed. I didn" '"t want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory. ' " ' (104) It showed that no matter how much he didn" '"t want to be alive, he knew in his heart that he couldn" '"t end his life that way. He couldn" '"t let the ' "'phony' "' people of the world take over.

He also wondered about the lake in the park near the museum. ' "'Well you know the ducks that swim around in it? In the springtime and all? Do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?' " ' (81). He asked this question to several of the taxicab drivers, but was never able to receive a straight answer. This question proved that there was still a child trapped inside him, not wanting to let go of the past.

The child inside him never did cease to fade. However, it was clear that by the end of the novel, Holden was no longer the little boy he once was in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. He was able to control his urge for a sexual encounter, realizing that he needed to wait until he was mature enough to handle the situation. He was able to relate to the children he encountered, most importantly his younger sister Phoebe. His fear of the world changing before his eyes diminished since he realized that he himself was also changing. Holden Caulfield, through the places he visited and people he encountered, was able to grow from a naive young man to a strong-minded young adult.

The main theme deals largely with the loss of innocence and how one may become corrupted by social norms once he reaches adulthood. Holden bitterly complains about nearly everyone, describing his animosity towards the phoniness of hollywood and celebrity as well as any average adult or teenager his age approaching adulthood. He is a cynic who hates conformity. He is only truly appreciative of kids, especially his younger siblings. Here the theme is shown. Holden loves kids because of their innocence.

Kids are simply kids and do not try to be some one else as older people do. Holden wants to be the Catcher in the Rye, an idealistic and implausible dream where he wishes to save kids from falling off the rye into an adult world where they can no longer just be and play in a carefree matter but instead lose themselves in their own pursuit of image. That is the loss of innocence that Holden despises so. At the novel's end, he gives up this dream and realizes that kids must grow up sometime and just learn. The theme is the loss of innocence, but it also embodies how one transitions from innocence to maturity. Is it corrupted and phony or is it still pure in its own right?