Holden's Sentimental Feelings About Childhood example essay topic

Holden is by far the most complex character in the book. He serves three major purposes in the novel. Firstly, he stands as a critic of society, taking a stance against phoniness, hypocrisy, obscenity, and passiveness. Secondly, he is an adolescent, caught between the worlds of childhood and adulthood. In this position, he demonstrates the need for maturity as well as the need for honesty and integrity. In relationship to the plot of the novel, Holden stands as a sort of anti-hero.

He makes no large contributions to society, slays no dragons, and achieves no tangible goals. Instead, Holden can be seen as an existentialist hero. He gives himself the impossible task of fighting society's phoniness, and in the end commits himself to that task wholeheartedly. Holden cannot help but feel isolated when he observes the football game, "you were supposed to commit suicide or something if Old Pencey didn't win" (p. 2). Not only does Holden feel isolated at the schools he has attended; he has this feeling when it comes to his family as well...

Upon his return to New York City, Holden does not go home. Instead, he chooses to hide out from his family. Holden's younger sister, Phoebe serves both as a representation of the virtues of childhood (honesty, openness) as well as an advisor to him... He is depressed when someone says "good-luck" because the statement implies that fortune supersedes human effort. Holden's uncomfortable adolescence manages to encapsulate so many of the great questions and frustrations of humans from the beginning of time.

How does one deal with the "phoniness" of the world, the "two-faced ness" or the "stupidity" of those who seem to walk through the world without thinking, losing themselves in celebrities and fleeting good times? How can you walk around surrounded by the evil that man can commit? How does one deal with not being able to save everyone, and being often not even able to save oneself? Holden fears change in maturity. He believes that being an adult is hard, however he tries to be an adult by going to the Lavender Room and wanting to loose his virginity. However, he doesn't succeed and doesn't fit in.

When Holden and Maurice fought, Holden just broke down and cried. He couldn't handle the situation. That meant he wasn't ready for adulthood after all. After the fight, Holden felt lonely and depressed, he started talking to Allie believing that he was near. At that point he wanted to escape adulthood by committing suicide. He thought that once a person dies, he would never have to grow up, he would be carefree and remain in his original state.

Of all of the characters in The Catcher in the Rye, Phoebe ranks with Carl Luce and Mr. Spencer as one of the most mature and perceptive. She realizes that Holden's major problem is his overwhelmingly negative attitude toward everything and everyone around him and confronts him on this fault. When Holden talks with Phoebe, he once again reveals his hypocrisy. He laments that everyone at Pencey excluded Robert Ackley, yet Holden himself loathed Ackley, considering him boorish and obnoxious. Significantly, Holden has difficulty finding an answer to the question of what he actually likes. When he does think of a response to that question, his answers are both questionable and disturbing.

That Holden appreciates the suicide of James Castle indicates his own emotional state and gives greater credence to earlier foreshadowing that Holden himself will attempt to kill himself. Holden attaches some sense of nobility to death, which he additionally shows through his idealization of Allie. This also relates to Holden's sentimental feelings about childhood. His dream of becoming a "catcher in the rye" shows that Holden has an affection for childhood. He wishes to save these children from danger so that they may frolic in the fields; one can interpret this as Holden's wish to save the children from the difficulties of adulthood.

Holden responds to Phoebe's confrontation by preparing to leave the house. This continues a pattern for Holden: he escapes responsibility, whether leaving a club early when he sees someone he dislikes or running away from boarding school. When Holden faces something that he dislikes, he cannot confront it; instead, he chooses to leave for another random destination, whether New England or Colorado.